Another victim of T42 GPU failure

[Mofo Jones]

Hello

I don't visit here very much, but I had a great experience buying my T42 from Bill back in October 2004. Back in October of 2009 I got the dreaded GPU failure. I recently tried the heat gun reflow method that has been covered in great detail in the sticky threads at the top of the forum. I think it's a partial success at most. I can get it to boot up if I press on the GPU, but the screen either goes black after about 5 minutes of working or it will give me a few white lines and then go black. Either way, it's definitely not working correctly. I was going to try to put some sort of shim or weight on the GPU so it's pinched between the keyboard and the insulating strip on top of the long fan/heatsink that covers the GPU. Problem is, I'm not quite sure what's going to work. I have to put quite a bit of pressure on the GPU to get it to work, so I'm not sure if a shim or a weight will work at all. I've already tried using post-it notes and business cards and I can't get them to stay in place, even using tape. I tried a dime on a whim, but that seemed to slip as well.

I should probably just pick up another mobo or a different thinkpad, but I'm between jobs (stupid economy) so funds are extremely limited between two kids and my student loan payments. I'm under a bit of a time crunch as well - I'm traveling soon and need to use the thinkpad to take the bar exam in my home state of Nebraska.

Suggestions for shim/weight? I'd considered using a couple of guitar pics too, but I don't know if they would be strong enough. Anybody in Sac or the Bay Area have a mobo for my T42 (2373-3uu, ATI 9600) that they could let go for cheap? I saw a post in the marketplace selling one for $115, but I'm not even sure I can afford that.

Thanks, sorry it's all bad news. I'm starting to wish I'd picked up an x40 back in 10/2004, but at the time, I wanted the separate graphics chip...