Thinking about buying an 'defective' T42 motherboard (pics)

[frankiepankie]

Hi guys,

I have a broken T42 lying here (see: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=83595 for more information )

I can buy a T42 in parts from someone, but his is also a little bit defective.
His T42 is the same type as mine, type: 2373-A23
That one has the ATi 9600 64MB

His problem is, sometimes the image on the LCD disappears when you are using the T42
He said, if i press on the laptop, the image comes back.

The place where i have to press is different every time. The laptop worked a few days if i had a item as thick as a pencil lying under the front right corner of the laptop. But a few days later, i had to move the pencil further backwards to get the T42 working.

If you twist the laptop left, it works as long as it works, and if you twist it right, it also works as long as it works.
If there isn't the right amount of pressure applied to the laptop, the LCD goes black.

To me, this immediately sounded like the 'famous' GPU BGA issue.

But the strange thing is, he said that the laptop doesn't shut down when the image is gone. If the image comes back (when you twist the laptop, or put something under it so that it is flexed) the laptop goes further at the place where it was.
This is strange, because i thought that all T4x laptops with the GPU issue would give an BSOD, or shutdown when the connection between GPU and mainboard is lost.

The seller thinks that the problem is in a loose wire, or that a cable is damaged inside

Should i buy this board or not? The 'advantage' is, that it is quite cheap (25 euro's shipping included, that is converted to dollars $35.97 for you US guys) and that i also get some other parts with it (he removes the RAM, HDD, DVD, and i get the casing, LCD (SXGA high resolution ), motherboard, CPU, average battery)

[Harryc]

If you are getting some parts that are worth $35 I'd go for it, but don't count on that sytemboard. I agree it has the loose GPU issue. Speaking of which that loose GPU problem manifests itself in many ways. The Thinkpad will not always power down. Sometines it simply freezes, or you get garbage on the screen, or the machine will not power on at all, or it reboots, on and on.

[poshgeordie]

To check if the 9600 T42 has a graphics chip fault, connect the laptop to an external lcd display. If you still have the same problem then most likely to be the graphics.

I have seen this exact problem with a few boards where pressing the chip (or laptop) causes the picture to appear and then disappear. However usually once the display has disappeared, it only appears again by rebooting with pressure on the right place.

Also it is normal for the laptop to continue operating when the display goes blank with the graphics fault.

[frankiepankie]

I have bought it.

Will see what's wrong with it

[frankiepankie]

OK, i received the laptop today

Missing:
Charger
DVD
HDD (he shipped me the caddy though.. )

This one had the same problem as the one in the startpost, would turn on but no image.
But this board isn't dead, because it beeped when i removed all the RAM.

I have removed the keyboard, and pressed on top of the GPU cooling part, it displayed an image on both screens
But as soon as i twist the machine a little bit, the image disappears on one or both screens, and it displays artifacts. So this is definitely the dreaded GPU issue I hoped it was a problem with a cable or something so i had an cheap mobo to fix my T42

Maybe i will try reflowing it myself soon

[RealBlackStuff]

Ship it to poshgeordie for a professional job.
Hairdryer/heatgun/kitchen oven DIY jobs seldom work...

[frankiepankie]

Hmm should have read that earlier...

Already screwed it by heating up the GPU with an pen sized gas torch.

The image doesn't disappear now when i flex the laptop, but it has artifacts all over it.
http://tweakers.net/ext/f/OkDlWV80SjMqn ... Q/full.jpg

http://tweakers.net/ext/f/akLTt6I9Z8T5i ... P/full.jpg

That is another mainboard down the drain

[craigmontHunter]

I almost killed mine last year with a full sized blow torch. Then I went to school and used a heat gun, and it lasted for a month . After that I repaired it again it lasted a month, repaired it again and killed it. Got it replaced at superior reball. Only reccomented if you have no other options
Jack

[poshgeordie]

That is another mainboard down the drain

No NOT "another board down the drain" - it just needs reballing. I'm about to offer this service, and for a short time I'll be charging the same for a reball as a reflow.

Generally it's probably cheaper than buying another board of unknown quality.

PM sent.