Talk:Problem with video related system lockup II - Revision history

Brg at 12:13, 2 February 2007

2007-02-02T12:13:45Z

Brg at 16:46, 5 January 2007

2007-01-05T16:46:09Z

Brg at 23:26, 28 December 2006

2006-12-28T23:26:38Z

Brg at 02:13, 21 December 2006

2006-12-21T02:13:30Z

Brg at 13:33, 9 December 2006

2006-12-09T13:33:12Z

Brg at 04:48, 7 December 2006

2006-12-07T04:48:12Z

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My T42 exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion, finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still happens at first bios boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so a new mainboard was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemd like a low success route. I dug around and found a repair house (www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle ball grid array reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the t42 down to the mainboard, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the bga did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate one. I took the board home, reassembled the t42, booted up with no errors, ran the pc-doctor diagnostics which all passed, Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. So far, no glitches in 24 hours of normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back) in the T42's traveling with me to work and back today. So far so good!

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:13, 2 February 2007
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	My T42 (type 2378-EXU) exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion on the graphics chip (an ATI 9600 in a ball grid array (BGA) package), finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still occurred at first BIOS boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so the $$$ for a new system board was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemed like a low probability of success route. I dug around and found a repair house (http://www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle BGA reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the T42 down to the system board, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the BGA solder did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate single half-ball. I took the board back home and reassembled the T42. It booted up with no errors and passed all the pc-doctor diagnostics. I Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. Woohoo! So far, no glitches in ~~a month of~~ normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back).	+	My T42 (type 2378-EXU) exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion on the graphics chip (an ATI 9600 in a ball grid array (BGA) package), finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still occurred at first BIOS boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so the $$$ for a new system board was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemed like a low probability of success route. I dug around and found a repair house (http://www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle BGA reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the T42 down to the system board, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the BGA solder did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate single half-ball. I took the board back home and reassembled the T42. It booted up with no errors and passed all the pc-doctor diagnostics. I Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. Woohoo! So far, no glitches since 12/5/2006 in daily normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back).

	Had the reflow failed, the wisdom at the board house was to get a new system board, as the problem could be a bad connection pretty much anywhere.		Had the reflow failed, the wisdom at the board house was to get a new system board, as the problem could be a bad connection pretty much anywhere.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:46, 5 January 2007
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	My T42 (type 2378-EXU) exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion on the graphics chip (an ATI 9600 in a ball grid array (BGA) package), finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still occurred at first BIOS boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so the $$$ for a new system board was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemed like a low probability of success route. I dug around and found a repair house (http://www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle BGA reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the T42 down to the system board, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the BGA solder did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate single half-ball. I took the board back home and reassembled the T42. It booted up with no errors and passed all the pc-doctor diagnostics. I Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. Woohoo! So far, no glitches in ~~23 days~~ of normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back).	+	My T42 (type 2378-EXU) exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion on the graphics chip (an ATI 9600 in a ball grid array (BGA) package), finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still occurred at first BIOS boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so the $$$ for a new system board was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemed like a low probability of success route. I dug around and found a repair house (http://www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle BGA reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the T42 down to the system board, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the BGA solder did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate single half-ball. I took the board back home and reassembled the T42. It booted up with no errors and passed all the pc-doctor diagnostics. I Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. Woohoo! So far, no glitches in a month of normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back).

	Had the reflow failed, the wisdom at the board house was to get a new system board, as the problem could be a bad connection pretty much anywhere.		Had the reflow failed, the wisdom at the board house was to get a new system board, as the problem could be a bad connection pretty much anywhere.

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:26, 28 December 2006
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	My T42 (type 2378-EXU) exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion on the graphics chip (an ATI 9600 in a ball grid array (BGA) package), finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still occurred at first BIOS boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so the $$$ for a new system board was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemed like a low probability of success route. I dug around and found a repair house (http://www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle BGA reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the T42 down to the system board, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the BGA solder did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate single half-ball. I took the board home and reassembled the T42. It booted up with no errors and passed all the pc-doctor diagnostics. I Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. Woohoo! So far, no glitches in 15 days of normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back). ~~So far so good!~~ Had the reflow failed, the wisdom at the board house was to get a new system board, as the problem could be a bad connection pretty much anywhere.	+	My T42 (type 2378-EXU) exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion on the graphics chip (an ATI 9600 in a ball grid array (BGA) package), finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still occurred at first BIOS boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so the $$$ for a new system board was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemed like a low probability of success route. I dug around and found a repair house (http://www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle BGA reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the T42 down to the system board, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the BGA solder did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate single half-ball. I took the board back home and reassembled the T42. It booted up with no errors and passed all the pc-doctor diagnostics. I Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. Woohoo! So far, no glitches in 23 days of normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back).
		+
		+	Had the reflow failed, the wisdom at the board house was to get a new system board, as the problem could be a bad connection pretty much anywhere.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:13, 21 December 2006
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	My T42 (type 2378-EXU) exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion on the graphics chip (an ATI 9600 in a ball grid array (BGA) package), finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still occurred at first BIOS boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so the $$$ for a new system board was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemed like a low probability of success route. I dug around and found a repair house (http://www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle BGA reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the T42 down to the system board, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the BGA solder did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate single half-ball. I took the board home and reassembled the T42. It booted up with no errors and passed all the pc-doctor diagnostics. I Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. Woohoo! So far, no glitches in 5 days of normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back). So far so good! Had the reflow failed, the wisdom at the board house was to get a new system board, as the problem could be a bad connection pretty much anywhere.	+	My T42 (type 2378-EXU) exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion on the graphics chip (an ATI 9600 in a ball grid array (BGA) package), finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still occurred at first BIOS boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so the $$$ for a new system board was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemed like a low probability of success route. I dug around and found a repair house (http://www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle BGA reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the T42 down to the system board, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the BGA solder did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate single half-ball. I took the board home and reassembled the T42. It booted up with no errors and passed all the pc-doctor diagnostics. I Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. Woohoo! So far, no glitches in 15 days of normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back). So far so good! Had the reflow failed, the wisdom at the board house was to get a new system board, as the problem could be a bad connection pretty much anywhere.

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:33, 9 December 2006
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	My T42 exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion, finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still ~~happens~~ at first ~~bios~~ boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so a new ~~mainboard~~ was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo ~~seemd~~ like a low success route. I dug around and found a repair house (www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle ~~ball grid array~~ reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the ~~t42~~ down to the ~~mainboard~~, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the ~~bga~~ did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate ~~one~~. I took the board home, reassembled the ~~t42,~~ booted up with no errors~~, ran~~ the pc-doctor diagnostics ~~which all passed,~~ Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. So far, no glitches in ~~24 hours~~ of normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back) ~~in the T42's traveling with me to work and back today~~. So far so good!	+	My T42 (type 2378-EXU) exhibited pretty much the problem described in the technostate link discussion - sudden blank screen, hard reboot required to clear up. One long - two short beep POST code sometimes on reboot. Happened more often after warm-up. Screen blanking happened after random flexing of the laptop - lid open/close, twist frame, press or squeeze on palm rest area. After reading the technostate discussion on the graphics chip (an ATI 9600 in a ball grid array (BGA) package), finding a similar discussion about problems with the graphics chip on mac ibooks, and concluding that it was hardware by proving that the problem still occurred at first BIOS boot screen with laptop disassembled as far as possible, I began to look for a solution. Out of warranty, so the $$$ for a new system board was hard to swallow. Heat gun rambo seemed like a low probability of success route. I dug around and found a repair house (http://www.protronics-inc.com) in our area that could handle BGA reflow work. I scheduled a visit, broke the T42 down to the system board, and took it in. They worked on it about an hour (2 x reflow, video scope, xray = $75). On inspection, the BGA solder did look odd on one side, with the balls looking more like two half silver balls squashed together, rather than the more appropriate single half-ball. I took the board home and reassembled the T42. It booted up with no errors and passed all the pc-doctor diagnostics. I Flexed the laptop a bit with no problems. Woohoo! So far, no glitches in 5 days of normal use (boot, suspend, open/close, travel to work & back). So far so good! Had the reflow failed, the wisdom at the board house was to get a new system board, as the problem could be a bad connection pretty much anywhere.