Does anyone know someone who could Re-Ball this board?

[Les_Garten]

I have a 30" Monitor that is awesome, but the Video Controller chip has issues with the Lead Free solder joints going cold and causing Video issues.  The fix is for the board to be re-balled with Leaded Solder.

 

Anybody know someone who could do this?

 

Here's pix of the board:  It's the Altera chip with the issue

 

 

 

 

 

[Les_Garten]

LOL!   That's not far off how these are treated for temp fixes.

 

The guys with these monitors mask the chip with tin foil, put in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.

 

Some use a heat gun, some use a candle or cigarette lighter.  Fix sometimes works for a while, sometimes not.  It's short lived at best.

 

The real fix is to remove the lead free solder and re ball with lead solder. 

[DefQon]

Perfect timing to answer this thread.

 

Tin foil on the baking tray large enough to hold the circuit board. Tin foil balls on four corners, pre-heat oven (with fan on if present) at 385'F or 210-220'C for 8-10minutes with the stuff baking inside. This should fix the solder fractures in between chips on the PCB. I've repaired over 30 artefacting and half-arsed graphics card's by following this method which manufacturers use something similar when these things go out the door.

 

Avoid hair dryers and heat gun's, a single heated place for too long and you will bork the stuff, an oven is good as it keeps the heat trapped inside circulated and spread throughout not a single heat concentrated heated area.

 

Be sure to have plenty of ventilation, board and components should be ROHS complied so no life-threatening toxic chemicals, but yeah.

[Pars]

You have probably googled reballing/reflowing and seen countless links/videos, etc. of DIY processes? I have a Powermac G5 logic board that has a chip that needs to be reflowed or reballed as well. The problem is finding someone who can do it in a cost-effective manner. I haven't gotten around to approaching someone in one of our engineering labs at work about getting my hands on a BGA rework station that we apparently have. I replaced the logic board with a used one from ebay, and it is working OK.

 

http://www.retronix.com/application-specific-balling-and-reballing

[Les_Garten]

Perfect timing to answer this thread.

 

Tin foil on the baking tray large enough to hold the circuit board. Tin foil balls on four corners, pre-heat oven (with fan on if present) at 385'F or 210-220'C for 8-10minutes with the stuff baking inside. This should fix the solder fractures in between chips on the PCB. I've repaired over 30 artefacting and half-arsed graphics card's by following this method which manufacturers use something similar when these things go out the door.

 

Avoid hair dryers and heat gun's, a single heated place for too long and you will bork the stuff, an oven is good as it keeps the heat trapped inside circulated and spread throughout not a single heat concentrated heated area.

 

Be sure to have plenty of ventilation, board and components should be ROHS complied so no life-threatening toxic chemicals, but yeah.

 

Problem is, all the reheat tricks are temporary.  

 

You have probably googled reballing/reflowing and seen countless links/videos, etc. of DIY processes? I have a Powermac G5 logic board that has a chip that needs to be reflowed or reballed as well. The problem is finding someone who can do it in a cost-effective manner. I haven't gotten around to approaching someone in one of our engineering labs at work about getting my hands on a BGA rework station that we apparently have. I replaced the logic board with a used one from ebay, and it is working OK.

 

http://www.retronix.com/application-specific-balling-and-reballing

 

I also bought another board for it that will most likely have the same problems in a few years.  Would like to fix my spare "bad" one permanently in the meantime.  The monitor is good enough to want to fix it.

 

If you run across somebody that has a rework station, I'd love to hear about it!

[holland]

I agree, it's temporary.

 

I have been meaning to purchase the equipment myself, as I have a XBox 360 with the red ring of death.  It needs a reball as well, just haven't been motivated to look for someone or to purchase the equipment myself.  I have done the reheating tricks, and it worked again for about 2 days.  It's been sitting for a couple of years now.  Unfortunately the equipment to do it would cost me 50% of a new XBox 360.

 

I know people at work that can do it, but it would be "unethical" on my part to use company resources (technician and equipment) for personal gain, let alone finding someone who isn't buried under weeks worth of rework.  Nobody I know has the equipment and templates at home.

 

Good luck on your quest.

[Pars]

^ I suppose having a tech do the work for you at your place of employment would be somewhat unethical, though I question that if it is on their own time, and you aren't reworking boards for sale, etc. Doing a 1-off for your personal use would seem OK to me, if the company equipment is not in use, etc.

 

This place seems fairly reasonable:

 

http://www.circuitrework.com/services/terms.shtml

 

$15-$75 for reballing per component.

[holland]

^ I suppose having a tech do the work for you at your place of employment would be somewhat unethical, though I question that if it is on their own time, and you aren't reworking boards for sale, etc. Doing a 1-off for your personal use would seem OK to me, if the company equipment is not in use, etc.

 

This place seems fairly reasonable:

 

http://www.circuitrework.com/services/terms.shtml

 

$15-$75 for reballing per component.

 

I would have to check the work policies.  The place I work at is fairly strict.  I could do it myself, but I do not have access to the labs (again, strict, and secret projects, and NDA clearances, etc).  The rework labs are also timed and tracked corporate wide, as well as having a huge backlog to service thousands of employees and hundreds of projects.  It's probably a strange environment.  Smaller companies I worked at were much less so, and nerds can help nerds as long as it didn't impact project schedules.  It's not so easy at my current place of employment, sadly.  Having access to state of the art scopes, and analyzers, as well as all the RF equipment, would be bad ass!

 

Good link, checking the prices though, it sounds like the reballing is for the bga component itself.  If it's on a board, it'll likely be over $200 to remove, reball, and reinstall.  It's best to call for a quote, but if it's only $75, I would send my xbox in.

[Les_Garten]

I'm going to call those guys and see what's up.

[Les_Garten]

I just sent them a quote request, we'll see what happens.

 

Thanx for the link folks!

[Pars]

I would have to check the work policies.  The place I work at is fairly strict.  I could do it myself, but I do not have access to the labs (again, strict, and secret projects, and NDA clearances, etc).  The rework labs are also timed and tracked corporate wide, as well as having a huge backlog to service thousands of employees and hundreds of projects.  It's probably a strange environment.  Smaller companies I worked at were much less so, and nerds can help nerds as long as it didn't impact project schedules.  It's not so easy at my current place of employment, sadly.  Having access to state of the art scopes, and analyzers, as well as all the RF equipment, would be bad ass!

 

Good link, checking the prices though, it sounds like the reballing is for the bga component itself.  If it's on a board, it'll likely be over $200 to remove, reball, and reinstall.  It's best to call for a quote, but if it's only $75, I would send my xbox in.

Yeah, in your circumstance, i can see why you would be reluctant to pursue that. I haven't talked to the guy I was told knew about what we have and whether it would be permissible or appropriate, so I am just guessing as to whether or not I could use it. Good point on the reballing for the component only. I don't know a lot about this shit (and see BGAs as the work of the devil ).

[DefQon]

True it's temporary but it gives you enough time to make an upgrade before it shits itself again. That said, cards, motherboards and even LCD circuit boards that I've baked 2 years ago are still working to this day, of course then there is a pile of shit that I sold off eventually or given away.

[Les_Garten]

I would have to check the work policies.  The place I work at is fairly strict.  I could do it myself, but I do not have access to the labs (again, strict, and secret projects, and NDA clearances, etc).  The rework labs are also timed and tracked corporate wide, as well as having a huge backlog to service thousands of employees and hundreds of projects.  It's probably a strange environment.  Smaller companies I worked at were much less so, and nerds can help nerds as long as it didn't impact project schedules.  It's not so easy at my current place of employment, sadly.  Having access to state of the art scopes, and analyzers, as well as all the RF equipment, would be bad ass!

 

Good link, checking the prices though, it sounds like the reballing is for the bga component itself.  If it's on a board, it'll likely be over $200 to remove, reball, and reinstall.  It's best to call for a quote, but if it's only $75, I would send my xbox in.

 

I'm getting my quote together.   Can you get me the pic of your board showing that bad chip?  I may try to get a discount for multiple boards and you may want to throw in with us.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Les_Garten

[grawk]

Isn't there a monitor-case or monitor-fi forum you could have this conversation on where it's relevant?

[Les_Garten]

Isn't there a monitor-case or monitor-fi forum you could have this conversation on where it's relevant?

I'm in a thread on Hardforum, but came here because of how proficient the folks here are at "building" stuff. Figured somebody here would know somebody who does these.

[grawk]

yes, I get that you were hoping someone would do something for you for free or a greatly discounted price.

[Les_Garten]

yes, I get that you were hoping someone would do something for you for free or a greatly discounted price.

No, not at all. I'm willing to pay for the service. The last guy who was doing it that I knew about quit, and the others I had contacted only wanted to do quantity.

Of course free or greatly discounted is always appreciated, but I never thought that was a remote possibility.

I was merely trying to leverage the knowledge of the folks here about resources along these lines. Pars has helped me out here and I have a RFQ from that company in.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Les_Garten