Soldering help needed (maybe you know someone, please read)

Post by **Eric D** » Sun May 16, 2010 7:58 pm

I have a computer motherboard with a BGA chip which I need to have reflowed, or reballed. Do any of you know someone who can do this work, or can you do it yourself? Of all the people here, I am sure at least one of you can do this, or knows someone who can, or might know of a company who can do it.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sun May 16, 2010 8:08 pm

Depends of alots of things...

Does the BGA chips have all his soldering points on it? If so, i can resolder it on your motherboard easily...

If the BGA was damaged to the point where solderings ball are missing, it's another story... Can you get me pictures of the underside of the BGA?

I have a heating station, so if all the soldering points are ok, it's an easy job to solder everything back, but if some of them are broken, it's another story...

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Sun May 16, 2010 8:17 pm

I have friend that has soldered some stuff he had to use a magnifying glass to do it with I am not sure if could do it or not. Problem is it will be a month before I can see him.

Post by **Eric D** » Sun May 16, 2010 8:29 pm

I should have specified a bit more. This is an ATI X1600 GPU. It works now, but has some artifacts on the screen, and I have read that one or more solder balls may be cracked. So, it needs to be reflowed (melt the balls which are there now), or if possible reballed (new balls).

Maybe another option exists as well.

Post by **ttocs** » Mon May 17, 2010 2:06 am

I worked at intel in the packaging dept for a short time and could not even trying to imagine doing that shit by hand.......... That shit makes yer micro soldering look like childs play when they are running them through they do.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Mon May 17, 2010 3:24 am

Just replyed to your PM!

You sould've told me that in your pm! It's an even easier job if you don't have to replace the whole BGA! I was thinking you wanted the whole thing replaced, what i was able to do, but damn, just reheating this thing would be a piece of cake! I've done that millions of times with 301.10 dish networks with loosing signal problem, the chip was overheating, just a little pressure on the chip with the heating station and was working like new!

You could also try to buy a heatgun and do it yourself, but NOT A GOOD IDEA, heating stations have anti-static devices (at least mine do) and i've heard lotsa horror stories with heatgun...

Post by **Eric D** » Mon May 17, 2010 4:29 am

I think reheating will solve the problem, but I am not totally certain of it. If it does not, then the next step is either removing and reballing the existing chip, or ordering one off eBay and putting it in there. The ones on eBay come reballed, so it would be a matter of removing the one there now, cleaning up the existing solder, then doing what is needed to install the new eBay chip.

Either way, the important part is to not trash the motherboard while doing any of this. Replacing the motherboard is $600 - $800 and when a new used computer is only $600 it is hard to justify replacing the motherboard for prices like that.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Mon May 17, 2010 12:03 pm

I'm still willing to do it, should be fairly easy to just reheat everything. Either you can come to Quebec, i will do it in front of you, or pm me for my adress, i will try to fix it and send back to you. Won't charge anything exept shipping cost.

Post by **Eric D** » Tue May 18, 2010 11:32 am

str3atwarrior wrote:I'm still willing to do it, should be fairly easy to just reheat everything. Either you can come to Quebec, i will do it in front of you, or pm me for my adress, i will try to fix it and send back to you. Won't charge anything exept shipping cost.

I really appreciate it. I am going to see what other options I can come up with locally. If they are less than two way shipping to you, I will take that route. Otherwise, biting the bullet on shipping to you is probably going to be the best option.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Tue May 18, 2010 3:02 pm

Ok, let me know!

Else, if you wanna have fun and fix it yourself, a heating station cost like 200$ plus the adaptor for your specific chip, which is maybe 20$. Practice on old pc boards, you should get the hang of it if you're a manual type!

Post by **Eric D** » Tue May 18, 2010 7:31 pm

Well, I am all about DIY work. I fix most everything myself now. In the case of this, I need it working a bit sooner than I probably would be able to buy the station and learn how to use it effectively.

Post by **Eric D** » Sat May 22, 2010 10:24 am

Here are photos of the item I need worked on...