[weblacky]

Yo All,
Okay, a few steps are done...few more to go.

I've successfully removed all the DS1780 chips from the mainboard and cleaned the mainboard areas where the chips used to be. I've cleaned the old chips and will be checking them BEFORE I start on the mainboard to see if I can find out which one failed for my symptoms and I will be probing the mainboard BEFORE I plant new chips on it...so I can then probe the new mounted chips for whisker connections/bridges. I need to know if any unwanted connections occur and unless I know none of the IC legs internally are connected and none of the nearby pads on the mainboard are connected, then I can reasonably trust I've not bridged anything when I do the final assessment.

I have decided to approach this soldering job using soldering paste and a hoof drag tip. After I cleaned the old ICs I realized using a micro-tip iron on each leg with a line of solder paste will still result in issues, getting a good, fluxed, drag on very minimal solder paste line will be the best approach.

I posted pictures for all to see.

I have a Fuel disassembly Album:
https://siliconimage.irixnet.org/index.p...isassembly

and a Fuel mainboard desoldering/masking Album:
https://siliconimage.irixnet.org/index.p...780-Repair

I'm happy with how the planning on the masking has worked out so far, I think the coverage will be sufficient for my planned installation. I'm of course worried about glancing the iron tip into other components and of course exact registration of the ICs. My hope is that with the aid of the paste (slight adhesive power) and a microscope I can align and then tack-down the ICs, then drag solder them and examine, re-dragging if needed. I'd say if I was used to doing this, I'd likely only need about 40-50 mins to do and inspect all three ICs, but of course I'll be taking my time here to hopefully guarantee success!

More to come, enjoy the pics!