Component level repair.

[BCS Head Tech]

Originally Posted by Hitman92

Hi I've got a question for everyone.
Is anyone familiar in component level repair on motherboards?
If so could you tell me what tools you use and some tips and tricks?
I'm trying to get my foot in the door with this type of work.

Thanks

Hello, to all we are one of the longest standing Component level repair facilities that laptop companies use nationwide. There are very few of us and we are the only one who is training in the US, and actually an mentioned in an above reply Evan from Getting into Deep is one of our instructors and has closely worked together with us to put a new training curriculum together for laptop repair facilities. I have posted a lot of info in the introduction page for us here on this site, when we introduced ourselves.

Our course will help with everything your asking about and help you to source parts and do repairs for every laptop made. The other thing is someone mentioned CVX forum but here is the thing if you don't know or understand how machines work learning to profile them is impossible and using a BGA is not the hardest part of doing the work, it is the re-balling process and most peoples complaint to us is they have done numerous re-balls with very little success we will teach you how to have a 90%+ or higher success rate. Our company currently has a 98% success rate, with less than 1% in warranty return and we do 20-30 repairs a day, everyday.

No one will teach this and almost all of it is safely guarded, most people who do this don't speak English we are the only company in the US that has the full training package and does every aspect of what we will teach everyday, in English.

It is a 5 day course including all aspects form running the business to marketing advertising, BGA work, profiling, re-flowing, re-balling. Also the diagnoses and troubleshooting side of it and fault finding, we will also have a complete side of the business whcih will teach individuals how to solder all components on the board, including but limited to QFN's, QFP's, 402, 201 packages resistors and capacitors, etc..But check our site we are still putting the curriculum together and we can post it here if you like, I will always do my best to answer stuff to the best of my ability and to be factual about all information given. One other thing is most companies giving or showing, and or selling information on component level repair(DVD's, PDF manual's, etc..) is on old antiquated boards that no longer have any nay use or nothing really now days applies to them.

Best Regards,

Don

[BCS Head Tech]

[QUOTE=chookey;288745]

Originally Posted by Hitman92

Before I started with computers I was building and designing circuit boards for everything from remote control cars to robotics that I entered in competitions. So tracing wires and that sort of stuff I can do with ease.

"Tracing wires and that sort of stuff" is a lot different to tracing invisible circuits on multilayer boards Hitman.
During my 30 years in the tv trade I was probably repairing on average 10 units per day. Even with lean times and holidays' took into consideration I reckon well over 1500 repairs per year.

That comes to an awful lot over my career. Never entered competitions but bought a big house, looked after my wife and 5 children and ran my own repair business for 14 years.
Met a lot of electronics design engineers in my time but yet to meet one who can do a logical, time and cost effective repair.

Hello Chookey,

We competently trace and fault find everyday on the newest most cutting edge technology(not old antiquated machines) as well as all aspects of the laptop repair business every day. Things we do included but no limited to what we do BGA, re-ball, rework soldering, diagnosing fault finding. We do over 20-30 repairs daily. We are offering new never done classes on Component Level repair in the US.

[BCS Head Tech]

Originally Posted by kisk

This too! I have a lot of dv boards here that a simple reflow would not work on, so whats the harm in learning a new skill and possibly selling the refurbished board on eBay. I wouldn't be too concerned about eBay rep, but considering the board cost me nothing, a guarantee/refund policy wouldn't be too far fetched.

Hello, re-flows don't work and are only a temporary band-aid fix, you must remove the reason for the fault which is the lead solder, depending on the board there are different issues, but most will have eventually a failure due to the Lead Free solder. But using bad boards is good way to get familiar with how to repair. More than likely in most of the boards you have there are certain balls that won't attach during the re-flow process is because the pads are oxidized or contaminated. It has to be removed prepped and put back onto the board. We have used numerous machines and are the foremost when it comes to experience with different machines.

Hope this helps..

[BCS Head Tech]

Originally Posted by Hitman92

Hi I've got a question for everyone.
Is anyone familiar in component level repair on motherboards?
If so could you tell me what tools you use and some tips and tricks?
I'm trying to get my foot in the door with this type of work.

Thanks

What exactly are you asking for and what do you specially want to or are trying to do?

Component level repair is someone who does it every day.. They replace components on a board level, meaning you have fault finding skills, and or diagnosed the board, found the issue and repaired it. This can include but is not limited to BGA chips, DC jack, capacitors, resistors, QFP's, QFN's, SMT, SMD components.

Equipment can vary depending on your budget. So how far do you want to go?