T43p BGA problems

[Bibin]

I just got a T43p in excellent condition, and it seems to be working just fine. I've owned a T40 in the past, and I had to fix the Radeon 7500 to make it usable again. Does the T43p suffer these problems as frequently as the earlier T4x line? The V3200 works perfectly fine as does the USB and the rest of the board, and I even tried pressing down while it was in use with no instability or crashes. How cautious and worrying should I be? I'm not someone who drops or knocks laptops around, but I don't want to have to leave it desk-bound all the time to feel safe.

[ajkula66]

T43/p generation suffers a lot less when it comes to GPU failures than their older siblings. That being said, the Southbridge issues appear to be as common on them as on the rest of the flock.

My advice would go along the lines of keeping the machine on 24/7/365 and just shutting the LCD off when not in use. Given that you have a 14" unit and they tend to run hotter, undervolt the CPU and underclock the GPU as well. And, of course, use both hands when carrying it around...

My $0.02 only...

Enjoy!

[lukee]

See a part, where the BGA issue is explained too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR-oGAMk2RY

[Bibin]

Very nice video! I just wasn't sure how common it was on the T43 / T43p series relative to the rest.

Thanks guys! Time to put in a 320GB HDD I have lying around and get this thing going!