global Laptop and motherboard repair tutorial | Page 78

top to the side. You want to be holding the soldering gun almost parallel to the IC chip, you will use
as much of the side of the soldering gun tip as you can to heat as many arms on the chip as you can at
one time. Once you have a good portion of the corner you started on raising upward, you will pick a
side… either top or right, then, continue heating all the way around the chip and its arms still prying
the corner. If needed, go around the chip again with de-soldering braid to ease the removal.
You must remember to remove any remaining flux from the motherboard. I will remove any flux at
each step of the process. I will apply the solvent WD-40 to a toothbrush (you can use a circuit board
grade cleaner if readily available), and gently brush the area (make sure to dab off any access cleaner
from the bristles using a cloth or paper towel, you don’t want a lot of WD-40 to contact the
motherboard). Wipe away any remaining cleaner with a cloth or paper towel using a dabbing motion
as opposed to scrubbing back and forth because you might damage components in that area of the
board. Now you will notice there is still remaining flux (brownish to blackish in color), you will
need to remove this too…
I find the best tool for flux removal is the mini flat head screwdriver because of its sharp, yet still
a dull edge, you need to apply the flat tip of the screwdriver and scrape the remaining flux paste
away. You will notice the flux paste has hardened and is no longer gelatinous in form… this is due to
the heat and the chemical mix of the cleaner. It makes it easy to scrape away as opposed to scraping
off fresh paste (it gets real messy and sticky, a sticky that won’t wash off for a few hours…)
Always use a magnifying glass when able too when working on a Laptop Motherboard, it is better to
see what you are doing clearly.
I use 2 kinds of magnifying glass(s) when working on motherboards. The first is a small hand held
glass with a plastic handle and it is lighted with an LED bulb. It is a 5x lens and rectangle in shape. I
also have a Magnifying Glass Headset with Multi LED Adjustable Headlamp and 4 Lenses all
adjustable.
The Headset really helps when your hands are both occupied. It allows you to see all the
components close up to look for faults and will help in removal of components by bring your sight
close in to what you are doing.