Advanced Microsoldering and Board Repair Training

Course Overview

The Advanced Microsoldering and Board Repair Course is designed for electronics repair technicians ready to expand their board-level diagnostic and repair capabilities beyond the fundamentals. Building on existing microsoldering skills, students work extensively with schematic reading, board view software navigation including ZXW, and component-level diagnosis across modern logic boards found in phones, tablets, laptops, Chromebooks, and gaming consoles. Advanced Hakko soldering equipment, hot air rework stations, DC power supply units, and digital multimeters are used throughout the course as primary diagnostic and repair tools.

Advanced repair techniques covered include BGA chip removal and replacement, Tristar and CD3226 IC replacement, underfill removal, CPU and NAND-level repair, trace repair, and running jumper wires, skills that represent the highest level of board repair work performed in professional facilities. Students develop precision SMD technique using micro irons and micro tweezers, advanced hot air rework profiles, and FPC connector replacement alongside charge port and flex cable soldering. Short detection methodology covers full shorts, partial shorts, and missing voltage diagnosis using thermal imaging and systematic rail isolation with a DC power supply.

The course includes dedicated training in liquid damage triage, water damage repair, and data recovery procedures, equipping students to recover heavily damaged devices that most repair shops turn away. Live diagnostic exercises on real devices apply schematic tracing, ZXW board view navigation, multimeter measurement, and trace repair strategies to complex board-level failures encountered in real-world repair environments. Students leave with the diagnostic framework, hands-on experience, and component-level repair skills needed to take on the most challenging logic board repairs in the field.

Who Should Enroll:

This course is designed for experienced repair technicians who are already comfortable with microsoldering tools, component removal and replacement, and basic board-level repair. Students should have prior microsoldering experience or have completed the Entry Level Microsoldering Course. The course focuses on advanced diagnostics, complex board-level repairs, and troubleshooting techniques rather than foundational soldering skills.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• Advanced Board-Level Diagnostics: Develop a systematic approach to diagnosing complex motherboard faults using multimeters, DC power supplies, schematics, boardviews, and other diagnostic resources.
• Power Rail Analysis: Identify and troubleshoot power-related failures by tracing voltage rails, locating shorts, analyzing current draw, and isolating failed circuits or components.
• Advanced Schematic and Boardview Analysis: Use schematics and boardviews together to trace circuits, identify component relationships, locate test points, and determine where failures occur within a circuit.
• Advanced Component-Level Repair: Perform more complex removal, replacement, and rework of fine-pitch components, ICs, connectors, pads, and other board-level components using professional microsoldering techniques.
• BGA and IC Rework: Develop techniques for removing, preparing, reballing, aligning, and installing BGA and other advanced IC packages.
• Trace and Pad Reconstruction: Repair damaged pads, vias, traces, and circuit paths using jumper wires and other board reconstruction techniques.
• Short Detection and Fault Isolation: Use resistance measurements, diode mode, voltage injection, thermal analysis, and other diagnostic techniques to locate shorts and failed components.
• No-Power and Complex Failure Diagnosis: Diagnose boards with no-power, partial-power, charging, communication, and other failures where the defective component may not be immediately apparent.
• Real-World Troubleshooting: Diagnose and repair boards with actual faults using a logical troubleshooting process rather than replacing components based solely on symptoms.
• Independent Repair Strategy: Build the skills to determine whether a board is repairable, identify the most appropriate repair approach, and independently troubleshoot unfamiliar motherboard failures beyond the specific examples covered in class.

Course Schedule