I have, what appears to be, exactly the same issue.
Model: TP X121e
Purchased: December 2011
Issue: Loose left hinge
1. The operation of the left hinge initially became loose. 2. Then the hinge mechanism started to float so that opening and cloasing movement appeared to cause the hinge attachement to float. 3. After a number of days, the top and bottom casing immediately surrounding the left hinge split/crack apart.
From the sequence of events, I would guess that the failure of the hinge mounting caused the lid to be opened without actuating the hinge. The movement of the hinge unit inside the case thus disabled, caused the case to crack. At no time was the unit dropped or externally impacted in any way.
When the unit was sent to Lenovo warranty repair services, I was informed that this was not covered under the warranty.
I would imagine that in a lot of the cases for ThinPad products, the damage to the hinge is the result of user forcing the hinge or dropping the unit. For this reason its understandable that hinge damage is not normally covered under warranty. Compared to some other ThinkPad models however, the mounting of the hinge directly onto the resin case (as opposed to a more rugged sub-frame) and the restricted opening of the lid would this make this area fragile.
Over the years I've found that Lenovo has excelled in the design of their rugged laptop casings and this is the first time that I've experienced this kind of issue. Indeed for these reasons, Lenovo was the standard laptop for our corporate purchases. My view hasn't changed but in the case of X121e, the design of the hinge may result in an increased number of warranty claims.
It may help if we can get an idea of the number of people having this issue with their X121e's.
