zackf89
Xbox Modification/Repair Master
*This is ALL my information type by ME if copied please give credit. Please dont steal my pics either or you will make me watermark them -.-*
Reballing is THE BEST fix for RROD/GPU failure because it actually FIXES the problem instead of making it worse like the "xclamp" "fix" or a heatgun, etc. These fixes are all TERRIBLE ideas because all causes irreversible damage to the components on the board along the GPU.
When RROD happens its because little .6mm balls under the GPU have a bad connection or merged (think of them as cutting a wire). There are hundreds of these under the GPU and it only takes 1 to mess up to brick your console. Reballing replaces ALL of the spheres under the GPU to ensure a brand new connection between the board and GPU
Why the xclamp "fix" isnt a fix: The xclamp "fix" is basically tightening the heatsinks so the pressure between the board, chip, and heatsink becomes extremely large in order to make a "better" connection with the board. This isnt fixing it at all because the failed connection is still there and has not been sealed (like holding 2 wires together instead of soldering them) Although this might fix your problem this immediatly damages your console and every time you run it makes it worse and worse.
Short version: So much pressure causes micro fractures on the GPU, warping of the GPU, warping of the motherboard among other things that PERMANENTLY DAMAGE YOUR CONSOLE. Your console WILL fail again
Technical Version: Increased pressure on the BGA + GPU causes a so many problems heres a few:
1. Thermal stress: Not getting into thermodynamics but more pressure along with heating cycles causes GPU fractures, cracking, and permanent damage too it
2. Board warping: so much pressure from the 4 bolts on the board can cause it to warp under the GPU. This leads to #1 along with your board being permanently damaged.
*Note: I use the bolt mod often called the xclamp "fix" however there is NO overtighting of the bolts. Just enough pressure on the GPU to provide a thermal connection between the GPU, Thermal Paste, and Heatsink in order to disapate heat
Why heatgunning is bad!!!!:
Question: What store would you go to in order to fix you electronics?
a. Chipotle
b. Home Depot
c. Best Buy
d. Radio Shack
Well why are you going to Home Depot to get a paint melting gun to fix something as fragile as a GPU!?!?!?!
Problems:
1.Uneven heating from gun: leads to #1 #2 above.
2. Popcorning of GPU (dead GPU) ---> only option is reballing a new GPU
3. No temperature monitoring: A successful reflow involves hitting the desires temperature (217 celcius) with an even temp gradient along the GPU. A heatgun cannot come close to this.
Although a heatgun may fix your GPU failure your problem WILL come back again.
Why Reballing is a permanent fix:
When MS made the xbox 360 they used exclusively Lead Free solder on the whole board. Although this is perfectly fine in most situations, Lead Free solder is not as thermally stable as leaded solder. Since MS failed at cooling the GPU heatsink and used terrible thermal paste the GPU goes under extreme temperature changes that weaken the BGA (solder spheres) under the board causing cold solder joints and bridges.
Reballing involves removing the GPU chip and cleaning off ALL the lead free solder on the board and GPU in preparation for Lead Solder spheres to be used for a more thermally stable connection in addition to better pressure on the GPU (NO OVERTIGHTING) and high quality thermal paste in order to properly draw heat away from the GPU.
Reballs on consoles that have not been heatgunned, xclamp "fixed" can normally last 1+ year.
In this tut I will be reballing a Falcon GPU with the Motherboard suffering from 0110.
I use an Achi-IR-Pro SC which is an Infared Rework station. This is PROFESSIONAL equipment (MSRP $2500+) and is made specifically for the purpose of fixing Ball Grid Array (BGA) failures.
1. Find which BGA chip is failing by getting the secondary error code (hold sync and press eject 4 times). 90%+ of the time this will be the GPU.
2. Dissasemble your xbox 360 down to the motherboard. Remove the heatsinks + thermal pads and place your motherboard on your jig. This keeps the motherboard and GPU are FLAT to avoid warping and many other problems
3. Using Qtips and your choice of an organic solvent (I prefer MEK, acetone works too) clean off ALL the terrible M$ thermal paste off the GPU & CPU
4. Place jig/motherboard on rework station to prepare for removing the GPU. Make sure thermocouple is touching chip and board. Also shield nearby capacitors to avoid blowing them.
5. Since the Xbox 360 has lead free solder spheres choose your appropriate profile for this (Temp. Max should be NO MORE than 223 celcius). Start the profile and once the board reaches 100+ degrees take tweezers or sutures (i prefer sutures) and peel off the adhesive off the chip.
6. Run your profile until the lead free solder has melted under the chip (chip will drop 1/3mm) then using a suction pen remove the GPU
7. Now using your soldering iron and braid remove ALL the solder from the GPU chip and motherboard so both are flat. If your Qtip snags when cleaning off the flux then you didnt do a good job.
8. Put the GPU into your reballing jig and using your X360 GPU stencil and .6mm LEADED solder spheres put the balls back onto the chip using only about a rice size amount of flux on the chip.
Dont worry if the balls are not perfectly on their pads but NO BALLS SHOULD BE TOUCHING
9. Now using your hot air wand go over the GPU chip with airflow 2 temp 480 celcius and do not get closer then ~5 inches from the chip. Now watch all the spheres melt into place! if some dont want to melt add some liquid flux and wand over it and they will jump to their pads
Finished product:
10. Now using MEK clean the board once more along with the top of the GPU before fluxing the bottom of the GPU and the board
Fluxed GPU + Board before attachment
11. Reseat the GPU so when looking directly above all 4 sides of the white line can be seen
12. Now its time to reflow the chip back onto the board. Since I used LEADED spheres I chose my leaded profile
13. Finish running your profile then let the board cool back to room temperature. Then its time to test if it works!!!!
And......
Sucess!!!!!!
Reballing is THE BEST fix for RROD/GPU failure because it actually FIXES the problem instead of making it worse like the "xclamp" "fix" or a heatgun, etc. These fixes are all TERRIBLE ideas because all causes irreversible damage to the components on the board along the GPU.
When RROD happens its because little .6mm balls under the GPU have a bad connection or merged (think of them as cutting a wire). There are hundreds of these under the GPU and it only takes 1 to mess up to brick your console. Reballing replaces ALL of the spheres under the GPU to ensure a brand new connection between the board and GPU
Why the xclamp "fix" isnt a fix: The xclamp "fix" is basically tightening the heatsinks so the pressure between the board, chip, and heatsink becomes extremely large in order to make a "better" connection with the board. This isnt fixing it at all because the failed connection is still there and has not been sealed (like holding 2 wires together instead of soldering them) Although this might fix your problem this immediatly damages your console and every time you run it makes it worse and worse.
Short version: So much pressure causes micro fractures on the GPU, warping of the GPU, warping of the motherboard among other things that PERMANENTLY DAMAGE YOUR CONSOLE. Your console WILL fail again
Technical Version: Increased pressure on the BGA + GPU causes a so many problems heres a few:
1. Thermal stress: Not getting into thermodynamics but more pressure along with heating cycles causes GPU fractures, cracking, and permanent damage too it
2. Board warping: so much pressure from the 4 bolts on the board can cause it to warp under the GPU. This leads to #1 along with your board being permanently damaged.
*Note: I use the bolt mod often called the xclamp "fix" however there is NO overtighting of the bolts. Just enough pressure on the GPU to provide a thermal connection between the GPU, Thermal Paste, and Heatsink in order to disapate heat
Why heatgunning is bad!!!!:
Question: What store would you go to in order to fix you electronics?
a. Chipotle
b. Home Depot
c. Best Buy
d. Radio Shack
Well why are you going to Home Depot to get a paint melting gun to fix something as fragile as a GPU!?!?!?!
Problems:
1.Uneven heating from gun: leads to #1 #2 above.
2. Popcorning of GPU (dead GPU) ---> only option is reballing a new GPU
3. No temperature monitoring: A successful reflow involves hitting the desires temperature (217 celcius) with an even temp gradient along the GPU. A heatgun cannot come close to this.
Although a heatgun may fix your GPU failure your problem WILL come back again.
Why Reballing is a permanent fix:
When MS made the xbox 360 they used exclusively Lead Free solder on the whole board. Although this is perfectly fine in most situations, Lead Free solder is not as thermally stable as leaded solder. Since MS failed at cooling the GPU heatsink and used terrible thermal paste the GPU goes under extreme temperature changes that weaken the BGA (solder spheres) under the board causing cold solder joints and bridges.
Reballing involves removing the GPU chip and cleaning off ALL the lead free solder on the board and GPU in preparation for Lead Solder spheres to be used for a more thermally stable connection in addition to better pressure on the GPU (NO OVERTIGHTING) and high quality thermal paste in order to properly draw heat away from the GPU.
Reballs on consoles that have not been heatgunned, xclamp "fixed" can normally last 1+ year.
In this tut I will be reballing a Falcon GPU with the Motherboard suffering from 0110.
I use an Achi-IR-Pro SC which is an Infared Rework station. This is PROFESSIONAL equipment (MSRP $2500+) and is made specifically for the purpose of fixing Ball Grid Array (BGA) failures.
1. Find which BGA chip is failing by getting the secondary error code (hold sync and press eject 4 times). 90%+ of the time this will be the GPU.
2. Dissasemble your xbox 360 down to the motherboard. Remove the heatsinks + thermal pads and place your motherboard on your jig. This keeps the motherboard and GPU are FLAT to avoid warping and many other problems
3. Using Qtips and your choice of an organic solvent (I prefer MEK, acetone works too) clean off ALL the terrible M$ thermal paste off the GPU & CPU
4. Place jig/motherboard on rework station to prepare for removing the GPU. Make sure thermocouple is touching chip and board. Also shield nearby capacitors to avoid blowing them.
5. Since the Xbox 360 has lead free solder spheres choose your appropriate profile for this (Temp. Max should be NO MORE than 223 celcius). Start the profile and once the board reaches 100+ degrees take tweezers or sutures (i prefer sutures) and peel off the adhesive off the chip.
6. Run your profile until the lead free solder has melted under the chip (chip will drop 1/3mm) then using a suction pen remove the GPU
7. Now using your soldering iron and braid remove ALL the solder from the GPU chip and motherboard so both are flat. If your Qtip snags when cleaning off the flux then you didnt do a good job.
8. Put the GPU into your reballing jig and using your X360 GPU stencil and .6mm LEADED solder spheres put the balls back onto the chip using only about a rice size amount of flux on the chip.
Dont worry if the balls are not perfectly on their pads but NO BALLS SHOULD BE TOUCHING
9. Now using your hot air wand go over the GPU chip with airflow 2 temp 480 celcius and do not get closer then ~5 inches from the chip. Now watch all the spheres melt into place! if some dont want to melt add some liquid flux and wand over it and they will jump to their pads
Finished product:
10. Now using MEK clean the board once more along with the top of the GPU before fluxing the bottom of the GPU and the board
Fluxed GPU + Board before attachment
11. Reseat the GPU so when looking directly above all 4 sides of the white line can be seen
12. Now its time to reflow the chip back onto the board. Since I used LEADED spheres I chose my leaded profile
13. Finish running your profile then let the board cool back to room temperature. Then its time to test if it works!!!!
And......
Sucess!!!!!!