On 19 December 2011 22:20, Wayne Stallwood ALUGlist@digimatic.co.uk wrote:
On 19/12/11 14:43, Srdjan Todorovic wrote:
I'm looking at my mum's Acer Aspire 5520 laptop with Kubuntu installed that seems to have strange shutdown problems.
Does gentle flexing of the case make the problem come and go.
Not tried that - see below.
Googling about it does seem this model has the nvidia chipset with the classic RoHS Solder vs BGA chip mounting problems.
It is the model with the nvidia graphics chip.
Oven/Hot Air Gun tricks will only effect a temporary solution I am afraid. A proper repair would require BGA reballing and that requires a reasonable amount of skill and equipment.
That seems too expensive and too involving.
You can check it isn't thermal and at least eliminate that..The fins on laptops can look quite clear but still be well clogged up in the actual fan housing. Remove the HSF assembly..remove the fan assembly from the heatsink and look at where the fan blower meets the fins. Then reassemble with new thermal paste.
Before I got to doing this, I found and followed these instructions:
http://superuser.com/questions/168928/acer-aspire-5520-power-light-blinks-no...
Which seem to have fixed this problem. The laptop has been working for the last 2-ish days without apparent problems. I will be monitoring the situation with the laptop to see if the problem re-appears.
Thanks, Srdjan