The broken T42 i won from ebay

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o1001010 · #1 Post by **o1001010** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 12:53 pm

the url to the auction i won is here
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0031894880

i am posting this as in my attempt to solve the problem, hoepfully you guys can contribute and this post will be helpful to someone somewhere later

problem: display shakes and system locks up after a while from power on

initial diag: gpu overheating? reapply thermal to cpu and gpu. could also be a problem with inverter?

any comments or suggestions will be appreciated

cmarti · #2 Post by **cmarti** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:55 pm

Seems like the GPU is damaged, search for a used motherboard.

While you are there why not upgrade to 64mb or 128mb?

This one seems cheap Good luck!

#3 Post by **jdhurst** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 3:07 pm

o1001010 wrote:<snip>
problem: display shakes and system locks up after a while from power on
<snip>
any comments or suggestions will be appreciated

I had that same problem on my T41 not too long ago. New motherboard in my case. The vendor could replicated the display shake and speculated on a cold solder joint or broken trace. Fortunately the system is still under warranty.
... JD Hurst

o1001010 · #4 Post by **o1001010** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 3:28 pm

cmarti wrote:Seems like the GPU is damaged, search for a used motherboard.

While you are there why not upgrade to 64mb or 128mb?

This one seems cheap Good luck!

when i saw that auction i went like holy s*** wtf happened to this tp
i didn't bid on it becuase they snap off didn't seem clean. i was worried that mothboard might have a part snapped off.

cold solder i can fix, but isn't a cold solder either work or don't work case?

#5 Post by **jdhurst** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:06 pm

o1001010 wrote: <snip>
cold solder i can fix, but isn't a cold solder either work or don't work case?

I cannot say for certain what was wrong with my motherboard. But cold solder joints can be intermittent (and are such in a number of instances where I have serviced them - not laptops).

The longest running case of a cold solder joint was on the input to Channel 2 of my Tek 455 A2B2. The input is a 47-ohm resistor and it appeared to be normal. Most of the time, all was well. Every so often Channel 2 would disappear off-screen. One day, in a rather determined effort (more than a decade after I purchased the machine), I disassembled the vertical input. As I started to unsolder the resistor to remove the divider, it came apart. As soon as replaced the resistor and soldered it back in properly, Channel 2 has performed flawlsessly to spec.
... JD Hurst

o1001010 · #6 Post by **o1001010** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 6:02 pm

cool i leanred something.

the thing i am puzzeled about in this case is that the gpu works and then the system locks up. from what i know gpu is just like a switch, it's also works or doesn't work. i have yet to see a gpu that works every once in a wild. well the first thing i am gonna do is reapply thermal material and make sure the overheating is not an issue here.

Mr_Roboto · #7 Post by **Mr_Roboto** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 12:39 pm

I have quite a lot of experience in electronics manufacturing. Form my experience the only way to repair a cold/fractured solder joint on a BGA is to remove and replace the part.

A cold/fractured solder joint occurs where the solder does not get hot enough to re-flow or there is not enough solder to form a solid connection between the land on the PC board and the leg/ball of the part. Over time, as the parts expands and contracts the weak joint fails. BGAs are especially tricky because each ball has two solder joints; one that connects the ball to the board and one that connects the ball to the bottom of the BGA. Depending on the node that the failure occurs, the system may become unstable and crash or the component may not function as designed.

Long story even longer, you are most likely going to have to replace the mother board.

o1001010 · #8 Post by **o1001010** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 12:43 pm

Mr_Roboto wrote:I have quite a lot of experience in electronics manufacturing. Form my experience the only way to repair a cold/fractured solder joint on a BGA is to remove and replace the part.

A cold/fractured solder joint occurs where the solder does not get hot enough to re-flow or there is not enough solder to form a solid connection between the land on the PC board and the leg/ball of the part. Over time, as the parts expands and contracts the weak joint fails. BGAs are especially tricky because each ball has two solder joints; one that connects the ball to the board and one that connects the ball to the bottom of the BGA. Depending on the node that the failure occurs, the system may become unstable and crash or the component may not function as designed.

Long story even longer, you are most likely going to have to replace the mother board.

what are bgas? not an electronic guy.
i will post something when i get the thing
thanks

Mr_Roboto · #9 Post by **Mr_Roboto** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:28 pm

BGA stands for Ball Grid Array. This basically means that the legs that extend from the part to the board are directly under the part and in most cases are little balls. Because the legs are under the part there is not way of getting to the bad solder joint to repair it.

Answers.com has a good description and pictures of BGAs are.

http://www.answers.com/topic/bga

rssb · #10 Post by **rssb** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:59 pm

BGA's are ball grid arrays. When chips are not connected to the motherboard via socket, and instead connected directly ( permanent fixture ) .

PGA's on the other hand are pin grid arrays, which have a socket on the motherboard. Like the processor chip. The socket is connected via a BGA.

cmarti · #11 Post by **cmarti** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 7:05 pm

o1001010 wrote:well the first thing i am gonna do is reapply thermal material and make sure the overheating is not an issue here.

That won't help because your T42 comes with the short fan so the heat sink does not come in contact with the gpu.

o1001010 · #12 Post by **o1001010** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:43 am

hum, did i just wasted $400?

o1001010 · #13 Post by **o1001010** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:27 am

think this will work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-2-T4X-MOTHERBOA ... 0031827921

i have some mobo questions now:
1. is the t42 mobo with 7500 and 9600 the same size and will fit in each other? special fan or heatsink?

is t42 swappable with t40 t41 t43 mobos? will they fit?

thanks

EOMtp · #14 Post by **EOMtp** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:57 am

The physical dimensions are the same for all T4x series motherboards. They will all fit the same base. However, T43 motherboards require different memory, processor, and PC Card cage than the T40/T41/T42 motherboards. The boards with ATI 7500 take the "short" fan/heatsink assembly; the boards with the ATI 9600 or ATI Fire GL require the "long" fan/heatsink assembly.

o1001010 · #15 Post by **o1001010** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:47 am

EOMtp wrote:The physical dimensions are the same for all T4x series motherboards. They will all fit the same base. However, T43 motherboards require different memory, processor, and PC Card cage than the T40/T41/T42 motherboards. The boards with ATI 7500 take the "short" fan/heatsink assembly; the boards with the ATI 9600 or ATI Fire GL require the "long" fan/heatsink assembly.

thanks, i owe you big

o1001010 · #16 Post by **o1001010** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:04 am

o1001010 wrote:
EOMtp wrote:The physical dimensions are the same for all T4x series motherboards. They will all fit the same base. However, T43 motherboards require different memory, processor, and PC Card cage than the T40/T41/T42 motherboards. The boards with ATI 7500 take the "short" fan/heatsink assembly; the boards with the ATI 9600 or ATI Fire GL require the "long" fan/heatsink assembly.

thanks, i owe you big

is the mobo for t40, t41, t42 the same mobo disregarding the graphic chip difference?

EOMtp · #17 Post by **EOMtp** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:39 pm

Yes; T40/T41/T42 use the same BIOS and the same Embedded Controller Program.

The broken T42 i won from ebay

The broken T42 i won from ebay

Re: The broken T42 i won from ebay

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