On Sun, 03 Jul 2005 22:15:49 -0700, alex goldman wrote:
As strange as it may sound, I have a similar problem with my cell phone and
my laptop. I tried to trouble-shoot and isolate the problem(s). Here's what
I found: bending the printed circuits a bit switches the devices from
working to non-working modes, but wiggling any connectors or wires has no
effect. So I'm assuming the problems are with the printed circuits
(mainboard in the laptop).

I can not see any bad contacts or other problems with the naked eye. What is
the most likely cause of such twilight (between working and broken)
symptoms in printed circuits?

Cold solder joint(s). Sometimes undectable to the eye even with
the use of a lens.

Using your "bending" technique to locate the suspect region of board.
Then, use a thin plastic 'probe' to poke at individual solder joints
until you find it -- or, at least better localize where the problem
exists. Then, re-flow solder all the joints in the area.

Google on "cold solder joint" -- _using the quotes in the search arg_

Jonesy
--
Marvin L Jones | jonz | W3DHJ | linux
Pueblo, Colorado | @ | Jonesy | OS/2 __
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