T30 slot issue, looking for a rerepair

[jronald]

I dropped my T30 off at a local TV repair shop that had a good reputation.
Gave him the printed information on the repair of the front slot, and was told give him a couple of days.
Well, the thing is now dead
No memory in either slot, I get the 1331 error
Memory in either slot and it wont post
With a magnifying glass it all looks fine
Im puzzled by the beep code, but no post once installed

Anyone care to take a stab at a repair?
The first one was free, but it cost me a working T30

Let me know
Ron

[truk]

Have you checked the fuses? I know it sounds kinda stupid, but it can cause problems like this. When it does not post, does it continue to act like its running, or die immediately? LEDS, screen flash? If you can apply a bit of pressure to the ram connections on the mb, I'd try it. He might have losened them rather than fixing them. Where did you find those instructions, as I will be doing a repair myself?

[sncdrvr]

I can't fix it for you, but can offer some advice. This is a very easy easy fix as I've repaired 2 of my 3 T-30's that developed the memory slot issue. One of these repaired machines has traveled 48 States and Canada in the high vibration enviroment of a 18 wheeler for last 9 months with no reoccurance of the problem. *The "secret" to a lasting and successful repair is the use of rosin (electrical, not the acid flux used for copper plumbing) flux.* The flux tranfers the heat and cleans the oxides from the joint allowing the origonal solder to refow nicely for a lasting, secure connection. I use Kester brand flux, looks like brown slime. Get a small amount of it on a toothpick and carefully apply it to all the solder joints on the affected slot (only slot bad on mine was the one closest to edge, typical). Use a magnifying glass and good light to ensure that all pins and existing solder at the copper trace/pin interface have a light coating of flux. I believe in resoldering every pin on affected slot as I want permanent fix and only want to do this once. Now, I dont use a "chisel" tip on my soldering pencil, as I want to solder each pin individually, minimising the chance of a solder "bridge" between 2 pins. Using flux really allows the existing solder to reflow, and both of my machines had adequate amounts of solder. I use a 25 watt Radio Shack soldering pencil with the tip fine filed into a long very thin needle tip. Its critical you take the time to file the tip into a long, thin, needle shape to match the size of the pin, long/thin so you can see/position the tip accurately. 15 or 20 watt pencils didn't heat long thin tip properly. Now, preheat pencil, dip heated tip in flux container to clean it, tin the tip with rosin core electrical solder, and wipe the tip clean of excess solder on a wet rag or sponge. This "tins" the tip and prepares it for use. You want a very light/thin coating of solder on the tip to aid heat flow, but not any extra that could flow onto the joint and create a bridge between pins. Use a magnifying glass and good light, apply tip to end of pin at copper trace (careful, dont scratch/damage trace), and watch heat travel thru flux up length of pin as flux liquifies/flows and solder reflows towards the pin/trace interface where its needed. 3 to 4 seconds of heat usually works, watch the materials flow and use good judgement. I use a flexible desk lamp, magnifying glass in 1 hand, and pencil in other.Getting the light aimed, slot pins at correct angle to your comfortably held pencil, glass focal length to pin, tip to pin, are critical for success because the pins/traces are so small. Get the correct setup and its very easy to reflow pin after pin. If you notice a delay in heat transfer, slow your progress to next pin to allow tip to reheat, or oxides/crud have accumulated on tip so reclean in flux, retin, and wipe off excess solder. Both of my affected machines had adequate origonal amounts of solder, but not at the actual joint/interface, hence the problem. Once you get the materials and tip modded, battery/ram out, this is easy 10 minute repair. As for your error code, I dont know. Bridged or cold joint pins? Note: Each of my repaired T-30's run 2 Gb ram flawlessly.

[gamble61]

A big thanks to sncdrvr! His tips were invaluable. I now have a T30 with 2 working memory slots. The filed tip and flux were the key. 30 minutes from start to finish.

To anyone considering doing this.....read his post a couple of times.....follow his tips.....and go for it. Quite honestly it was very simple.

Thanks again to sncdrvr and all others who post their tips and suggestions,

Tony

[Alejandro Audisio]

Thanks for this thread..... my T30 has this memory slot issue and I guess I will take a shot at fixing this myself.