Update on New Book (Part 1)

Am into writing the second chapter of my new book, PCB Diagnostics. Here is a screenshot of the opening chapter:

Nope, this is not a joke. I have intentionally linked PCB diagnostics to the practice of TCM for the human body because I see similarities between the two. I have friends who spent years studying this Chinese medicinal method and got to know firsthand what it entails to be a TCM physician. Inter-disciplinary cross examination can sometimes provide useful insights in our approach towards a familiar practice, and give it a new lease of life where the former luster has somehow faded.

The book will probably take a couple of months to write. I will post updates on the progress in the interim. Hopefully it will be worth the wait for my readers.

PCB Diagnostics

While my fourth and final book on PCB-RE is awaiting Joe Grand's Foreword, I have decided to write on a new topic: PCB Diagnostics. Why 'diagnostics' instead of 'troubleshooting', 'fault-finding' or 'repair'? Well, this word encompasses a much broader sense than the usual, and more accurately conveys what my thirty years of experience entails. Here is the front cover design:

Like PCB-RE, PCB diagnostics is a skill that is developed and refined overtime. Nothing can replace the knowledge and know-how of troubleshooting different types of PCBs. It requires not only hands on experience but in-depth exposure to a wide variety of faults to understand the dynamics involved.

I'm still in the initial phase of organizing my thoughts and materials. Once these are sorted out, I will be able to come out with a draft outline of the chapters to define what I want to write. Hopefully it will not take too long, barring any unforeseen interruption or situation arising.

Draft Copy (Proofing)

I've just completed the draft for my fourth and final book on the PCB-RE topic. Here's a snapshot of the front cover:

A draft copy has been sent to Joe Grand for vetting before he writes the Foreword. Currently, he's busy with an important project so I don't expect to get back from him any time soon. Here's what he has to say, though:

I haven't been able to read through it yet but it looks great! I'm in the middle of a pretty significant project for the next few weeks, and will only be able to focus on writing that Foreword after that.

Readers will probably see the book on Amazon store some time in late April, earliest. So keep a look out for it and check back on my blog for any latest news.

What's in a Label?

Most commercial ICs are labelled with their common part numbers in full on top of their packaging, so it's not too difficult to identify them at first glance. Military parts are a bit more tricky because most of the time they are designated with the 16-digit NSN references beginning with '5962'. This requires additional step of cross referencing to make out what they are.

In the case of NVidia's graphics processing unit (GPU) which is the highlight of my latest PCB-RE related book, I have deciphered the top plate label on this 820-pin monolithic IC:

Bet most readers didn't realize that there is so much information present on this piece of real estate. After all, it's meant for designers and manufacturers and not the casual users of the end product. Of course, you can expect to find even more interesting and valuable information in my upcoming book, which should debut sometime in late March this year.

The good news is it will be priced very affordably so every keen apprentice of this coveted skillset can get a personal copy. Keep a look out for it!

Progress Update (Fourth Book)

Recently, I started working on my fourth book again, Manual PCB-RE: The Essentials, after almost three months of inactivity. I've removed all nine BGA chips onboard, namely the eight DDR2 memory ICs and the main GPU. There were residue solder leftover on the footprints of these ICs but the 30W soldering iron wasn't good enough to do copper braid removal, and I had to order a separate 80W iron with adjustable temperature to do the job. Here is the final result:

In the process of removing the BGA chips and cleaning up, I encountered several issues with the tools and these were mentioned in the new book to help readers learn from my mistakes, and what to look out for when choosing the tools to do the job.

Now that I have these teething issues out of the way, I can resume where I left off in the last chapter. Hopefully, I can get the draft out by end February or latest mid-March, and let Joe Grand go through before penning the Foreword, which he has graciously agreed to.

A Young Apprentice in the Making...

Recently, someone by the name Jason Earle connected with me on LinkedIn to enquire about some reverse engineering work on his company's upcoming product. He is the CEO of MycoLab USA LLC, a company that specializes in air quality testing solution and services. To cut the story short, I helped him assessed a printed circuit board and reproduced a bill of materials (BOM), plus some simple PCB artwork prints as a good gesture.

He asked to reimburse me for my effort but I politely declined, and instead suggested that he get a copy of my book, The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering, to learn how to identify components on a PCB to create his own BOM. After a couple of days, he sent me a photo of himself proudly holding my book (the full-color version), and some time later, with another photo of his son:

I reckoned that little junior must've been attracted by the colors on the book cover, but I'm doubly sure that he will grow up to be a fine young apprentice of this niche skillset in 7-10 years time.

Way to go, young Skywalker! ;)

Bench Test Equipment

PCB-RE is not just about finding the connectivity of a circuit board to recreate its schematic diagram, though that is the primary focus. A lot goes into figuring out circuit topologies and functionalities to arrive at a logical deduction on how the components are related and used to achieve greater accuracy and reliability in the reversing process. Sometimes, it might even be necessary to go down to firmware level to see beyond the physical——into the world of logic programming and fuse mapping——when dealing with embedded designs and black boxes such as CPLDs and FPGAs. It might sound daunting but that's what separates the pros from the amateurs.

So while you only need a digital multimeter as a minimum  when doing manual PCB-RE, it is advantageous to have a few more bench test equipment on hand to help you gather useful data on the PCB you're working on. Three common pieces I can think of are:

• Function generator 
• Digital oscilloscope
• Multi-channel logic analyzer

These benchtop equipment used to be quite expensive and those made by Agilent, LeCroy, Rohde & Schwarz still are. More recently, new players from China such as Rigol and Owon are making a strong presence in the market with their range of affordable benchtop products that are feature-rich and functionally comparable to the big names. 

 

Latest Review from UK

It's been almost five years since my first book The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering was published. Still, I'm happy that there are occasional reviews from international readers who appreciate my work and giving me the much needed endorsement. Here's one from the UK this year:

This book is really informative, the Author really does explain things in detail. I am half-way through getting to grips with the Visio software. I’m looking forward to completing and purchasing the next book in the series.

For readers who have bought and read my books, I would love to hear from you too! Do leave a review and claim your bonuses. There are freebies for this book as well, in case you didn't know.

And if you find my books beneficial and useful, especially for those interested in this niche topic, do help to recommend and spread the word. I don't advertise as I believe part of the modest royalties earned is best devoted to charities, so if you buy my books you are doing a good work as well.

Take care and stay safe, my friends!

PCB-RE Probes

When performing PCB-RE to determine the connectivity between components on a PCB, a pair of sharp probes is essential if not indispensable. Most probes that come with a DMM is usually blunt and bulky, making it difficult to probe fine-pitch IC leads and SMD component pads. Working in the PCB testing lab, there is no shortage of spring-loaded probes of all tip types and sizes, so I would convert some of these and insert them as extension on my DMM's existing probes. It worked pretty well except that you need to DIY and custom-build them to your purpose.

With online shopping gaining popularity and many Chinese electronics companies joining the fray, you can find all sorts of PCB gadgetry and equipment at a fraction of the price, compared to the more branded ones in the industry. Recently, I bought a pair of sharp-tip probes online for less than five bucks:

It arrived in about two weeks time and I put it to the test. The quality is good and the gold-plated (or is it bronze?) sharp tips worked surprisingly well on the Gigabyte video card I was reversing on. Except that it's not spring-loaded like the test probes I used in my former lab.

Anyway, can't complain too much for that price and quality.

Microsoft Visio 2016

When I wrote my first engineering book on PCB-RE back in 2014-15, I was using Microsoft Visio 2007 for illustration. The current book which I'm writing will feature Visio 2016, which is a much improved and streamlined version. Here is a two-page sample:

Since coming across Visio twenty years ago when it was sold by Shapeware, I have never looked back or considered any other drafting tool for my work. As far as I'm concern, Visio is still the best 2D CAD program for its ease of use and powerful features. And I'm sure my readers would readily agree after going through those beautifully created diagrams found in my PCB-RE trilogy books.

If you have not tried it, I suggest that you download an evaluation copy from the Microsoft site and give it a go. You'll not regret it.

PCB-RE Preparation Checklist

There are things that often bear repetition. This is especially true if you are doing PCB reverse engineering which requires not just the skillset but also the supporting information and trade tools. As I mentioned in The Art of PCB-RE, there are four basic consideration when beginning a PCB-RE project:

1. Accessibility of the probe points
2. Bill of Materials
3. Conformal coating
4. Datasheets

I termed them the ABCD of PCB-RE preparation work which in a nutshell summarizes the key areas to help you decide whether to proceed or call off the attempt. Of course, as most readers would realize, there are more to the above involved in real-world PCB-RE practice. This is just the appetizer, not the main dish. Nevertheless, it is still an important serve.

Perhaps there are those who work best with a kind of standard checklist. Well, your wish is granted! I've just completed the chapter on preparation work for my upcoming book, Manual PCB-RE: The Essentials and included the following checklist:

I'm releasing it here for the benefit of my readers and hopefully it will be useful for your PCB-RE preparation work just as it did for me. It's free for personal use but if you intend to put it in your article or blog, please respect an author's copyright and either make mention of the source or include a link to this post.

Take care and stay safe, my readers.

Some Statistics

This blog began in February of 2017. Less than four years into its run, it has garnered over 24,000 views by readers from 117 countries worldwide. That's exactly 60% of the countries in the world based on the 195 figure given by Wikipedia. Of these countries, the top 10 have over 100 readers and the leader, which is US, has over 1000.

It would be nice to have more engineers interested in this niche topic visiting and finding information that will help them in their PCB-RE journey. This can only happen if current readers help spread the word in electronic forums and social media to create greater awareness.

With the current CoVid-19 situation and many staying and working from home, perhaps it's a good way to spend time reading up on this subject and preparing yourself with a new skillset that will prove invaluable to your career when the lockdown or restriction is finally lifted.

Think about it and invest your time wisely, my friends.

Preface to Book IV

Since completing the trilogy to the PCB-RE subject, I had thought that my mission in writing this niche topic is done. The idea of a fourth book, an essential guide to the manual PCB-RE approach, was hatched in the midst of writing my third book, but I shoved it aside due to other commitments. It was only during the CoVid-19 circuit breaker period that had given me the time to re-visit it and pondered over a suitable candidate for the book.

Here is the preface to book 4:

Manual PCB-RE was given a basic treatment in my first book, The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering, using a simple network adapter card to illustrate the steps involved using Microsoft Visio 2007. Besides the detailed instructions on how to create the layout and schematic diagrams, there is also a chapter on Advanced techniques to tap into the power of Visio's Smartshapes.

In the trilogy, PCB-RE: Real-World Examples, I showcased a more complex board that is through-hole with some SMD components, applying the mixed-signal methodology to solve the connectivity puzzle and produce a complete 3-page schematic diagram. This, along with other practical examples, should be enough to get readers new to PCB-RE to a fresh start.

However, I am aware that there are those who just want a no-frills guide to quickly launch them into the deep waters, with the essential know-how to handle surface mount PCBs with all the trappings and real challenges these boards present. After looking into my inventory, I came upon and decided on an Nvidia GeForce 8600GT graphics board which has all the making of an interesting PCB-RE project to work on.

It's by no means an easy PCB but I thought why not give it a try and re-live some of the good moments I had? So here I am, spending at least 3-4 hours a day with this graphics card in front of me while typing away on my keyboard, and drawing the illustrations using Visio 2016. The good news is, I have just completed three out of the five chapters outlined in my preface, including a smashing great chapter on the layout diagram. The fourth chapter is currently in the works but the real challenge will be to reverse engineer the board itself, which I foresee will take up more time and effort than the other chapters put together.

Of course, there will be two introductory chapters that cover the tools of the trade as well as knowledge and skillsets of PCB-RE, additional resources to enable an apprentice to go further, and also tons of information in the appendices for reference. So stay tune and look out for more news.

Charity vs Piracy

It is a sad fact that book piracy is rampant and unstoppable in this internet age. Illegal downloading of books might not cost the person downloading them or the scumbag who stole the content in the first place, but it costs the one person who should really be rewarded for his or her months of hard work, the author.

Increasingly, though, it seems that those who are looking for free copies of pirated books are falling victims to phishing scam sites that ask gullible users to hand over their credit card information before proceeding to download their ostensibly free copies. It begs the question: is it worth the risk and trouble just to 'steal' a meager amount from a hardworking full-time author who spent so much time and effort to produce a book?

Granted, there are authors who made millions from their best-selling titles; but these are the rare breed amongst the sea of writers, many of whom are driven by a desire to share their valuable knowledge and invaluable experience through printed materials or electronic mediums. Surely they deserved to be treated with respect and dignity, not plundered and deprived of their means to keep them writing.

For me, being an indie author, I have stated before that a percentage of my book's earnings (which is not really much since I'm a non-US resident or citizen, I'm subject to a further 30% withholding tax) goes to charity. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, I was able to contribute to two organizations, namely the cancer society and the kidney foundation; but the present crisis has hit the world economy really hard and book authors are not spared either. After some deliberation, I had to cut down to just supporting one.

I'm not sure if there are readers out there who manage to get an illegal copy of my book(s). If you do, I do not intend to pursue the matter. All I ask is that you buy a meal for the poor or homeless around your neighborhood and that will be enough. A kind heart is what makes us all human, and what goes around... comes around. You never know when you'll need a helping hand.

Take care and stay safe, my friends.

Ps: For those who own illegal copies of my book, I would appreciate that you do not proliferate the piracy further by sharing with others or putting them online for free download, else you will be no different from the scumbags who do it for ill-gotten gains at the expense of others. Thank you.

Best of Both Worlds

I belong to the generation which witnessed the transition from black-and-white to color television, as well as monochrome to full-color monitor. While no one will want to go back to the old way of watching TV or doing computing, nonetheless there's a sense of nostalgia to it that's magical.

What am I driving at here, you may be asking. Well, actually I was toying with the design of the cover for my fourth book, Manual PCB-RE: The Essentials. The idea of featuring the Gigabyte GeForce 8600GT video card with half-photo half-illustration seemed like a neat idea. But I decided to take it one step further by including a reversed version in the interior cover page which has to be in black-and-white for a non-color print. This has created an interesting contrast with the book's front cover which is in full-color. Here's what they look like side by side:

It's tough to write engineering books but I always take great care and delight in designing my own book covers, and this is the best one yet. Hopefully it will not only spur the imagination of would-be readers but create a great anticipation for its release. When will it hit the bookstore? I really have no idea, but I'm working on it as much as my schedule allows me right now.

Do leave a comment if you like what you see. It will certainly help to cheer me on this arduous journey of being an author.

Reader from Pakistan

Yesterday I received an email from a reader who resides in Pakistan, requesting for the free resources on the purchase of my books. Here's what he wrote:

I have had the chance to read your books and I did really enjoy it. It contains good references for beginners to understand the concept and build on the foundation. The experiences you shared for PCB troubleshooting is another area on which you can write a complete book, I think. I would definitely love to learn from your experience. A step by step guide based on your experience can help a lot to others trying to understand/learn the work. 

The thought of writing about PCB repair and troubleshooting did cross my mind, but given the current schedules I have there is no way I can squeeze out more time for that. Of course, this is not a niche subject to write on, judging by the available books and resources online. Given a choice, I would rather write on PCB testing on different ATE platforms, something which I had mused on in previous posts.

Poster of my former work center which I created.

Readers who have hands on experience in any of these automatic test equipment (ATE) are welcome to leave your comments here. If the response is good enough, I may consider writing about them...

GeForce 8600 GT Layout Diagram (Part 2)

Continuing with the layout diagram for the Gigabyte GeForce 8600 GT graphics card, I have completed the solder side (rear view) of the board. Again, for contrast, here's the negative photo:

And the Visio drafted diagram:

I have also created different layers for each category of components for better management and flexibility of display:

Notice that besides assigning colors to components belonging to layer, it also shows the number of objects (not components) on each layer. I say 'objects' because each component is made up of a number of basic shapes which are grouped together. And until I merged these shapes, Visio will count them as individual objects still.

At this point of my PCB-RE process, though, there's no need to do so. But having different components in their own layers enables me to turn on or off a group of components at will. And once I assign reference designators to them, it will be much easier to locate a particular component, especially since the PCB does not order them according to location placement. These are two of the advantages of using Visio to create PCB layout diagrams which are mentioned in my books.

GeForce 8600 GT Layout Diagram (Part 1)

Three weeks ago, I mentioned about reverse engineering a GeForce 8600 GT graphics card. I haven't really gotten into doing it yet as I was busy with some other commitments. In between, when I could find the time, I would work a little on the layout diagram. Well, I managed to create the front view of the card using Microsoft Visio. For comparison, here's the negative photo for contrast:

And here's the Visio drafted diagram:

I've included the PCB artwork just for the fun and effects but there's really no need to do so if you only want to have a basic layout diagram for your PCB-RE work. Hopefully, this example gives you a glimpse of the versatility and power of Visio in creating technical illustrations.

I have yet to include the  reference designations of the components but that would be very cramp and messy, unless I use layering to segregate the components by their categories. This advanced technique is discussed in my first book, The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering, along with how to create stunning layout and schematic diagrams using Visio's powerful features.

The Company That Nobody Leaves

These days it's hard to find a company that provides job satisfaction and continuous career growth path to retain valuable employees. At the same time, it's definitely harder to find loyal employees who will stick with a company through thick and thin. That's why Linear Technologies stands out among the myriads of electronics component manufacturers with one of the lowest staff turnover rate. So what is their secret?

Besides the solid engineering foundation and strong legacies left behind by its founders and legends in the analog design world, the company's top management believes in one important virtue: PATIENCE. What that means is, they value their engineers' passion and ideas, and give them the time and personal space to bring out their best ideas and innovations. They are able to achieve this remarkable feat by reducing company politics to near zero and bureaucratic processes to a minimum.

Incidentally, the above portraits of Linear Technologies' past design gurus are featured in my sequel book, PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques. There are many other engineering anecdotes that will inspire you and give you one of the best reading experience that a good engineering book should.

Click on the book cover to order your copy on Amazon now.

Note: As of August 2016, Linear Technologies was acquired by Analog Devices, Inc.

How To Take Good PCB Photos

When it comes to writing your own engineering books, good photos and illustrations are indispensable. No reader enjoys looking at photos that are blurred or poorly taken. Most of the time, I would figure in my mind what I wanted to include in each page and then search for relevant photos that do not have copyright, or if there were, I would ask for permission from the owners as much as I could trace the source. There were also times when I had to buy from stocked photo platforms like Shutterstock, but I felt it was worth the price to ensure my readers have an enjoyable reading experience.

But for the PCBs that I worked on, I depended mostly on photos taken using my mobile phone camera which, in most cases were quite adequate for the job. For my next book which is currently in the works, I started entertaining the idea of a more professional approach. The first attempt using a phone camera for the Gigabyte graphics card looks like this:

It's kinda...OK, except that perspective errors had obscured some reference designators around those tall components, and also the lightings were not evenly distributed and cast shadows on certain areas of the PCB. So I went online to look for some sort of studio light box that is compact but big enough to house the card and found one which is suitable for my purpose. The LED lightings were bright and even against a white backdrop, ensuring minimum shadow effects.

To correct for the perspective errors, I used a bridge camera to take the photo at a farther distance using a zoom factor of 17. The result:

Can you see the difference? I'm certainly pleased with how the photo turns out. Readers can now expect professional quality photos in my next book, Manual PCB-RE: The Essentials. I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to write but I can assure you that it will be worth the wait. I will update as the book progresses but in the meantime, if you have not gotten yourself a copy of my trilogy books, please proceed to the Order page to take a look, click on the links to bring you to Amazon where you can preview the contents, and then decide.

Take care and stay safe, my readers!

Graphics Card PCB-RE

My old desktop PC which is self-configured around an Intel P35 motherboard running off an E8400 Core2 Duo CPU, is still working well after almost 12 years on. Of course, I have upgraded the DDR RAM from 2GB to the current 8GB, and replaced the now defunked 250GB hard disk with a solid state drive of the same capacity. The last to go was the Gigabyte GeForce 8600 GT graphics card using an NVIDIA G84 GPU, which had caused some issues due to its Windows 10 driver compatibility and subsequent hardware failure.

Somehow, I didn't think to throw that old piece of 'junk' away. Nostalgia reason may be, but on hindsight it seemed to have been a good decision. Recently, I started working on my fourth book, Manual PCB-RE: The Essentials, again after shelving it aside for nearly one and a half years. The structure of the book is already in place; what it lacks is a candidate. Naturally, this graphics card came to mind. Besides being a contemporary example of a consumer PCB, it has some interesting features which makes for a rather challenging PCB-RE study.

I'm not sure how long it will take me to reverse it and then put it into content form, perhaps partially to showcase the essential techniques employed in manual PCB-RE. Hopefully, there will not be too many disturbances or disruptions to distract me from my writing.

New Look, Better in Print!

It's been over five years since my first engineering book, The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering, was published on Amazon through its publishing arm, Createspace. It had since merge with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Recently, I did a thorough reformatting of the content of the book to migrate it to the Kindle platform. Since I was at it, besides changing the font to be consistent with the rest of my PCB-RE collection, I thought it would be good to give the dated book cover a total makeover as well. So here it is:

The new font is slightly larger than that found in the original edition, which should look better in print and provide some measure of relief for readers with weaker eyesight. Here are some two-page  samples:

If you had been put off by the former font, perhaps this will allow you to reconsider again. Note that it is only available in the full-color edition (I still keep the Standard edition as it is for nostalgia sake). Readers who bought the non-color Standard edition may want to consider getting the new color edition in Kindle ebook form, which retails for only $29.95.

Just click on the book cover above to go to the Amazon store.

Reader from Spain (Espanol)

"The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains." So goes the nursery rhythm. Well, now that my books have found readers in that part of the world, I can safely say that PCB-RE has also gone ashore on the plains of Spain. Here's the review of one Spanish reader, Jose RV:

He's new to PCB-RE and posed the following question to me in his email:

In order to practice some manual RE, where can I find two layer PCBs? I have some old routers but they are 4 layer, which I think will be a bit challenging.

My reply:

Double-sided PCBs are quite rare these days. You might want to try finding them at the electronics hobby shops. Four-layer PCBs are more challenging for sure. PCB designers using four or more layers are usually driven by necessity due to the complexity of their circuit designs. 

As a beginner, avoid attempting on large pin count type PCBs as you might get discouraged easily. Learn to develop your own personal style and skill, and the right strategies for different type of boards. The Art of PCB-RE and Tools & Techniques does cover these topics.

As the proud owner of my first two books, he even sent me a photo complete with a nice bed sheet background:

Kindle eBook (Part 2)

Two weeks after releasing the trilogy book, PCB-RE: Real-World Examples in ebook form,  I am happy to announce that The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering is also available on Kindle. I've given it an overhaul with a different font, one that I used for the sequel book and trilogy. Best of all, it is in full-color for only 40% of the retail price of the printed edition.

You can go to the Kindle store to take a look and download your electronic copy after placing your order. Thank you for your support in honest purchase. Have a great day and stay safe!

Kindle eBook (Part 1)

The current CoVid-19 situation has led Amazon to impose restrictions on fulfilling overseas orders for printed books. Having received some feedback from readers who wanted to order my PCB-RE books but could not, I decided to give the eBook option a try, beginning with the third of my trilogy works, since it is the shortest of the three. Still, it took quite a bit of effort to format the original manuscript to make it display correctly on Amazon's Kindle device.

I'm taking a risk by going the electronic distribution route, considering the rampant piracy out there. But desperate times require desperate measures, and besides reducing carbon footprint I'm able to pass the 40% cost saving off the book price to my readers as well. If this goes well, I might consider doing the same with my other two books.

If you do not own a Kindle tablet, you can still download the Kindle App into your Android device and place order to download a copy to read. Click on the image above to go to Amazon store.