I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
way. Thank you for your time and interest.

wrote:

I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
way. Thank you for your time and interest.

Hi,
First, model of Laptop? Your level of electronics knowledge?
If you're not trolling and serious about it, just replace the mobo.
Hopefully your cpu is in a socket, not permanently soldered in.
eBay is a good place to try for replacement.

Not looking for a replacement, as I already bought a new laptop. My
knowledge of electronics is all software side, I have never worked with
hardware like this before. I am serious about fixing it however. I
have taken most of the case off, a little is left, but I believe with a
few more screws it will come off quite nicely.

The link to my laptops model is:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...odu ct=442915

wrote in message
ups.com...
Not looking for a replacement, as I already bought a new laptop. My
knowledge of electronics is all software side, I have never worked with
hardware like this before. I am serious about fixing it however. I
have taken most of the case off, a little is left, but I believe with a
few more screws it will come off quite nicely.

The link to my laptops model is:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...odu ct=442915


Yeah, like I'm going to click into that link.

Here's what you need to do. Take a framing hammer. Fold the laptop shut.
Lay it on a concrete floor Give it three blows in the center just like you
are nailing home a 16d sinker.

That should fix it for good.

Glad to help.

Reminds me of when I bent about fifty pins while setting a CPU into a
motherboard.

BTW, I did fix it without the use of a hammer.

Steve

You know steve if you aren't interested in helping then don't post, its
as simple as that. Tony thanks for your interest in helping.

wrote in message
oups.com...
You know steve if you aren't interested in helping then don't post, its
as simple as that. Tony thanks for your interest in helping.


Get a short length of appliance power cord and cut about an inch of it off.
Then clean the coating off the traces you cut. Pull some strands of the fine
bare wires out of the 1 inch piece of cord. Use a small soldering iron and
"bridge" the cut traces with the wire. Cut off the excess. Using a decent
solder and some good soldering flux will make this a lot easier. Be sure you
have a good light and a magnifying glass to check your work. Clean the
repair with alcohol to get any remaining flux off. If you're real careful
you can clean the coating off the board and cut the excess fine wire with a
X-acto knife.

Al

wrote in message
oups.com...
You know steve if you aren't interested in helping then don't post, its
as simple as that. Tony thanks for your interest in helping.


Your chances of repairing your motherboard using my method are as good as
any. Probably better. When I got my last laptop, I got the new Circuit
City guarantee that covers ANY damage. I could do the hammer repair method
with MINE, and I would end up with a new laptop that worked perfectly.

I just thought it would work as well with yours.

Please keep us posted as to how those repairs on the microwire circuits are
coming. It will be very interesting. If you are able to repair it, you
should apply at NASA or at least at a major computer company. They will
have you doing A+ repair work at $8 per hour, but I bet they would bump you
up a bit when they see your abilities.

STeve

wrote:

Not looking for a replacement, as I already bought a new laptop. My
knowledge of electronics is all software side, I have never worked with
hardware like this before. I am serious about fixing it however. I
have taken most of the case off, a little is left, but I believe with a
few more screws it will come off quite nicely.

The link to my laptops model is:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...odu ct=442915

Hi,
I don't know specifics of damages suffered. If it's on mobo itself I
never saw/heard anyone repairing them. I know components,ribbon type
flex cables can be replaced but if knife caused a deep scratch across
mobo and cause damage to etch runs, I don't think it is possible to
reconnect them. I can do SMT work, am mil-spec soldering certified in
my working days. But I don't know how to reconnect that hair line size
etch runs. Mobo is multi-layer as well. Not just double side.
How about a few pictures to show the damage.

better to buy a used identical unit and move the hard drive, sorry this
is one that cant be fixed for a resonable amount of $$, or get a new
motherboard.

wrote:

I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated.

If you want help, you have to fess up to why you would intentionally take a
knife to a laptop. Otherwise we can't help you.

No one can help you.

Unless you want to help yourself, of course.

How did it make you feel when you were cutting the motherboard?

Were you having any feelings about your own Mother at that point?

Steve

Big Al wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
You know steve if you aren't interested in helping then don't post, its
as simple as that. Tony thanks for your interest in helping.


Get a short length of appliance power cord and cut about an inch of it off.
Then clean the coating off the traces you cut. Pull some strands of the fine
bare wires out of the 1 inch piece of cord. Use a small soldering iron and
"bridge" the cut traces with the wire. Cut off the excess. Using a decent
solder and some good soldering flux will make this a lot easier. Be sure you
have a good light and a magnifying glass to check your work. Clean the
repair with alcohol to get any remaining flux off. If you're real careful
you can clean the coating off the board and cut the excess fine wire with a
X-acto knife.

Al
Yes I have repaired things like this. Depends on how much damage you've
done, how big the gaps are, how patient you are.
My method is like the above poster. I would add: I use a silver bearing
solder (if it's really fine I "draw down" the solder), extremely fine
tip, temperature controlled iron, I also try to stagger the repairs
soldering micro traces that are adjacent to each other will send you to
the funny farm. If you can't do that you can do micro wires point to
bridge the damage at a different point on the trace. I also have an
free arm magnifier. One like the dentist uses or micro surgeons use
would be indispensable.
Richard

Mys Terry wrote:
On 16 Feb 2006 20:42:57 -0800, wrote:


I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
way. Thank you for your time and interest.


Chances are excellent from the little description you give that the board will
not be repairable by you or anyone else, regardless of skill level or equipment.
The reason is that the runs are not just on the surface. You have no doubt
nicked traces in other layers of the board. It doesn't take much! Can't be
repaired. Simple as that.

If you need this laptop to work again, your only hope is to find another of the
same model on Ebay with a bad hard drive or screen for very cheap, and swap out
the board.


Mys Terry


I've replaced soldered-on components on a laptop motherboard before. It
was kind of scary, but not all that hard to do. The hardest part was
getting to the mobo.

There's no harm in trying to bridge the cut traces to fix it; if it
doesn't work he can try to find another working system with a broken
screen etc. to strip for parts. That's often cheaper than buying a new
part, and he gets a spare keyboard and stuff out of the deal.

Bob

I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
way. Thank you for your time and interest.


If the only thing you cut was solder-traces on the surface, than the
only thing you should need is a soldering iron, more solder, and
thorazine. If you hit any components, even just the pins, you should
replace the entire component.

"Mys Terry" wrote

I agree there is no harm in trying, but there is also no (ZERO) hope
it will be successful. It's a wasted effort. That's why I suggested he
simply go for the solution that will work.


Like running over it with his Toyota, and taking it back for the damage
replacement guarantee.

Steve

wrote:
I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
way. Thank you for your time and interest.


If you did not violate the integrity of the pre-preg dielectric material
(this is the material the the copper is etched onto) to the inner
layers, then chances are that it is repairable.

Gluing wires down and trying to solder them is one idea but this is not
structurally sound because theses traces are very fragile. You would
probably create another stress point along the trace and then it would
break there. This is almost next to impossible to do.

If you can follow the trace from both ends and find vias (these are
holes that transition the circuit from one layer to another) you could
attach a wire to these vias and bridge the cut. That might work.
However, you need really thin wire to do this (30 AWG or smaller)

Either method you will need:

A microscope, conductive epoxy, solder mask, an exacto knife and a
steady hand.
Links to these products:
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8331.html
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg...mId=1611780257

This is my preferred method.

First, carefully scrape back the existing solder mask (the green coating
on the board usually but can be some other color) of the existing
circuit trace to expose some good copper, and also the around affected
area where the epoxy will be applied. Be careful not to cut anymore
traces as they are probably bunched tightly together.
Clean with denatured alcohol. Let dry.
Place a small bead of the epoxy using the supplied syringe to bridge the
gap of the cut.
Let dry, then apply the solder mask

This is a tough job and chances are it might not work. You have alot of
variables against you to start.
I have done this before on other types of cards but I had much thicker
traces to deal with. For me, this has worked on 8 mil traces and
larger. Circuit traces on a mobo are typically 4 mils or less, that's
0.004"
Good luck

Ed B

wrote:
I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
way. Thank you for your time and interest.

Depending on the traces that you cut (primarily the speed of signals
sent along those traces) you may not be able to repair them. By adding
additional length/resistance/capacitance to the trace, the repair could
change the way signal travels on the trace. In principle, data
travelling at very high speeds on the repaired traces could be
unreliable. You can go ahead and try if you like, but even if you
repair them correctly, there is no guarantee that the motherboard will
work correctly. Hopefully the traces you cut were low speed or power
traces.

unless he is good at soldering PC boards he is probably better off
finding a local private computer tech and getting his or her opinion.
We have one of those here, my friend nick who has got me out of a
couple jams cheap.

although I never did anything like this.worst was connections pulled
loose and I had no idea where they went

my mom got mad once and smashed a radio I am still looking for one
like it. Today its a collectible model Worth hundreds of bucks!

!!!!!!!!!! I SERIOUSLY SUGGEST THE ORIGINAL POSTER SEEK COUNCLING
OR ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

before something even worse occurs

Ed B wrote:
wrote:

I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
way. Thank you for your time and interest.


If you did not violate the integrity of the pre-preg dielectric material
(this is the material the the copper is etched onto) to the inner
layers, then chances are that it is repairable.

Gluing wires down and trying to solder them is one idea but this is not
structurally sound because theses traces are very fragile. You would
probably create another stress point along the trace and then it would
break there. This is almost next to impossible to do.

If you can follow the trace from both ends and find vias (these are
holes that transition the circuit from one layer to another) you could
attach a wire to these vias and bridge the cut. That might work.
However, you need really thin wire to do this (30 AWG or smaller)

Either method you will need:

A microscope, conductive epoxy, solder mask, an exacto knife and a
steady hand.
Links to these products:
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8331.html
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg...mId=1611780257


This is my preferred method.

First, carefully scrape back the existing solder mask (the green coating
on the board usually but can be some other color) of the existing
circuit trace to expose some good copper, and also the around affected
area where the epoxy will be applied. Be careful not to cut anymore
traces as they are probably bunched tightly together.
Clean with denatured alcohol. Let dry.
Place a small bead of the epoxy using the supplied syringe to bridge the
gap of the cut.
Let dry, then apply the solder mask

This is a tough job and chances are it might not work. You have alot of
variables against you to start.
I have done this before on other types of cards but I had much thicker
traces to deal with. For me, this has worked on 8 mil traces and
larger. Circuit traces on a mobo are typically 4 mils or less, that's
0.004"
Good luck

Ed B


Wirewrap wire work pretty good for making repairs. (Do they still sell
that stuff?)

Bob

"Big Al" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
You know steve if you aren't interested in helping then don't post, its
as simple as that. Tony thanks for your interest in helping.


Get a short length of appliance power cord and cut about an inch of it
off.
Then clean the coating off the traces you cut. Pull some strands of the
fine
bare wires out of the 1 inch piece of cord. Use a small soldering iron and
"bridge" the cut traces with the wire. Cut off the excess. Using a decent
solder and some good soldering flux will make this a lot easier. Be sure
you
have a good light and a magnifying glass to check your work. Clean the
repair with alcohol to get any remaining flux off. If you're real careful
you can clean the coating off the board and cut the excess fine wire with
a
X-acto knife.

Al



Assuming that only top level traces were cut. Many motherboards have 6-12
layers in the PCB. You will not be able to fix inner level traces.

Assuming that no traces had critical timing signals which adding repair
traces will change the impedance and screw up timing thus cause crashes if
it did ever boot again.

Best bet is to try and salvage the LCD display for some kind of project or
desktop monitor.

spudnuty wrote:

Big Al wrote:

wrote in message
groups.com...

You know steve if you aren't interested in helping then don't post, its
as simple as that. Tony thanks for your interest in helping.


Get a short length of appliance power cord and cut about an inch of it off.
Then clean the coating off the traces you cut. Pull some strands of the fine
bare wires out of the 1 inch piece of cord. Use a small soldering iron and
"bridge" the cut traces with the wire. Cut off the excess. Using a decent
solder and some good soldering flux will make this a lot easier. Be sure you
have a good light and a magnifying glass to check your work. Clean the
repair with alcohol to get any remaining flux off. If you're real careful
you can clean the coating off the board and cut the excess fine wire with a
X-acto knife.

Al

Yes I have repaired things like this. Depends on how much damage you've
done, how big the gaps are, how patient you are.
My method is like the above poster. I would add: I use a silver bearing
solder (if it's really fine I "draw down" the solder), extremely fine
tip, temperature controlled iron, I also try to stagger the repairs
soldering micro traces that are adjacent to each other will send you to
the funny farm. If you can't do that you can do micro wires point to
bridge the damage at a different point on the trace. I also have an
free arm magnifier. One like the dentist uses or micro surgeons use
would be indispensable.
Richard

Hi,
We're talking about etch run traces of one fifth of a thousand inch and
up. Even nero surgeon would have trouble soldering them together. One
possibility is jumpering them from adjacent eyelet to eyelet of both sides.

Tony Hwang wrote:
spudnuty wrote:

Big Al wrote:

wrote in message
groups.com...

You know steve if you aren't interested in helping then don't post, its
as simple as that. Tony thanks for your interest in helping.


Get a short length of appliance power cord and cut about an inch of it off.
Then clean the coating off the traces you cut. Pull some strands of the fine
bare wires out of the 1 inch piece of cord. Use a small soldering iron and
"bridge" the cut traces with the wire. Cut off the excess. Using a decent
solder and some good soldering flux will make this a lot easier. Be sure you
have a good light and a magnifying glass to check your work. Clean the
repair with alcohol to get any remaining flux off. If you're real careful
you can clean the coating off the board and cut the excess fine wire with a
X-acto knife.

Al

Yes I have repaired things like this. Depends on how much damage you've
done, how big the gaps are, how patient you are.
My method is like the above poster. I would add: I use a silver bearing
solder (if it's really fine I "draw down" the solder), extremely fine
tip, temperature controlled iron, I also try to stagger the repairs
soldering micro traces that are adjacent to each other will send you to
the funny farm. If you can't do that you can do micro wires point to
bridge the damage at a different point on the trace. I also have an
free arm magnifier. One like the dentist uses or micro surgeons use
would be indispensable.
Richard

Hi,
We're talking about etch run traces of one fifth of a thousand inch and
up. Even nero surgeon would have trouble soldering them together. One
possibility is jumpering them from adjacent eyelet to eyelet of both sides.
There you go .;)
Richard

Why do I continuously hear the sound of a troll reeling in a fish?

Steve

In article . com,
wrote:

- I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
- motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
- up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
- would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
- cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
- lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
- way. Thank you for your time and interest.


I've heard that duct tape can fix just about anything.
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:23:29 -0800, "Steve B"
wrote:

wrote:

I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated.

If you want help, you have to fess up to why you would intentionally take a
knife to a laptop. Otherwise we can't help you.

No one can help you.

Unless you want to help yourself, of course.

How did it make you feel when you were cutting the motherboard?

Were you having any feelings about your own Mother at that point?

I'm afraid he can't read the replies. He's already cut the cables on
his computer. I can't tell you why.

Steve



Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

"mm" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:23:29 -0800, "Steve B"
wrote:

wrote:

I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated.

If you want help, you have to fess up to why you would intentionally take
a
knife to a laptop. Otherwise we can't help you.

No one can help you.

Unless you want to help yourself, of course.

How did it make you feel when you were cutting the motherboard?

Were you having any feelings about your own Mother at that point?

I'm afraid he can't read the replies. He's already cut the cables on
his computer. I can't tell you why.

Steve


Oh, that's right. He cut up his computer, then sent a message with it to
ask how to repair it.

I smell tuna.

Or some kind of fish.

Or maybe something fishy.

Or maybe a troll.

Steve

wrote:
I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
way. Thank you for your time and interest.


typical repair would be to take a small piece of wire and jumper over
the cut traces, soldering it in on either end. You may need to clean
off the solder locations with nail polish remover to get off any
protective coating. Use a hot air gun and not a soldering iron if you can.

--
Thank you,



"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16

Try cutting some masking tape & taping outside the trace for about 1/4" on
either side of the break. Clean the trace as well as you can. Paint on a
little conductive paint or "rear window defroster repair" compound. Have
used this successfully on CPU's & keyboards.

R

wrote in message
ups.com...
I took a knife to my laptop and cut several circuits on my laptop's
motherboard for reasons which will not be stated. I now want to fix it
up, but I don't know where to start. What materials do I need, and how
would I go about fixing these circuits. I know exactly where I made my
cuts, and I was thinking I could take some copper wire or something and
lay it down, maybe solder it on? But, I don't know if this is the best
way. Thank you for your time and interest.