Hello,
I came across a a few old circuit board and it has a ton of motherboard and processing chips. I was wondering if those can still be used for something else, or do they have to be reprogrammed? i have basic knowledge of electronic components.
So my questions is:
What can be reprogrammed or re-used off of a old circuit board.
What can't be reprogrammed?
Thanks!
Do you have recognizable part numbers? If not, the parts aren't good for anything.
Write down what you can see - some of the markings will be manufacturer, some will be date code, and some will be a part number.
Some parts are not programmable (logic and buffer chips, SRAM/DRAM type memory), some might be one-time programmable only (EPROM), and some might run a program that is stored on another chip (microprocessors).
Without part numbers tho, not much more can be said.
Are they something you can actually solder? BGA's are no easy task. You also run into many chips you would never have a use for, but if there are a bunch of IC's on there, there is likely a few smps's and mosfets.
For years I am reusing components retrieved from old cards.
Well it is not witchcraft. If you can get the datasheet for the component, you can use it for the intended purpose.
That said, my opinion is that many components are not worth it (SMD resistors/caps, far to cheap to salvage), not identifiable (because the writing was intentionally scratched off) or not really useful (because too specialized, too much circuitry needed ...)
Hi,
Can you please post a picture of your boards please?
Some boards have not just ICs but some hardware that is worth recovering, heatsinks, sockets, diodes, TO220 packaged components.
Tom... 