[Rant] Dell and overtightening screws!

[ratchetnclank]

Just had to fully disassemble the wifes area 51m r2 to replace the keyboard and have spent a couple of hours trying to get out 3 of the (57!)  PH000 screws from the back of the keyboard holding it in place since dell seems to have over tightened them so much at the factory and the steel for the screws is so soft as soon as you try to unscrew them the top rounds off. Thanks Dell.

 

Anyway after much annoyance i ended up drilling the heads and cutting the flattened head off with a knife. 

 

Just wanted to rant as it made what should of been a 1-2 hour job into a almost all day affair.

 

Phillips head screws suck in general and PH000 the most. Can't we all just accept torx?

[MogRules]

I find that most of the time it's caused by one of two things, not that I am saying that's what happened here.  The screw driver is the wrong size, or the tip if the screwdriver is just to pointy and the screwdriver does not sit in the screw as deep as it should and just strips it.  I have 4 different sets of tools, all small for working on laptops and NONE of them are anywhere near as good as my iFixit kit, that thing is just perfect for laptop work.  

Either way, I do agree, sometimes the screws are WAY to tight, I have had to drill and remove the head of a few before, although it's been awhile.  Glad you seem to have gotten it sorted in the end.  Removing keyboards is always such a PITA. 

[ratchetnclank]

16 hours ago, MogRules said:

I find that most of the time it's caused by one of two things, not that I am saying that's what happened here.  The screw driver is the wrong size, or the tip if the screwdriver is just to pointy and the screwdriver does not sit in the screw as deep as it should and just strips it.  I have 4 different sets of tools, all small for working on laptops and NONE of them are anywhere near as good as my iFixit kit, that thing is just perfect for laptop work.  

Either way, I do agree, sometimes the screws are WAY to tight, I have had to drill and remove the head of a few before, although it's been awhile.  Glad you seem to have gotten it sorted in the end.  Removing keyboards is always such a PITA. 

 

I also use my ifixit tech kit which is fantastic. In this case i'm almost certain it was the screw were too tight since the other 54 screws of the same ph000 type removed without problem. 

[ryan]

Haha that's funny. Damn dell. I had the same problem with my Asus laptop. Until it exploded in my face and got rid of my nose... Now I'm noseless