Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Brite
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (Cyborg)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo

CIRCLE WITH A DOT

  1. Home
  2. Uncategorized
  3. Years ago I had a "ReworkCTF" board with 20-odd PCB layout bugs designed into it on purpose, ranging from backwards LEDs to missing vias under a BGA to inner layer differential pair swaps.

Years ago I had a "ReworkCTF" board with 20-odd PCB layout bugs designed into it on purpose, ranging from backwards LEDs to missing vias under a BGA to inner layer differential pair swaps.

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Uncategorized
16 Posts 8 Posters 0 Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA azonenberg@ioc.exchange

    Years ago I had a "ReworkCTF" board with 20-odd PCB layout bugs designed into it on purpose, ranging from backwards LEDs to missing vias under a BGA to inner layer differential pair swaps.

    The original board had some design issues that made some of the fixes easier/harder than intended, and also ancient, I think now EOL, parts (a Spartan-3A FPGA - even if not EOL nobody wants to use one of those in 2026).

    I'm hoping to do a gen 2 of the challenge soon probably based on a BGA STM32 or Spartan-7 but haven't worked out the specifics yet.

    Is anybody interested in contributing challenge concept based on real board bugs you've had?

    Also, would folks be interested in me livestreaming a "play through" of some/all of the challenges once I have a board in hand?

    emily@fedi.uni.horseE This user is from outside of this forum
    emily@fedi.uni.horseE This user is from outside of this forum
    emily@fedi.uni.horse
    wrote last edited by
    #4

    @azonenberg errata on this board so far:
    - picked the wrong mid-mount USB-C port footprint and the pins just barely didn't reach the pads (USB2, so I just bodged a cut-up USB A cable onto it)
    - assigned something to a gpio pin that wasn't suitable for it (needed PWM, picked a pin that couldn't do PWM)
    - diode footprint slightly too short for diodes

    others from past projects:
    - picked the wrong width of SOIC footprint in both directions (IME, extending it outward with a bunch of parallel wires is easier than extending it inward, but both are entirely possible)
    - all possible variations of "3-pin transistor or voltage regulator with the pins not in the order I thought they were"
    - mirrored an asymmetric through-hole footprint (the style of barrel jack where one of the pins is on the side)
    - the first board I ever sent off to a factory, I did not know what I was doing and somehow I sent an extra copy of my copper gerbers as my soldermask. they did not question it and happily sent me a board with soldermask perfectly applied only over the areas with no copper

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
      azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
      azonenberg@ioc.exchange
      wrote last edited by
      #5

      @jpm @ThermiteBeGiants Oh the swapped diffpair is gonna be 0.125mm which is min feature size for oshpark. Not much of a challenge if it's big

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA azonenberg@ioc.exchange

        Years ago I had a "ReworkCTF" board with 20-odd PCB layout bugs designed into it on purpose, ranging from backwards LEDs to missing vias under a BGA to inner layer differential pair swaps.

        The original board had some design issues that made some of the fixes easier/harder than intended, and also ancient, I think now EOL, parts (a Spartan-3A FPGA - even if not EOL nobody wants to use one of those in 2026).

        I'm hoping to do a gen 2 of the challenge soon probably based on a BGA STM32 or Spartan-7 but haven't worked out the specifics yet.

        Is anybody interested in contributing challenge concept based on real board bugs you've had?

        Also, would folks be interested in me livestreaming a "play through" of some/all of the challenges once I have a board in hand?

        roukemap@social.treehouse.systemsR This user is from outside of this forum
        roukemap@social.treehouse.systemsR This user is from outside of this forum
        roukemap@social.treehouse.systems
        wrote last edited by
        #6

        @azonenberg
        Tied an (unused) FPGA bank VCCO to ground and it really wanted go to a power on this device. 0.8mm bga two vcco pins per bank. Found an alternative workaround with no mods in real life, but I think I was showing our techs on of your blog posts at one point.

        Two ldos, one got copied from the other in schematic, and the vset and ilim net labels didn't get renamed. Just needed some surface cuts to split the nets.

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA azonenberg@ioc.exchange

          Years ago I had a "ReworkCTF" board with 20-odd PCB layout bugs designed into it on purpose, ranging from backwards LEDs to missing vias under a BGA to inner layer differential pair swaps.

          The original board had some design issues that made some of the fixes easier/harder than intended, and also ancient, I think now EOL, parts (a Spartan-3A FPGA - even if not EOL nobody wants to use one of those in 2026).

          I'm hoping to do a gen 2 of the challenge soon probably based on a BGA STM32 or Spartan-7 but haven't worked out the specifics yet.

          Is anybody interested in contributing challenge concept based on real board bugs you've had?

          Also, would folks be interested in me livestreaming a "play through" of some/all of the challenges once I have a board in hand?

          tj@altelectron.org.ukT This user is from outside of this forum
          tj@altelectron.org.ukT This user is from outside of this forum
          tj@altelectron.org.uk
          wrote last edited by
          #7
          @azonenberg @jpm I have this from Congress two years ago. I think there’s demand.
          Link Preview Image
          azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • tj@altelectron.org.ukT tj@altelectron.org.uk
            @azonenberg @jpm I have this from Congress two years ago. I think there’s demand.
            Link Preview Image
            azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
            azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
            azonenberg@ioc.exchange
            wrote last edited by
            #8

            @tj @jpm yep i think that was... cpresser? who took my concept and ran with it to be a bit more newbie friendly and lower cost.

            tj@altelectron.org.ukT 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA azonenberg@ioc.exchange

              @tj @jpm yep i think that was... cpresser? who took my concept and ran with it to be a bit more newbie friendly and lower cost.

              tj@altelectron.org.ukT This user is from outside of this forum
              tj@altelectron.org.ukT This user is from outside of this forum
              tj@altelectron.org.uk
              wrote last edited by
              #9
              @azonenberg @jpm yeah looks to be, more boards for challenges with documented test stages would be great.

              The smd soldering kits from china are helpful for learning, but they don't have any mid steps. It either works or doesn't and that isn't the best for figuring out what you did wrong.
              cccpresser@chaos.socialC 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA azonenberg@ioc.exchange

                Years ago I had a "ReworkCTF" board with 20-odd PCB layout bugs designed into it on purpose, ranging from backwards LEDs to missing vias under a BGA to inner layer differential pair swaps.

                The original board had some design issues that made some of the fixes easier/harder than intended, and also ancient, I think now EOL, parts (a Spartan-3A FPGA - even if not EOL nobody wants to use one of those in 2026).

                I'm hoping to do a gen 2 of the challenge soon probably based on a BGA STM32 or Spartan-7 but haven't worked out the specifics yet.

                Is anybody interested in contributing challenge concept based on real board bugs you've had?

                Also, would folks be interested in me livestreaming a "play through" of some/all of the challenges once I have a board in hand?

                aburka@hachyderm.ioA This user is from outside of this forum
                aburka@hachyderm.ioA This user is from outside of this forum
                aburka@hachyderm.io
                wrote last edited by
                #10

                @azonenberg - IC footprint with the pins in reverse order on one side
                - depending on which pins in a (molex, etc) connector make contact first, an alternate path to ground exists through data lines that can't handle it

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • tj@altelectron.org.ukT tj@altelectron.org.uk
                  @azonenberg @jpm yeah looks to be, more boards for challenges with documented test stages would be great.

                  The smd soldering kits from china are helpful for learning, but they don't have any mid steps. It either works or doesn't and that isn't the best for figuring out what you did wrong.
                  cccpresser@chaos.socialC This user is from outside of this forum
                  cccpresser@chaos.socialC This user is from outside of this forum
                  cccpresser@chaos.social
                  wrote last edited by
                  #11

                  @tj @jpm @azonenberg exactly. The main idea was to make a challenge board that is not super frustrating for beginners. And has lower requirements regarding tools and materials.
                  https://gitlab.aachen.ccc.de/cpresser/reworkctf-pico/-/blob/main/docs/Challenges.md?ref_type=heads

                  This was after I solved Andrews version and was not to happy with my own results 🙂

                  I am considering to make more of them (they are "sold out"), but have not yet decided if I want to add more challenges or edit challenges.

                  azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • cccpresser@chaos.socialC cccpresser@chaos.social

                    @tj @jpm @azonenberg exactly. The main idea was to make a challenge board that is not super frustrating for beginners. And has lower requirements regarding tools and materials.
                    https://gitlab.aachen.ccc.de/cpresser/reworkctf-pico/-/blob/main/docs/Challenges.md?ref_type=heads

                    This was after I solved Andrews version and was not to happy with my own results 🙂

                    I am considering to make more of them (they are "sold out"), but have not yet decided if I want to add more challenges or edit challenges.

                    azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
                    azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA This user is from outside of this forum
                    azonenberg@ioc.exchange
                    wrote last edited by
                    #12

                    @cccpresser @tj @jpm well I'm planning to do a rev2 in the next month or so, then livestream a playthrough

                    cccpresser@chaos.socialC 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA azonenberg@ioc.exchange

                      Years ago I had a "ReworkCTF" board with 20-odd PCB layout bugs designed into it on purpose, ranging from backwards LEDs to missing vias under a BGA to inner layer differential pair swaps.

                      The original board had some design issues that made some of the fixes easier/harder than intended, and also ancient, I think now EOL, parts (a Spartan-3A FPGA - even if not EOL nobody wants to use one of those in 2026).

                      I'm hoping to do a gen 2 of the challenge soon probably based on a BGA STM32 or Spartan-7 but haven't worked out the specifics yet.

                      Is anybody interested in contributing challenge concept based on real board bugs you've had?

                      Also, would folks be interested in me livestreaming a "play through" of some/all of the challenges once I have a board in hand?

                      craigjb@fosstodon.orgC This user is from outside of this forum
                      craigjb@fosstodon.orgC This user is from outside of this forum
                      craigjb@fosstodon.org
                      wrote last edited by
                      #13

                      @azonenberg I thought I had more bodge pics, but here are a couple real ones

                      1st pic is wrong crystal footprint would be good. On this board I swapped the two gnd pads with the out and vcc pads. On a non-symmetric footprint too.

                      2nd pic is a bodged missing protection diode on a SOT transistor

                      Link Preview ImageLink Preview Image
                      craigjb@fosstodon.orgC 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • craigjb@fosstodon.orgC craigjb@fosstodon.org

                        @azonenberg I thought I had more bodge pics, but here are a couple real ones

                        1st pic is wrong crystal footprint would be good. On this board I swapped the two gnd pads with the out and vcc pads. On a non-symmetric footprint too.

                        2nd pic is a bodged missing protection diode on a SOT transistor

                        Link Preview ImageLink Preview Image
                        craigjb@fosstodon.orgC This user is from outside of this forum
                        craigjb@fosstodon.orgC This user is from outside of this forum
                        craigjb@fosstodon.org
                        wrote last edited by
                        #14

                        @azonenberg students can use my crystal bodge as an example of low quality rework 🤣

                        0h00000000@ioc.exchange0 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • azonenberg@ioc.exchangeA azonenberg@ioc.exchange

                          @cccpresser @tj @jpm well I'm planning to do a rev2 in the next month or so, then livestream a playthrough

                          cccpresser@chaos.socialC This user is from outside of this forum
                          cccpresser@chaos.socialC This user is from outside of this forum
                          cccpresser@chaos.social
                          wrote last edited by
                          #15

                          @azonenberg @tj @jpm in that case, I will wait to see your rev2 and copy the new challenges and ideas that fit the "accessible" format as well.

                          My rough goal is to have a new version of my variant available for emfcamp.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • craigjb@fosstodon.orgC craigjb@fosstodon.org

                            @azonenberg students can use my crystal bodge as an example of low quality rework 🤣

                            0h00000000@ioc.exchange0 This user is from outside of this forum
                            0h00000000@ioc.exchange0 This user is from outside of this forum
                            0h00000000@ioc.exchange
                            wrote last edited by
                            #16

                            @craigjb @azonenberg

                            Link Preview Image
                            1 Reply Last reply
                            1
                            0
                            • R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
                            Reply
                            • Reply as topic
                            Log in to reply
                            • Oldest to Newest
                            • Newest to Oldest
                            • Most Votes


                            • Login

                            • Login or register to search.
                            • First post
                              Last post
                            0
                            • Categories
                            • Recent
                            • Tags
                            • Popular
                            • World
                            • Users
                            • Groups