Thanks oldman - quite understood, and although i do not have the tools to do microsoldering here, i am quite capable of all the steps - and yes, the fix price may be worth more than the lappy, but there are apps on it which would be onerous to retrieve, and some data also.
Before i atually open the entire casing to check (not the most tricial job on a g62) there are a few more steps i'll try in the morning - just had it sitting in a low-temp environment for last hour to check possible minor cracks or expansion issues - thats next step:)
rgs,
Nic
