so I wasn't all that surprised when it refused to turn on the other day. Was going to buy a new one, but then figured as it was already knackered there wasn't anything to lose by trying to fix it. There are many posts on the net about doing this, with ovens, gas torches or hot air blowers, and quite a few videos on youtube. So stripped out the motherboard (never done that on a laptop before - they are a marvel of packaging and expand massively when dismantled!), covered it in foil, and cooked the chip with my hot air paint stripper for about 5 minutes. Et Voila - it's working again 
. I am quite staggered that this works - and also that I managed to get it back together OK. It seems to be working better, which suggests that it was on its way out for some time before we got to no start stage.Best repair I have ever done I think - free, but saved the cost of a new laptop. No idea how long it will last - but there are folk advertising on e-bay to do a proper re-ball on the chip for £30, so will probably go for that if it goes down again.
all built to a price I suppose. Not done the fix myself (colleague has) as I think it only gets customers hopes up thinking it will last them another year or 4 (even if they are warned) then coming back after a few months and getting all funny.
