The A31 adventures – more screen woes

As ThinkPads go, the A31 is a big machine – but I really like it. It was only replaced because of the (well-known) video chip issues – BGA device comes unsoldered, joints unreliable and cause intermittent video problems. ThinkWiki covers this issue in some detail. I tried the aluminium foil mask and heat gun approach but it didn’t make a lot of difference. These days, I find that two or three power cycles, gently thumping the bottom of the A31 about where the CPU and graphics card are, and on occasions removing the battery, will get the machine to start up in correct video mode and stay there all day. Good motherboards for A31s are rare and pricey (even on eBay).

Programming PIC16F877 in PLCC case – continued..

At long last, the more elegant programmer has been completed in a little box (pic to come..). It works well with the ICD2 clone PIC programmer. I have had to reburn the code in the 16F4550 on the programmer twice – XP got the hump and refused to recognise the ICD2 device as a legit. USB device! so the 16F4550 was plugged into a little JDM burner and hooked up serially to WinPic800 which put the right software back..

Now for some 16F877 PLCC hacking!