MacBook broken GPU workarounds

[Riccardo Mottola]

Hi,

Ken Cunningham wrote:
> I disassembled my MacBookPro 2,1 and baked the motherboard in the oven for 8 minutes at 350F (IIRC), supported on some pyramids of tinfoil.

Ok, so you tried to fix it... that's what many do.. I attempted once 
(with a heatgun) with an HP laptop and ruined it.
My doubts, with my limited soldering knowledge, are:
- if done with just normal air and especially with an uncontrolled heat, 
there is a lot of oxydation, so you may melt the "balls" but they will 
not properly solder
- you end up heating the whole board, with possible extended damage 
(this is what happened to me with my attempt, I fixed the southbridge 
chip, but broke something else)
- the lead/free temperature is very hing, much higher than classic 
60/40, so 350F shouldn't be enough to be safe.. but at least some 420-430F

https://www.petervis.com/Education/Soldering_Guide_for_Electronics_Students/Soldering_Temperature.html

>
> It worked for another 1.5 years after that, but then died again and that was enough for me.
that's what usually happens, you were lucky it lasted so long!
>
> If I was going to send it somewhere, I would have sent it to "dosdude" who seems to be the one who know the most about this at this point in time. For you, from Italy to the USA and back -- not very cost effective.
>

yes, absolutely prohibitive. Just shipment would be half of the value - 
although most replacement used MacBook Pro'shave video card issues :)

There may be a better software solution, I read that certain people are 
offering it without further details. Essentially, I just need screen 
brightness control and wake-up from sleep. Let's see if somebody else 
chimes in.
Maybe this "dosdude" has a contact and may ask him.


Riccardo