P4: Takes a licking and keeps on... err... sucking.

[coyoteden.livejournal.com]

This lady requested a service call.. her computer was "having a problem" and Gateway said she needed a modem. Well, they shipped it to her under warranty and our PFY arrives on-site to install it... so she hands him a Motherboard w/ pre-mounted P4 chip and heatsink in a static bag.

"Here's the modem they want you to put in"

So he drags the whole thing in the shop... and tries to fix it himself. Oh gods. He tells me the old board is dead, and so is the new one. I was skeptical, but then I take a look at the new board. They shipped it with the P4 and a real mother of a heatsink in place.

Well, I shouldn't say "in place" as the heatsink is nicely skewed and not level at all. Uh oh. I release the heatsink and as I pull it off, it rips the chip right out of it's ZIF socket (err.. it's not quite Zero Insertion Force when the lever is STILL DOWN)

That thermal pad was like glue. I (carefully!) use a knife blade to pry the chip off the bottom of the HSF and... Oh shit. It's cracked. There's a white line across the edge of the PCB and it has separated from the metal of the spreader cap.

So I figure I’ll install the new board with the old chip and heatsink, but first, I fire up the system as is to verify things. it gets a 5V standby light on the board, and when you press the power switch it powers on... but none of the fans spin, the HD is dead...

... 'cause there's no 12V. Go PFY. Go Gateway. One new power supply and it's booting right up.

Now for the freaky part:

I'm a glutton for punishment and addicted to magic smoke, so I take the new board w/ the cracked chip, plop it down on a static mat and wire it up with a good PSU and some RAM. I figure it will be good sacrifice to the computing gods.

Fires right up, integrated video blinks on and it's looking for a hard drive.

Damn. Now that's durable. You can't blow them from overheating and apparently you can't smash them either.

Comments

Junkway

[irishmasms.livejournal.com]

Well, it is a Junkway - what do they expect? ;)

[tjernobyl.livejournal.com]

Friend had a P166 a couple years ago upon which the fan failed. Well, fixing the fan would involve powering it down, which would mean disconnecting from IRC. So, 6 weeks later he gets a new video card and shuts down to upgrade. Tries to pull out the tower to get into the case-- doesn't move. Pulls harder- breaks free; the little rubber feet had melted from the heat transferred. Finds that the chip has physically cracked and he can see the gold conductors stretched across the gap. Boots up again just fine. That's durability!