Reboot Computer Services 106 Walcot Street Bath BA15BG 01225 447227 www.rebootltd.com sales@rebootltd.com
BGA Connection Failures
Failure to boot, funny characters on the screen at start up, lights that just flash then go out, freezing and crashing, no lights at all, all these faults can be due to failure of the Ball Grid Array connections between the motherboard and one or more of the big chips. Most commonly due to the graphics processor, this failure is becoming one of the the most common causes of dead laptops. Some Nvidia graphics processors also suffered failure of the connections between the chip itself and the bga carrier - this cannot be repaired without a new graphics chip but is often temporarily fixed by the reflowing hence the common recurrence of the problem after this has been done. We have a Jovy RE-7500 dark infra red BGA rework station and can either reflow the solder or remove, reball and refit the affected chip or a replacement and repair the fault. This is considerably cheaper than replacing the motherboard and usually reclaims a machine that would have been scrapped.
Red ring of death, freezing and crashing with games consoles - same story. All those clamp fixes and hot air gun and oven tricks can work but are not controllable enough to ensure good results. Too hot and you risk damaging the board and components, too cold and you lift the tracks. With the Jovy RE-7500 the time and temperature are controlled and the results are predictable.
Fancy (and not so fancy) graphics cards can also suffer this problem especially if the fan seizes up - you may think it’s easier to buy a new card, but sometimes it’s less hassle fixing the old card than replacing it especially if it’s an old one in a hard-to-get package.
