[dundee] thinkpad t43 -

[Lee Hughes]

okay,

somebody has given me a thinkpad to repair, and it's certainly a weird problem.

it's a thinkpad t43, and a works fine apart from now and the the machine will freeze, and lockup. However applying pressure to the left or right palm rest, the machine springs into life again. Linux just pauses, and the springs right back into life again without problem :-). It's a cool effect. but annoying.

after dissassembly I've found the following.

The t43 case is flismy, it's allows the mainboard to flex, I believe there is a 
hairline fracture in the boardsomewhere, obviously this get worse as the
machine heats up (and the solder 'moves').

I've read about a similar effect with the video card, however, I don't get
any gfx corruption , so it kinda rules out that. however I don't really
want to do this without confirming this.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=386104

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oVxGGPdkbc

however, I think my problems maybe todo with the RTC / Crystal Generators,

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=65247

I do get lots of RTC errors in the kernel log.

so, what I am asking for?, well ... I thought you'd be interrested in reflowing,
and BGA which is a interesting process. The flexing problem in the T range of thinkpads is well documented. 
However, levono refuses to fix them out of warranty. shame.

If you have Broken t4x laying around  with a good mainboard, then I'd
be interested. Keep you eye's peeled for one, or could recommend a good
laptop repairer in the uk.

in the meantime, any know a good way of detecting hairline fractures in laptops!
 
in motherboards? also this electronics stuff is interesting.

Looks like another laptop to landfill otherwise. :-(

Cheers,
Lee










      
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