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Laptop Care And Maintenance
Kenilworth Computer
Repairs Mobile Computer Maintenance,
Repair, and I.T Desktop Support Services for Kenilworth, Warwick, Royal
Leamington Spa, Rugby, Stratford on Avon, Coventry, Solihull and environs.
One problem that seems to be occurring with all laptops these days is that sudden failure for no apparent reason whatsoever. Yesterday the laptop was fine and today it isn't. There is no display even though the machine appears to be powering up okay.
Kenilworth Computer Solutions of Warwickshire would like to let you in on a little secret. Eventually this will happen to all laptops and the reason is simple.
Over time dust,
the biggest enemy of every piece of electronic equipment, will collect
on the heatsink and fan inside the laptop. This will reduce the
heatsink's ability to cool the laptop properly. It will also cause the
motherboard to become hotter than it would otherwise do so, during
normal use. Whilst the main processor can usually cope with the
additional heat from a dirty cooling system, quite often the graphics
processor or GPU will not.
This will cause
the connections between the graphics chip and the board to become
stressed with many on off power cycles. Eventually the connections will
stress and then break leading to no display or a highly distorted
display.
This was the case with many nVidia
and ATI graphics processors purchased after about 2006. This problem has
been documented extensively elsewhere and dates from the time that lead
was removed from the soldering process, during manufacture, on health
grounds.
nVidia were the first to admit that
there was a "manufacturing problem" back in 2007, although trying to get
a refund out of Curry's, Dixons or PC-World is not going to be easy,
although not impossible either. Check the Sale of Goods Act if this sort of fault occurs within the guarantee or extended guarantee period.
You do not have to accept a repair
you are entitled to a new unit if this is the case. The The goods sold
should be "fit for purpose" for which they are sold.
While not expensive, there are
specialist services who can reconnect the graphics chip to the board.
This is highly specialised work and is often called "reballing" or
"reflowing". If carried out correctly a good result can be obtained and
the laptop will continue to work for many years.
Most laptop repair shops will usually
tell you that you need a new motherboard and will not even bother
enquiring about a "specialist repair" as they do not appear to know much
about it. They would be happier selling you a new laptop for a tiny
profit rather than doing the job properly.
Computer Solutions can provide an external reflow of reballing service, once we have diagnosed that this is indeed the problem.
However a better way of approaching
this situation is to wait until the guarantee on the laptop is due to
end and then book the laptop in with Kenilworth Computer Solutions for a thorough clean out and general service. This will prevent or at least delay the problem occurring in the first place.
