Re: HP nx6110 (PT604ET) Laptop - Spares/Repair

Robert Sneddon wrote:

QFP (Quad Flat Pack) can be reflowed, or in extremis resoldered by hand
under a microscope with a soldering iron (we had a couple of geniuses in
the engineering workshops who could do this). With BGA packages the
connections are balls of solder material in an X-Y array on the
underside of the package. When heated the balls deform and make wet
contact with a matching array of pads on the motherboard. Reflow won't
fix problems under the chip package. The first assembly destroys the
integrity of the BGA solder balls meaning the chip can't be reworked,
not without remaking the entire ball array and scrupulously cleaning the
motherboard contact area back to first-assembly standards. This is
something the average repair workshop is not equipped to do, and the
cost in equipment and labour is always going to exceed the cost of a
replacement motherboard, with no guarantee the repair will work or
indeed last any reasonable length of time.

^^^^ Exactly this. I don't doubt there's companies out there who can fix this kind of thing. Someone on the HP forums fixed it by heating up the board with a paint stripping heat gun...!


If they had admitted there was a systemic problem, they would have had
to issue a recall and replace all the laptops, not just the ones that
broke this way. HP decided to wait a couple of years (the typical
lifespan for a business laptop) for the problem to go away. They
repaired the ones returned under warranty and hoped for the best
otherwise.
[snip]
> Only if there is a safety hazard (like Sony's
exploding batteries) will there be a recall of all affected devices.

Yup. There are numerous reports of this on the internet, and many in HP's forums. It's just as Robert said, they waited for the problem to go away.

BTW, just over one day left! If it's as easy to fix as some have suggested, then there's a bargain to be had!

Dave
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