iBook Repair [ A G T ]

Now, as wonderful as Apple products can be, they are not infallible. My son's hand me down laptop (the generational equivalent on a Cray XM-P) recently developed a problem with the display. This was not an unknown problem, Apple even had a free extended warranty. Well the problem developed out of warranty.

The problem stems from a video chip that is soldered using a ball grid array. A BGA can fail due to circuit board flexing, and there are not many options. You can either replace the logic board, send it out for repair or sell it on eBay. I had to caution my son that one has to disclose that it is not working. He did suggest that we could chalk the damage up to UPS/FedEx; but I had to explain that is not good . One further option would be to burn it.

I do not mean destroy it by fire, but to re-heat the BGA so the solder joints were fixed. Using information on this website, we carefully disassembled it, then filled a metal cap with alcohol, and set it on fire. As the fire burned, at some point the BCA connections were re-made; the display lit up and I quenched the fire letting the circuit board cool. Result - happy iBook!