Seen a few people commenting now about it being "painful" or whatever. The truth is this board is a PITA. Here's my two cents and how I do it hassle free every time... Realistically you need a better hot air station. Personally I use an Atten ST-862D. It's cheap and on par with the big boys. You're also struggling because you've got a nozzle on the heat gun which will cause restricted heat. Take off the nozzle completely and just use the base. Go for hot hot hot, don't be afraid of using 480⁰C on this board. It can take it. Heat from underneath and just let the connector pretty much drop out. Retin the pads and ground holes and don't desolder them. Use the drop method to put the port back on. The reason for that is because these ports are designed in a way where the ground legs just about meet the edge of the board. Leaving the solder inside the holes ensures you will have a good contact and make sure you don't have the console back under warranty because the port falls out. Honestly that process with a little practice will take less than 5 minutes from start to finish. Practice makes perfect

"Paul is Paul" - true true true... it's coming, I was writing the new shop front for the lights, usb-c meters and anything else, when you made this public - thanks for the shout out.

One thing to note is that there are about 4 small 'blobs' of solder on the edge of the board that hold the front of the connector on, providing more hold for the port on the board. There are quite small and are hardly seen but they are there for a reason.

I feel your pain with inadequate tools... This is the story of my DIY life where I cannot justify spending more money on tools since I used them only a couple times a year. I would not even try to get anywhere near a board that thick with what I have.

Hey Graham 😁 Xbox Series X HDMI's are probably the most tedious port to deal with for me. I usually like to clear all the ground holes and solder on the pads, then fill up the ground holes with leaded solder, and use the drop method by applying my heat gun to the underneath and putting the port on top. This then allows the solder to bond with the port legs, and 9/10 you don't need to go over the ground legs with a soldering iron. I then like to go over the actual HDMI port pins with a soldering iron after to ensure a solid connection. This is the only way I can do the Series X ports 😊

Have you considered using Low Melt solder to desolder the legs?

You need to use more flux, and a bigger tip for those big joints. A bigger tip, more heat transfer. And flux helps with the flow of solder.

from experience,first solder the contacts,then solder the 4 ground anchor legs.otherwise,you might end up with space between the pcb and the contacts and wonder why you cant solder them

For de-soldering, three words: - Low melt solder.

28:42 there is almost a bridge between pins 2 and 3 from the left. It's gonna be fine in the end, but those pins would have needed a touch-up. 31:55 the reason you are having those dry joints is the following: While you use the hot-air and iron to heat up the pad, the shield of the HDMI connector still remains cold. Hot-Air right on the connector + iron on the pad would give stronger joints and faster.

Boy, that is one challenging repair. Impressed.

Well done. Good job Graham. I had my fingers crossed.

MORE FLUX!!! LOL. Oh what a feeling, when you turn the console on and it works. .

I must say man watching your videos is relaxing i like fixing and building pcs myself. Brilliant work as always.

I enjoyed this one. Kinda relates to any diy projects I take on at home. Usually have the know how but always using the wrong screws or a hammer with a broken handle, or a driver bit that's a little rounded.

Sodler sucker is what i use for those ground pads. microsoft loves to use the strongest solder known to man on those things, and I would prefer a proper de-soldering gun, but the suckers work fine for these once you add a bit of your own solder to the joints.

I assume you're using leaded solder as it has a lower meting point than unleaded, but I think you can also get special solder with an even lower melting point for ease of removal with hot air. A larger iron with a higher thermal capacity would help too.

It might also be a worth a try to wait with the solder. I noticed you touched the iron to the anchor pin and immediately came in with the solder. So by the time everything is up to temp the flux in the solder has already burned away. Which would also explain why more flux fixed the issue in the end. Maybe just add a little bit of solder at the start for better heat transfer and then wait a minute. Give the iron some time to heat up the anchor and the hole. Then come in with the solder.

For reflowing the Solder on the Big Ground Planes you can try your Desolering Gun, it's a big Soldering Iron if you don't aktivate the Pump... it comes with more Wattage and brings lot of thermal Mass to the fight ;)

having done a bunch of these honestly the traces on these boards stand up pretty strong, you have to really caveman that shit to actually break them, the hardest part about this is cleaning the holes imo but that solder pump you got there came in clutch

Bro, if you notice on the board the Xbox series X board where you have an HDMI port you’ve got four soldering joints underneath the HDMI port they need to be tinted as well as the four main anchor supports when you’re soldering those supports you need to put flux then put a certain amount of solder into-the main supports so it doesn’t move

I decided this repair right here would be my first evwr dabble into soldering, ever, and boy I tell you what, it was difficult but after a mere 2 hours of disassembly, heat gun and removing/replacing with a new HDMI port... I picked up a new hobby lately and am now fixing broken systems for profit. Did my first ever repair on my Series X and since then havent looked back and failed (yet)

Good to see you working on another console replacing the HDMI socket Graham 👍

Congratulations... I would clean the 4 pins where there were problems with a cutter, before applying hdmi to the board. Usually they are a little oxidized from the weather and the glue doesn't stick that well. Anyway, you are very good and I appreciate your videos. I learned a lot from you.

On top of the board by the front legs, it looks like the ground plane is there. I would verify by scraping a bit of mask there, then apply solder there to the top of the legs/body for more security.

Nice work!

Try using a bigger soldering iron for the anchor points. You have a lot of thermal mass to heat up.

where I recoiled..was how...coated in dust everything is, how were you NOT spending 20 minutes just sitting there, sneezing up a storm, is beyond me. good work, nicely done on that repair.

anchors don't protrude enough to be touched by iron tip.. use skinny part of tip straight down to touch metal anchor to make it bond. nice one identifying the issue!

Graham, what are you using for repairs, desktop or latop

Done watching, thank you very much for the informative repair video. I have learned significantly more troubleshooting & repair lessons in this tutorial video and to your other repair videos as well compared to my ENTIRE 4 YEARS OF COLLEGE EDUCATION. I hope you will soon have a mini-series for Schematic & Boardview-free Voltage/Power Rail Tracing[12V/18-20V Main Voltage Rail, 5V, 3.3V, CPU/GPU Core Voltage Rail, DRAM Voltage Rail, IGPU Voltage Rail, System Agent/Northbridge Voltage Rail, PCH Voltage Rail, BIOS Voltage Rail, Battery Power Rail], Proper method of testing/checking of potentially faulty MOSFETs & ICs/Controller Chips, CPU/GPU/PCH Reballing and BIOS Bin File Editing.

with this tools you have to re do all pins and contacts with leaded solder wire(183 celcious melting point),because by factory they are soldered with 217 celcious unleaded solder on board.if you use low melting solder(140 celcious melting point) it will be even easier.

The Cod3r is maybe the most experienced person I have seen when it comes to replacing HDMI ports on game consoles. We all learn from others with more experience.

@Adamant It What are you using to power the Pinecil??

This a job best done by heating from the bottom, then remove the old port. Clean and tin pads but don't do the anchors. Heat from the bottom, and then once pads are molten, drop the port on,then go back and do anchors.

Yep deffo at the limits. Flux, better solder (Kester I find is better flowing) and a decent iron. Can't go too far wrong with a hakko for reasonable budget - UK suppliers HK Wentworth. Hot air station has to be the Quick 861. Also if you have a repeat offender with console HDMI's, I suggest a short HDMI extension be fitted and hot glued or cable tied to the casing. Then it's only a short £2 cable needing to be replaced. Especially for kids with separated parents who move their consoles daily!!!

You should look into low-melt solder alloys, a common name brand one, being 'chipquik'. Specifically to help with through-hole parts stuck into multiple ground-planes. Also when using them, I'll use water-soluble flux that must be washed off after, it's more electrically conductive and naturally acidic, and will attack the copper if left for weeks. That little bit of post-fix inconvenience is worth the more aggressive oxide-layer breakdown it creates, it will actually help the low-melt solder alloy much easier to the base solder.. and my tweezers as I've unfortunately discovered.. 😆 Edit: Also when removing PTH ports, I do suggest heating from the underside of the board, BUT! not with the board flipped over. I would place the HDMI port upright and run my hot-air gun along the bottom, it creates a bubble that also happens to naturally rise up and heat the port on the top as well, heat naturally flowing up and all. Another way I'd do it with less frustration, is put my MHP30 under it and hotair from the top, it's a great little device for localized pre-heat. The WS flux can also help with the cold-solder joints you found with the shielding anchors, buttttt I'd highly suggest to have a large beefy tip with some thermal mass to it soley for that. All the flux in the world can't save you if you can't get a melting and amalgamation temperature to flow into the metal faster than it dissipates it away, the base of the knife tip and a hotter temperature might be enough, preheat the area with the hotair gun if you have to, it will make a difference.

Low Melt Soldier is the Key!

Theres a little plastic bit that melts to the board you have to fight with and scrape off after too. Done a couple of these but the amount of heat necessary is unnerving

Summarizing: if I manage to "discover" the anchors without leaving residue: first battle won. If in the end I manage to completely "cover" the through holes of those anchors on both sides of the plate: I won the confrontation. Another way of saying it, the 19 pins don't "worry" me in the least (it's assumed that I have quite acceptable soldering techniques for that and the materials to use for this purpose). (14:43) Its technical name: thermal putty in gray, blue, white and pink; I miss seeing it in light green (it is placed on the Mosfets mainly in laptops and gaming consoles) is much cheaper than the good quality thermal grease that is preferred for -CPU, APU, Chipset-. On Ali/ss I only saw pink thermal putty, I only replace it when it is completely dry and when using the cleaning brush or the moistened soft bristle brush it turns into a powder that spreads. Thank you very much for sharing. All the best.

1st: why don't you prime the limbs with solder before seting in on the pcb? 2nd: I think the iron can output more power if you increase the voltage and if it doesn't "suffer" it you can try change the power transistor in it and try with smth like 25V-4A... and get almost 50% more power... cause in reality the electronic iron all it does is to PID adjust the temperature of the tip, the power limit is how much the transistor can bear...

I would try preheating the board first, below melt point of course. Once saturated then hit it with the hot air, connector would probably come off much quicker.

what type of soldering wire you use ?

why you did not remove the solder behind those anchors before?

I use low melt solder , and it helps alot , but you want to make it really hard lol

Nice - that solder remover seems to be a great addition - cops after someone

They've started making hdmi port replacements with longer legs for the exact reason of the issue you were having.

If you pre solder (tin) the legs of the HDMI connector first it should help you not trying to heat the legs and the ground plane at the same time.

Question, I'm trying to remove a port on mine I have my hot air set to 400⁰c and have been heating it it seems like quite sometime. Im concerned I will over heat it. About how long should I be heating this port sustained and how much heat will it need? I have already added low melt solder but it still seems like its being super stubborn. My ps4 seemed like it took much less heat. Just looking for advice on if I am just being to worried and should keep the gun steady and sustained more and how hot the board can actually get before its too much. Thanks in advance.

I was concerned I never seen you do the solid test on the hdmi data connects.

I would always check each data pin is solid under the microscope with the tip of my tweezers before putting it back together. Made the mistake of thinking “that looks good” too many times. Visual ain’t always good enough.

The boards are thick on the series x. The best method I found was to use my cheap harbor freight heat gun on bottom and then on the top of the board I use my good heat gun. Basically getting heat on both sides of the board at the same time, I don’t use flux when removing either. Takes about 30-45 seconds for the port to come off. I actually use that method to remove all hdmi ports on various consoles, takes no time and doesn’t rip any pads during the process

Good call on the flux because I was thinking you have to be the only person I've seen solder with almost no flux.

Dont forget to test it goes 4k too :)

Hi Graham, are you comfortable and willing to share with us how long that job took? *Thank You* for the video. 👍👍

My hands ache just watching you - but then I'm 70+ and still trying to fix things. I sure do hear you about better screw drivers with bigger handles. Be good to yourself!

I use pure indium instead of leaded solder to remove the port makes it easy to remove the port.

You can try to solder a wire to a battery directly or make a few scratches with the cutter on the battery You will see the difference

Hi, my port blades are all intact, I'm getting video on tv it's just some games when graphics are hard pushed it starts to play up, my port is sort of loose could the problem be at chip, and my unit is save-able? Thanks

Use an old fashioned Antex soldering iron for those tabs. New doesn't always mean better. Get some proper heat in there .

Hot drop the port in mate you haven't soldered the front anchor points.

It looked like the owner of the series X bought it brand new instead of refurbished as I bought a series S refurbished the only difference is its service data not Manufacture date!

Mines just broke overnight by itself somehow, I thought I could just order the piece and do it myself until I seen all of this . I'm like.. NOPE.. to the shop it goes.

I do these often. you should invest in a better rework station I use to have the Quick 861DW and it worked good but the heating element went bad so I got a Atten ST-862D and I was sold. It did better then the Quick and had better features. The best tip I can give you is Low Melt instead of normal solder helps a ton. I always put heat on the bottom of the board. I always combine my hotair with my iron (Hakko) You will need a good station these little 65w irons can't handle the thermal mass of these boards when wicking out the anchor holes or solding them. I love my TS101 but it can handle these jobs. Once you do it a few times you get use to it and can get these off in matter of a mins or 2.

hold the tip of the soldering iron, don't rub with it

Have you changed the internal SSD on series x or s by any chance

You need to buy equipment that makes it easier for you to work better and more efficiently. I recommend the SUGON T21 with T245 tips and for the heat station the ATTEN ST 862D. Greetings

That board is quite thick, sucks all the heat, that is why is a pain in the ass to remove components. You're blowing air, and the copper tracks inside are absorbing the heat.

Is the support surface under the board made of aluminium? because in that case, that is precisely the problem, the metal dissipates the heat by removing it from the board and the port, making desoldering more complicated. It would be better to have a silicone support ad a low-melt soldering tin (183 celsius degrees)

Time for a soldering iron upgrade man!

Thanks for another great repair video. I'm still learning as well. I have a Hakko FX888D and I use a 2mm chisel tip on it for those anchors. I find I can get it down in the hole and heat up those anchor pins. I usually run the iron around 750F (~400C). Add plenty of flux and go for it. I haven't done many of those, a couple of HDMI ports and a few USB ports, but I've had good results so far.

Was MS going for military spec construction wise? 🤣

Wicking on the joints is always the better choice

Awsome😊

awesome content and really good job. If I have to do that I think I already lost the line during the disassembly part 🤣 #LFC is one of my favorite series on 'Tube...keep up with the good work. If you got some PC to repair in the shop...that would be great some "nostalgic" content if can be happen

Low melt and better hot air station is required, better soldering station too rather than a portable iron

you do know that its not paste needed its lquid metal?

oh, you need to clean it with iso and clean it right with the copper and than use the right flux and solder

You can't have metal touching legs or hdmi connecter when trying to remove it lol. I have a 150 watt c245 usb soldering iron that hands down out performs my 120 watt ksger t12. You have to use big high power type c power supplies. My type c usb soldering iron is ran from my bench top power supply 20 volt 7amps or a 130 watt 20 volt 6.25amp type c laptop charger. Test your usb power supply because not all of them put off high power

Bloody hell. Never watched an xbox x being done and now I do fear the day one brings one of those into our shop. I'll be sure to remember this vid as a guide on how to get in. I'm not that bothered about the soldering though. I've got powerful enough gear for that. And as you said in the video yourself, so should you... And yes: Flux! ;)

You should watch Joey does tech and thecoder for tips on the HDMI port replacement.

Perhaps some simple/real world tips, like when you've smashed the diabolicaly poor wifi connectors, what do you do then?

~ 17:20 I'm certainly not an expert here, I've seen a lot of people use "low melt solder" which makes removal of parts easier.

Need to watch northridge fix to fix correctly......

We need to crowdfund you a Hakko.

My god, how much do you charge for that? Work nightmare! But as always learned a lot! 😉

But does it turn on?

Yes a better more powerful iron is definitely required

Feel you need to look at buying yourself a backheater, would of make getting the HDMI off easyer

let’s order him some low meld solder

Kinda ashamed to admit was good to see you struggle proves how hard it is if you struggled... I've not had the pleasure of doing an Xbox, only done a ps5 and I just used hot air with a gallon of flux. I think really you need to pre heat the board a little to make it easy. Well done on the pins though that never works for me 😂.

you didnt need more flux, you needed more heat. try getting an iron with higher thermal mass than that tip

Might be an option to get one of these Chinese JBC clones. They do have lots of power no idea about the longevity of them though

I heard someone a video call their desoldering gun the Moo gun as it sounds like a cow mooing

Bro use Flux on upper side and use a soldering station , like a hakko with interchangeable tips

Somehow I thought it looked so easy except for taking it apart. Now I have a new hdmi that isn’t soldered to the board. But it has solder all over it 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️. But I just has to try and do it myself. The funny thing is I can play it remotely. It’s really stupid they don’t have a 2nd hdmi.

Job done doesn't matter how you do it ,if its working. I would buy a Weller soldering station its worth every penny even a second hand one, i have a s.h. one just for this kind of job it makes you're life a lot easier.

Pins first legs last bigger iron on the RF cage ................

how to we get one of this Pauls lights ? :) You show how is good now there is no way to you run away to not tell us! :)

hdmi port change is easy money...repaired in 5min, next time heat from underneath ^^