Chosen Solution
TLDR Should I try to re-flow with a heat gun? I bought this PS4 broken for 20$. When I got home I tried turning it on just in case, and after it still failed, I opened it up and took a look at the APU bracket. The shop the guy took it to tried the washer fix, but with coins wedged between the pieces of metal. Still I took the coins out and tried the washer fix, I even got up to the high pitch noise and untightened the screws until it stopped but that didn’t work either. I ordered a power supply and hopefully it’ll arrive in two weeks. In the meanwhile, should I attempt a re-flow? And if so, anything I should know? Is there anything else I could try? Thanks a lot in advance, Euler.
A reflow won’t fix it if the washer fix won’t (at least it’s very, very, very unlikely). You can’t replace just the chip as new ones are not available. A power supply isn’t going to fix it…power supply’s don’t cause the BLOD. Basically your only hope is a reball but that’s not a for sure thing either. That’s your best bet at this point. Anyone who has done a number of these knows that many times some of the solder pads on the APU get corroded and cause the bad connection. When the chip is removed and the pads cleaned it can then be remounted to the motherboard. This fixes a lot of them but it’s not guaranteed. I hope this helps!
A reflow will likely bring the unit back to life for about 30 days, but the damage is in the graphics chip not just the balls underneath. Because of this, the only complete fix would be to replace the chip.
