Taxing my patience: CF-52 Crash

O.k. it's a play on words but at 0100 (1 o'clock am) my CF-52GUNBR2M crashed...while I was working on a tax document. Literally it froze. I hard booted it,(pulled battery) waited a bit and re-started, was successful and scraped all the Open Office files onto a SD card. Then pulled the drive and installed it in a Mark1 CF-30. The drive works fine.
No fan.after re-start
So thinking heat was the original problem causing the freeze. The fan was cycling on and off quite a bit getting ready to fail I suspect. Where to start.

Comments?

Thank you,

Jeff

 

Problem with the heat! It will also solve by a heat,

Reflow the GPU card at 450 deg. for I say 3minutes.

I am quite succesful on doing this from Hp, tosh.tba, sorry(sony) and even Xbox.



ohlip

 

Ah, that's where the funny colors were coming from when shutting down. This unit was in the water at one time and the whole thing could stand a good bake.

 

If you don't have a reflow station like me you can try the "oven trick". I have done this on a Alienware M5550-R3 on the removable video card. It lasted three months. I haven't done it to it again because I would like to send it out to someone and have a good IR job done on it. Lasts lots longer.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/385973-how-repair-your-dead-graphics-card-your-alienware.html
That is the thread I used as a guide line.

The reason I have found out this happens more and more on newer machines is that they don't use any lead anymore in the solder. So after several heating and cooling cycles the newer type solder will crack. Over time these solder in side the circut board are routed like wires then the "wires" break altogether, resulting in failed parts.

 

About 2 years ago my video card went in my XPS so I check out youtube and it showed how to fix it. I thought they were nuts but I had nothing to lose...Dell wanted a little over $500.00 for a new one so I cooked it...that was almost 2 years ago and its still going strong.

 

A little update here.
First off the CF-52GUN Touchscreen will not plug into a CF-52GC.

The antenna connectors BT and WWAN on the board next to the left fan......they forgot to put lead in the solder. I very carefully dis-connected three of them now. That's two different boards. The whole socket thing came loose from the WWAN board. Tricky to re-solder.

So if they have bad solder how about the rest of the unit.

I put all the pieces back together after the screen change test and am amping(nerving) up to try the shake and bake method.
The issue to be clear is that the fans don't work and the unit heats up and freezes up.

Waiting to remember to get a can of air. Then I'll pull the board and try the oven method. The air is to blow the crud away from when the unit was immersed. Panasonic wrote it off an non repairable....but what can they know.
I better cook the replacement WWAN board too.

Jeff....soups on...

 

Sadlmkr, master chef!...Driller

 

The threat of baking worked. That or my purchase of a hot air re-work station.

That and changing out the mis-matched ram. My CF-52GUN is up and running again. Running cooler and the fan works.

Jeff....shrugs....shakes head and looks for something else to tinker with...

 

This system just hasn't been cleaned properly or enough. You are having far too many problems with this system. I would suggest you run over to RadioShack and pick up some cleaner here Precision Electronics Cleaner - RadioShack.com , some 90% or better alcohol(isopropyl or denatured) and some "acid brushes" like here Amazon.com: Acid Brush 72 pcs. by Peachtree Woodworking PW1181: Home Improvement Once you find those brushes, cut most of the bristles off leaving maybe 1/2" or less. Doing this makes the bristles not so floppy. Do not use the rubbing alcohol or similar you find at the local stores. That actually has oils and other contaniments in it. Disassemble the system down to the motherboard. You need access to both sides. Use one of the above cleaners and brush and clean every bit of the board. I always start at one side of the board and work to the other. The side I start on I leave elevated higher than the unclean side. You don't want dirty cleaner running over the area you have already cleaned. Pay VERY close attention to any residue you might find. Trust me, you will not see it all especially between IC pins. Scrub every bit of that board paying particular attention to the space between pins of ICs. Do not let the board dry out until you have Gone through it at least twice. You don't necessarily have to use both chemicals but it wouldn't hurt. Next use compressed or canned air to blow off the excess cleaner and to help dry it out. Be very careful because this could cause some blowback of the chemicals into your eyes. Google will help. You are still not done. Ensure the board is completely dry before you apply power.

 

Thanks Rusty. Will do.

Now that it's actually showing a desire to work I'll continue the cleaning process as you say. This computer was under water at some point. Amazing it works at all.

I've done some cleaning of all BUT the mobo. Other than to blow it off.

Jeff...adding to shopping list...