Repair manual

I have seen and heard about people who offer to sell new blank 24C02 chips to people, so they can
unsolder their old one, and then re-solder the new one in. This will work, if all goes well and the new
chip has not been damaged. These people, and their websites, attempt to convince anyone needing to
clear a password on particular laptop models that they have only one recourse. That they must
purchase one of these chips, and either attempt to solder it in, or pay for a costly chip soldering /
replacement service.
These people charge exorbitant prices. Someone I know personally paid $50 for one of these chips.
But I have found that they are available from reputable electronics firms for much lower prices. I have
seen them being sold (The same chips) for between $2.50 and $15.00 apiece, usually around $5.00.
There was even one firm that was selling them (wholesale) for 75¢ (If you buy them by the thousand.)
At an average cost to them of about $5.00 for the chip, 37¢ for a stamp, and a few cents for an
envelope (usually they send it to you in a normal postal envelope) that's about 6 bucks. So, how much
profit are these people actually making? You do the math.
Another factor here is where the person ordering the chip has to solder it in themselves. Soldering is
not that difficult in general, and plenty of people can solder normal electronic components. But, this is
a little different. This is a surface mount component. Surface mount components were designed to be
soldered on to a circuit board by a machine using a special process, not by hand. This chip requires
solder contacts of less than a millimeter, with less than a millimeter between each; and 4 on each side.
It has to be lined up pretty precisely; surface mount components are held to the surface of the board
by solder welds instead of having legs that stick through holes in the board. It requires excellent
eyesight, and a very steady hand.
And, the primary risk factor in hand soldering surface mount components is Heat. When surface mount
component boards are manufactured, a machine applies the exact amount of solder to each leg, and
solders all the legs at the precisely the same time, by heating the contacts at exactly the right
temperature for exactly the right amount of time needed to complete the soldering.
This is very different from hand soldering, where one leg is soldered at a time, with a soldering iron
who's temperature is know to be precisely: pretty damn hot!; until the solder weld looks like it's good.
With the short distances between where the leg (which is made of metal and conducts heat) is
soldered and where it runs into the silicon chip, the chip could easily be damaged. Even I, who
consider myself to be rather good at soldering, wouldn't consider even trying something like this
without some special equipment.
So, the service these people are offering (other than keeping their supplier a secret) is to let you pay
them a nice heap of money, so that you can wait for the chip to come in the mail. Then you can try
unsoldering the chip and replacing it by hand, possibly ending up with something that looks like the
microchip in this picture or worse: