Fixed laptop using tin foil and blow torch!

JoeCooper · 27 Nov 2009 at 09:45

days after my years warrenty ended on my laptop. it completely stopped working only showing power light when turned on.

a few months later (yesturday) i decided to give it one last chance and read up about the problem. found some info that the nvidea graphics GPU tends to overheat and cause a BGA failure (heating up and cooling down breaking the solder joins).

So i wrapped the main board in foil and cut out a square where the chip is, and stuck a blow torch to it for about 20 seconds. this will melt the solder and let it set again. Now my baby is working fine again! although i need a harddrive for it, but i can use knoppix for it for now.

Now im thinking about having a go at old hardware that ive had problems with.

LizardKing · 27 Nov 2009 at 09:49

Not sure on the blow torch :eek:

, but a heat gun will probably do just as well

Hawkesbury · 27 Nov 2009 at 09:51

hehe thats sounds fun BUT a blow torch seems extreme though!

JoeCooper · 27 Nov 2009 at 10:42

well its a solderpro 70 butane soldering thing. its only a small blue flame, didnt hold it too close. but it worked! now im thinking about buying all the other faulty dv2000 laptops from ebay that have this problem... muhahahaha

MCH · 27 Nov 2009 at 10:48

so satisfying when u fix something like that , although im sure most times when one comes up with the fix it yourself idea it will mostly end up in failure

JoeCooper · 27 Nov 2009 at 10:53

yeah. i tried to fix it many times before. so its been dismantled about 15 times. a lot of missing screws now, power button with the rest of the quick-launch buttons isnt attached as i accidently ripped off the wire. so i have to hotwire it with a screw driver

. keyboards dodgy screen webcam isnt working.. but other than that!

BigBruiserAl · 27 Nov 2009 at 10:54

has been a common fix for the RROD and YLOD for ages but fair play mate for doing

khimbar · 27 Nov 2009 at 11:12

It's an old dead ibook g3 mend as well isn't it?

Kudos for trying though!

bledd · 27 Nov 2009 at 14:54

reminds me of a duff hard drive I had in work, just could not get it to spin properly

I tried all sorts of methods (not freezer -which has worked for other problems in the past for me), in the end, I just kicked it really hard into the desk

Drive is still working 2 years later

Bonjour · 27 Nov 2009 at 14:59

I prefer to use a flame thrower.

JonJ678 · 27 Nov 2009 at 16:59

A bit more hit and miss than reballing it, but fair play to you. A lot of them do fail through this, so there's a good chance of picking some bargains up on ebay.

EsaT · 27 Nov 2009 at 17:26

wmjudd said:
hehe thats sounds fun BUT a blow torch seems extreme though!

Oxy-Acetylene torch would be that.

bledd. said:
I tried all sorts of methods (not freezer -which has worked for other problems in the past for me), in the end, I just kicked it really hard into the desk
Drive is still working 2 years later

Good old "kick start"/percussive maintenance...

Pawnless Endgame · 27 Nov 2009 at 20:16

Bonjour said:
I prefer to use a flame thrower.

I'm more of a napalm user myself :-)

TheTard · 28 Nov 2009 at 02:12

haha love the solution.

CoolishGrunt · 28 Nov 2009 at 02:21

Which side 'round has the foil have to be for this to work, shinny side?

[yes I am joking]

ETNiES · 28 Nov 2009 at 04:18

fair play!

Planning on doing a bit of soldering myself on the gf's car this week trying to save €800 hope it goes as well as yours did!

JoeCooper · 28 Nov 2009 at 17:09

well.... the problems come back again. exactly the same as before

. i guess im going to have to remove the chip and do the resolder fix on it

DavyBoy · 28 Nov 2009 at 17:36

I've repaired an old 8800 GPU that was artifacting constantly by sticking it in the oven at 200c for 10 mins.

The card works like a charm now.

I have a 9800GT that has the same artifacting problem as the 8800 did, but baking the 9800 didn't seem to work, so I guess it is just a hit or miss whether these methods work or not.

Dingle · 28 Nov 2009 at 21:05

Reminds me of an old tip for the Amiga which was to drop it onto a bed from about 6 inches.

I'm quite partial to a "technical tap" from time to time.

IAmATeaf · 28 Nov 2009 at 22:37

If it's definitely that socket that's causing the problem then you may need to resolder each and every solder connection. If you decide to do this make sure you also use some liquid flux to help the solder flow.