PS3/Xbox "Reballing" - Leaded Solder vs. Lead Free Solder

[Niode]

Hmm. Did they definitely do a reball, or just a reflow? Do they advertise as having a BGA workstation? IF they do then it's a good sign that they did actually reball and you just got unlucky. It does seem quite fishy that it broke right away though.

[enderfall]

Hmm. Did they definitely do a reball, or just a reflow? Do they advertise as having a BGA workstation? IF they do then it's a good sign that they did actually reball and you just got unlucky. It does seem quite fishy that it broke right away though.

Well, they sell the BGA workstation and accessories. I paid extra over their reflow service, so I hope that's what they actually did (reball).

We'll see what their response is to getting it back so soon. Should know towards the end of next week.

[Whatever]

I would be wary of any company offering a 1 year warranty on PS3 reballs. I currently have one of the best BGA machines in the USA out of all the small companies that do these repairs. I currently offer a 90 day warranty on PS3 reballs. And I am pretty confident I am doing some of the best PS3 reballs outside of SONY. I know this because I hang out allot on console repair forums.

Some advice about looking for a PS3 reball. Look for people using 3 heating zone BGA machines. There are some cheap knock off 3 zone BGA machines on the market now, so some places may have one. These are a must for getting results on the PS3 console as they have duel layer BGA chips.

I would also be wary of anyone doing reflows at this stage of console repairing. Reflowing is like a beginners way of fixing BGA components.
Yes it is cheap and anyone can do it with low end equipment. But lasting results by reflow require a very good machine and lots of experience. Keep in mind most places have low end equipment. And they may charge you allot of money for it.

[enderfall]

I would be wary of any company offering a 1 year warranty on PS3 reballs. I currently have one of the best BGA machines in the USA out of all the small companies that do these repairs. I currently offer a 90 day warranty on PS3 reballs. And I am pretty confident I am doing some of the best PS3 reballs outside of SONY. I know this because I hang out allot on console repair forums.

I'm giving the guys that did my work the benefit of the doubt and that they are trying to get a competitive advantage since 90 days appears to be the standard. I mean seriously, if you (and this is not an indictment on you, Whatever, just a generalization on all console repair shops) are going to advertise that reballs are such superior options for repair and that they should last a long time, 90 days seems like a cop out to me.

Anyway, it's impossible to know who is doing a good job from an outsider's perspective without knowing someone with first hand experience. Hitting up Google, or ebay, yields dozens upon dozens of "companies" offering to fix your consoles. Simply offering something like a 1 year warranty can easily separate you from the pack, and if you do have to offer it up on regular basis, then you aren't going to be around very long.

[Niode]

I would be wary of any company offering a 1 year warranty on PS3 reballs. I currently have one of the best BGA machines in the USA out of all the small companies that do these repairs. I currently offer a 90 day warranty on PS3 reballs. And I am pretty confident I am doing some of the best PS3 reballs outside of SONY. I know this because I hang out allot on console repair forums.

I'm giving the guys that did my work the benefit of the doubt and that they are trying to get a competitive advantage since 90 days appears to be the standard. I mean seriously, if you (and this is not an indictment on you, Whatever, just a generalization on all console repair shops) are going to advertise that reballs are such superior options for repair and that they should last a long time, 90 days seems like a cop out to me.

Anyway, it's impossible to know who is doing a good job from an outsider's perspective without knowing someone with first hand experience. Hitting up Google, or ebay, yields dozens upon dozens of "companies" offering to fix your consoles. Simply offering something like a 1 year warranty can easily separate you from the pack, and if you do have to offer it up on regular basis, then you aren't going to be around very long.

Yes a 90 day warranty is fairly standard on repairs (in any industry), but it doesn't give you much confidence in the work like a year warranty does. I'd say it's a smart business move to offer something like that as I'm sure they'd get more work because of it, and therefore can afford to redo the odd job every now and then. If they weren't confident it would last they wouldn't offer a 12 month warranty as that would be financial suicide if it consistently went wrong. The method and the science is sound as long as they are using leaded solder. It means that the connections will last much longer and can handle much higher stress than unleaded can. In theory anyway.

[enderfall]

Yes a 90 day warranty is fairly standard on repairs (in any industry), but it doesn't give you much confidence in the work like a year warranty does. I'd say it's a smart business move to offer something like that as I'm sure they'd get more work because of it, and therefore can afford to redo the odd job every now and then. If they weren't confident it would last they wouldn't offer a 12 month warranty as that would be financial suicide if it consistently went wrong. The method and the science is sound as long as they are using leaded solder. It means that the connections will last much longer and can handle much higher stress than unleaded can. In theory anyway.

Couldn't have said it any better!

[Whatever]

1 Year warranty sounds great, I will not argue that. I just think it is more a ploy to get your money. That is just me. Hopefully the warranty will work out for you. Mailing the PS3 console is not cheap.
The truth is there is allot of grey area and tactics they could use against you to not cover the console. (they may try and drag more money out of you) The PS3 has no known error codes, so technically they can say something else has failed on the motherboard. The YLOD is not specific to any fault with the console. It is just a general indicator that there general hardware failure.

I suspect they will reflow the GPU and return it to you. It sounds funny to me because if you have the proper equipment, there is nothing you can do wrong when attaching the GPU. The machine will have the exact same results on every motherboard. 2 months sounds like the average bad reflow.

Allot of people in this business are basically scammers. Some are scammers and just don't know it. lol

Just being honest

[enderfall]

2 months is not a long time, except that in those 2 months, I used it a total of maybe 6 times, 2 of which were to back the console up (i.e. - no games were played). The console arrived yesterday and I will be calling today to confirm that they received it and find out when they will look at it.

[enderfall]

Bringing this back from the dead, so as to bring some closure to the thread.

After shipping the console back to the servicer, I told them that I was in transition and I wanted to have them hold off shipping the repaired PS3 back to me for a couple weeks while I get situated in my new home. I called them a couple weeks later and told them they can ship the PS3 back to me. I waited 10 days, no PS3. I called again, asked what was going on, and from what I heard, it sounded like they had not even touched my PS3, some 6 weeks after they had originally received it.

After calling a third time and giving the guy hell, I finally got a shipping confirmation the next day and it arrived about a week later.

Overall, I would not recommend using SpitFireMods, simply because of the fact that they used me after I had returned the PS3 and did not promptly fix the problem. It was obvious that they were more interested in generating more revenue than by fixing my broken PS3 again at a loss.

As for the PS3 itself? I decided to transfer all my files to a new slim PS3 and now have it sitting in my retro game room acting as my PS2 (which had it's laser die about a year ago). I don't plan to use my 60GB PS3 for any serious gaming going forward since I have no confidence in the repair job actually holding up.

[CRTGAMER]

A shame about your Fat PS3. I went thru a tap dance my self thru Sony, four or was it five fat PS3's before I gave up and went the slim route too. There were other circumstances why my multiple PS3s failed. Not sure if you read my story, its the YLOD in the signature.