Board works when slightly bent

[edvosder]

Dell Inspiron 4150 laptop motherboard-

I've had quite a bit of trouble with this baord, but it works intermittently, and i'm determined to fix the **** thing. I found 2 blown components on the motherboard, so i bought another bad dell inspiron 4150 board, and moved the componets over and resoldered them. Now, it once again works intermittently. However, I found that if i bend the board, it will work every time, and if i leave it flat, it's intermittent. I've had this problem before and finally found it was a few cracked solder joints, but i'm not sure if it could be the same thing here. What should I look for?

Thanks
-Matt

[peterhuang913]

is the solder points shiny or dull? did you use flux?

[CrazeD]

Sounds like when you bend the board you put pressure on the joints, giving them a better connection.

[edvosder]

Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me, too. But how do i go about finding a bad solder connection? Is going over it with a magnifying glass really the only way?

I do have a multimeter...

[trose]

Maybe you can contact the mfg and ship it to get it functional tested. That'll cost ya though. For something as complicated as a motherboard it'd take some luck to just find the problem. I work with less complicated boards everyday that leave me scratching my head. Unless it's something big like an electrolytic capacitor, my advice is use that old mobo as a new coaster.