Important Precautions For SMD Work

1. Same basic rules as that of the first graphics card repair guide. Again, if you have not read it yet, please do so before continuing with the guide, especially if you are new to soldering.

2. This time, using your fingers is a ticket to Burnsville. Don't try it. That's what the tweezers are for.

3. If you can't see, don't dip your head closer. Get a magnifying glass or mentally estimate the component's position and the time needed for the soldering work. Putting your head very close to a hot soldering iron with hot tin and lead = a disaster waiting to happen!

4. Get some eye protection, my friends! Swimming googles work in a pinch. Eutectic solder and large diameter solders have a tendency to splash. Ouch!

Tips For Superior SMD Work

1. SMD capacitors and resistors are hardy. Take your time with your work and you will do a better job.

2. When you hold SMD components with a tweezer, it's best to hold them at an angle of 30° from the horizontal. Incidentally, that is also the best angle to use if you ever need to look for hidden land mines with a knife. Awesome.

3. Since the pads are smaller, try using a flathead (slotted tip) screwdriver to scrape and chip off excess hardened solder on the pad. Do so very gently as you don't want to knock off any surrounding components!

Our Patient Today

Before you get to work, always take some time to understand the problem at hand. A short 10-minute session to plan the work never hurts. In fact, it will help you avoid costly mistakes (in time and money) in the long run. Now, let's take a look at today's patient.

Waaaait. Doesn't it look familiar? Yes, it is the same graphics card that we repaired in the first graphics card repair guide. LOL! In my hurry to remove it from my computer chassis, I slammed it against the case and out popped a surface-mounted capacitor.... So sad. You can see the recovered capacitor and its pad in the second picture.

Oh well, this misfortune does give us the opportunity to fix her up again. And I had better do it, or we will get an earful from NVIDIA!