people with parts connections, help

[Uranium-235]

so. A lady came in today with a broken flash drive. she just needs the data off it.

the USB controller chip broke off (with some of the legs too), but if I can grip it down hard enough, it contacts enough to detect and see ONE flash chip (the one without the FAT)

so, what I need is a replacement controller chip so I can clamp it down and get her data off the chips, which from what I can tell, are still good

Its a SM3251L-BB. I get almost no luck with google searches, and apart from asking silicon motion myself for one freaking chip, which they will probably charge me up the 4$$ for, maybe one of you can help me get a working one?

[ratdude747]

Re: people with parts connections, help

well, i hate to say it, but i think you are screwed here... th controller would be very difficult to find, not to mention desoldering and resoldering pins that small would be very difficult.

this should be a lesson in why you must backup important stuff...

you need a sticker for it that says:

[Uranium-235]

Re: people with parts connections, help

I don't need to 'resolder' it. the legs are bottom contacted, so all I have to do is keep the chip held down tight, keeping them contacted, and I can probably pull the data off it. Its easy to do, if 5 of the legs weren't torn off the chip

[Scenic]

Re: people with parts connections, help

pics?

[Uranium-235]

Re: people with parts connections, help

I don't know if pics are possible, this is tiiiny. i'll try, but no guarantee

[Uranium-235]

Re: people with parts connections, help

well I used my camera behind my magnifier, here it is. it came with the chip detached, then she took it to our electronics guy who took it off the rest of the way before discovering some of the legs were broken off

[Toasty]

Re: people with parts connections, help

>>...and apart from asking silicon motion myself for one freaking chip, which they will probably charge me up the 4$$ for...<<

...and the data is worth how much to her? If she is unwilling to cough up the bucks to fix it, why bother?

Either do as you said and get another controller from SM, or obtain another drive off eBay and swap chips. Either way, she's looking at a fairly expensive investment, unless you're doing this as a favor.

Curiosity: Whose make & model drive is it?

Does your "electronics guy" have the ability/equipment to do the swap?

Best of Luck with this!
Toast

[Scenic]

Re: people with parts connections, help

easiest solution would be to get the same stick from ebay, confirm its working and then swap the flash-chips..

i did that before when i accidentally walked on my own stick.. bent PCB with ripped-off traces.. argh..

just dont mix up the chips... upper side chip has to go in the same place on the "new-old" stick..

[MXM]

Re: people with parts connections, help

^ Agreed.

[kc8adu]

Re: people with parts connections, help

easy job.
just need a donor stick.
that is if you do ok with smd stuff.

[kaniki]

Re: people with parts connections, help

just a thought, but if you can make contact by holding it tight, then maybe try putting something around it (like a tight rubber band) to hold it together to get the info off.. or if you can lay it down, use some kind of vise-grips or a clamp to gently hold it together to to make the contact.. but if you do that, just make sure that you dont put too much pressure so you dont damage any parts and make sure to put something like some rubber or plastic under the clamp to make sure you dont short anything out.. that is what i would try at least. and doing that, you would have a steady constant connection that you would not have to worry about loosing connection because you hand moved a bit..

just a thought

[Uranium-235]

Re: people with parts connections, help

there are like 5 legs that are broken off too far to even hold it down

[NxB]

Re: people with parts connections, help

Its probably easier to get a donor drive and swap the flash chips with a hot air gun.

*Just looked at your pics. Some of the pads are torn off, a new chip will do squat.

[Uranium-235]

Re: people with parts connections, help

I'm pretty sure all I have to do is take my Iron and push some solder over where those pads were

[Toasty]

Re: people with parts connections, help

Where'd the pics go???

[Uranium-235]

Re: people with parts connections, help

I remember something about tc 'moving to a new server' last night, he probably forgot to copy that folder

[Pyr0Beast]

Re: people with parts connections, help

Swap the memory chips, they are not BGA so it should be easy.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: people with parts connections, help

Swap the memory chips, they are not BGA so it should be easy.

Yup, i even did that without a hot air station a few times. Cover all pins on one side in solder, prop a thin screwdriver under that side, and push on it while heating the mass of solder. Repeat for the other side, use braid to get the solder off afterwards.

[Uranium-235]

Re: people with parts connections, help

thanks for the tips everybody, but the boss made me give the stick back to the owner, saying it would 'not be worth the trouble'