Chosen Solution

I have a Macbook pro 13" mid 2010 that I believe to have a faulty connection between the GPU and the logic board due to over heating. I’m wondering if anyone that has re-flowed one of these could give me an idea of the temps required to fully melt the solder. I am not even sure if they use lead free or lead solder on these Macbooks.

Steven, right now my concern would be that you need to know that it is not necessary to “to fully melt the solder” for a reflow. I suggest that you get an old board first and practice a reflow. I assume you are going to use a hot air gun. There is a lot more to a reflow than blasting some hot air onto the processor. You could also tell us why you “believe to have a faulty connection between the GPU and the logic board due to over heating.” Yes, it is lead free solder. Here are some basic temps that you will need to know “The lead-free alloy used for BGA solder balls has a melting point of 217°C. This alloy requires a minimum reflow temperature of 235°C to ensure good wetting. The maximum reflow temperature is in the 245°C to 260°C range. When using a reflow station, for a processor like your NVidia, the profile looks usually like this : Profile Feature Average ramp-up rate (Tsmax to TP) 3°C/ second maximum Minimum preheat temperature (Ts MIN) 150°C Maximum preheat temperature (Ts MAX) 200°C Preheat time (Ts MIN to TsMAX) 60–120 seconds Temperature (TL) 217°C Time above liquidous temperature TL 60–150 seconds Peak temperature (TP) 260°C Time within 5°C of peak TP 30sec Average ramp-down rate (TP to TsMAX) 6°C/ second maximum Time 25°C to TP 8-minutes maximum All temperatures refer to the topside of the processor, measured on the processor body surface. Of course this is for a reflow station based on a lead free BGA IC. Best places to check out first, would be the Xbox360 and PS3 forums. After all, those are the birth places for the home reflows. I attached an image which also shows a common reflow profile. Check this video for a GPU reflow, different computer, same idea. Hope this helps, good luck

Hi, thanks so much for the detailed response. Some of the symptoms that lead me to believe I believe to have a faulty connection between the GPU and the logic board. -Upon pressing the power button the unit powers on ( fan spins, white led illuminates )

  • No chime
  • Screen does not come on or light up in anyway ( apple logo on lid does not illuminate )
  • Keyboard shows no sign of life ( caps lock does not come on and keys do not illuminate )
  • USB ports do not seem to function ( plugged a USB light in during startup ) Seeing the GPU chip has the Southbridge onboard which controls sound, keyboard, USB along with the screen not showing any signs of life my guess is that the GPU over heated and may need to be reflowed. I’ve tried
  • resetting smc and pram
  • resetting all cables and connections
  • reseating all hardware I have some experience in reflowing laptops, desktops and video cards with a hot air station and just recently acquired a PCB preheater. I am just now starting to work on Macbooks so this will be my first attempt at a GPU re-flow on a MBP. There for I would like to gather as much information as possible before jumping .You can see some of my reflow videos here http://www.youtube.com/user/CPRcomputers…

Though I believe the GPU was not getting power, I found that the issue was due to a short from a small water spill. Once I ran it through an ultrasonic cleaner problem was solved.