4 ms·
The red ring is caused by underfill that is too soft that let's the solder bumps break. It's a BGA packaging problem and there's no fix.
by throwaway48476 2y ago
The red ring is caused by underfill that is too soft that let's the solder bumps break. It's a BGA packaging problem and there's no fix.
- Novosell 2y agoSure you're not thinking of the PS3 or did both of them actually suffer the same issue?
- 6SixTy 2y agoBoth of them experience the same issue. Though it's a yellow light instead of the ring on the Xbox.
- perching_aix 2y agoIIRC the PS3 issues were a mix of the RSX die cracking and the NEC Tokin caps giving out, not a solder issue.
- throwaway48476 2y agoIt was an industry wide problem.
- hot_gril 2y agoSomehow out of everyone I know with one or both consoles, 100% of 360s got red ring, 0% of PS3s got yellow light.
- mschuster91 2y agoIt's the same issue that was behind NVDAs "soldergate" fuck-up that ended up permanently souring the relationship between them and Apple. The core is EU's regulation on lead free solder, which led to a number of people finding out that thermal cycling on the solder led to thermal stresses. Workarounds were identified and any solder formulations since then don't suffer from that issue, so the fix is a complete re-balling of affected chips... a work not for those faint of heart.
- mulmen 2y agoSounds like a R&D problem. Why the dig at the EU?
- mschuster91 2y agoI'm European, I actually support RoHS - it was just the original cause because everyone up to it getting in force was accustomed to classic, decades-proven leaded solder.
- hot_gril 2y agoDid they need to have a longer transition period? Looks like it went into enforcement only 2 or 3 years after it was approved.
- throwaway48476 2y agoNo, the issue didn't affect the IBM CPU in the 360 or Intel products because they did the R&D work. TSMC and their packaging partners were just lazy.
- nolok 2y agoIt was not so much a "not enough time to transition" and more like "there is no consequences yet so why bother OH DAMN WE NEED TO MAKE IT TODAY IT GOES INTO FORCE". Many had no issues, but a few companies didn't bother to do their homework, problem would have been the same if the period was twice as long.