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Tried baking a laptop keyboard at 170 for 12 minutes, it came back to life for 3 days
I read some forum post about reflowing solder on a Dell that had 4 sticky keys, so I pulled the board and put it in my toaster oven at 170. It typed fine for 3 days, then died in the middle of a client's email, and now I have a $140 paperweight and a toaster that smells like flux. Has anyone actually made this trick last longer than a week, or is it just a lucky coin flip every time?
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emeryn8326d ago
Did you use a real thermometer to check the actual temp in that toaster oven? Because those little dials are usually off by 30 degrees or more, so you might have cooked it way hotter than 170. I used to be the guy telling everyone this trick was dumb and dangerous, but then a buddy showed me his revived Thinkpad that's been running 8 months since a bake, so now I'm a believer, as long as you do it right. The catch is the fix only lasts if the cracks in the solder are tiny, and a board with 4 dead keys usually means bigger damage that a bake just papers over for a bit. That's why you got 3 days and he got months, it's not luck so much as how far gone the joints already were.
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