Electronic – Do I need to solder on the DE2 board to replace a broken segment

7segmentdisplayintel-fpgalight

I've already posted a question here about this when I realized that all things were not right with my Altera DE2 board:

Is this display broken or is it a bug?

After verifying that the segment indeed is broken, I contacted Altera who could send me new segments that they mean should be able to replace the faulty part.

But how do I replace a segment? Do I need to do soldering? When I turn around the board and look at it, it looks like the segments are soldered and that the only way to repair my board is if I do soldering and solder on a new part. Is this operation too risky, what alterantives do I have? Did I understand correct that I must solder?

Details:

———- Forwarded message ———- From: Niklas R Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 1:01 PM Subject: Re: Broken segment of a
new DE2 display? To: Cc: , F
Lundevall

Thank you very much Gina. Maybe I have another question how to mount
the parts when it arrives, and therefore I might contact you again
with a question when the parts have arrived. I wonder if I must solder
the new display or how the new display will mount to the board.

Sincerely, Niklas

On Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 9:38 AM, Terasic – Gina Tai
wrote: Dear Niklas,

The parts have been shipped today (09/13) via DHL Tracking#1959119923.
It usually takes about 3 business days for the delivery.

Feel free to contact us again if you need any further assistance.

Thank you & have a nice day!

Gina 

               Gina Tai Sales Department

Not satisfied with our customer service? Send your feedback to us at 2012/9/12 下午 07:08, Niklas R
提到: Thank you. My details are

Niklas Rosencrantz Styrmansg 47a 114 60 Stockholm Sweden Phone

On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 12:25 PM, Terasic – Gina Tai
wrote: Dear Niklas,

No worry, I'll send 5pcs x LCD segments for you to replace the broken
parts. Please provide your shipping information, including a valid
contact phone#, thank you!

Gina 

               Gina Tai Sales Department

Not satisfied with our customer service? Send your feedback to us at 於 2012/9/11 下午 10:56, Niklas R
提到: Thank you for the reply. It seems that segment E of HEX 3 is
broken after I performed additional tests. This is a new DE2 board
bought from Altera in August via my university program kth.se and the
board has no signs of damage but segment E of HEX 3 display is not
working:

Can it be repaired or replaced or can you suggest a solution?

Thank you Niklas Rosencrantz Styrmansg 47a 114 60 Stockholm Sweden

On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 12:59 PM, Terasic Support Team
wrote: Dear Niklas,

There is a tool- control panel provided in the CD-ROM, please use it
to test the function of the 7-segment displays on board. And feedback
us the result.

If it really exsits the problem onto the segment, please contact our
sales team for a solution, thank you.

Free to contact us if you have any other inquiry.

Best Regards Amy Zhou

               Amy Zhou Technical Support Department

Not satisfied with our customer service? Send
your feedback to us at

Niklas Rosencrantz 写道: Hello I bought a new DE2 board via myUniversity
program (kth.se) Now I wonder about a technicality that I've written
to the forum and asked about
http://www.alteraforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37522
Is this display broken or is it a bug?
It looks like a segment E on the display is not working and that this
is a broken segment:

That is in segment E where is says 9 there should be an 8 and I can't
get that segment to light no matter what tests or programs I run.

Is this something you can help me with, is my new DE2 card broken, was
it a bad solder / joint that has gone up during transport or is this –
unlikely as it may seem – a software bug? I think everything seems
that segment E in one of the displays is broken and I wonder what can
be done about it – fix it, replace and/or buy new part or new board?

Thank you Niklas Rosencrantz

Update

With an experienced engineer I looked at the board and the engineer almost immediately said that we should handle it over to some expert and since the board is about new the warranty should handle this and I should bring the board in to where I bought it so that is what we are going to do. Because if I solder it myself I must destroy the warrant of the product which was bought as late as in august from Altera in Taiwan via their Stockholm office in Kista.

Update 2

I now got a complete replacement board from Altera but it's the "better" DE2-115 so now my old.sof file won't work anymore…

Best Answer

Looking at this picture of the board

enter image description here

it looks like the displays are soldered to the board. Desoldering PTH parts from plated-through holes can be painful: you have to be sure that all the solder is removed from all the holes, and the plating-through doesn't exactly help.

The best thing you could do is try to borrow a desoldering station, where you can heat the two rows of pins simultaneously, and then pull the display. Then use a desoldering suction pump

enter image description here

to make sure all holes are open before inserting the new display.

If you can't get a desoldering station you'll have to use the suction pump and desoldering braid to remove the solder from the holes. In case one or more pins won't give, use a more drastic approach: cut the defective display so that you can remove the pins one by one, but make sure that you don't damage the PCB's copper when cutting.

Success!

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