I'm glad someone else said this. Multimeters inject voltage and small current into a circuit to determine the readings. This why it is hard to determine the readings you are seeing without knowing what they are supposed to be. Inductors will always show as low resistances as they are designed to filter/condition current, when used in conjunction with a resistor and capacitor, they create a frequency filter.
You make these calls and second guess yourself thinking it was luck but you are a very intelligent guy and you have learned so much over the years you need to give yourself more credit! I do love how you stay humble tho. Such an awesome guy!
@dudewhoareu Yes, well said. Steve is one awesome fella, but just needs a bit more confidence in himself. "Can I Fix It", 9 times out of ten, he can. Unless it's one of those disgusting "blob chips" or a part that is not obtainable, but that would beat all of us. C'mon Steve, YOU CAN KICK ASS AND FIX IT DUDE. Thanks for your comment Sir. 🤜🤛🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡😊😊😊😊😊
Just want to thank you for your videos. It has been a source of inspiration for me for a while. I've been fixing some stuff like Game Gear, PS1 or NDS and your videos taught me a lot. My brother is currently dying at the hospital after a tough fight against leucemia. Your videos are the only thing I bear watching tonight while I can't sleep
Spectacular fix! 😊 Regarding the short/no short; You might be charging a capacitor with your multimeter. (Think of the multimeter as a very small bench power supply.) So the capscitor flows back and makes it look like a short for a moment Thats one of the many reasons its hard to measure things in circuit.
Steve. I don't know where these beats come from but I love them. I was bobbing my head at work subconsciously with this video on in the background. I forgot I was listening to a song about your viewers for a min.
7:07 your multimeter has to inject voltage and a small amount of current to the system. this can charge up a few capacitors. and resistance is technically a voltage drop. the resistance of your multimeter is pretty high, so there is just a little little current when measuring a resistance. so the multimeter is reading the voltage drop, that's available in the circuit.That's also the reason why often measured resistances go up and down while you're reading them. 9:05 Coils: coils are frequency dependent. Just measuring the resistance is just not always enough. If the leads inside a coils are touching, you still read 0 Ohm, but the frequency related resistance is not the same as before.
@ 11:44 - it is a measure of inductance, 2R2 means 2.2uH (micro Henries). The resistance across the coil will be very small: the only time (!) the resistance is important is if the coil has gone open-circuit (high resistance).
Dude, i literally just stumbled on you 3 days ago and these videos are something I thought I never needed. I’m addicted 😂 love your dry sense of humour too. Keep it up. Genius!
You want to know something? When I first started watching this channel, those patreon songs were such 🔥🔥🔥 that I thought you were paying a musician to make it for you. It probably took at least like maybe around 10 videos before I realized it was you 😂
13:04 During a lot of time I thought you were saying "let it solder" instead of "leaded solder" as a joke, cause english is not my first language. I think I'll continue to listen to it as "let it solder" if u don't mind 😂. Fantastic job!
11:40 xRx values are in micro Henries (μH) Three digit values are in nano Henries (nH) or micro Henries (μH), depending on manufacturers choice First two digits are the value Third digit is the multiplier (or number of zeros added to the value) If there is an R, its acts as a decimal point, and there is no multiplier Examples: 472 = 47*102nH = 4700nH = 4.7μH (Coilcraft) 472 = 47*102μH = 4700μH = 4.7mH (Bourns) 4R7 = 4.7μH
Steve, best I remember and I might be wrong but when checking coils, you need a meter that reads henry's and micro henry's. Coils are like that wire you use to make jumpers it has a coating on the wire that makes up the coil. Often times, they get hot, melt the coating and dead short. Using a meter that has henry's on it might help you. Idk.
Do this as a test, it should explain why you get continuity that disappearsd Grab a random capacitor, test for resistance on lowest range, you should see a near short that changes resistance the longer you are connected, now reverse the leads, you'll get the same When you test for continuity, you are charging capacitors, leave the leads on longer if it looks like a short when testing. You need an LCR meter to check coils, prferably out of circuit
Something basic to keep in mind; Most parts tested in-circuit have different results when removed and tested off circuit. Especially don't trust resistance readings while in-circuit, electricity always follows the path of least resistance.
As others have said: Capacitance and inductance are temporary energy storage. Putting your probe on a board can cause current to flow, filling up a capacitance on the board, and beep but stop when it’s full. Just like using a hose with a rubber gasket across it, it can only stretch so far and flow stops or it keeps going and something breaks.
Wherever you see a small inductor, with a small black IC nearby - that is a power supply for one of the power rails. You should get a good steady DC on one side of the inductor. The other side will have rapidly switching square wave, which might show as DC on a multimeter. Better to look with an oscilloscope.
Something to consider so you don't end up having to do this again, is to add a small heatsink to the chip. My opinion is the excessive heat and cooling down causes this failure over time. I have devices in my home that I have also improved cooling on, still work many years later.
I'm wondering if that dinky little aluminum plate just isn't a big enough heatsink for that Rockchip and it had a broken solder ball from heating and cooling.
I believe those coils are measured in micro-henries and the generic electronic parts/transistor testers/identifier should be able to verify the value. (The measurement involves determining Inductance of the coil (by using an applied voltage), so a measurement of continuity doesn't really show the value of the micro-henry).
nicely done, sir. I strongly suspected the HDMI input myself, mainly because we didn't see you inspect it I guess. Glad it's working though, those pandora boxes are some fun cool things for portable head-to-head arcade goodness.
Short no short, charging a cap but is usually visible or switching on a MOSFET so leads the right way around Sir!! Inductors (coils) basically are a dead short at DC so hard to measure unless they are open but at AC its another kettle of fish, you would need to test at about 100 Khz AC. Resetting the trans optical wave differential oscillators time vector circuitry using heat was a cracking idea !.....cheers.
Well done. The only way to test inductors properly (in my opinion) is out of circuit (unless you have a schematic or another device to compare it, you never know what else is connected). Continuity (not open circuit) using Ohms etc, inductance (shorted turns etc) using an LCR meter.
Must be tempting to see if reflowing like that would fix some of the other projects you've had to shelve in the past. Reflow compilation video? :D Can I get a _RE_ flow! ...sorry.
@@StezStixFix i know how it feel , did that on my xbox one x retimer chip did work for a few months till it die again. but on xbox it's a common issue, i do the same freaking ask myself a lot while doing electronics repair/projects can't help myself but try. LOl good video cheers
Couple of things to remind yourself in situation like that; It was already not working when you started. If it is not working at all, you can't make it work less.
Hey man, great fix! Are you sure that replacement coil fits under that heatsink? The main chip might be overheating after a while for not making appropriate contact.
Is the outer case metal? Because if you check for shorts with the board resting on a metallic surface, you could easily have everything register as a short.
Ya gotta spring for an LCR meter so you can properly measure inductors and capacitors - which need to be measure under an AC load as they are reactive components.
I honestly depends on these videos for my sanity, thank you. Hate the adverts though but hey ho. I've bought loads of what you use to do, I have no idea what yet lol
I would guess if you're getting a short then going back and checking and it's not there, your power from your multimeter is charging either a coil or something in circuit to cause that issue. Iirc, EEVBlog has spoken about such things in the past.
I know your Huapar broke and youse fixed it. Good fix vid that one too btw. I want one as the equivalent Flir is ridiculously higher priced (they aren't worth it imo) but the price for the Huapar has moved further north since your fixed-it video. More like £360+ after vat.
Sometimes Dave.. you just gotta go with the reflow....
😂
....... get out
@@hteekay Nope I'm here all week 😁
I will
If a short disappears and turns into a rising resistance, chances are your multimtr (sic) is charging a cap somewhere
I'm glad someone else said this. Multimeters inject voltage and small current into a circuit to determine the readings. This why it is hard to determine the readings you are seeing without knowing what they are supposed to be. Inductors will always show as low resistances as they are designed to filter/condition current, when used in conjunction with a resistor and capacitor, they create a frequency filter.
Yip.
I'm learning soooo much of you guys. Cool
You make these calls and second guess yourself thinking it was luck but you are a very intelligent guy and you have learned so much over the years you need to give yourself more credit! I do love how you stay humble tho. Such an awesome guy!
@dudewhoareu
Yes, well said. Steve is one awesome fella, but just needs a bit more confidence in himself. "Can I Fix It", 9 times out of ten, he can. Unless it's one of those disgusting "blob chips" or a part that is not obtainable, but that would beat all of us.
C'mon Steve, YOU CAN KICK ASS AND FIX IT DUDE.
Thanks for your comment Sir.
🤜🤛🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡😊😊😊😊😊
There's no resisting a zero ohm resistor! Your face when that worked should be your channel icon! Great honest reaction
Just want to thank you for your videos. It has been a source of inspiration for me for a while. I've been fixing some stuff like Game Gear, PS1 or NDS and your videos taught me a lot.
My brother is currently dying at the hospital after a tough fight against leucemia. Your videos are the only thing I bear watching tonight while I can't sleep
sorry to hear that
That irrepressible smile at 21:49 was so sweet and defines why we do stuff like this
Spectacular fix! 😊
Regarding the short/no short;
You might be charging a capacitor with your multimeter.
(Think of the multimeter as a very small bench power supply.)
So the capscitor flows back and makes it look like a short for a moment
Thats one of the many reasons its hard to measure things in circuit.
Wow, a bad BGA solder! You don't see those too often, knowing how the factories work! Great repair!
Steve. I don't know where these beats come from but I love them. I was bobbing my head at work subconsciously with this video on in the background. I forgot I was listening to a song about your viewers for a min.
Some more of that fibrous material came out when you re-flowed the main chip. 20:40 - right hand side of the chip.
You are the hero of resistors marked zero.
Man Steve, you are getting good at repairing this stuff. Your videos are an anticipated highlight of my weekends. Keep'em coming man. I love it.
7:07 your multimeter has to inject voltage and a small amount of current to the system. this can charge up a few capacitors. and resistance is technically a voltage drop. the resistance of your multimeter is pretty high, so there is just a little little current when measuring a resistance. so the multimeter is reading the voltage drop, that's available in the circuit.That's also the reason why often measured resistances go up and down while you're reading them.
9:05 Coils: coils are frequency dependent. Just measuring the resistance is just not always enough. If the leads inside a coils are touching, you still read 0 Ohm, but the frequency related resistance is not the same as before.
@ 11:44 - it is a measure of inductance, 2R2 means 2.2uH (micro Henries). The resistance across the coil will be very small: the only time (!) the resistance is important is if the coil has gone open-circuit (high resistance).
Dude, i literally just stumbled on you 3 days ago and these videos are something I thought I never needed. I’m addicted 😂 love your dry sense of humour too. Keep it up. Genius!
You want to know something? When I first started watching this channel, those patreon songs were such 🔥🔥🔥 that I thought you were paying a musician to make it for you.
It probably took at least like maybe around 10 videos before I realized
it was you 😂
Love you videos - the surprise on your face when things work is great….. well done, I’d still replace the internams with a pi5 ❤
Steve, you look absolutely adorable with this shirt! It suits you ☺
Ooo you big screaming woofta 😂😂😂
@@ED-209UHD Yes, very much! 💅
@@Rapha2587 Topman I’m glad you didn’t take offence it’s one of my uncles fav sayings I like to replicate at times 👍
13:04 During a lot of time I thought you were saying "let it solder" instead of "leaded solder" as a joke, cause english is not my first language. I think I'll continue to listen to it as "let it solder" if u don't mind 😂. Fantastic job!
11:40
xRx values are in micro Henries (μH)
Three digit values are in nano Henries (nH) or micro Henries (μH), depending on manufacturers choice
First two digits are the value
Third digit is the multiplier (or number of zeros added to the value)
If there is an R, its acts as a decimal point, and there is no multiplier
Examples:
472 = 47*102nH = 4700nH = 4.7μH (Coilcraft)
472 = 47*102μH = 4700μH = 4.7mH (Bourns)
4R7 = 4.7μH
7:10 Likely a capacitor charging up off the meter..!
9:52 The disappointment on Steve's face with his own puns cracked me up. 🤣🤣🤣
That was the most luckiest fix I ever seen. so awesome Dave I love it ❤🎉 congratulations
Way to go Steve! Yo man, a win is a win. Truth be told, I'm always rooting for ya. Can't wait for the next one.
You must have the magic touch steve well done 😊
Steve, best I remember and I might be wrong but when checking coils, you need a meter that reads henry's and micro henry's. Coils are like that wire you use to make jumpers it has a coating on the wire that makes up the coil. Often times, they get hot, melt the coating and dead short. Using a meter that has henry's on it might help you. Idk.
It is fuseless to resist a zero ohm resistor ...
Love your videos... Thank you for your content...
nice pandora box😊
Do this as a test, it should explain why you get continuity that disappearsd
Grab a random capacitor, test for resistance on lowest range, you should see a near short that changes resistance the longer you are connected, now reverse the leads, you'll get the same
When you test for continuity, you are charging capacitors, leave the leads on longer if it looks like a short when testing.
You need an LCR meter to check coils, prferably out of circuit
i think you are successful because you engage with people not many do that
hahahaha we all smiled when it worked . very nice steve :)
Seems like a crawler went under the chip and fried itself, the body parts shorted something until the reflow cleared everything.
A literal bug!
@@technoman9000 Finally, someone used 'literal' correctly on TH-cam.
excellent work as usual steve
sometimes it can be simplicity even when its not obvious sometimes stuff need reflow when you don't even realize it
Love the "Phatt Island wharf" background on your computer.
Trust in the flow Dave!!!
There looked to be a piece of loose fibre that went underneath when you reflowed it?
Brilliant fix Steve well done glad the reflow worked 😊
That is some impressive work there, Steve!
that was a great outcome for sure
Something basic to keep in mind;
Most parts tested in-circuit have different results when removed and tested off circuit. Especially don't trust resistance readings while in-circuit, electricity always follows the path of least resistance.
Nice work Steve ! Get in !
As others have said: Capacitance and inductance are temporary energy storage. Putting your probe on a board can cause current to flow, filling up a capacitance on the board, and beep but stop when it’s full. Just like using a hose with a rubber gasket across it, it can only stretch so far and flow stops or it keeps going and something breaks.
You should’ve checked if the rock chip was still getting hot or whether it was running a bit cooler than 37 degrees.
Wherever you see a small inductor, with a small black IC nearby - that is a power supply for one of the power rails. You should get a good steady DC on one side of the inductor. The other side will have rapidly switching square wave, which might show as DC on a multimeter. Better to look with an oscilloscope.
Something to consider so you don't end up having to do this again, is to add a small heatsink to the chip. My opinion is the excessive heat and cooling down causes this failure over time. I have devices in my home that I have also improved cooling on, still work many years later.
"This thing is so big, I dont know how I am going to film it...." - Glad you did. Ta! I'm off to reflow all of the things..
I see your videos from around a year now.. I love you fixing the "stupid" things 😅
"Take that Marian" - another classic StezStix Fix quote!
Recomend to add termal pad to the heat sink ! Or update the heat sink !
Snatches victory from the jaws of defeat once more 😂
Loving your pc background. Instant nostalgia
I'm wondering if that dinky little aluminum plate just isn't a big enough heatsink for that Rockchip and it had a broken solder ball from heating and cooling.
I believe those coils are measured in micro-henries and the generic electronic parts/transistor testers/identifier should be able to verify the value. (The measurement involves determining Inductance of the coil (by using an applied voltage), so a measurement of continuity doesn't really show the value of the micro-henry).
Today's rap was above par my friend! Good one! 👍👍 Fans in Canada.
you could tell he was so surprised he didn't even say "GET IN THERE!"
You should have checked that ic with the thermal camera to see if the heat decreased after the reflow
nicely done, sir. I strongly suspected the HDMI input myself, mainly because we didn't see you inspect it I guess. Glad it's working though, those pandora boxes are some fun cool things for portable head-to-head arcade goodness.
Short no short, charging a cap but is usually visible or switching on a MOSFET so leads the right way around Sir!! Inductors (coils) basically are a dead short at DC so hard to measure unless they are open but at AC its another kettle of fish, you would need to test at about 100 Khz AC. Resetting the trans optical wave differential oscillators time vector circuitry using heat was a cracking idea !.....cheers.
I celebrated with you after the reflow! Thank you for another great video.
That’s crazy, it was a good idea replacing the cracked coil anyway but a reflow working was a cool fix.
Nice job Steve!😊
Well done. The only way to test inductors properly (in my opinion) is out of circuit (unless you have a schematic or another device to compare it, you never know what else is connected). Continuity (not open circuit) using Ohms etc, inductance (shorted turns etc) using an LCR meter.
Think that fiber stopped a previous flow from working on that chip?
Must be tempting to see if reflowing like that would fix some of the other projects you've had to shelve in the past. Reflow compilation video? :D
Can I get a _RE_ flow! ...sorry.
A nice long video.... I love it when they are about 30 mins long :)
I always think with reflows, it's the memory chips nearby that get the benefit. Worth a shot either way. Nice
What is the portable tv that you’re using?
love the nirvana cover.
Excellent job young Padawan.
Another good fix there Steve 👍 - Stupid Pandora Box 😄
Believe in youre self more pal we all love youre repairs keep it up pal thankyou 👌
Sorry for my ignorance but if the roc chip was faulty would it be possible to replace it?
did the short appear because it was sitting against the metal casing?
There's always hope in the Pandora Box.
awesome. i would glued a cooler to the chip, preventing it from getting to hot in the future
Big bottomed coils, they make the rocking world go round
Double Dragon. I remember that from arcades. Two dudes fighting through the streets in coop.
"I'll probably do more harm than good. [ .. ] Let's reflow it." :D Yay! It worked!
Couldn't resist! I thought it was worth a go!
@@StezStixFix i know how it feel , did that on my xbox one x retimer chip did work for a few months till it die again. but on xbox it's a common issue, i do the same freaking ask myself a lot while doing electronics repair/projects can't help myself but try. LOl good video cheers
@@StezStixFix Was it a zero ohm resistor after all? /s
@@StezStixFix Almost as hard to resist as a 0 ohm resistor
Couple of things to remind yourself in situation like that;
It was already not working when you started.
If it is not working at all, you can't make it work less.
Hey man, great fix! Are you sure that replacement coil fits under that heatsink? The main chip might be overheating after a while for not making appropriate contact.
The battle continue.
seen that a lot main chips that goes loose by their own heat
Is the outer case metal? Because if you check for shorts with the board resting on a metallic surface, you could easily have everything register as a short.
Best outro. Ever. 👍
Is there a chance it was reseating the SD card that fixed it?
Nice dave
Surely it’s red probe to ground if that’s sending out the Voltage ?
Battle Continue! 😎
Haha 😅
Ya gotta spring for an LCR meter so you can properly measure inductors and capacitors - which need to be measure under an AC load as they are reactive components.
Good job dude.
I honestly depends on these videos for my sanity, thank you. Hate the adverts though but hey ho. I've bought loads of what you use to do, I have no idea what yet lol
@StezStixFix Have you actually checked whether the new choke is blocking the cooling plate? Not that the chip no longer touches the heatsink?
EXCELLENT WORK!!!
That’s a mighty fine shirt, sir!
Is that Phatt City?
I would guess if you're getting a short then going back and checking and it's not there, your power from your multimeter is charging either a coil or something in circuit to cause that issue.
Iirc, EEVBlog has spoken about such things in the past.
Good job
Love you video steve make my day keep up the good work
Another awesome video. Always entertaining and love how excited you get when your fixes work. Ha!
I know your Huapar broke and youse fixed it. Good fix vid that one too btw. I want one as the equivalent Flir is ridiculously higher priced (they aren't worth it imo) but the price for the Huapar has moved further north since your fixed-it video. More like £360+ after vat.
Great fix steve. Can you id the tune for me @ 20:25 plz bud