Now closed.

[beeblebrox]

I eventually received a small quantity of DMF - in the UK suppliers will only sell to bona fide businesses - and I can confirm that it does dissolve the clear epoxy found on T42 and T43 graphics chips.

However it's a very slow process. Robbyrobot said that it would take an hour for it to soften enough to scrape it away, and it takes at least that amount of time, but it does do the job.

To assist with this I found a UK company who sell very fine scalpel saw blades and these would help a lot too (this is compared to the "standard" scalpel non-serrated blade).

Details here. The item is "Blade Saw Cut Very Fine " Part No. TK10059 and fits a no. 3 scalpel handle.

Hi Nick,
good news then in the end. The "Attack Dissolver" is not being sold in Europe and can not be shipped by air (dangerous liquid).
The red epoxy beads were exactly the problem I had with the T42 boards, they were too hard to be cut with a scalpel. The brown beads were no problem.
Quick Question to you:
what exactly did you ask your pharmacist? The chemical formula, and can you get a small bottle like 5ml without problems?
Did the local police show up for questioning you, afterwards?

Beeblebrox

[poshgeordie]

what exactly did you ask your pharmacist? The chemical formula, and can you get a small bottle like 5ml without problems?
Did the local police show up for questioning you, afterwards?

Beeblebrox

First of all I had to be 'introduced' by a go between who told me to wait for the Pharmacist on a park bench wearing a red carnation.

After many clandestine meetings he eventually agreed to sell me 'The Chemical' and gave it to me disguised as a bottle of wine inside a brown paper bag.

As for the police....after I was arrested and questioned until I'd spilt all the beans, I appeared before the judge, and I am awaiting the outcome of my appeal to my 10 year prison sentence

Seriously though, the smallest amount I found was 250ml but the usual quantity from other suppliers was 1ltr (and expensive too). I bought the chemical from AlfaAesar with details here.

[Utwig]

I'd like to have my T42p reflown. I have had a friend take it to London, since it will be cheaper to ship / deliver it from there.

The problem I experienced was (regardless of OS) after about 10-15 minutes of running, the graphics would start to corrupt, so it's most likely GPU BGA problem.

I want to know where to send it, how to send it, how to pay for reflow? The laptop is not stripped down but is without battery, HDD and optical drive.

I'd also like to know if it's possible to have it done by end of September.

[poshgeordie]

I'd like to have my T42p reflown. I have had a friend take it to London, since it will be cheaper to ship / deliver it from there.

The problem I experienced was (regardless of OS) after about 10-15 minutes of running, the graphics would start to corrupt, so it's most likely GPU BGA problem.

I want to know where to send it, how to send it, how to pay for reflow? The laptop is not stripped down but is without battery, HDD and optical drive.

I'd also like to know if it's possible to have it done by end of September.

Hi

I've sent you a reply - please check your emails.

[billsy]

Hi Nick

I have a T43 which keeps freezing. I have opened it up to see where the problem is. The TP comes back to life when I press on the graphics chip and the southbridge chip so its hard to tell which chip requires reflowing. It's probably the graphics chip to be honest. Would you be able to isolate the problem? Do you test after your work?

If I send it to you stripped, to what level do I need to strip it? I can do it easy enough.

Many thanks

Chris

P.S. I sent you an email but it was bounced back

[poshgeordie]

Hi Chris

Sorry that you had a problem with my email address.

I've just sent you a PM.

Best regards

Nick

[Beaver]

Hi Nick. I sent you PM, but no response yet

[poshgeordie]

Hi Beaver - big apologies for not replying earlier to your PM - I've just sent one back to you.

Best wishes for the Christmas season.

Nick

[poshgeordie]

10% off all repairs during January 2010!

(This excludes return carriage costs.)

[malnitz]

Hi

What do you charge for:

T30 memory slot resoldering.

PC is located in Denmark.

Malnitz

[poshgeordie]

Hi

What do you charge for:

T30 memory slot resoldering.

PC is located in Denmark.

Malnitz

Hi and welcome to the forums.

PM sent

Best regards

Nick

[roadrunner79]

Hi,

I have two T41 with the same problem: GPU needs resoldering. I can send you both motherboards stripped. From these two MB's I want at least to make a working one (it's up to you which one).
Can you tell me how much it will cost all this "fun"?

PC's located in Romania.

Thanks.

[poshgeordie]

Hi Roadrunner and welcome to the forums.

I should be able to reflow both boards for you. I'll send you a proper quotation tomorrow when I'm in work.

Could you please email me on nick@reflowrepairs.com so I can send you a proper quotation. It's easier for us to talk by email than through these forums.

Best regards

Nick

[ASA]

To all

I am so glad I 'Googled' the screen freeze issue and found this forum and especially Nick's Reflow service.

The problem was with my wifes ThinkpadT42 a very much loved laptop as it's never given us problems, but when it started freezing and getting the blank screen I thought we would have to bin it. I contacted Nick just before Christmas and he promptly replied and had the Laptop repaired and back to me in a couple of days. Unfortunaltey upon starting the laptop it showed no signs of improvement.

I must add here that it had taken the courier company 3 days to get the laptop to me once it reached the local depot, due to crap drivers that cannot follow satnavs or a roadmap map, I'm in no doubt that having the laptop sit in freezing conditions did not help!!

I then contacted Nick who although on holiday over the xmas period, responded to my email and I sent the laptop back to him and again it was fixed and sent back within days. I'm happy to report that the wifes New Year present is a loving laptop restored to its forma glory!

In Short..Nick has been:-
Very Polite
Very Professional
Very Fast

I'm happy to recommend his Reflow service.

In the kindest possible way I hope not to have to use him again but should I need a reflow...I know who to call!

Hope your business continues to grow and all the best for 2010.
Amrik

[poshgeordie]

Hi Amrik and welcome to the forums!

Many thanks indeed for your testimony which is very much appreciated.

As you say, I also hope you don't have to contact me again, but since you're now a fully paid up Thinkpad Forums member maybe our path's will cross elsewhere in the forums.

It's been great meeting you and please pass my regards onto your wife.

Nick

[onehead]

Hi,

somebody has asked already before but I could not find your answer - or just missed it - about the process. Is this "just" a reflow or you actually remove the chip and reball it.

Cheers

[poshgeordie]

Hi,

somebody has asked already before but I could not find your answer - or just missed it - about the process. Is this "just" a reflow or you actually remove the chip and reball it.

Cheers

Up until now I've been reflowing - ie leaving the chip on the board and resoldering it.

However I'll be starting to reball within the next couple of weeks, and am finalising the process and getting the last of the equipment needed.

Watch this topic for an announcement.

[The_Highwayman]

Hi Nick,

I have a T40 that needs your attention, email sent

It's fantastic that there is some one in the UK doing this!

Cheers

JH

[poshgeordie]

Hi Nick,

I have a T40 that needs your attention, email sent

It's fantastic that there is some one in the UK doing this!

Cheers

JH

Hi JH and welcome to the forums.

Could you possibly send me an email to nick@reflowrepairs.com and I'll be happy to send you a quotation which will also have my address details etc.

Please could you also let me know if you are classed as living in the Highlands and Islands as well.

Best regards

Nick

[pwnsweet]

Hi,

I have an unusual request. I noticed you can perform GPU BGA reflowing. I was wondering if it would be within your ability to remove a SL9300 Core 2 Duo CPU (BGA956 'socket') from an X200T and replace it with a SL9600 (same 'pin count') and how much this sort of service would cost?

[poshgeordie]

Hi,

I have an unusual request. I noticed you can perform GPU BGA reflowing. I was wondering if it would be within your ability to remove a SL9300 Core 2 Duo CPU (BGA956 'socket') from an X200T and replace it with a SL9600 (same 'pin count') and how much this sort of service would cost?

Welcome to the forums and many thanks for your message.

It's certainly something we could do, but is not something we'd want to do.

We are now reballing and placing chips back onto the motherboard, but it's a process that has an outside chance of damage to the motherboard.

We work on faulty or non working boards, and the risk of damage is therefore worth taking. Since you are wanting a CPU upgrade on an existing working board it's not something we'd want to risk.

On the other hand if you're prepared to accept the risk we'll be happy to do it for you....

Best regards

Nick

[boac69]

A big thank you to Nick! as he has saved my T43p.

I had a problem with the graphic chip which required pressure on it to work without freezing up. Nick preformed his reflow magic and all was well for a while then the problem returned, this time it turned out to be the Southbridge chip which needed pressure on it to allow the HD to load. Nick reflowed this chip very quickly and I am very happy that my ex corprate machine has has its life extended and continues to meets my computer needs.

It gives me great pleasure to recommend Reflowrepairs to all readers as he will be my first stop for advice and any future work I may need.

Good luck with the reballing project!

[poshgeordie]

A big thank you to Nick! as he has saved my T43p.

I had a problem with the graphic chip which required pressure on it to work without freezing up. Nick preformed his reflow magic and all was well for a while then the problem returned, this time it turned out to be the Southbridge chip which needed pressure on it to allow the HD to load. Nick reflowed this chip very quickly and I am very happy that my ex corprate machine has has its life extended and continues to meets my computer needs.

It gives me great pleasure to recommend Reflowrepairs to all readers as he will be first stop for advice and any future work I may need.

Good luck with the reballing project!

Hi Graeme and many thanks for your kind words which are much appreciated and very encouraging too.

I've been finding that almost all T43-p's which have come in for GPU reflowing also need the Southbridge to be done as well - in fact we've just had such a one in today.

As a result of this I would strongly suggest that anyone wanting to send in a T43 for the graphics chip repair also ask for the Southbridge to be done as well.
I'm working out an all in one price which I think will be 1.5 times the price of one chip, but I'll confirm this on the front page.

An update on reballing - we are now reballing Southbridge chips and are starting to do ATI Radeon 7500 graphics chips (the non-metallic topped GPU's).

We are also expecting to start reballing ATI X300 chips as fitted to T43 models in the next week or so.

Regarding reflowing versus reballing, at the moment we will only reball where it's needed, however I'll welcome any discussion on this as to what people would prefer. Reballing is more expensive and not always necessary but does give peace of mind.

Let me know what you think.

[poshgeordie]

I'm pleased to announce the folowing services:

• We are now reballing chips.
  
  We have added T61-p's to the list of known Thinkpads which are prone to unsoldered chips
  
  We have a a new "Two Chips" reflowing price.

See the main thread for details.

[Beaver]

Just got my T40p from DHL. Laptop is working great, no more problems with GPU if it's moved and also no more messages for USB device "this device can perform faster".

I can only RECOMMEND the Reflow Repair service

[poshgeordie]

Hi Beaver and really pleased to hear that, and many thanks for the encouraging words too!

[MTyn]

Same here. My T40p is working really great after it went to Reflow Repairs.

Very fast replys, clear and nice communication too.
This is an address you can really trust your Thinkpad to!!.

Thanks Nick

[poshgeordie]

Hi Martijn

Thank you for your kind words.

Its always great when not only do you enjoy your job but you meet pleasant and interesting people along the way too!

Kind regards

Nick

[crashnburn]

Can you replace one Graphics chip with another? A completely different Video Chip?

[poshgeordie]

Can you replace one Graphics chip with another? A completely different Video Chip?

The short answer is no because generally the motherboard track pads are different for the different graphics chips.

Having said that, the ATI Radeon Mobile 7500 (as used on many of the T4x range) and one of the other ATI Radeon Mobile chips as used on some T4x models (sorry cannot remember which off the top of my head) do have the same motherboard track pad layouts, but it's quite possible there are other component changes elsewhere on the board (e.g.to make sure clocks on the other GPU run at the right speed etc).

Also on the T43 you cannot exchange an existing ATI X300 GPU chip for the (better) Intel GPU chip as is used on some variants - the two boards are completely different.

Easiest thing to do is to change the motherboard rather than the GPU chip!

Sorry for the delay in replying - just got back from holiday...