[Nichibotsu]

Originally Posted by H3avyRa1n I hope i'll never need to apply this knowledge but hey, thanks.

i bet you already know, but changing the compound over the heatsinks help to prevent YLOD : )

[Funklord]

Originally Posted by Nichibotsu wait, what? there are no loose parts on the motherboard... if you have loose parts, that means they are detaching, and that's not good... when you do a reflow you don't detach anything, you heat the solder beads that you already have so that it melts and the cracks close. if you want to detach the chips, put new beads and resolder the chips, that's a reballing, and it needs a professional tool to be done...

Let's say the damage has occurred due to physical shock, and the parts have fallen off. The solder is still there, although damaged. Would repairing this *require* the cleaning & reballing procedure?

[Nichibotsu]

Originally Posted by Funklord Let's say the damage has occurred due to physical shock, and the parts have fallen off. The solder is still there, although damaged. Would repairing this *require* the cleaning & reballing procedure?

depending on how severe the damage is, yes... reflowing a not correctly placed chip may result in a wrong forming of the beads... also the chip may be damaged, so reflowing when a chip detaches is not a good idea...

[fungusfeet]

I've got a really over active fan on my 60gb fat ps3, have tried replacing the thermal compound a couple of times but didn't change a thing, worries me that it's overheating and YLOD could happen but at least my fan is doing something about it I suppose.

[Nichibotsu]

60 GB models overheat easily, so changing the compound with a good one is a nice idea... also, having the fan spin really hard is a sign of the console being hot, if the air on the back is not hot then open it up and do the heatsink removal procedure. If you have read the guide above you should have seen how : )

[fungusfeet]

yep, as I said, I've changed it a couple of times for good quality compounds, made no difference.

[Funklord]

Originally Posted by Nichibotsu depending on how severe the damage is, yes... reflowing a not correctly placed chip may result in a wrong forming of the beads... also the chip may be damaged, so reflowing when a chip detaches is not a good idea...

You may have gathered that I'm not talking about PS3 specifically but about reflowing in general.
I'd like to learn about reflowing, and do have a task at hand, it's a large 32Gbyte emmc flash bga part, which would be prohibitively difficult, and not to say expensive to source. So attempting a repair with the existing part is my first priority.

The package looks like this:


I'm thinking about first heating the part and the pads, so that the existing solder collects into balls by capillary effect.
then somehow, getting the part in place, reflowing and hoping it will will align itself (within reason)

Does this sound reasonable to attempt at all?

[Nichibotsu]

Originally Posted by fungusfeet yep, as I said, I've changed it a couple of times for good quality compounds, made no difference.

ok, but under the heatsinks too? if the paste under the heatsink is bad, then it does not matter what kind of compound you use over the heatsink. Check that section of my guide....
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Originally Posted by Funklord You may have gathered that I'm not talking about PS3 specifically but about reflowing in general. I'd like to learn about reflowing, and do have a task at hand, it's a large 32Gbyte emmc flash bga part, which would be prohibitively difficult, and not to say expensive to source. So attempting a repair with the existing part is my first priority. The package looks like this: I'm thinking about first heating the part and the pads, so that the existing solder collects into balls by capillary effect. then somehow, getting the part in place, reflowing and hoping it will will align itself (within reason) Does this sound reasonable to attempt at all?

kind of risky if you ask me, but i think it's possible. I think you should get solder beads instead of trying to make them out of the solder iron if you need to replace any solder, elseway there may be a surplus of solder. If you do it with beads, yeah, it might work...
may i ask on what kind of device you want to perform the reflow?

[Millerbomb]

Awsome thread!

[Funklord]

Originally Posted by Nichibotsu I think you should get solder beads instead of trying to make them out of the solder iron if you need to replace any solder, elseway there may be a surplus of solder. If you do it with beads, yeah, it might work... may i ask on what kind of device you want to perform the reflow?

I have a cheap aoyue hot air/solder station (digitally adjustable temp/air flow)

There is absolutely no way I could touch those small pads with an iron without shorting at least 9 of them with the soldering iron and 0.3mm wire I have.
So I'll have to make due with the solder that's already attached.
That, or cleaning & reballing (equipment I've never used before, and don't currently have access to)