Computer translation, please.

Bechet

Bechet

Messages
10,159
Location
Southampton
Can anyone translate the following for me please - received from the w/shop where my laptop is in for repair.........

just to let you know that i have had a look at your laptop and the fault seems to lie with the motherboard. As your laptop appears to have a gpu we can try and reflow your motherboard and hopefully this will resurrect the system back to working spec. The cost of the repair if successful is £70.

Seems the reflowing guy is not in till tomorrow.

What is 'reflowing a motherboard' apart from taking money from me? Wouldn't £70 buy a new motherboard for a Dell Inspiron 1750 a few years old? More or less, anyway.

Ddoh! Google it and come up with this.
 
Never heard of it, but it's mentioned here:
http://www.computerrepairtips.net/how-to-reflow-a-laptop-motherboard/

Lunatics version here:
http://mr-mediocre.hubpages.com/hub/How-Baking-A-Motherboard-in-the-Oven-Worked-for-Me

so the short version is they are going to stick your laptop motherboard in their NEFF for 5 minutes on regulo 7
 
Yep, it basically means to re-solder connections in the hope that suspected fractured connections will be repaired in the process.

Or as my colleague beside me put it -

"super heat the mother board and rapidly cool it. it melts the mother board with the heat and then when it cools any and all cracks should be gone and connections with in the mobo should be restored"
 
I've done this many times, but only on MacBook Pros. Reflowing the board means stripping the main logic board out of the laptop, removing any plastic bits (or anything that could melt), then baking the board in a 200 C oven for 6-8 minutes. Any longer and the lead/tin solder would completely melt and components would start falling off the logic board.
 
The shop should have a reflow station. The heat can be directed exactly on the components required. I wouldn't pay £70 for a "budget" reflow. The next step after that would be reballing. (Involves removing the processor and all solder. Cleaning and using new solder balls - a much more effective repair)
 
The main problem is that manufacturers are moving away from lead/tin solder to more 'eco' friendly solder which also happens to be more susceptible to either "cold solder" joints or cracked solder joints. The solder is a metal alloy with MUCH lower melting point than the surrounding components and allows metal contacts to be "permanently" bonded while at the same time removing air from the joint to minimize corrosion.
The problem with this newer solder is that after repeated heating/cooling cycles (on/off), the metal fatigues and cracks...breaking the connection.
 
In our throw away world, I'm just surprised that a repair is being attempted. £70 can't be far short of the cost of a new motherboard, surely? It has a good chip of a few years ago, thus as cheap as now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom