Re: External monitor color problem

From	Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.sys.laptops
Subject	Re: External monitor color problem
Date	2011-11-05 19:50 -0700
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<j94skp$hr4$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	(6 earlier) <j91pvq$fm1$1@dont-email.me> <j91rq3$qib$1@dont-email.me> <j92e34$n2k$1@dont-email.me> <j92vh5$ven$1@dont-email.me> <j94g4q$ds3$1@dont-email.me>

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On 11/5/2011 4:16 PM, ~misfit~ wrote:
> The problem wasn't actually nVidia per-se, rather it was nVidia's
> implementation of the European RoHS lead-free solder. They struggled for the
> first couple of years to find a reliable formulation that could cope with
> varying degrees of mechanical stress across a large soldered
> ball-grid-array. Their early attempts mostly ended with some of the contacts
> at the outer edge of the array where expansion was greatest fracturing,
> causing "GPU failure".

How the heck do you know such details? Were you personally involved with 
them?

> This problem could be ameliorated to a large degree by cooling the laptop
> more than the manufacturer designed, either by tweaking the fan to run
> faster or all of the time. (As it was thermal cycling that caused the
> problem.) The joints would handle it for a certain amount of expansion -
> contraction cycles and then cry "No more!" and fracture. Another way to
> reduce the chances of it happening was / is to keep the laptop on 24/7... Of
> course only any good if you're using it as a desktop replacement.

Actually, I've been very careful in not covering the venting holes and 
even have it sit on one of those cooling platforms with its own fan but 
apparently that did not help much. Maybe it only delayed it as I've been 
seeing similar complaints on the net years before the problem manifested 
itself on my notebook.

> It's my understanding that the problem has largely gone away in more modern
> laptops as better lead-free solders have been found and better assembly
> practices have been developed to compensate for the (bloody stupid) RoHS
> movement. nVidia's problems with it started around ~2007 but (I believe)
> have been solved since around 2010 or so.

Well, I think I got mine in 2008. So that fits. Maybe I don't have to 
give up on NVIDIA for my next purchase the, huh?

> I think that you mean IBM ThinkPads. The last, best ThinkPad made was the
> T60 with a C2D CPU and a 15" 4:3 IPS (FlexView) screen. It's what I use as
> my home machine (using an X32 on the road) and is powerful, rugged and very
> reliable. Later Lenovo-only ThinkPads aren't, as IBM ThinkPads were,
> head-and-shoulders above other laptops.

That was to be expected with Chinese "quality" being built in though 
there still might be some residual IBM quality left in chinese hands. I 
assume that none of the Lenovo work is done in the US anymore.

> I haven't read all of this thread but, if it is the dreaded nVidia /
> RoHS problem then a dock won't help as it's essentially the whole graphics
> daughter-assembly parting company with the motherboard that's the problem.
> Simply using a dock won't fix that.

Oh boy, you sure know how to turn the cold shower on me! I think though 
that I will risk a cheeply bought used docking station before giving up.

> ViDock's are an option if the laptop is to be used solely on a desk.
>
> Oh dear! It seems that they're discontinued:
> http://www.villagetronic.com/vidock/index.html  maybe one can be had from
> ebay?

This is the first time I've heard about it.
>
> Expresscards have a single 2.5GB/sec PCIe 'lane' and can be used for low-end
> graphics solutions, systems that would be on par with what you might find in
> a laptop that's a few years old. These types of cards are quite capable of
> running a couple hi-res monitors but won't turn your laptop into a gaming
> beast. That's what the ViDock did; Took the ExpressCard output and ran it to
> a case containing a PCIe slot and small PSU so that you could run a low to
> midrange graphics card external to your laptop.

I figure at that price I might as well buy a new notebook. This one is 
not worth to much investment.

Thread

External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-01 20:49 -0700
  Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 04:03 -0700
    Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-02 11:09 -0700
      Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 11:17 -0700
      Re: External monitor color problem Bob_Villa <pheeh.zero@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 15:23 -0700
        Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-02 15:58 -0700
          Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-04 11:26 -0700
            Re: External monitor color problem "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-04 17:26 -0500
            Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-04 15:44 -0700
              Re: External monitor color problem "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-04 18:17 -0500
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-04 21:29 -0700
                Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-05 02:25 -0700
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-05 11:26 -0700
                Re: External monitor color problem "~misfit~" <sore_n_happy@nospamyahoo.com.au> - 2011-11-06 12:24 +1300
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-05 19:27 -0700
                Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-06 05:06 -0600
                Re: External monitor color problem "~misfit~" <sore_n_happy@nospamyahoo.com.au> - 2011-11-06 12:16 +1300
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-05 19:50 -0700
                Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-07 07:29 -0600
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-07 12:10 -0800
                Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-07 16:20 -0600
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-10 09:49 -0800
                Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-10 12:49 -0600
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-10 18:32 -0800
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-10 18:34 -0800
                Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-12 09:45 +0000
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-12 11:41 -0800
                Re: External monitor color problem Bert <bert@iphouse.com> - 2011-11-12 19:47 +0000
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-12 14:31 -0800
                Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-13 04:43 +0000
                Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-13 01:25 +0000
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-12 18:57 -0800
                Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-13 04:44 +0000
                Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-10 10:50 -0800
                Re: External monitor color problem wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2011-11-12 09:43 +0000
                Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-12 11:46 -0800
                Re: External monitor color problem mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-11-12 12:42 -0800
        Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-04 11:19 -0700
  Re: External monitor color problem "BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-02 06:10 -0500
    Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-02 10:55 -0700
      Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-06 04:54 -0600
        Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-06 10:29 -0800
          Re: External monitor color problem BillW50 <BillW50@aol.kom> - 2011-11-06 12:48 -0600
  Re: External monitor color problem "Ryan P." <ryannewguy@nogmailjunk.com> - 2011-11-07 20:48 -0600
    Re: External monitor color problem Cameo <cameo@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-08 00:49 -0800
      Re: External monitor color problem "Ryan P." <ryannewguy@nogmailjunk.com> - 2011-11-10 20:03 -0600

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