Computer not posting

[tazwegion]

Re: Computer not posting

Looks like you scratched the back of the motherboard with the iron too

The type of tip on your soldering iron may be hampering your efforts as well, using a superfine tip will allow you to effectively heat only the area you intend to work on

[gonzo0815]

Re: Computer not posting

Super fine tips will not conduct the heat you need for a proper recapp. I always use a 1.6mm chisel tip and it works well. Only for SMD components, where not that mutch heat is necesary, the finetips are ok.
I usually use some additional resin flux, to make shure, that there is no short if creeping space is small.

[AKBessy]

Re: Computer not posting

Ya, I scratched the board. After trying to desolder and solder and not doing well with it, I decided the board was definitely my training board and I wasn't as careful with it. I didn't scratch it with the iron; when I was trying to heat the hole up after removing the bad cap, I had a metal pick positioned to poke in the hole to try to get a round hole - the pick slipped :-(. I needed just one more hand! I felt really clumsy trying to hold the iron, board and pick at all the same time.

I bought a Weller WTCPT 60w solder station yesterday with some different tips. I looked at the ones with the variable output, but decided I couldn't afford one of those (yet). So, I fool around today and see what the difference is between it and the 45w that I was using. I hope I see a noticeable difference - in my work LOL.

[tazwegion]

Re: Computer not posting

More hands? yup I know what you mean... theres something like twin clamp jaw vice thinga-ma-jiggy getting sold around the place, could be invaluable

60w variable Weller?

*drools*

I just picked up my 48w variable today, I've yet to see what damage I can cause!

[starfury1]

Re: Computer not posting

don't stress too much, it takes a little time to learn.

The meter is a very good brand meter and should serve you well....it helps to know what people are using sometimes.

your solder work will improve but they don't look too bad (bit blurry pic is)
If they are shiny and smooth and look like a volcano they should be ok.

you will know when you solder how well it going to go it should flow, you will get the feel for it

The boards solder joints look dull and that's is how they normally look rework joints wont
there is still fux from solder and that can be removed later...

there is a post somewhere on how to...

You Got a weller...I like my weller have had it for years

If it the later version of mine the tips set the temp think it 3 ranges 6, is low 7 med 8 high temp

7 I think is about 350C 8 is 4XXC cant recall but will look it up
(I get a bit confused with the C & F temps)

As Taz and Gonzo have mention tip type and using the right one for the job helps
go by recommended but dont be afraid to try others and find one you are happy with using for each type of job.

you will find the weller has a more constant temp and not bad recovery time.

Those FETs were in a real pain of a place so you did well considering

Sometime you may find it an idea to remove a component that making it hard but that does depend on a few this

Ok late really got to go

Cheers

Oh yeah Like taz said you will have to find a third hand
something to hold the board still and vertical in some cases

[AKBessy]

Re: Computer not posting

Okay, I just learned something else too when I unpacked this station and started reading the directions. The soldering station is a 60w. The iron itself is a 42w. Well, that wasn't what I wanted - I was aiming for a 60w iron. And now that I am thinking about it, I remember a post here somewhere talking about something of this sort -- maybe willawake had started it? Anyway. So, I guess I will have to shell out a bit more to make sure I get the higher watt iron.

[tazwegion]

Re: Computer not posting

AFAIK the device I was refering to is called 'helping hands' (hobbyist/soldering vice)



There's a DIY (home built) version & guide HERE

[AKBessy]

Re: Computer not posting

How cool - helping hands! LOL. I see there's a few differing styles there, so it's like choose your savior and build it! ;-). Well, we have tons of scrap everything, so I am going to see what we can "design" for our home use. If we make something pretty, I'll post a picture. BTW, the magnifying glass is a MUST! Ha.

[starfury1]

Re: Computer not posting

Yes was going to suggest hubby may help build something to hold pcb's for you.

As to the Iron

If its this station here

Tip temp is set by the type of tip you buy.
Its not wattage so much as tip temp (and type) or more so, how well it maintains it when a pcb is draws heat away from it

There are posts on it here as you said.

My weller does ok but I dont do it everyday with MB so others would be best to advise on that, it works for me with most of what ever I have done with it including MB.

Check out the Test Equipment Usage, Techniques, and Reviews , section for more on irons as well

That said, weller are a good brand but there is better out there but then the $$$ tends to increase.

Heres a site with tip spec Weller tips

hers is my old battered weller here

I should also mention too the tips are iron plate so "never file" them.
(they will waste away real quick if you do)

Gonzo made mention that 60~80W if you are are going to do MB's day in day out

it it has been mention that hotter is better (also you then need to be quicker)

my thoughts are the iron will be ok for the general recapping but if you are going to do it everyday type thing then yeah as gonzo said would probably be the better option.

So leave it open for others comments on this.

cheers Hope it helps

[tazwegion]

Re: Computer not posting

If we make something pretty, I'll post a picture. BTW, the magnifying glass is a MUST! Ha.

If it's NOT PRETTY, please post even more so!

[AKBessy]

Re: Computer not posting

Here's my latest on my recapping project. I got a used, (somebody else) recapped board and installed it. Computer wouldn't boot up still - I was getting the message that the hard drive and CD drive couldn't be found. I took an old hard drive of mine and installed it. The computer would boot up then, but was giving me a low mem message that started with "Windows NT has found only 447k of low memory - 512k of low memory is required to run Windows NT." I ended up using a XP boot disk that I downloaded from bootdisk.com; I fdisked and formatted the drive, went to a C: prompt, stuck my os CD in and was able to install the os on my old drive.

I am thinking that the problem after recapping my other board was that the hard drive was bad? Or is the CPU going south? I don't know what device was issuing the low mem message - the hard drive or the CPU? So, anyway ..... Maybe my crappy recap job WAS OK? Now I'll never know. LOL.

As for the original hard drive that was in the system, I had taken it out and installed it as a slave on my system. I was able to see the hard drive contents, so pulled files off of the hard drive. When I took it out of my system, my system started messing up and wouldn't boot, I got the "hard drive not found" message on my computer. What the heck is up? So, after making sure all my physical connections were good, I used my Acronis emergency startup disk and booted the system. I really didn't want to restore, so I took the disk out and rebooted the system and it booted to Windows. I rolled the system back a few days and am running ok now. I scanned for viruses and didn't find any. I don't know what happened. I have put slaves in my system before and taken them out without problems.

Anyway. This is my story and I am sticking to it. LOL.

[tazwegion]

Re: Computer not posting

I did a quick google for Gateway low level memory issues, and seems too common to be a mere coincidence

One rectified the issue by setting BIOS to failsafe setup & enabling "quick boot" in the BIOS options, a little bit of swapping & cleaning RAM was also suggested (Q-tips & pure alcohol I presume)

As fas as that HDD scenerio, sounds like when you restored/rolled back XP you removed any nasty beastie that had installed itself from the other drive, did you scan it before accessing it as a slave?

[AKBessy]

Re: Computer not posting

Hi taz, no I didn't scan the drive before I hooked it up as a slave because I couldn't get the computer it was in to even boot. I wasn't sure if I was even going to be able to access the drive. Well, I installed a brand new hard drive and put a nasty note on the old drive. If my dad wants to take it somewhere and have it tested or fixed, he can - I ain't touching it anymore. ;-)