Wiki Consolidated eMMC Thread (MCU repair) (Black Center Screen)

[DaveBC]

OMG, is this even the same old chip? Is appears melted and not even in the original location! It looks like some hack who knows absolutely nothing about BGA soldering just took a heatgun or a torch to the board (probably after watching some youtube video)! I hope you didn't give him any money (heck, he should owe you money for butchering this).

Pretty sure it's the same chip. I wonder if he either never had it off the board or put it back to hid a mess he made

Did the guy at least give you an image that he pulled from the old chip (you need those files to put on the new chip, things like your VIN and other vehicle specific information)? Given the melted state of the chip in the picture, he probably fried it when removing it, but it might be worth asking, even if the chance is small. For reference, the picture of the Swissbit chip I posted in post #1931 was after soldering on and removing and re-balling it a few times.

Fortunately, I have critical file backups of p3 that I took in February and I was able to get good enough images of p3/p4 after August failure. p1/p2 were pretty hosed, but I was able to get those from the ic. It occurs to me that p3/p4 can benefit from fsck fixing errors over time, whereas p1/p2 are more likely to be destroyed as they are a read-only filesystem.
I took a long time making sure I had everything to read/write the emmc chip because I feared the heat of even a skilled chip removal could cause further damage.

PS> Comparing the before and after, the heatsink screws are in the exact same position, which implies to me the heatsink was never even removed for this "work".
PS2> If the mentioned lifting pads and traces off the board (which probably happened as he tried to pry the chip off the board), the board is probably fried. The state of the chip itself is probably the same, and even if by some miracle the chip itself somehow survived, the content of flash memory deteriorates quickly in very high temperatures, and it looks like this chip was subjected to some very high temps. I think you are looking at a Tegra board replacement from Tesla, at least it's only ~$500 today (used to be as much as $3,000 because they replaced the entire MCU).

Hah, with my limited knowledge of BGA rework I thought the heatsink could be left in place and it just needed the right amount of heat blown at it. lol.

@whitex, did you do your own soldering or find someone to do that stage for you?

 

[DaveBC]

If you have the image, just buy another eMMC and put it there. Contact this guy:

iMicroboard Repairs

Mail-in Data Recovery & Repair Services specializing in iPhone, iPad and Android devices. We have some of the highest data recovery success rates, Call now (714) 931-4325

imicroboardrepairs.com

You can try @LayZ in this forum. He should be able to make your firmwares match again. Then you go with Justin at imicroboard and you're good to go.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'd like to find someone local, but its good to have options.

 

[whitex]

Hah, with my limited knowledge of BGA rework I thought the heatsink could be left in place and it just needed the right amount of heat blown at it. lol.

While it theoretically can be done, the heatsink this high gets in the way, makes it harder to pre-heat the board, etc.

@whitex, did you do your own soldering or find someone to do that stage for you?

I did it myself.

It's too late, my MCU1 Died....

Hopefully when you say that it’s $3000, that was just the cost that Tesla told you, but it’s covered under warranty since it’s a 2017? They said 75k miles, so no.

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[M0rpH3x]

Unless you are very experienced AND have the right equipment, I would look for someone else to do the soldering/desoldering part. It's not very difficult if you have the right equipment, but if it goes wrong, you might face a lot of problems...

 

[DaveBC]

Unless you are very experienced AND have the right equipment, I would look for someone else to do the soldering/desoldering part. It's not very difficult if you have the right equipment, but if it goes wrong, you might face a lot of problems...

I have no plans to do it myself. Just want to have as much information as possible so I don't engage a second unqualified party.

 

[whitex]

I have no plans to do it myself. Just want to have as much information as possible so I don't engage a second unqualified party.

Are there any professional companies around where you live which offer board/electrical component rework services? I mean actual company, with employees, insurance, some history, maybe even ISO certified (so they follow strict processes, staying in recommended temperature ranges, and can even get you logs of what tools were used at what temperature for how long)? Such shops don't know much about the function of what they are working for, so you'd have to program your own image on the chip, but they are really good at desoldering and soldering components on boards.

 

[DaveBC]

I took the board in to another shop yesterday. Here is the message I got from them today.

“Hey,

Sorry to say but the other guy totally FUBAR’ed this board. Ripped most of the pads off the logic board. It might be fixable but it would be hours of work. 500+ dollars. Better to get new board. “

 

[whitex]

I took the board in to another shop yesterday. Here is the message I got from them today.

“Hey,

Sorry to say but the other guy totally FUBAR’ed this board. Ripped most of the pads off the logic board. It might be fixable but it would be hours of work. 500+ dollars. Better to get new board. “

Sorry to hear that the original impression of the first work was right - a guy with a heat gun or blow torch, probably peeling the chip off with a screw driver.
Not sure if this helps you, but not all of these pins are actually used. See the pinout below - all "NC" (No Connect) pins are there just for mechanical fastening and some thermal connection, an few of them missing spread throughout will likely not cause any big problems.

EDIT: nevermind, a quick glance a your picture shows vs. the pinout below and it seems the damage is around the actual functional pins., so I think it's time for a new board. Sorry. IMO the first guy should be covering your new board costs.

 

[M0rpH3x]

Wow, that's pretty bad... I gave you the link of that guy because I know he can easily do it. Local shops can be hit and miss. @whitex is right, choose the place carefully. I didn't find anything local and I had to ship.

 

[bnsfengineer]

I think it depends a lot on the local service center relationship... I have never paid for screen replacement when bubbles or yellow bands were present. YMMV

They just replaced mine due to the yellow border. They did try the UV light and it failed to cure problem.

 

[t3sl4drvr]

They just replaced mine due to the yellow border. They did try the UV light and it failed to cure problem.

I have the same experience: Tesla has replaced my Model S screen three times under warranty for yellow borders.

I think Tesla internal policy is not to replace the screen - only provide UV treatment. But seems like a service center manager has authority to decide to replace the screen for free if you insist and UV treatment does not resolve the issue.

 

[flipb]

I made a service appointment for the eMMC daughterboard replacement, and asked that they upgrade 3G to LTE at the same time. The service was completed in one day ($200 for the LTE upgrade) but when I got the car back, there were bubbles in the screen (had never had bubbles prior to this) and homelink isn't working. I mentioned the bubbles (with photos) immediately upon picking up the car. The initial response was "yeah, MCU1 is susceptible to that."

What is the remedy for screen bubbles? Should I insist that they repair/replace it?

 

[WhiteWi]

I made a service appointment for the eMMC daughterboard replacement, and asked that they upgrade 3G to LTE at the same time. The service was completed in one day ($200 for the LTE upgrade) but when I got the car back, there were bubbles in the screen (had never had bubbles prior to this) and homelink isn't working. I mentioned the bubbles (with photos) immediately upon picking up the car. The initial response was "yeah, MCU1 is susceptible to that."

What is the remedy for screen bubbles? Should I insist that they repair/replace it?

If they caused it you should absolutely ask them to replace. I also support 100% route of upgrading to MCU2 it is most practical upgrade you can do for your old S/X and it is dirt cheap now.

 

[aerodyne]

I made a service appointment for the eMMC daughterboard replacement, and asked that they upgrade 3G to LTE at the same time. The service was completed in one day ($200 for the LTE upgrade) but when I got the car back, there were bubbles in the screen (had never had bubbles prior to this) and homelink isn't working. I mentioned the bubbles (with photos) immediately upon picking up the car. The initial response was "yeah, MCU1 is susceptible to that."

What is the remedy for screen bubbles? Should I insist that they repair/replace it?

Yes, you should. Likely they replaced the screen with a used one.

My experience has been Service will use every excuse to delay replacement of the board, and or try to sell you the MCU2 upgrade.

I have an appt next week, will see how it goes.

 

[MP3Mike]

What is the remedy for screen bubbles?

Replacing the screen. It will eventually happen to your IC display as well. I think the best bet is to do the Infotainment Upgrade to replace both displays.

there were bubbles in the screen (had never had bubbles prior to this)

You likely had the start of bubbles under the bezel. Taking the screen out to do the upgrades caused them to move and become visible sooner.

Likely they replaced the screen with a used one.

No, not likely at all.

 

[flipb]

You likely had the start of bubbles under the bezel. Taking the screen out to do the upgrades caused them to move and become visible sooner.

I don't believe so. When I picked up the car immediately after service, there were bubbles near the left edge of the screen. Over the next day or two, they migrated to the top. The fact that the bubbles appeared in a different position than where they usually end up suggests to me that they were a new phenomenon. I've never previously seen bubbles in the MCU screen in five years of ownership.

I've requested a new service appointment to repair/replace the screen as a result of the damage caused during the eMMC recall service. We'll see how they respond.

 

[t3sl4drvr]

My experience has been Service will use every excuse to delay replacement of the board, and or try to sell you the MCU2 upgrade.

Last time I had a call with a Tesla service center manager, he confirmed that eMMC recall service would be performed to my car "as soon as
they get parts". And reassured that they would contact me when the parts are ready and schedule a separate service visit.

I reminded that this has been the exact same message for over a year now and I started to be doubtful that the parts will ever arrive. He apologized and speculated that maybe "pandemic shipping delays are a factor".

 

[WhiteWi]

Last time I had a call with a Tesla service center manager, he confirmed that eMMC recall service would be performed to my car "as soon as
they get parts". And reassured that they would contact me when the parts are ready and schedule a separate service visit.

I reminded that this has been the exact same message for over a year now and I started to be doubtful that the parts will ever arrive. He apologized and speculated that maybe "pandemic shipping delays are a factor".

Or chip problem that affected everyone.

 

[aerodyne]

Last time I had a call with a Tesla service center manager, he confirmed that eMMC recall service would be performed to my car "as soon as
they get parts". And reassured that they would contact me when the parts are ready and schedule a separate service visit.

I reminded that this has been the exact same message for over a year now and I started to be doubtful that the parts will ever arrive. He apologized and speculated that maybe "pandemic shipping delays are a factor".

I can speculate that maybe Tesla is cheap, and does not want to do the warranty work.

If your MCU1 cannot be rebooted, then parts will magically be made available.

 

[whitex]

Yes, you should. Likely they replaced the screen with a used one.

My experience has been Service will use every excuse to delay replacement of the board, and or try to sell you the MCU2 upgrade.

I have an appt next week, will see how it goes.

Perhaps mark your screen with a UV marker so you can check if they swapped it out for you?