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Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
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MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 12th, 2012, 6:28

Hello,

I was wondering if someone could advice me on some soldering tips for some specific cases.

Indeed, for some PCB, i've found that ROM is part of MCU, so, this one needs to be swapped.

I've read in some topics, that it's a headache.

In my donor parts, i've found some adequate PCB :

- Western Digital RE3

- Samsung HD401LJ / HD501LJ

Here is a RE3 PCB picture :

Image

Here is a HD501LJ picture :

Image

In the 2 cases, can you confirm the 2 thoughts :

- Any ROM chip ? So included in MCU ?

- RE3 PCB : where is memory chip ??


Finally :

- For Samsung PCB : how would you desolder/resolder this SMD ? I suppose the same way has to be used for SMD present on USB keys. I have a Aoyue station : is there any tip/nozzle to use in such a case ?

- For RE3 PCB : MCU seems to be a BGA : same question.

- Does only MCU need to be swapped finally ?

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

XZed

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 12th, 2012, 12:59

Chang the full pcb is much easier

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 12th, 2012, 13:20

I suppose you misunderstood my post.

In case, for example, of a burnt PCB, i'll swap the pcb, right.

But, you need to solder the original ROM chip on the new PCB.

Meanwhile, in the specific quoted PCB, ROM seems included in MCU, so, this one needs to
be transferred to the donor PCB.

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 12th, 2012, 14:19

In wd ROM can be regenerated as for samsung it can be copied by terminal so no need for move the whole MCU .

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 12th, 2012, 14:35

rameez wrote:In wd ROM can be regenerated as for samsung it can be copied by terminal so no need for move the whole MCU .


What a great newz !!! Could you please advice me any link ajout ROM régénération ?

Perhaps answer comes with link, but not having it my first thought goes to : how to do this with a faulty/burnt patient PCB oO ?

Thank you very much.

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 12th, 2012, 14:39

Answer is the tool pc3000 and Salvation data and WDR are able to regenerate ROM on Wd ROYL drive .

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 12th, 2012, 15:05

rameez wrote:Answer is the tool pc3000 and Salvation data and WDR are able to regenerate ROM on Wd ROYL drive .


At the same time, i was indeed reading such information on SD site :).

Thank you very much.

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 13th, 2012, 14:43

Hello,

I read alot about the ROM regeneration on adviced tools.

Just a few consequent questions :

- After replacing the PCB, reading SA modules (firmware backup), located on platters, permits to regenerate ROM to the new MCU : did i well understand the process ?
- Theorically, it has the same result as transferring the patient MCU. Why didn't anyone do this ? Is MCU soldering such a pain ?
- How much are ROM and PCB linked ? (I'm thinking about any ROM regeneration on a slightly différent PCB)

By the way, i've read many debates around WDR : no one really talks about the reliability of such 'chinese copy'...

Thank you.

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 13th, 2012, 19:01

XZed wrote:- After replacing the PCB, reading SA modules (firmware backup), located on platters, permits to regenerate ROM to the new MCU : did i well understand the process ?
- Theorically, it has the same result as transferring the patient MCU. Why didn't anyone do this ? Is MCU soldering such a pain ?

MCU soldering/desoldering requires skill and specialist equipment. If you really need to do this, then there are DR companies that will do it for US$150.

Here is a Salvation Data article that describes how to regenerate the ROM from SA modules on ROYL drives:

Case Study on WD ROYL Drive Using WD Utility (regenerating ROM data)
http://www.salvationdata.com/blog/data- ... y-tools02/

XZed wrote:i've read many debates around WDR : no one really talks about the reliability of such 'chinese copy'...

There was one thread where several professionals talked favourably about WDR UDMA and WD HD Pro, but that thread has since been deleted. AIUI, nobody suggested that the tool is a "copy". However, one person did suggest that the tool has one factory feature (Arco) that is not present in PC-3000.

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 14th, 2012, 0:00

WDR is the cheapest solution u can get to regenerate ROM on ROYL drives .

Re: MCU (BGA / SMD) : soldering tips ?

March 14th, 2012, 5:06

fzabkar wrote:MCU soldering/desoldering requires skill and specialist equipment. If you really need to do this, then there are DR companies that will do it for US$150.

Here is a Salvation Data article that describes how to regenerate the ROM from SA modules on ROYL drives:

Case Study on WD ROYL Drive Using WD Utility (regenerating ROM data)
http://www.salvationdata.com/blog/data- ... y-tools02/


Thank you for the price estimation. By the way, i also read this article : http://www.salvationdata.com/blog/fix-identification-problem-caused-by-corruption-of-ata-overlay-module-or-rom-content/

fzabkar wrote:There was one thread where several professionals talked favourably about WDR UDMA and WD HD Pro, but that thread has since been deleted. AIUI, nobody suggested that the tool is a "copy". However, one person did suggest that the tool has one factory feature (Arco) that is not present in PC-3000.


Someone suggested it is a "Trex copy" : http://forum.hddguru.com/has-anyone-used-the-software-wdr-udma-t19152.html?hilit=trex%20copy#p128876

Anyway, what is important : to know the reliability. rameez seems to appreciate the software :).

rameez wrote:WDR is the cheapest solution u can get to regenerate ROM on ROYL drives .


Thanks for your feedback :) !
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