Dell M90 not so new but works great

[rnojonson]

Hi gang, my old Gateway laptop finally died, got a used Dell M90, dual core Centrino, 3 gig Ram, Nvidia graphics and running Ubuntu 11.10 and Gnome 3 desktop. The graphics card is replaceable and is not entirely stable. It is heavy compared to many laptops but packs enough umph to be a desktop machine. Handles all the OSS graphics apps well. I am running Google Sketchup 8 Free version in Wine with no major problems.
My old Wacom Graphire 2 tablet works without jitters, touchpad works fine and the wide 17" screen is great.

The caveat, replacement for graphics card is hard to find and expensive.

[Jaws]

The caveat, replacement for graphics card is hard to find and expensive.

Yeah, ain't that a kick in the crotch? Upgrading an older computer can get too expensive sometimes.

Anyway, nice find on the used laptop.

[rnojonson]

Actually someone gave me two Dell M90's, one for spare parts. The one that worked just died a few days ago and like the spare one the video card went.
After seeing the price of replacing the old card ($56-$100) with another old card, I looked for fixes, LOL. On a fix forum a couple of techie types were saying the Dell engineers recommended baking the card.

The idea was to reflow the solder that may have fractured through normal wear and tare and also poor handling of heat dissipation.

I dismantled both laptops (I am a trained x-spert), cleaned the heat sink gunk off and put both cards each on a foil covered paper plate, using shoulder screws for standoffs. Then I slid them into a preheated oven (not the same one you cook your dinner in) at 386 degrees F (200 C) for 10 minutes. I took them out gingerly, let them cool slowly.

I was skeptical but........added new heat gunk, assembled the whole mess (no extra screws left). First boot was startling, it was better than when I got it. I am still doing the dance of joy. I now have two working M90's. I'm running Mint 13 Maya on one and thinking of putting XP on the other.

[Jaws]

Now that's a story I want to tell my grandchildren.

Bravo on resurrecting said vid cards. Takes a true expert to leap to new heights of cheapness.

Well done, my hat is off to you, sir.

[rnojonson]

Yeah man and thanks,

Dual ovens in the future, video cards and pot pies!

[rnojonson]

A few months down the road and into a new year. The two Dell M90s are still working. The spare unit lasted 2 months before the graphics card went south. The main unit lasted 5 months. Two weeks ago I re-baked the cards. I have to laugh because again they both work like almost new. How long will they last? Still so cool!!!

[Jaws]

So cool, they may last longer than your oven.

BTW, if you're not using your dinner cooking oven, what do you use...

[rnojonson]

LOL, I liked the "easy bake oven", we had one as kids. Making one cookie at a time in a big family was nuts.

At the 737 Gallery and Art Center we have an oven in the kitchen that is not used for food. That is the one I use.

So the word is "Don't try this at home!" It's probably not enough off gassing to poison anybody but if you can smell it in the air, it can't be good for you.