garbled graphics on T42p - what are my options?

[HFat]

Hi folks,

I recently bought a used UXGA 15'' T42p with a FireGL on this forum. I only used it lightly but the display suddenly became garbled (rough description: bunches of pixels with the wrong color as well as bunched of pixels at the wrong place, with the bad areas mostly arranged in lines).
EDIT: I forgot to mention that the graphics are garbled on external monitors as well.

Is this the infamous loose GPU problem? I treated the laptop fairly kindly and only used it indoors so I'm surprised it went bad so fast. My 14'' T4xs developped other issues and/or lasted much longer, even when abused so I thought the loose GPU problem was overblown. Was I lucky until now or are the 15'' models more fragile?

So what are my options?
Is there anything I can do to fix it or to determine exactly what's the cause of the problem without equipement (heat gun, IR thermometer and so on)?
How can I find compatible boards? I could look for another UXGA T42p or for a T42p board with FireGL but perhaps there are other compatible parts... could an expert chime in please?
Or should I get it "reflown"? Does anyone offer this service in France or Switzerland?

[ajkula66]

Yes, that's the infamous GPU problem, no doubts there.

Given your location, Nick (poshgeordie) is your best bet...just click on the "reflow your T40 UK & EU" ad at the top of the page.

Good luck.