I have a Compaq Presario 2815 with a crack on the flap holding the LCD screen. The crack is on the outside(metallic part). The crack does not appear to be very deep. Two questions: * Will that have an effect on any of the internal components(of the screen). * Is there a way to prevent the crack from widening.

is the crack on the hinge cover or on the hinge itself? if it's on the hinge cover then it's usaly only cosmetic if it's on tthe hunge itself then you may have problems if the lcd comes off the laptop if it is only a small crack then try puting a light and fast drying glue or model glue on it if it is metal then try solder be careful to only use a little bit to not affect the hinge action use your best judgement

the best way to stop a crack spreading is to drill a small hole right at the end of it. The reason for this is quite complex, its to do with the way stresses act at points and having a curved end spreads the stress. You can then glue the rest together. I'm not sure I'd recomend attempting this on a laptop though. I don't think I'd risk soldering either. I'd look at the range of araldite glue's and pick the most suitable for the material, generally the standard ones are stronger than the quick dry's. It might be worth scraping/scratching/sanding the scratch into a V first so you can get some of the glue actually into the scratch rather than just over the top. If the screen still works then I wouldnt worry about it, just fix the hinge.

It may not look pretty, but after you glue, solder, or whatever I would also recommend a piece of duct tape spanning tightly accross the crack. Duct tape sticks to almost anything and it's adhesive lasts for a long time.