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Step 1: stop soldering USB-C ports to the boards on your thinkpad line as they are NOT replaceable and will end the entire machine if damaged. That is the afore

by baz00 3y ago

Step 1: stop soldering USB-C ports to the boards on your thinkpad line as they are NOT replaceable and will end the entire machine if damaged. That is the aforementioned T14 gen 3 in the article.

benoliver999 3y ago
Oh it's funny you say that, I have a T495 and one of the USB-C ports has stopped working. Luckily there's another one I can charge from but it really feels like a ticking time bomb.
- baz00 3y ago
  Yeah my ex wife threw something at me and broke the only USB-C on my old T470. Fortunately it has an old charge port.
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    I guess that's part of why she's your ex-wife?
dmbche 3y ago
I don't do a lot of hardware, but they really aren't ? You couldn't remove it and solder another connector in it's place?
- CaveTech 3y ago
  Nope, and it's more and more common. I had to trash a $2k monitor due to faulty USB C connector. They require full board replacement.
  - nicolaslem 3y ago
    Assuming you can find the part "full board replacement" may not be as bad as it sounds for a monitor. Your main point still stands though, ideally a faulty connector shouldn't require to replace anything besides the connector itself.
  - bkallus 3y ago
    What stops you from desoldering the bad connector and soldering on a new one?
    - mschuster91 3y ago
      SMD rework sucks if you're not used to it.
      - baz00 3y ago
        It sucks if you are used to it!
        a96 3y ago
        Not in my experience. But dense SMD connectors with heat sensitive parts and damaged boards more than just suck.
- baz00 3y ago
  Usually no. If you damage the connector it tears the traces off the board irreparably. If it doesn't do that then there are two rows of pins which need to be resoldered. One row is under the connector. It is near impossible to solder those properly without non trivial equipment. Usually if you get a repair they solder only one pair of pins to the board and that means your USB connector only works plugged in one way up. This is one reason amongst many that I'm not a particularly big fan of USB-C
osdril 3y ago
That's wild. Even on my "highly unrepairable" MBA M1 the USB-C ports are very easily replaceable (new board costs $20)
- baz00 3y ago
  Yeah Apple do it right on their machines, at least the laptops. There is no excuse not to do this for other vendors but it costs fractionally more so they push the risk on to the users.

by baz00 3y ago

Step 1: stop soldering USB-C ports to the boards on your thinkpad line as they are NOT replaceable and will end the entire machine if damaged. That is the aforementioned T14 gen 3 in the article.

benoliver999 3y ago

Oh it's funny you say that, I have a T495 and one of the USB-C ports has stopped working. Luckily there's another one I can charge from but it really feels like a ticking time bomb.

baz00 3y ago
Yeah my ex wife threw something at me and broke the only USB-C on my old T470. Fortunately it has an old charge port.
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  I guess that's part of why she's your ex-wife?

dmbche 3y ago

I don't do a lot of hardware, but they really aren't ? You couldn't remove it and solder another connector in it's place?

CaveTech 3y ago
Nope, and it's more and more common. I had to trash a $2k monitor due to faulty USB C connector. They require full board replacement.
- nicolaslem 3y ago
  Assuming you can find the part "full board replacement" may not be as bad as it sounds for a monitor. Your main point still stands though, ideally a faulty connector shouldn't require to replace anything besides the connector itself.
- bkallus 3y ago
  What stops you from desoldering the bad connector and soldering on a new one?
  - mschuster91 3y ago
    SMD rework sucks if you're not used to it.
    - baz00 3y ago
      It sucks if you are used to it!
      - a96 3y ago
        Not in my experience. But dense SMD connectors with heat sensitive parts and damaged boards more than just suck.
baz00 3y ago
Usually no. If you damage the connector it tears the traces off the board irreparably. If it doesn't do that then there are two rows of pins which need to be resoldered. One row is under the connector. It is near impossible to solder those properly without non trivial equipment. Usually if you get a repair they solder only one pair of pins to the board and that means your USB connector only works plugged in one way up. This is one reason amongst many that I'm not a particularly big fan of USB-C

osdril 3y ago

That's wild. Even on my "highly unrepairable" MBA M1 the USB-C ports are very easily replaceable (new board costs $20)

baz00 3y ago
Yeah Apple do it right on their machines, at least the laptops. There is no excuse not to do this for other vendors but it costs fractionally more so they push the risk on to the users.