Develop Bugs

tips soldering BGA (expand internal memory)

howdy iam pretty handy with the solder tools
SMD isnt really hard for me..
but i cant figure out how to (easy) solder the bga memmory..
need input ..
greetz

are you sure it will even work?
if the memory map is not made for more
memory it will just still report the org size
and never use the extre mem

hmm thats true...
forgot about that..
ill first check the prices..
so i know my worst casse scenario.. (iff i dont **** up the solder proces )
hehe..
greetz subbie

Seeing as you don't have access to the 'pins' on a BGA device, you will not be able to hand solder it, I'm afraid.

u need a hot air blower

ahhh
if it will melt lead/tin than it will surely melt my other pcb casings and stuf ..

Hi Subroutine,
Normally a BGA is soldered with the help of a Pick n place machine..which has a BGA capability...
From whatever experience I hv in PCB assembly, U usually get hold of a SMD Solder paste properly mixed( I dunno the ingredients and proportions) and then just place it on the PCB..then wash the surrounding area with IPA and done.
Hot Air blower is needed to troubleshoot any SMD IC for dry soldering or completely removing it..that too u hv to be very careful about the cycles used for blowing it...
I hope this may prove helpful..

!
BGA devices aren't intended to be hand soldered, rather processes like vapour phase reflow ought to be used.
I've not worked with BGA devices but would be very interested to hear of any success with hand soldering with a heat gun!
I wouldn't have thought it would be a good idea to apply further solder paste - the Balls are solder anyway and adding more might make bridging more likely.
Anyway - good luck and please lettuce know how you get on!
Bloney
PS: You might be able to find a local PCB assembley company with the appropriate equipment who'd help out for a small fistfull of cash..!

ohh well BGA soldering is doable..
but only if you solder a new pcb, because you dont have to
be carfull with surounding components because there arent any..
if you have to add a components than its a different ball game in my opinion
because of the risk off desoldering / melting the existing components
imho ..
i have to really think about it before attempting to add memory to my universal

BGA replacement
BGA replacement is not something you can do at home with a heat gun. BGA replacement has to be done on a high end BGA rework station. The 3 stations we have at work cost around $60,000.00 USD each. The PCB is heated gradually with infared heaters and a special nozzel which directs hot air is lowered over the part to be replaced. Once the solder reached the melting point, around 215 C, a vacumme nozzel comes down and removes the part. The PCB is then allowed to cool, the BGA pads on the PCB are cleaned and any old solder is removed. Next, new solder paste (SN63 63% tin and 37% lead)is stenciled on. This requires a stainless steel stencil with the same ball pattern as the BGA. The BGA is placed on the solder covered pads using the vacumme nozzel an mirrors that allow you to see the exact placement of the part. Heat is applied gradually until the solder melts.
To make a long story short, don't try this at home. You will destroy your phone. It takes very specialized equipment and a highly trained operator.

...and I guess the other consideration is apart from catastrophic failure, there might be more subtle problems that won't be fixable (moisture in device causing device to 'bubble', shorts, dry, intermittant joints...) or visible (without an xray, maybe JTAG).
I know when soldering 208pin QFP devices, they usually need a bit of tinkering and fiddling to get rid of the odd short/dry joint. But then I'm probably a bit rubbish. But the chances of a perfect hand soldered BGA device must be very slim, surely! But I might just be showing my ignorance/lack of ability!
But in my experience, I really wouldn't advise trying with a hot air gun. But I'd be genuinely interested to hear about any attempts.
Sorry to go on..!

heh heh..
i see that a lot of people were thinking/ wishing to solder the extra memory on their device..
I know about the difficulties iam an electrical engineer.
BGA solder machines (yup the bigones) are a lot like smd solder machines.
saw them at my University and some congresses
but smd and and BGA is doable IF!! it is not to complex (layout number of components. imho offcourse ..
so guess that the question if I should expand my memory on my lovely univers is ..
NO..
ahh damn!!

quick question

does any body know what the part on the main board is called i need to have it replaced but its on the motherboard of the phone its the part that connects the sdcard ribbon cable to the main board and it has the little whit lach gate on it to secure the pins, if any body knows pleas let me know kus the gate fell off of mine when i dropped it and i need to sodder on a whole new peice n no i dont have insurnce on the phone so sending it is is out the door..lol

i take it just taping it on wont help, never seen this for sale anywhere and soldering to these small boads is very difficult, ive had bad luck soldering @ this scale. i suggest buying a new motherboard or a broken phone with a good motherboard and swapping. unless you are a wiz at soldering and you are able to even find what you need this will be the cheapest fix
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

yea kinda figured that much thanks for the help but i still whould like to know what the part is called teres a guy selling a board on ebay for 89 bucks and claims it works but the water indcater is red on it so no fillin to buy it plus i got a gooapple for right now to play with till then

Power button defect. Phone keeps rebooting

Hi, my sister's epic 4g touch has a problem with power button. It keeps rebooting. I found out that power switch is defected.
I called sprint store, then one guy said that repair cost around 75. In addition, I found online fix service cost around $40 + shipping.
I found that I can buy replacement switched 4 fot 5, but I am not good at soldering.
1. Is there any place that I can fix it for less or free?
2. Do you think soldering power switch on e4gt easier for beginner solder?
3. If solder better, is it ok to go with cheap soldering iron? or temp managed soldering iron?

Ruin2580 said:
1. Is there any place that I can fix it for less or free?
There should be places around you that offer that service. A place by me charges $45 to replace the power switch or charging port, $70 to do both.
2. Do you think soldering power switch on e4gt easier for beginner solder?
NOT AT ALL! That is a job for somebody with experience and a VERY steady hand
3. If solder better, is it ok to go with cheap soldering iron? or temp managed soldering iron?
When it comes to soldering irons, you get what you pay for. The cheaper ones are sometimes difficult to dial in to the correct temperatures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

Ruin2580 said:
Hi, my sister's epic 4g touch has a problem with power button. It keeps rebooting. I found out that power switch is defected.
I called sprint store, then one guy said that repair cost around 75. In addition, I found online fix service cost around $40 + shipping.
I found that I can buy replacement switched 4 fot 5, but I am not good at soldering.
1. Is there any place that I can fix it for less or free?
2. Do you think soldering power switch on e4gt easier for beginner solder?
3. If solder better, is it ok to go with cheap soldering iron? or temp managed soldering iron?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I don't know of a place that can fix it for less or for free, I think there are some sellers on ebay that will fix your phone for around ~$30-40.
2) Removing the broken button and installing the new one is not for beginners, the buttons are pretty small and there are some very tiny resistors around the button which could potentially be removed in the process and permanently damage the phone.
3) You would need a heat gun for replacing the button which may cost you around what it would cost to repair the button itself, I would also suggest soldering paste, flux, kapton tape. All those things will most likely add up to more than what it would cost to have somebody else repair your phone.
I hope that helps and good luck fixing the phone!

Modifying Parts

Deleted, lack of help, already achieved.

General though I forgot to add if that project could be real, it would teach Samsung and att a great lesson and someone would sell these parts and make money out of them.

Sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth.

It's not like a car where you can unscrew a few screws and exchange the part for a new one. This device has thousands of microscopic soldered components, so unless you have very advanced technology, you are not going to replace core components.

I see something like this happening for laptops first.. and the reason they don't do it for them now (with very few exceptions) is because most everything is integrated into the mainboard.
Have you ever tried to solder an smd resistor onto a pcb with just your basic general use soldering iron? It's damn near impossible without putting too much heat on the resistor or soldering the pad next to it also.
Everything is so tiny and cramped in laptops, imagine how much more tight things get in a cell phone. There was one (or maybe a couple) mfgrs that are doing plug and play build a phone. Think hi tec Legos but in general. I gonna guess that the phone would have to be designed for this from the ground up.
Good thought.. but probably a few years ahead of its time.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using XDA Free mobile app

xlr8shun said:
I see something like this happening for laptops first.. and the reason they don't do it for them now (with very few exceptions) is because most everything is integrated into the mainboard.
Have you ever tried to solder an smd resistor onto a pcb with just your basic general use soldering iron? It's damn near impossible without putting too much heat on the resistor or soldering the pad next to it also.
Everything is so tiny and cramped in laptops, imagine how much more tight things get in a cell phone. There was one (or maybe a couple) mfgrs that are doing plug and play build a phone. Think hi tec Legos but in general. I gonna guess that the phone would have to be designed for this from the ground up.
Good thought.. but probably a few years ahead of its time.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your insight. I was asking because I have done a lot of reverse engineering and a little 3D printing. I have seen couple of project Ara videos and it doesn't seem impossible.
I have a note 3 that I use for testing. I will play around with it and some other components. If I had any luck to start with, it would be a mini step forward

At best what you might find is some internal only interface like jtag or something that you can modify what's loaded on the eeprom and spi flash. Really big if on that.

Mainboard connector port broken - replacement available?

It seems that I have either been too careless when changing my broken display, or I have a typical monday example from the production floor... Because the big flat cable connector mounted on the mainboard has cracked and a corner piece has broken off completely.
I managed to glue it back into place, but there's some plastic missing between the wired connection points. This means (seems to anyway) that my MicroSD slot is busted and is currently short circuiting the whole phone if any MicroSD is mounted.
Now my question:
Is there anyway to buy an entirely new one of these connector ports?
I've looked high and low online (eBay and otherwise), however I really don't know the proper terminology to search accurately.
I work in electronic manufacturing and we actually have connectors in stock, very similar to the one I need, but obviously similar doesn't cut it - I need the exact model used. If I had one I could easily solder it in place at work...
Does anyone have any ideas of how to find one?
I include one picture to clarify which connector I am talking about. It is not a pic of my actual mainboard, but a pic from eBay that I marked, just to give a general idea.