I decided on cleaning my laptop fans today, which I’ve been procrastinating for about a year now because of this one screw. But I just can’t seem to open this with my screwdriver, since whatever I did back when I last opened it it’s nearly circular now. Is there a way to unscrew this?
Use a piece of leather or some multiple sheets of masking tape
The same thing happened to me… Luckily it was one of screws on the outer edges of the thermal housing. HP’s screws are such dogshit that they get easily stripped. I tried everything from rubber band to superglue. Eventually I had to drilled the screw head away.
It’s easier not to clean them. I throw down tin foil before I make paninis in my hp laptop, because THAT’S ALL THEY’RE FUCKING GOOD FOR.
Well my HP 250 G5 still somewhat works. The touchpad has serious ghost-touch problems and the housing is falling apart from just 2 disassemblies.
Keeps your house warm in the winter too.
Yep, I replaced the fan after 1,5 (or 1.5) years with a cheap aliexpress one and this one works way better than the original, but it’s still very loud and could be actually used as a heater. Plus I forgot, the DVD drive died last year.
Maybe try a flat head screwdriver that’ll fit diagonally across where there’s some grip left?
I do have a gigantic flathead but it doesn’t exactly fit, though I will get one in the morning and try out your advice if I can’t get it out by then. Thank you!
Seconded. I’ve loosened many shredded screws this way.
Also, one can use a hack saw or similar to cut a slit into the screw head, that way you’re more or less guaranteed to fit a flathead driver properly.
I don’t know if any is small enough, but there is a tool for this if nothing else works. A damaged screw extractor.
The square shaped oneswork best, common brand is Easy Out
Old life hack that occasionally works for this is to use a rubber band. Grab a rubber band wide enough to cover the screw head, push the screwdriver into the screw through the rubber band, and pray it has enough grip to twist the screw loose. Good luck with whatever method you use.
Never in the history has that worked for me of doing laptop repair professionally.
It’s worked for me but with a couple layers of insulation tape rather than a rubber band.
Thank you. This is always in the list of handyman hacks, and using a rubberband has never worked for me either. I’m convinced 90% of the people recommending it are just repeating what they’ve heard and haven’t actually tried it.
I’ve tried it a dozen or so times, maybe worked 2-3 of them. I keep it in my arsenal of tricks because it’s quick and easy to try with no negative repercussions if it doesn’t work.
Old Nintendo security screws were easily overcome by melting the end of a pen tube (the clear plastic Bic’s were always my preference), and jamming it in there holding it still while it cooled. Could work in this case.
I have successfully done this with a fuse box.
It looks like you probably don’t have enough edge for this, but a simple vise grip could work.
This was my first thought also. The defcon 2 solution. If that doesn’t work, the next step is to drill it out.
Use pliers and try not to break anything.
I prefer the rubber band trick first but usually when I get them down to this point I’ll use a smaller flathead from a jeweler set, see if you can find something that fits in between the two opposing tines of the Philips
Depending how tight it is you could superglue something to it to turn it ?
That would have to be a pretty loose screw
I don’t really have superglue right now, and the screw looks like this far up, not sure it can be called tight or not.
(Screwdriver for comparison, couldn’t really find something better.)
I once had a screw on a laptop that wouldn’t unscrew and eventually somewhat lost its shape. I had asked my uncle for help, who gave me the solution. I think it was slightly less bad than this, but it might help:
- Apply WD40 around the edges of the screw, such that it could enter the hole
- Apply it to the screw head
- Hold your screwdriver in the hole and gently tap it with a hammer a couple of times
- Slowly attempt to screw it out, whilst applying firm downward pressure on the screw
Note that the amounts of WD40 you have to apply are tiny. We’re talking drops of the stuff. It might be best to attempt to spray something else, and use the residue on the nozzle to apply it
Vampliers!
I work(ed) with old machines, and it was an absolute godsend. Prefer it after using penetrating spray on stuck screws.
Those look very interesting. Thank you!
With a screw extractor, you’ll find one at any hardware store.
I will check out a hardware store in the morning, didn’t really know about those, thanks! Though is it a tiny bit possible to get this out in some kind of DIY way too?
They make screw extractor bits with thread that winds the opposite way from the screw itself so that the bit drills into the screw while turning counterclockwise, but I don’t think that’s worth bothering with here (and I’ve never seen an extractor small enough). Just drill the head off with a normal drill bit. The body will stay stuck in the hole, but you’ll be able to take the cover off and laptops are usually held together by so many screws that a missing one won’t cause problems.
Carefully dremel a slot and use a flat head screwdriver.
Amazon search for tiny screw extractor.
