Computer question

12-09-10 | Me

[Greysard]

There are repair places that will resolder the graphics chip and modify the cooling fan to run at higher speeds. There are also home remedy tricks you can try with heat lamps and hot air guns which you can find on the web.

Kevin is going to try a few tests tomorrow.

But on the subject of reinstalling a BGA ... I hope you are not serious. Yes, repair places (CMs) will take the BGA off, reball and put it back on. But it will cost you far more than the cost of a new laptop.

Doing it at home is nearly hopeless. The RoHS solder does not help here at all. The reflow profile is very strict, and if you don't follow it then you may fry the IC or end up with cold solder joints (which is about where you started.)

In any case, if I were feeling reckless, I would still need an air bath to heat the entire motherboard of the laptop to at least 100 °C. Then I would use a heat gun on the video BGA until it comes off. The trick is to not allow any parts on the bottom of the board (or near the BGA) to fall off. This calls for a very accurate temperature control. Of course while all that is happening you hold the IC with a high temperature vacuum pick.

The BGA, once you take it off, needs to be reballed. There are probably about 1,000 solder balls. There are kits sold for this purpose, but the work is very fine and likely requires a microscope. Then you clean the pads under the BGA, wash the board with alcohol, and then you reinstall the BGA - first you position it within 1 mil from its rightful place, and then you reflow the balls. The surface tension will position the IC precisely. Then you put the board into your trusty X-ray machine and take a photo to check that all balls have properly melted, and there are no shorts. All that fun to save $100.

Here are some nice pictures of equipment that is made for this job. These machines start at 10-15 thousand dollars and go up from there; and you need auxiliary equipment and supplies and training. Zephyrtronics offers the cheapest one, starting at only $6K, please see the tech porn here :-)

[onona]

STEPHANIE.....

No Disassemble !!!!

[Tanniker Smith]

I had similar battery issues with an old mac. Turned out that the battery needed to be reset but also the power cord wasn't good any more even though when it was plugged into the laptop the little ring lit up like it was charging.

But I agree with whoever said take it to a shop and have them look at it. Make sures it's the parts before you buy new ones. (Me? I had to buy used parts on ebay because they wanted way too much for new ones.)

[tacticalogic]

I’d try taking out the HD and memory and see if you get different results (beeps, bios access, etc).

[Oztrich Boy]

I turn it on and I get a black screen (desktop icons won't appear) with a blinking cursor in the top left corner of the screen

You are still using MS-DOS?

[ShadowAce]

[buck61]

Use the 50 bucks to buy a new hard drive

Shoot, you don’t need a hard drive if you go with the new Google Chrome.............LOL !!!!!!!! :-) Personally I would not touch Google with a ten foot pole.

[Still Thinking]

You are still using MS-DOS?

Don't go to the dark place...

[oldbill]

You can have it done for $125 plus shipping, $40 more for reballing.

[frithguild]

HP had a batery recall out on dv5000s

[Greysard]

You can have it done for $125 plus shipping

You can buy the whole laptop for $94.

Of course I mentioned the rework just for fun - 99.9(9)% of the sane population of the world will never consider reflowing the BGA solder joints; they wouldn't be able to pull the motherboard out in one piece to begin with. Most people don't even own the necessary set of screwdrivers to open the case; and then there are flex cables everywhere, and fragile, tiny Molex connectors, and often blind mate connectors... no, this is only for geeks. Not that there is anything wrong with that :-)