In message , Calia
writes:
On Mon, 26 May 2014 05:29:51 +0000, Calia wrote:

I will likely try overheating the motherboard

If the overheating of the motherboard doesn't work, is it
feasible to remove the motherboard and somehow, "reflow"
the solder joints?

For example, in this video, a guy removes & replaces
a chip with some sort of brass torch tool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHpeLYb-puw

Is the IC replacement as easy as that video makes it seem?
(Seems to me the chances of getting all the pins lined
up and nothing shorted elsewhere has got to be near zero.)

Yes and no; it takes practice!

Step by step through that video:

melting the solder on the pins of the IC with a hot air blower.
Personally, I'd have some Kapton tape (like the yellow tape visible near
the top of the video around just after 7 minutes in) over the other
small components around: not so much as to keep them in place - if
they're decoupling capacitors, it _might_ not matter too much if they're
lost - as to stop them going off and shorting something else. It's easy
not to detect these almost microscopic components.

Removing the IC. I'm pretty certain there was a skip in the video, as it
seems to disappear by magic - one moment it's there, the next it isn't.
The most important thing is to make sure all the solder is really
melted: if it isn't at just one or two pins, you can pull off tracks
(which are the devil to repair) when you pull the IC off. Ideally it
will just blow away.

Cleaning up the solder pads. That's what he's doing with the solder
braid (the copper woven strip) and soldering iron. Basically, you want
to clean the pads until they're flat, no solder (other than a very thin
flat layer).

Applying solder and replacement chip. It looks like he applied solder
and then reheated it all with the hot air again. I'm sure that can be
made to work; the way I usually do it is manually tack two opposing legs
to hold the chip in place, then go around chasing a blob of solder
around the remaining legs: amazingly, this does work, if the
solder-resist is in reasonably condition. Lining the chip up before
tacking is the difficult bit - doable, just takes patience (and a second
or third try if it moves during the tacking: you just have to groan and
do it, don't go ahead and assume you can fix it after you've soldered
_all_ the legs).

The second half of the video seems to be replacing a surface-mount
connector, by much the same means, though I think he does use tacking
this time.

I'd agree with those expressing doubt as to whether it's worth it, and
try with an external monitor first.

(Also, my own - extremely limited! - experience of laptop repair has
been that cracks - in the solder joints or the PCB tracks around them -
in the vicinity of the power input connector can be the problem: and
lights can still come on, just there isn't enough power getting through
to do anything else. If it gets to a dismantling and possible soldering
activity, I'd reflow the solder around those before anything else: a lot
easier than the finer chips. My experience replacing chips is genuine
[avionics], but not with laptops. And I wouldn't expect to be able to
reflow a ball-grid array.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

he was eventually struck off by the BMA in 1968 for not knowing his gluteus
maximus from his humerus.