Anybody do BGA rework?

[Guylhem Aznar]

Hello,

Been there, done that, for different devices - mostly PDAs.

First you *must* check the specs : optimism won't get you far if the
pins have different fonctions (like they have been swapped) or require
some minor adaptations. Get the reference sheets for each device, read
them and understand them.

If you still believe it should work, then comes the actual physical
work of reballing, etc:  normally you would use a BGA rework station,
but that ain't cheap.

However, you can do that with easy to find and unexpansive tools.
There is a nice visual guide with pictures and explainations on :
http://digit.que.ne.jp/visit/index.cgi?Linux%a5%b6%a5%a6%a5%eb%a5%b9%b3%ab%c8%af%a5%e1%a5%e2%2f%a5%cf%a1%bc%a5%c9%a5%a6%a5%a7%a5%a2%2fC700%a5%e1%a5%e2%a5%ea%c1%fd%c0%df

You can use excite.co.jp if you need translations, but the pictures
alone are quite evident.

Train yourself with dead hardware from ebay - you make many mistakes
the first time :-)

Be sure to have a soldering iron with the thinnest tip you can find,
stripping wire, and a hotglue gun. It will come handy should you
damage the motherboard by accident (it can happen; cutting a track,
etc).

If you need more information/help, tell me. I'm not sure I can help
you (it's been a while since my last serious hardware hack) but I'd be
happy to point you to people who can.

Guylhem

On 9/14/07, Albert Cahalan <acahalan at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm wondering if one could replace the 88W8385
> on a gumstix board with an 88W8388 swiped from
> an Xbox 360 wireless device.
>
> They appear to be the same chip package. This of
> course does not ensure that enough of the
> connections are compatible, but I think there is
> reason to be optimistic.
>
> It's this horrifying package: TBGA 132pin 8x8x1
>
> (any better ideas for getting 88W8388 hardware?)
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