General

[Christian Nelson]

It is very hard to solder surface mount stuff. I do it, but I've been doing this stuff for 10 years, and every now and then I bake something a bit much.

You have to have an iron with a small tip, and you can't heat things up for too long, you have to be quick about it, without leaving cold solder joints.

Not for the beginer even if you do have the capacitors.

Like Jaan said, you can get a replacement board for like $30. The time you spend, and the fact it might not work when you are done isn't worth it.

This stuff is assembled with one big die, and dipped in hot solder by machine. It is extremely hard to do this by hand.

[Wycke]

Originally Posted by Christian Nelson

Like Jaan said, you can get a replacement board for like $30. The time you spend, and the fact it might not work when you are done isn't worth it.

Exactly why I'm buying a new board for her machine. However, if I can get the replacement parts for ~$25 (this place sells reasonably priced kits) and resurrect the board for my own use, then it's worth it. If it doesn't work when I'm done, I can probably turn around and sell the leftover CPU to cover the cost of the caps and I'm not out any money (except what I'm paying for the new replacement board & CPU, which isn't all that bad). I just know if I put some reman or half-assed board in her machine, it will cause me grief down the road. I'd just as soon pay $90 for a new one and be done with it.