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Apple Referral
updated: Jun 30, 2012, 2:18 PM

I am looking for some one locally who has the proper equipment and skills to perform a BGA re-solder on an Apple G5 motherboard.

Places People Are Talking About:

Mac Mechanic

What People Are Saying:

COMMENT 292972	2012-06-30 03:00 PM
I think you're going to have trouble finding anyone, anywhere, with that capability who will take on a one-off repair.
COMMENT 292994P	2012-06-30 05:23 PM
BGAs are typically reflow soldered - which means you lay down solder paste and then heat the whole board to the solder's melting point. Since they have solder joints buried under the center of the part, there's also no way to visually inspect them to make sure you've made good connections. This isn't likely to be something you can do in your garage, I'm afraid. This sounds more like a job for an authorized Apple repair center.
COMMENT 292995P	2012-06-30 05:25 PM
994P here again. I forgot to mention, time and temperature are very critical in the operation. If you don't heat the board up enough, you don't get good solder joints. If you heat it too much or too long, you'll overstress the components and either break them outright or shorten their lives.
MTNDRIVER	2012-06-30 05:38 PM
Go to Mac Mechanic. If they can't do it, they'll tell you who can.
COMMENT 293007	2012-06-30 06:23 PM
Are you sure that you've identified the bad component? Apple doesn't replace components on motherboards--they sell you a new or refurbished motherboard so you replace the whole thing. I doubt that MacMechanic can help, but not harm in trying. They want $55 to identify the problem though. If you are not in a hurry, the approach that I used was to monitor Craig's list until I found a used working G5 at a reasonable price. Another place to look is on Ebay. You can buy a motherboard there, but be sure it is exactly the same model--lots of G5 models were produced. If you buy a used Mac--mine had a bad hard drive and optical drive--your old computer will serve as a supply of some parts--other than the motherboad.
COMMENT 293017	2012-06-30 07:01 PM
I worked in the Defense industry for years, on the manufacturing end. We struggled forever with replacing BGAs. As a previous commenter wrote, for a one-off, forget it. Move to plan B.
COMMENT 293023	2012-06-30 07:16 PM
You should really be asking how much for a ticket to China... memo to OP...tech is disposable...buy a cheaper PC and replace every 4 years.
BECKY	2012-06-30 07:55 PM
1. Ask MacMechanic. Probably "no," but it doesn't hurt to ask. 2. Craig's list for a used Mac of the same model and swap parts. 3. www.powermax.com. They've got a large supply of used Macs for sale.
COMMENT 293108	2012-07-01 09:17 AM
Why would you want to perform such an expensive repair on something no new software will run on? That computer has to be over 8 years old. Like trying a heart transplant on a 98 year old.
COMMENT 293111	2012-07-01 09:35 AM
The replacement of a BGA can be easily done by an experienced person with an IR rework station. They focus an Infrared beam on the part to be removed/replaced and the solder melts and reflows. I've looked into getting one of these where I work, but we decided to continue to just send the boards back to our assembly house for repair.
COMMENT 293181	2012-07-01 02:26 PM
Mic's Mac's on the mesa!
COMMENT 293298	2012-07-02 07:55 AM
There are certainly shops in town that will replace a BGA. We've had to do rework on boards for work. Try Vareda Engineering. I completely agree with the other commenters though - how have you isolated it to a specific part? Usually the capacitors just go or something. It would be odd for a random IC to die. Plus you should be able to find an entire motherboard easier than this ordeal is going to be.
COMMENT 293377	2012-07-02 10:38 AM
Very few shops can consitantly do succesful replacment of a G5 chip with about a thousand balls, even though doing a chip with a few dozen balls can be done by a number of local shops. Boards with big BGA's are not intended to be repairable - they are disposable with the possible exception of new boards that fail initial tests that are often rewoked in factory depot facilities. If Apple will no longer replace the chip for you, you will be speding a lot of money for a dubious chance of long-term success. Even if the new G5 works for a while, it will tend to lose contact with the board over time. Also, most G5's being offered for sale these days are junk reclaimed form scrap mining operations in China and re-labelled as new parts. Screening out the real from the fake is not cheap or easy.