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M7700 Video problems and questions

post #1 of 5
12/13/09 at 12:29pm
Thread Starter 
Well I knew better than to get a m7700 but the price was right and I just love those old beasts.

so here is the problem, video... I knew the video was bad when I bought it but I thought it was just a driver problem since everything looked good you just couldn't turn up the resolution beyond 1024x768. turns out the card was bad.

I bought a card from ztronics.com. I wanted a good card and not something unknown from ebay. the card s a 6800 ultra, the same as what came with it. It worked great great for a few hours then I needed to do a reboot and now I have all kinds of funny characters on the screen, now this sucks.

I'm a electronics tech but I dont have BGA resolder capabilities. I see problems with these video cards like there is no epoxy holding the chips in place. At the temps these cards run at its just a matter of time before the solder joints crack.
I paid 200 for this beast so I'm not to far in the hole. here are the specs.
M7700 rev 5.3, 2G ram, 6800 Ultra, 120G HD w/ RAID (only 1 drive), DVDrw DL, DVD CDRW, 1680x1050 LCD. 1 good battery.

the questions are
1: who repairs these cards at the chip level ?

2: does anybody have the last known bios update from alienware? and does the bois update have the FN+F2 fan full speed option? ( I want to keep the Alienware logo on start up if its possible)

3:are the ATI cards more reliable ?

4: if I want to keep this this thing running is it best to just never turn it on

Thank you for any help here, these forums are awsome.
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post #2 of 5
12/13/09 at 12:51pm
#1 No one does
#2 I do not
#3 They seem to have had less of these issues
#4 Yes

Try baking it in the oven?
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post #3 of 5
12/13/09 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by powerpack View Post
#1 No one does
#2 I do not
#3 They seem to have had less of these issues
#4 Yes

Try baking it in the oven?


Funny, I had already thought of baking it, isnt that what this laptop does

I should buy a rework station for BGA but they aren't cheap.
I have a hot air station I could try on it. I have never done BGA work with hot air before.
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post #4 of 5
12/13/09 at 1:50pm
I have never done but people are putting these Nvidia cards in the oven and cooking to correct. I can only guess that because the heat is even and from all around different than when card is running and heat is generated in a certain area? I know more about the 8xxx problems. Two materials that when heated or more specifically when cooled down in certain way are incompatible. Break the welds.

On the BGA thing? I am not a tech but I thought for the most part impossible to hand solder.
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post #5 of 5
12/13/09 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by powerpack View Post
I have never done but people are putting these Nvidia cards in the oven and cooking to correct. I can only guess that because the heat is even and from all around different than when card is running and heat is generated in a certain area? I know more about the 8xxx problems. Two materials that when heated or more specifically when cooled down in certain way are incompatible. Break the welds.

On the BGA thing? I am not a tech but I thought for the most part impossible to hand solder.

Interesting, I might try cooking the old card when I get a good one from ztronics. how do you keep the components from falling off of the bottom? and at what temp are they going to? I have seen BGA chips hand soldered with air, there a few videos on youtube of people reworking BGA chips.

I do know if the BGA is not glued down you can get solder fractures from heat. They don't flex well. I think they had a similar problem with heat in the Xbox with chips that just needed to be re soldered.

I cant believe that I'm spending so much time on an old laptop... but its so much fun....
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