T41 with the ATI 7500 chip problem - reball it..???

[jasew503]

I know my post here isnt related to Superior Reball, but I have a T41 with the ATI 7500 chip, which will (if moved too rough, or picked up by the front with the lid open) will generate garbled display output and eventually freeze with a blank black screen. The machine works great if I either leave it stationary (never freezes while on my lap or a desk/table, or while using it on my lap while riding in a car), or move it carefully and slowly.

Right now I have a couple of folded up playing cards putting pressure in the GPU, which seems to be working fine, so far..

My Question: Should I have it reballed before it gets any worse? And am I causing more damage by using playing cards?

I also read a post about a guy who used JB-Weld All around the edge of the GPU to prevent it from moving. Appearently it worked, after giving it 18 hours to cure. Anyone heard of this?

Thanks!

[jasew503]

Thanks to whoever moved my post to its own thread! Much appreciated!

[lukee]

Welcome to the forums!

You can order quality reballed mobos from here: http://theboardroom.info/stock.htm and send your current damaged mobo back to them.

[poshgeordie]

I also read a post about a guy who used JB-Weld All around the edge of the GPU to prevent it from moving. Appearently it worked, after giving it 18 hours to cure. Anyone heard of this?

This does not work in the long term. Some of the solder balls have become detached from the motherboard and when the laptop's working they are making touch contact; moving the laptop breaks that contact.

Putting glue around the outside of the chip isn't going to prevent the breaking of the touch contact and only makes it more difficult to repair the chip later on.

There are two repair methods, reflowing and reballing.
Reflowing is heating up the chip to the point where the solder balls melt and resolder. This does work but turns out to be a relatively short term fix, because in fact the solder balls are damaged beyond long term repair.

Which is where Reballing comes in; this is the removal of the chip and replacing the old solder balls with a new set and effectively refurbishes the chip back to as new condition.
Reballing the Southbridge as well as the GPU chip creates an as new motherboard again with a hugely extended life.

You may have read about using hot air guns to reflow the chip. This is not recommended since you'll probably ruin the chip / damage the motherboard. The people who do manage it are either lucky or have probably worked through a lot of boards before working out the technique.

I'm the UK half of The Board Room and do the actual repairs and speak from experience