Intel GPUs + reballing

[spleenharvester]

Those more seasoned reballers/reflowers amongst us. How often do you see an Intel GPU fail?

Out of all those I've reflowed, I've never once seen an Intel GPU fail. Seen a few southbridges go but never the GPU.

I see a reball or "light reflow" get suggested quite often and this seems like a bit of a shotgun to me; unless you have extremely decent equipment, could this not comprise the surrounding components (or even BGA packages themselves) without having ruled out other causes first?

Also, why is a "light reflow" used to confirm a bad GPU, instead of just pressing on it while it boots?

I ask these questions purely out of curiosity as a still learning board-level-repairman myself, so don't shoot me.

Cheers!

[speedypro]

Re: Intel GPUs + reballing

For me, as I reball a lot, a light reflow just tells me I need to reball a chip. It doesn't tell me that a chip is bad. A chip is bad, to me, if I see "pop corning" or little bubbles on the chip. But this is normally caused too many reflows. Regarding pressing down on a chip, I've never do that before.

[sasser]

Re: Intel GPUs + reballing

Speedypro can u tell me how determine the gpu is bad without signed popcorn or bubbles on chip? Look the chip ok as u know many transistor inside gpu itself. Maybe u have some exp how to sure the chip is ok or not

[senchire]

Re: Intel GPUs + reballing

Thats hard sasser without any sign on it (like mentioned bubble etc) you can only do "light reflow" or "press". Pressing won't always show (sometimes it won't work), jet its better then reflow (lower heating on the chip itself). When ever i can avoid reflowing i do it.

And regarding Intel chips well i had few (mostly laptops), a lot lesser then ati (mostly HD3200) and nvidia (famous 8xxx).

[speedypro]

Re: Intel GPUs + reballing

Speedypro can u tell me how determine the gpu is bad without signed popcorn or bubbles on chip? Look the chip ok as u know many transistor inside gpu itself. Maybe u have some exp how to sure the chip is ok or not

BGA Chips are robust as they can stand high temps. If no sign of physical damage, then most likely you have a cracked ball(s) or a ball(s) touching together. For me, when a board is short-circuited, it's caused by ball(s) touching thus needs a reball. I've just picked this up in my findings here. If both BGAs are soldering onto the board then you will have the headache to determine which one needs a reball. If only the GPU is soldered then that's a gold for you.