Karlin High
Member
- Reaction score
- 10
- Location
- Missouri, USA
A client brought in a Compaq Presario F700 laptop that would no longer boot. The client thought it seemed to be video-related, beginning with the screen no longer coming on but still working with an external monitor. Then it began endlessly rebooting itself, and finally wouldn't power up at all. The only sign of life was the charging indicator light. I re-seated everything that was removable in every combination I could think of. Nothing, nothing.
I've read about this problem being related to the Nvidia GPU chip, and various methods for re-flowing its solder. Cardboard templates, aluminum foil, heat lamps, meat thermometers - ugh. I don't imagine that turning out well for my client.
I'm not an electrical engineer and a beginner at soldering, so I diagnosed "dead mainboard." The client chose to have the mainboard replaced, so I bought one (listed as "new") from a laptop parts supplier. I moved the CPU and cooling system from the old board. The CPU got some Arctic Silver 5 thermal grease, per Arctic Silver's instructions. The GPU cooler had a rubber or silicone pad; it looked like it would no longer make contact with the GPU if I removed the pad, so I left the pad on the cooler and put it in place like it was on the old board.
After re-assembly, the computer booted up OK. I ran the "cpuburn" utility to test my thermal grease job; the performance & benchmark utility in Partition Magic showed temps in the 60's C. That's cooler than my Dell at home, so I figured it was OK, and couldn't find any specs to the contrary.
Now, about two and a half days later, my client called and said it's having the same problems as before. Happily, my replacement mainboard is still under warranty.
Does anyone have any other ideas for this problem? Should I go get the cardboard template, aluminum foil, and heat lamp?
I've read about this problem being related to the Nvidia GPU chip, and various methods for re-flowing its solder. Cardboard templates, aluminum foil, heat lamps, meat thermometers - ugh. I don't imagine that turning out well for my client.
I'm not an electrical engineer and a beginner at soldering, so I diagnosed "dead mainboard." The client chose to have the mainboard replaced, so I bought one (listed as "new") from a laptop parts supplier. I moved the CPU and cooling system from the old board. The CPU got some Arctic Silver 5 thermal grease, per Arctic Silver's instructions. The GPU cooler had a rubber or silicone pad; it looked like it would no longer make contact with the GPU if I removed the pad, so I left the pad on the cooler and put it in place like it was on the old board.
After re-assembly, the computer booted up OK. I ran the "cpuburn" utility to test my thermal grease job; the performance & benchmark utility in Partition Magic showed temps in the 60's C. That's cooler than my Dell at home, so I figured it was OK, and couldn't find any specs to the contrary.
Now, about two and a half days later, my client called and said it's having the same problems as before. Happily, my replacement mainboard is still under warranty.
Does anyone have any other ideas for this problem? Should I go get the cardboard template, aluminum foil, and heat lamp?
