Just spent 6 hours on a laptop that only needed a 2 cent resistor

Had a Dell XPS 13 come in with no power, and I went down the rabbit hole checking the main power rail and the charging IC. I even reflowed the whole board twice. Turns out it was just a tiny 0201 resistor near the battery connector that had cracked and gone high-resistance. The part cost nothing, but finding it took me from noon until after 6pm. Has anyone else had a simple part cause a huge time sink like that?

4 comments

4 Comments

blake_owens2mo ago

Honestly, a full reflow is a total waste of time here. You just cooked the whole board for one bad part, and that extra heat stress could cause new problems down the line. It's like fixing a flat tire by replacing the whole car.

lee.cora3d ago

And Shane is over here acting like a free reflow is a spa day for old circuit boards. Yeah, boards can handle heat, but not twice in a row on a kitchen stove. That poor cracked resistor is probably screaming for help while the rest of the board gets cooked medium rare.

the_ben2mo ago

Wait you reflowed the whole board twice? That's brutal for a tiny cracked resistor.

shane_carter2mo ago

What's the big deal about a little extra heat? Sometimes you just gotta chase the problem... and if a full reflow fixes it for good, that's way better than poking at one tiny part and maybe missing something else. Boards are tough, they can handle it. Honestly, for an old board, heating everything up might even help other weak joints you didn't know about.