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Reflowing a video BGA?

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  Reflowing a video BGA? mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2011-07-07 09:12 -0700
    Re: Reflowing a video BGA? lmarco@panix.com (Lou Marco) - 2011-07-07 19:38 +0000
    Re: Reflowing a video BGA? "Ryan P." <rdeletepaque@wi.rr.comm> - 2011-07-07 17:26 -0500

#391 — Reflowing a video BGA?

I bought a Thinkpad X31.
Fails video memory test and the image looks like
it's in 8-bit color mode.
Pushing hard on the motherboard fixes the image.
Lots of googling uncovers many people who've reflowed
the nVidea BGA chip by means varying from oven to hot
air to a blowtorch.
The bad news about this one is that the video BGA
and a RAM BGA are sitting on a carrier that's looks
like it's made out of circuit board material and is also
BGA'd to the mother board.

I'm not optimistic about getting the heat thru the chips
and the carrier to the motherboard without burning up something.

The thing works well enough to surf the web or control stuff.
I'd hate to brick it.

Anybody got experience reflowing this dual-stack kind of thing?

Thanks,
mike

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#393

In article <iv4lve$avt$1@dont-email.me>, mike  <spamme9@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>Anybody got experience reflowing this dual-stack kind of thing?
>

	Feh, why bother?  Buy a used motherboard on ebay for 35-30 bucks.

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#394

On 7/7/2011 11:12 AM, mike wrote:
> I bought a Thinkpad X31.
> Fails video memory test and the image looks like
> it's in 8-bit color mode.
> Pushing hard on the motherboard fixes the image.
> Lots of googling uncovers many people who've reflowed
> the nVidea BGA chip by means varying from oven to hot
> air to a blowtorch.
> The bad news about this one is that the video BGA
> and a RAM BGA are sitting on a carrier that's looks
> like it's made out of circuit board material and is also
> BGA'd to the mother board.
>
> I'm not optimistic about getting the heat thru the chips
> and the carrier to the motherboard without burning up something.
>
> The thing works well enough to surf the web or control stuff.
> I'd hate to brick it.
>
> Anybody got experience reflowing this dual-stack kind of thing?

  I would tend to agree with Lou's response... Just took a look on eBay, 
and they seem to be pretty cheap.

  But, for the reflow...  The GPU for my system is set up the same way. 
  Look at the image of a DV6000 motherboard; the GPU is right next to 
the CPU slot.

  I don't think you have much to worry about.

  I've used the oven trick twice on my HP laptop, with no ill effects on 
any of the components.  You just need to make sure your oven temp 
indicator is accurate and doesn't go above 400-410.
  I removed all stickers and plastic film covers and all the cables and 
wires I possibly good.  None of the remaining plastic pieces or chips 
seem to have suffered from what I can see.

  I can tell you that its very important to let the board cool down 
slowly...  Turn off the heat after 10 minutes, pull the oven door ajar, 
and wait a couple hours to cool down to room temp.

  And if you toast the motherboard, the replacement is $40.  An 
inconvenience, yeah, but not like mine, which is $100+.  :)

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