Fixing a Sager NP8173 motherboard

So a while back I found that my motherboard was malfunctioning. Originally I use to just repeatedly start my laptop until it boots normally, but I decided to go for a different approach.

I used a hair dryer and heat my motherboard...particularly near the GPU. While it was hot enough, I pressed the power button and it started booting immediately. From then on it worked normally.

I have looked on videos of re-flowing the motherboard GPU and I was curious. Is it possible to use flux and attempt to dry it with a Hair Dryer? I don't own one of those heat guns, and I never done this before so I wanted to get some suggestions/opinions here.

Wish I could just get a new PC, but the market isn't great at the moment.

(NOTE: I no longer have warranty on the laptop.)

 

I had to repair a couple cold solder joints on the power jack of my Clevo. They are not high grade PCBs and attempts at reflowing would probably damage the board.

 

It's not the flux that's doing it and you want to be targeted with heat repair where possible

 

So just use Heat?

 

If the solder joint has solder and is cracked you can do that. Ideally you would get some proper leaded solder and redo any weak joints to ensure you don't need to redo it.

 

I am having similar issues with my 8173. Constantly reboots until finally goes into Windows and will immediately restart when trying to play a game but will work fine on the battery. If I start a game on the battery then plug it in, it will restart immediately. I've tested the AC adapter and am getting the correct amount of voltage. So I don't know if there is a power delivery issue on the board or if the GPU is faulty when under full power.

I have been looking for a compatible motherboard but no luck for this model. Hope you get yours fixed!

 

Did you test the output voltage of the PSU at load? A broken PSU can often output the right voltage at no load.

 

The Red Outline in particular is where I am hoping to reflow the GPU/Motherboard, It's the reason why I wondered if I should use Flux around it and then use the heat dryer. (I also notice people use aluminum foil to protect the motherboard except for the particular part where it will heat up.)
The thermal paste looks messy so I'll have to clean that up thoroughly with rubbing alcohol.

- I'll admit I'm nervous about doing, but it's either this, have a dead PC eventually, or buy a new PC with inflated prices.

EDIT: my pic isn't going through so here's the link: https://ibb.co/grD10jK

I had something similar like this back then. My PC couldn't turn on at all even with battery. What I did is just attempted to turn on my PC while plugging/unplugging the connection to the AC. For me it was just dumb luck, but I am uncertain if this will work for you. This Sager model I have works great, but troubleshooting can be weird.

 

use: https://i.ibb.co/109VCvW/Motherboard.jpg not the URL