Re-soldering of video chips (BGA) for notebook computers

If the laptop does not display any image on the screen, but the image is displayed when an external monitor is connected, a number of factors could be contributing to the fault, such as. display lamps, display cable via inverter. However, this could also be due to a faulty video chip. Video chips usually fail due to overheating of the laptop. And overheating occurs when a computer is not properly maintained: dust is not cleaned in time, thermoplastic is not replaced, i.e. the cooling system is not renewed. It can also be affected by constant use of the computer on soft surfaces such as a bed. If the motherboard of the computer overheats, it slightly deforms. As a result, one of the contacts on the video chip becomes detached.

The video chips are re-soldered using special infrared stations. The chip is heated to a certain precise temperature at which it is soldered. The old contacts are then wiped off and new ones are added using special templates. Each contact is a solder ball, so the contact transfer is called reballot. The chip is then re-soldered using the same machine tool. In addition, each chip is unique, so we use a variety of different stencils for reballing.

Sometimes the video chip may be defective, i.e. damaged due to overheating. In this case, a new chip is replaced.

Once the video chip has been repaired and the computer has been reassembled, we investigate the factors that led to the failure. Dust is cleaned and the cooling system is updated. In some cases, the passive cooling elements themselves may need to be replaced. In exceptional cases, their failure has resulted in sub-optimal heat transfer to the active fans.

In addition, there have been cases where the manufacturer itself has poorly designed the cooling management, but has released BIOS updates which, once installed, stop the fault recurring, i.e. the problems are found and corrected.

Resoldering a video chip is one of the more complex and time-consuming computer repairs.