[PLUG] motherboard repairs

wes plug at the-wes.com
Mon Jul 27 16:08:24 UTC 2009


On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 8:32 AM, Erik Lane <eriklane at gmail.com> wrote:

> I assume by this you mean those IR temperature 'guns' type of thing?
> Those that just have a number? I was thinking that something like that
> wouldn't give you the resolution that a camera would by being able to
> see the whole picture. I guess you just wave the thing around looking
> for hot spots? I'll see if I can get one before I completely give up
> on it.
>

You are correct, that is what I'm talking about. If price is a concern, you
can feel free to buy one, use it, and bring it to me, and I will buy it from
you. It'll be just like if I loaned it to you. :)

I've played with it some more now. I've had it running DSL and it had
> problems, so that takes both the wireless card and the hard drive out
> of the picture, right? (Or does it use the hard drive for swap or
> something similar? From their homepage it doesn't look like it.) If
> neither of those is bad then it's either the fans or something
> expensive, right? There's not a whole lot in there to go wrong except
> stuff on the motherboard and processor. When it failed for me last
> night it was after only a couple minutes, and before the computer even
> finished booting. (It failed multiple times, but never quite got to a
> usable desktop.) The air coming out of the fan ports, as well as the
> whole laptop was not hot at all. This leads me to believe that it
> isn't a fan problem.
>

A peripheral can cause problems even if it's not being used. The only way to
truly eliminate that specific component, is to disconnect it completely.

What you're describing is sounding less and less like a heat issue. But
again, the only way to know for sure is to check.

Unless anyone has a strong feeling otherwise, it looks to me like this
> is headed to be a parts laptop for my father, who has an identical
> one. I'll still play with it a little with an IR sensor, but I'm not
> very optimistic about getting it going again.
>

That's how I do it... when one breaks, I get another one of the same model
and have spare parts. I have had a lot of luck that way.

Also, I'll take this opportunity to praise Dell's Latitude D800 for being an
especially durable, good performing machine. They can be had relatively
cheaply now, and as long as you are not trying to play tomorrow's
graphics-intensive games on full settings, should keep up with most common
demands. It did play Doom 3 on full settings without a problem. Also, Linux
seems to support all the hardware without issue. It's very durable, as I am
generally rough on my equipment and this model holds up really well. I am on
my second chassis, on the lookout for my third. Best of all? The video card
is separate from the motherboard, which makes for a much cheaper repair if
that particular thing goes (which it does).

-wes



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