Replacing PCIe x16 slot

[Gmm213]

I need to replace a PCIe x16 slot on my mobo, don't ask. I found a short youtube video showing someone doing it. It seems simple enough but I don't know if there is a large difference in quality and such with aftermarket PCIe slots. If it matters it's an MSI Gaming 5 z97 mobo. It doesn't seem worth it to try to track down a dead x16 mobo and pull it off.

Any information would be helpful, either general info with this repair or PCIe slots or recommendations to particular replacement slots.

[dzseki]

Well you did not say anything what instrumentation you have for the work...
Anyway, I'd tear in to small parts the bad connector with a clipper, and remove the pins one by one with a simple (but powerfull enough) soldering iron, it takes time but this has the least risk

[Gmm213]

I have a BK950d iron, an AN8008, Kester 60/40, Chemtronics 835 wick and a cheap flux pen. I plan to get some good gel flux for this repair.

The plastic housing is in one piece and almost completely off the mobo, there's a solder tab at the end that's still attached. I plan on desoldering from the back side. Basically what this guy did.

[ogden]

PC motherboards are very hard to work on - they sink heat off your soldering iron like a crazy. You need hi-end soldering tools & skills as well. Powerful soldering iron (powerful does not mean big), vacuum desoldering iron and IR preheater. You can't properly desolder anything off PC mobo w/o preheat. Unless you are skilled electronics engineer with right tools - don't even dream of doing it, most likely you will fail and ruin your board.

If you are desperate to try - buy/get dead motherboard, first desolder some 1x slots out of it *and* solder back to gain experience. THEN decide - you want to do it on your MB or better seek professional help.

[edit] Do not plan to re-use desoldered socket. You have to buy even those 1x you will use for training.

[Gmm213]

I plan on buying new slots that's why I asked. I also did plan on getting ahold of some dead mobos. As far as ruining my board it's trashed as it sits I can't trash it more. Ill have to look into preheating more in depth

[mariush]

Well, what you could do is like in the video you posted, but turn the board with the back up and mount a paint stripping gun or a couple of good hair dryers above the board blowing hot air over the slot area.  When the board gets to to around 80 degrees celsius, you can drop a lot of liquid flux over the solder points and then use leaded solder to desolder like in the video.

You will need a soldering station with temperature adjustment and it will probably have to set it to 400-450 degrees, as the board will suck heat even with the extra help of the hot air.
 

[ogden]

turn the board with the back up and mount a paint stripping gun

Never EVER use paint stripping gun on any PCB unless you want to destroy it. Most of such guns have virtually no temperature regulation, can reach 700 degrees Celsius which is deadly not only for components but FR4 laminate as well.

[edit]  You can try to use hair dryer as preheat air gun

[coromonadalix]

I'm gonna be frank   

You may have tons of problems removing the pci-e pins,  the board maybe very thick, or have a big ground plane who will disspipate the needed heat to melt the solder, you must use an vacuum pump, the copper wick will never be able to empty all the holes,  you may need some very small pcb drill bits

It may be over your heads with this problem,  you wont have any garantie that it will work as new again even putting an new pci-e connector,  you may have broke some very small pcb traces  etc ... and mobos are minimum 4 layers or even 8 layers thick, with pcb traces you will never see ...

I do some mobo repairs  like recapping  etc ...  i have many different drill bits sizes under 1.5 mm ...  you have to be fast and precise, and never put any physical stress on pcb traces ...

[Gmm213]

Never EVER use paint stripping gun on any PCB unless you want to destroy it. Most of such guns have virtually no temperature regulation, can reach 700 degrees Celsius which is deadly not only for components but FR4 laminate as well.

[edit]  You can try to use hair dryer as preheat air gun

We have a heat gun at work. It's low setting is 50c. I'm guessing that's about the temp of a hair dryer. The nice part is we have a bunch of different nozzles that might be more helpful.

I'm gonna be frank   

You may have tons of problems removing the pci-e pins,  the board maybe very thick, or have a big ground plane who will disspipate the needed heat to melt the solder, you must use an vacuum pump, the copper wick will never be able to empty all the holes,  you may need some very small pcb drill bits

It may be over your heads with this problem,  you wont have any garantie that it will work as new again even putting an new pci-e connector,  you may have broke some very small pcb traces  etc ... and mobos are minimum 4 layers or even 8 layers thick, with pcb traces you will never see ...

I do some mobo repairs  like recapping  etc ...  i have many different drill bits sizes under 1.5 mm ...  you have to be fast and precise, and never put any physical stress on pcb traces ...

Would a solder sucker work better than wick? I'm simply going off the video I linked to as that's the only one I can find that's worth anything, though I can't understand what he's saying.

After everyone's insight I have been considering simply clipping the pins so they can't touch and seeing if it runs as I have 2 other PCIe x16 slots. If not then I can't see the harm in trying to replace it, a handful of PCIe connectors I'll least get some practice in.

[nsd_c]

There is an incredibly crude trick to removing solder from stubborn holes that won't come out with more "traditional" methods (assuming that you have already removed the pin from the hole): use a soldering iron to heat the solder from one side, then come towards the hole from the other side with a can of compressed air (duster spray) with the classic red spray tube attached. Aim & fire. You need to pull the soldering iron tip away the moment before giving the can a squirt. I have successfully employed this trick on an early-2000's regular PCI slot mobo; it's been a long time since I've tried doing this, but IIRC it worked fairly well.

[coromonadalix]

With the pci-e connector removed,  the mobo chipset should swith to the other pci-e when a card is inserted.

That would be the easiest and safest thing to do, remove all the pins and do nothing more,  use the remaining pci-e



Sure the air can trick would / could work,  just be sure not to splash the solder everywhere  loll,   or shoot the air from the top side (parts side) 

[Shock]

Would a solder sucker work better than wick? I'm simply going off the video I linked to as that's the only one I can find that's worth anything, though I can't understand what he's saying.

That technique he is using is an old school one. He is flooding the area with solder which makes good thermal transfer to the area. With his spare hand he is tapping the PCB repeatedly while moving the solder ball and feeding a little solder in to keep the ball running.

So the pins are coming out with the inertia created of the board moving downwards and snapping back rather than falling out on their own. If the pins are tight in their holes it becomes more difficult.

That tip he is using is otherwise unsuitable to remove individual pins, the point doesn't make the best contact which is why you notice him using it on it's side in the ball. If you leave the heat too long on the same spot you will lift traces so you need to work fairly fast.

I think towards the end he is talking about hotair and a desoldering pump for difficult holes, I don't think he got them all with wick. You can use whatever works but a little flux is a good idea and sometimes you need to add a little solder to remove it.

[Gmm213]

I was chit chatting with a buddy of mine who goes to the local community college. He said knows the VP of the colleges engineering club and is going to see if I can go use their equipment so I may have access to whatever gear I need and hopefully some help from them and possibly a professor. I'm technically still enrolled at the school so that should help. 

[coromonadalix]

That could be great for you

[Kilrah]

Never EVER use paint stripping gun on any PCB unless you want to destroy it. Most of such guns have virtually no temperature regulation, can reach 700 degrees Celsius which is deadly not only for components but FR4 laminate as well.

Pretty much every decent heat gun nowadays has temp and airflow regulation. Of course for PCB work you want one of those and not the $15 cheap-ass unregulated one, but suggesting that no heat gun is usable is just as much BS as saying they all work.

[ogden]

Never EVER use paint stripping gun on any PCB unless you want to destroy it. Most of such guns have virtually no temperature regulation, can reach 700 degrees Celsius which is deadly not only for components but FR4 laminate as well.

Pretty much every decent heat gun nowadays has temp and airflow regulation. Of course for PCB work you want one of those and not the $15 cheap-ass unregulated one, but suggesting that no heat gun is usable is just as much BS as saying they all work.

I did talk about paint stripping guns. Those with temp regulation are not named "paint stripping" because they are aimed at many applications. Paint stripping guns at best have just hi/lo switch. Next time before you label something as BS - take some time to read carefully.  I repeat - I did not say "no heat gun is usable". So your post disproving nonexistant claim is ... BS 

[Kilrah]

My hot air gun is labeled as a "paint stripping gun". It's an adjustable paint stripping gun, but it's still a paint stripping gun.

Your assumption that every single device labeled as a "paint stripping gun" will always be an unregulated one in the whole world and all languages is flawed...

[ogden]

My hot air gun is labeled as a "paint stripping gun". It's an adjustable paint stripping gun, but it's still a paint stripping gun.

Which make and model?

Your assumption that every single device labeled as a "paint stripping gun" will always be an unregulated one in the whole world and all languages is flawed...

Your assumption that every regulated heat gun is OK for PCB work is flawed as well. We better stop this nonsense word debate game. Yes - I agree that heat guns with *electronic* temperature regulation most likely are fine for hobby PCB work.

[Bashstreet]

It is good to get one of those solder station heat-gun combos they are cheap and you get temp control.
I would be pretty dubious using a paint stripping gun but if you want to go full ghetto use it but it might end up in 

Good luck!

[HamBown81]

It is good to get one of those solder station heat-gun combos they are cheap and you get temp control.

I got an Aoyue 968A+, from Amazon, and I have not been disappointed.  It does not, however, solve the problem of bottom heat / pre-heat for removal of large ICs or connectors.

I have to say, I am glad to see that the responses are not 100% "don't even bother trying", though.  I have tried to ask questions about things like BGA rework (in other forums) and been met with

[RomDump]

I need to replace a PCIe x16 slot on my mobo, don't ask. I found a short youtube video showing someone doing it. It seems simple enough but I don't know if there is a large difference in quality and such with aftermarket PCIe slots. If it matters it's an MSI Gaming 5 z97 mobo. It doesn't seem worth it to try to track down a dead x16 mobo and pull it off.

Any information would be helpful, either general info with this repair or PCIe slots or recommendations to particular replacement slots.

Just for your reference the actual way the motherboard manufacture repairs through-hole PCIe slot is with a square soldering pot.

Something like this: http://www.goot.jp/en/handaso/pot-200c/.

I doubt a soldering iron will have the thermal transfer for a multi-layer board. You may just end lifting traces from the PCB.

Here is an example video:

https://youtu.be/DyNVgOVDarA

[coromonadalix]

yeah did you see the mess it left on the pcb other section ?     instead  recover the hole board with super wide kapton tape, leave a window on the section you want to work ....