so, with the advent of me getting a heatgun, I decided to try my hand in reballing, as one time I saw a video online of how it can be done without actual balls, stencils, or anything but a heat gun, iron, braid, and lots and lots of paitence...and a careful hand. I have tons of nforce 3/4/6 boards with bad balls, and this is what I tried, they all failed, but I learned several things
the old solder has some nasty black shit in it when I braid it off, on all of them. The trick I'm going for is to braid the solder off the board pads and the chip pads, then flux-up the pads, get a tiny dab of solder on each (board pads and chip pads). put the chip back and re-heat it up, try to get them to merge. Mind you these are not balls, but dabs, which is why both of them need a dab, and it will put the chip actually right against the board, and make a small, flat soldered connection. not sure about the heat implications here, with the chip being right up against the board, are we getting a higher chance of getting disconnected pads, even with flux and leaded solder? not sure
first thing I did was a nforce 2 southbridge, came out REAL easily, popped a pad with the iron trying to braid the old solder off. I turned it up, and actually wetted the tip from then on out, this let the old solder flow more easily into the braid, without putting stress on any of the pads. After destroying the balls on both the chip and board, I realize from there on out, putting 92% isoprobyl on my finger and just rubbing the damn pads gets rid of this black shit left over, I tried q-tips at first with VERY bad results (q-tip hair stuck around pad, tore them off). Then I tried the northbridge, came off pretty easily, still learning. I put the heat gun on high (dual mode gun). Tried to melt some more of the solder on the board pads cause some of it will still dull and well, bad, ended up putting it too long on the board, and warped it, a common problem
tried then an nforce 4 board nb. Tried heatgun on high, old solder was so crappy the chip still did not come off, and when I finally go it hot enough, not only was some pads ripped when I got the chip off, but there was a panny next to one of the pads that bloated, hissed, and burned, right infront of my eyes, which was pretty cool
Next was a nforce 6 board, tried the gun on low setting, REALLY close, and eventually I got the chip off without tearing any pads.
after you braid the old solder off, clean the pads on both the chip and board, what you do is flux an entire area, put a bunch of solder on the tip, and run the solder 'bubble' moved to the bottom of the tip by our friend mr. gravity over the pads, and it pools on each pad. if you do not use flux, it just spreads across multiple pads, but can be re-cleaned and re-applied with flux
I did another nforce 4 board after this, an old A8N-E, the chip was so stubbron, it would hardly move till I put the gun on high, and got it RIGHT UP to the damn chip. Smelled something burning, which is expected, then I realized the power clip connector next to the northbridge melted like cheeze, and I got laughed so hard, I still don't know why
in the end, I realized I need a magnifier, I was doing this with my super perfect vision, but I could easily still miss a pad, which might nullify the whole thing
I need a flux pen, not a syringe, and i'm starting to think about using an auyoe, but I don't have the $100 right now
in addition, I used no protection for the rest of the board, and am thinking about doing the foil thing, still not sure what that spells for the pico caps on the top of the nf 6 chips
any ideas? I want to eventually do this for hp dvs and other nvidia plagued products
the old solder has some nasty black shit in it when I braid it off, on all of them. The trick I'm going for is to braid the solder off the board pads and the chip pads, then flux-up the pads, get a tiny dab of solder on each (board pads and chip pads). put the chip back and re-heat it up, try to get them to merge. Mind you these are not balls, but dabs, which is why both of them need a dab, and it will put the chip actually right against the board, and make a small, flat soldered connection. not sure about the heat implications here, with the chip being right up against the board, are we getting a higher chance of getting disconnected pads, even with flux and leaded solder? not sure
first thing I did was a nforce 2 southbridge, came out REAL easily, popped a pad with the iron trying to braid the old solder off. I turned it up, and actually wetted the tip from then on out, this let the old solder flow more easily into the braid, without putting stress on any of the pads. After destroying the balls on both the chip and board, I realize from there on out, putting 92% isoprobyl on my finger and just rubbing the damn pads gets rid of this black shit left over, I tried q-tips at first with VERY bad results (q-tip hair stuck around pad, tore them off). Then I tried the northbridge, came off pretty easily, still learning. I put the heat gun on high (dual mode gun). Tried to melt some more of the solder on the board pads cause some of it will still dull and well, bad, ended up putting it too long on the board, and warped it, a common problem
tried then an nforce 4 board nb. Tried heatgun on high, old solder was so crappy the chip still did not come off, and when I finally go it hot enough, not only was some pads ripped when I got the chip off, but there was a panny next to one of the pads that bloated, hissed, and burned, right infront of my eyes, which was pretty cool
Next was a nforce 6 board, tried the gun on low setting, REALLY close, and eventually I got the chip off without tearing any pads.
after you braid the old solder off, clean the pads on both the chip and board, what you do is flux an entire area, put a bunch of solder on the tip, and run the solder 'bubble' moved to the bottom of the tip by our friend mr. gravity over the pads, and it pools on each pad. if you do not use flux, it just spreads across multiple pads, but can be re-cleaned and re-applied with flux
I did another nforce 4 board after this, an old A8N-E, the chip was so stubbron, it would hardly move till I put the gun on high, and got it RIGHT UP to the damn chip. Smelled something burning, which is expected, then I realized the power clip connector next to the northbridge melted like cheeze, and I got laughed so hard, I still don't know why
in the end, I realized I need a magnifier, I was doing this with my super perfect vision, but I could easily still miss a pad, which might nullify the whole thing
I need a flux pen, not a syringe, and i'm starting to think about using an auyoe, but I don't have the $100 right now
in addition, I used no protection for the rest of the board, and am thinking about doing the foil thing, still not sure what that spells for the pico caps on the top of the nf 6 chips
any ideas? I want to eventually do this for hp dvs and other nvidia plagued products
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