Repairing VAD8041/01

Since the Philips VAD8041/01 DVD ROM drive, showed no signs of life, I took it out for a look at its printed circuit board. This board has many SMD voltage regulators to produce the various voltage levels required by the microcontrollers, hence my instinct was to check these first to make sure that all the voltages were present. The voltage regulators are the three-terminal devices and the tabs are marked "out", hence it was simple to check using a meter. Ideally, you want a large voltage going into it, and a smaller voltage at the output pin. A quick cursory check indicated that all the voltage regulators were fine, which was unfortunate, because it would have been simple to replace one of those then a chip!

After some careful inspection, I discovered a burnt SA56202TW IC, which was the cause of the problem. Replacing this IC solved the problem and I was able to restore the DVD Recorder to full working condition. Here are some photographs showing the replacement steps.

An SMD rework station is vital for work like this. In order to do a good job of it, I would advise you get one before attempting any sort of repair work involving these IC packages.

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