I wouldn't want to eat any food out of that oven....
Most (all?) component manufacturers use lead-free solder these days. Lead alloy solders are harder to come by since they're generally only used by hobbyists who find them easier to work with.
Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
211–220 of 390 posts
Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
A T420 with no heat issues whatsoever. [edit] Not a great image but you can see where the vents are on the back and the left hand side on this image: https://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpIDoMt_OkYzjIF9E6... Doesn't matter how far I fold the screen back, the vents aren't blocked by it.
How did you get your T420 to have no heating issues? What processor/GPU combo do you have? I have a T420 and have major heating issues with it playing games. I've tried everything: thinkpad fan control that turns the fan up to 7000RPM, clearing everything out with compressed air, replacing the thermal paste.. After a few years of observations, I think the problem may lie in software.. It seems like when I'm playing g…
I skipped the Nvidia option and use the onboard Intel graphics, because I don't play games on laptops. All laptops get hot when used for gaming. I have a separate desktop for gaming.
Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
#213This is one of the philosophical beefs I've developed against discrete GPU's, particularly in laptops. I've been using 13" unibodies with iGP's (Sandy, Ivy, Hassy vintages) and haven't had any of these problems. Bad stick of RAM, sure, but I blame samsung or whoever their supplier was. But most of the MBP deaths I've heard about from friends have been with AMD/nVidia GPU daughter cards on the 15's. My rMBP 13" also h…
Can you post a link to the picture of the side vents? I thought all rMBP has vents in the screen hinge area. Also does this feature exist on 15" rMBP too?
Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
#214There is an alternate universe where every time he took his computer apart, he skipped the reflow heat stuff and just put it back together... and it worked identically for identical periods of time between failures. I'm not saying it's this universe, I'm just saying there is one out there.
Are you in my living room?
A few months ago I disassembled and cleaned a grape juice damaged MBP. Tried it afterward and no dice. Tried it yesterday on a bored whim and I now have a working MBP with a sticky keyboard. Why? I have no idea.
Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
#215I'll never understand those that insist on doing real work, or gaming, with a laptop. When dealing with a GPU, and especially one made by nvidia, you're battling with the laws of physics. Super hot things make other, nearby things, super hot. Even with proper cooling, nvidia chips overheat and die. Anyone that has had nvidia already knows this. They have a lifetime of a year or two, max. Get a desktop already. At lea…
Not always possible. I can't speak to gaming, but I use a laptop for "real work" almost exclusively. My reason is because I not only write code at home, but often have meetings or go to a coffee shop to do a demo, etc. There's no way I'm carrying a box and monitor to all those places. What I trade for portability is performance and I replace the machine more. I just keep everything important stored online and when my…
real work = putting a load on the CPU, as in making the CPU do work. Your text editor does not count.
In almost every instance of someone using a laptop for heavy CPU work, there is certainly a better, more practical reason to use a desktop. There is no need to sit at a coffee shop and make music, unless you do not have access to a studio or even your parent's garage. Video editing will not be done out in the field. It will, if done professionally, be in a quiet room with the proper equipment. Most of the time, someone that insists that doing either of these is just fine on a laptop, is someone that is young, broke, and doesn't have access to the proper tools for the job. Of course, the person pointing this out will get many downvotes...
Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is awful advice! Losing a smartphone isn't going to ruin me, but it sure would piss me off to have to fork out £500 or whatever because it gets jacked. Similarly, someone could break into my house and clean it out. Not going to ruin me, but I'd rather not have to replace everything. The whole point of insurance is collective risk-spreading. Yes, this means that the majority (by value) of people with insurance wi…
Over time, you're probably paying 2x or 3x in insurance premiums compared with what the loss would be. Consider also the overall effect if you invested the premiums instead of paying them.
This is also nutty. The guy is clearly risk-averse, which means if he did invest he would go for a risk-free rate, which is.... 0.90% right now?
Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wondered that, too. I wonder whether he actually reflowed solder in the oven. Wikipedia gives a sample profile that heats to over 200 degrees Celsius for a minute or so. This uses around 170 degrees Celsius, which is used for preheating in the Wikipedia example. Also, a Google image search gives me reflow heats above 200 degrees for the 5 images I checked. Also "The speed holes worked: The boot chime rang. The scre…
It's possible that he did reflow the board. Consumer ovens usually reach 250C, slightly more when in autoclean mode. Lead-free reflow happens above 250C (normally 255-275C). The whole procedure is wild, though, and I wouldn't recommend trying it out. He was lucky that the board didn't get destroyed. Most SMD components can withstand temperatures above 250C for tens of seconds, not necessarily for nine minutes.
As an anecdata point, mine says it goes to 300. I get 230-250. Bread likes it hot.
Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
#218My early 2011 MBP has had one logic board replaced so far at my own expense a short while after AppleCare expired. This site has been compiling relevant information to those experiencing the same problem, and the #mbp2011 hashtag on Twitter is also a good resource for those affected: http://mbp2011.org/ https://twitter.com/search?q=%23mbp2011
I had one logic board replaced under AppleCare in 2013. It only took a few months before the new logic board exhibited the same GPU/heat problems.
Finally, just a few days ago -- right before Christmas -- it just up and died. Seeing how I didn't want to pay for a new logic board with the same design defect, I just ended up buying a new laptop (and no, it is not a Mac).
My early 2011 MBP was probably the most expensive laptop I've bought in a long time (the most expensive was the Powerbook 170 - oh how I loved the trackball on that thing), and I loved the form factor and expandability. It really bugs me that it died while it was still more than usable in terms of performance.
Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wondered that, too. I wonder whether he actually reflowed solder in the oven. Wikipedia gives a sample profile that heats to over 200 degrees Celsius for a minute or so. This uses around 170 degrees Celsius, which is used for preheating in the Wikipedia example. Also, a Google image search gives me reflow heats above 200 degrees for the 5 images I checked. Also "The speed holes worked: The boot chime rang. The scre…
It's possible that he did reflow the board. Consumer ovens usually reach 250C, slightly more when in autoclean mode. Lead-free reflow happens above 250C (normally 255-275C). The whole procedure is wild, though, and I wouldn't recommend trying it out. He was lucky that the board didn't get destroyed. Most SMD components can withstand temperatures above 250C for tens of seconds, not necessarily for nine minutes.
I'm guessing he put the board in and then started the oven which took a while to preheat. Industrial reflow heats up the board gradually based on the solder paste manufacturer's suggested heat profile or experimentation/trial and error (e.g. when dealing with small pitch BGAs). 250C for even a few minutes would do quite some damage even to the fire retardant laminate and smell horrible.
Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps your unit? I have a T61p still in regular use here and it's never had a heat issue?
Have you got dedicated graphics ? To me the issue was present mostly when gaming, not really during normal use (with the Macbook is the same). It failed me after a few years and sold it for spares.
I believe it has an Nvidia card in it. While I did game on it awhile ago I haven't for several years now. Possibly I haven't pushed the hardware long enough to cause GPU thermal issues to arise.