On 15 June 2011 02:39, wrote: >> I've got a Samsung TV and a Gateway laptop with problems. >> Googling around various forums I find most of the time it's a loose >> BGA and can't be fixed with normal lab tools. >> >> What's the life span of boards with BGA chips? >> Is it poor mechanical design of the board or bad assembly procedures? > > Could be neither. One of the problems with BGA is getting all the balls s= oldered properly, and the norm is 100% x-ray of assembled parts. > > My pick would be that one or more balls has got the equivalent of a dry s= oldered joint through temperature cycling. I would be tempted to use a hot = air gun (of the soldering kind, not the paint stripper) to reheat under the= chip and see if that changes the symptom. > -- > Scanned by iCritical. > I had this problem with a "Sony" (made by LG) 42" flat panel display. Tried all sorts of fixes including hot airgun "reflow". Nothing worked for more than a few weeks. Eventually I found I could get a replacement board for $100 and that fixed the problem It took a while to track down the replacement but was well worth the effort. If done properly BGA should last the life of the rest of the product. Richard P > --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .