T43 started to drop wireless.... :(

[Virgi44]

Hello Guys,

My Father has a T43 2668 (original config + 1GB RAM). Well maintained and in good condition.
Some months ago the notebook started the drop the wireless connection randomly.
The CMD ping looks like this:

Reply from...
Reply from...
Reply from...
Reply from...
Request timed out.
Hardware error.
Hardware error.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from...
Reply from...
Reply from...
Reply from...
Reply from...
Reply from...
Reply from...
Reply from...


After a 10-20 succesful ping Reply, some Timed out and not too often some Hardware error are coming and Wireless indicator changes to the well known "red x" for a few second and then connects again.
I have tried different drivers, WinXp and Win7, and also different wireless cards (Atheros and Intel ones), the result is the same.

Know I'm downloading Ubuntu to try out. I will reply with the result.

I'm almost sure that it is a hardware problem.

Do you have any idea? Thanks in advance.

Virgi44

[Neil]

Most likely the solder balls on the south-bridge chip on the motherboard (right under the wireless adapter) have started to break down. It's a fairly common problem with solder from that era. I've had a few T4x series machines with that problem.

[RealBlackStuff]

Either get the chip reballed (reflowed is not good enough) or get another motherboard.
Reballing in Europe: www.reflowrepairs.co.uk, contact forum member poshgeordie, who owns it.