Problem with Lenovo X1 - screen glitch & freeze

[Askic]

Hello guys,

I have another Lenovo laptop, but this time high performance one, Extreme X1, 8th generation, I7 processor.
The laptop behaves exactly the same like described on the Lenovo forum a few years back.
Here is a link.

At first there was a problem with loud FAN and after disassembly for cleaning, we noticed that battery is slightly swollen. Battery is replaced with a spare one after about a month. The CMOS battery is bad (0.5V), but is not replaced.

Now laptop when manage to start works for a few minutes and totally freeze. After shutdown on power button sometimes enter boot loop, no picture on screen but trying to start judging by the fans. If nothing it touch it can start by itself after few minutes of self trying. I tried to remove HDD and to exchange RAM, but it is something with the motherboard. Sometimes screen glitch and distort picture, even when entering BIOS Setup.

The behavior is exactly like previously described in the Lenovo forum.

Do you have any suggestion about what can be the cause?
Visual inspection didn't reveal anything suspicious.

[mon2]

Re: Problem with Lenovo X1 - screen glitch & freeze

The BIOS screen of the link you shared to me sounds like it is a video ram / video controller fault.

Can you tell if the CPU is heating up and then these issues are visible ?

[Askic]

Re: Problem with Lenovo X1 - screen glitch & freeze

Yes the CPU is heating up, but not overheating, since fans are working, even on max speed when caught in this boot loop.
Most probably is dying GPU. I found one more almost exact problem but on Gen2. It seems that it is some kind of design flaw.
The second case is described here.

[Askic]

Re: Problem with Lenovo X1 - screen glitch & freeze

Hello,
can you please confirm if these chips are actually Video/GPU memory?
I'm thinking to try to reflow these chips hoping it would solve problem with the motherboard.
The motherboard is pretty expensive so, I still didn't give up on this one.

[mcplslg123]

Re: Problem with Lenovo X1 - screen glitch & freeze

Yes, they are gpu vram modules. Be careful while reflowing them.

[Askic]

Re: Problem with Lenovo X1 - screen glitch & freeze

This is my last bet (hope) to fix this. Sometimes laptops starts without problems but freeze even without load. After that usually is in boot loop with fans on max and no picture on screen (screen is not even energized) and sometimes when laptop starts, even in BIOS screen has glitches and strange characters displayed.

So, perhaps some of the RAM chips is loosing contact.
Do you have any recommendation regarding the temperature and duration of reflow?
I would use Amtech flux, 400°C, min air flow 2, medium nozzle, about 1 minute.

[mcplslg123]

Re: Problem with Lenovo X1 - screen glitch & freeze

I dont prefer reflow with hot air gun. If needed i do it with my bga rework station. Atlest it never damages them while reflow with hot air gun is always risky. I'll prefer a little bit lower temp say 350-360 and not more then 40 secs. Dont heat directly on top of the chips, just heat around the chips and if you feel there is significant changes, then perhaps reballing them will be a better idea(obviously with bga rework station and not hot air gun).

[rediii]

Re: Problem with Lenovo X1 - screen glitch & freeze

don't reflow them! they have epoxy underfill, right? the balls will just smash out under the chip...

[Askic]

Re: Problem with Lenovo X1 - screen glitch & freeze

Hello,
sorry for reviving this old thread, but I decided to try once again to fix this laptop.
I didn't do any reflow on the MB and just put this laptop on the shelf.
But, since I have some more free time now, maybe I can try to load new BIOS and try this.
All I can find on this forum is this thread:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...pad+X1+extreme

Can I use this bin file to load to my bios (efi) chip?

Thank you for you advice.