t61p wont boot, black screen, no beeps.

[pollack]

If I instead buy a replacement mobo, is there a way to determine if it has the revised/updated gpu?

[TuuS]

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pollack wrote:
If I instead buy a replacement mobo, is there a way to determine if it has the revised/updated gpu?

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There is lots of debate over that subject, but the best evidence is that there are ways to prove it's bad, if the gpu was produce before the new design was first made, and ways to suspect it may be good, if it's date is similar to other good ones, but the only way to know for sure according to Lenovo, and the best data I've seen, is to checks it's serial number to make sure it matches the lable of a laptop with a production date of 08/08 or newer.

Anything else is speculation in my opinion.

However, if a chip has a date of 2009, or newer, then it was replaced, so the chip would be good.

Personally, I'd prefer an untouched original board with a good gpu over one that's been rechipped, the heat from the repair process is very stressful and I've seen these boards fail in other ways, although I don't have any data on failure rates.

[TuuS]

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lead_org wrote:

There are cheap Infra red reheat station that costs 300 to 500 dollars 

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I would suspect a board repaired on one of those has a very high probabability of being damaged, perhaps severely in colateral locations. These boards weren't designed to be serviced like this, if they were, the chip would be socketed, not soldered, like the CPU is. 

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

I would suspect a board repaired on one of those has a very high probabability of being damaged, perhaps severely in colateral locations. These boards weren't designed to be serviced like this, if they were, the chip would be socketed, not soldered, like the CPU is. 

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AFAIK, that is how Lenovo services their faulty motherboard too. It is not perfect, but Lenovo don't have that many new boards with late production Nvidia GPU. 

The purpose of that post is to show how it is done, i am not saying that is what the end users should be doing. 

P.S. Reballing of the GPU has also been done on the T4x motherboard, i guess this process is no different to that. 

[TuuS]

@lead-org, I agree it's how it's done. What I meant is doing it on a $500 machine will likley damage the board. I'm sure Lenovo has a $30,000 machine and temperatures are controlled precisely, preventing collateral damage. My post was to caution members that they don't want to go with the cheapest solution if they are going to get a board rechipped. ps. your explanation of the work was accurate as always my friend.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

i am not sure why people would fix a 300 dollars laptop with a 500 dollars machine, the investment just doesn't make sense for a machine of such age. 

[TuuS]

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lead_org wrote:
i am not sure why people would fix a 300 dollar laptop with a 500 dollars machine, the investment just doesn't make sense.

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It's the guy that fixes hundreds of them with his $500 machine that puts them on the market advertised as quality remanufactured that we have to be careful of. There are many of these companies that pop up and advertise the repairs, stay in business until things go wrong, then they vanish and reappear under a different name. 

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

The person whom invests in a 500 dollars reheat machine, probably is not going to spend tens and thousands of dollars getting a batch of expensive Nvidia GPU either.

I guess the purpose of these threads are to inform people about range of possibility for repairing the T61p and T61 with faulty Nvidia GPU. Every choice will have their intrinsic risk and cost investment associated with it, it is best that they make an informed decision based on all the possible options (including getting a new laptop).

[pollack]

The purpose I was seeking was a way to repair a T61P that made financial sense in comparison to the cost of a new laptop.  From a lot of searching and reading it basically comes down to finding a motherboard that matches yours for a good price and swapping it out.  Instructions on what motherboard is the right one and how to safely remove and replace is the key ingredient.

[TuuS]

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pollack wrote:

The purpose I was seeking was a way to repair a T61P that made financial sense in comparison to the cost of a new laptop.  From a lot of searching and reading it basically comes down to finding a motherboard that matches yours for a good price and swapping it out.  Instructions on what motherboard is the right one and how to safely remove and replace is the key ingredient.

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Agreed, you hit the nail on the head. The main reason I always buy thinkpads is I know by the time the warrant expires, I won't need it anymore because there will be a surplus of used systems and used parts.

Out of all the thinkpads I've owned, I can't really complain that one of them ended up needing a system board after almost 4 years.