Definition: Reballing is the process of removing all solder balls from a BGA chip, cleaning the chip and board pads, and applying a fresh set of solder balls before reinstalling. Required when a chip’s solder connections are cracked, corroded, or have failed — but the chip itself is still functional.
Why it matters for phone repair
Reballing sits at the advanced end of microsoldering repair. It is required when a BGA chip has failed due to connection problems rather than the chip itself dying — meaning a reflow of the existing balls won’t hold, or the balls are so damaged they need to be completely replaced.
Common reballing candidates include the CPU, RAM package, NAND storage chip, GPU, and RF chips on a phone’s logic board. When done correctly, reballing restores a chip to factory-quality solder connections without replacing the chip itself — significantly cheaper than sourcing a new chip.
How it works
The reballing process has five stages: the chip is heated with a hot air station until its balls reflow and it lifts off the board. All old solder is cleaned from both the chip underside and the board pads using flux and solder wick. The chip is inspected under a microscope for pad damage. A stencil matched to that chip’s exact ball grid pattern is placed over the chip, solder paste or pre-formed balls are applied through the stencil, and the chip is reflowed to bond the new balls. The chip is then reinstalled on the board and reflowed again.
Shareable fact: A single BGA chip may have hundreds of solder ball connections — all of which must be perfectly aligned and reflowed simultaneously. A misaligned stencil of even 0.1mm can cause bridged contacts or open circuits across multiple pins.
Real example
A customer’s iPhone 8 Plus develops an audio IC fault — a known failure where the Cirrus Logic audio chip’s solder balls crack due to board flex. Simple reflowing has a high re-failure rate because the balls crack again under the same board flex stress. Reballing with stronger solder paste and underfill epoxy around the chip creates a permanent fix that survives normal use.
Common mistakes
- Reflowing instead of reballing when balls are cracked. Reflowing melts existing balls back into place — but if they’re cracked from repeated flex, they’ll crack again. Reballing replaces them entirely.
- Using the wrong stencil pitch. BGA stencils are chip-specific. Using the wrong one misaligns the ball grid and creates shorts.
- Skipping underfill after reballing high-stress chips. Chips prone to flex-related failure should have underfill epoxy applied after reballing to mechanically reinforce the connections.
Related terms
- BGA — the chip packaging format that reballing applies to
- Microsoldering — the broader skill set reballing is part of
- Logic Board — the board the reballed chip is mounted on
- IC — what BGA chips are — integrated circuits
Further reading
- Phone Motherboard Repair at BreakFixNow — reballing and chip-level repair for all brands
- Phone Repair vs Replacement: Cost Decision Guide — when reballing is worth it vs replacing the device
Told your phone needs a new logic board? Reballing may fix it for a fraction of the cost. BreakFixNow offers chip-level BGA reballing. Free diagnosis, no fix no fee.
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