Fixing this soundcard wasn't easy! 

The joy of a repairman rewarded by their work is infectious. As an aspiring electronics repairman who's stuck in a dead-end job, I hope to one day be half as good as you Tony. Magical work.

28:11 I had a moment like that when i replaced the HDMI connector on a PS4. Some of the pads were broken off. I spent hours with tiny strands of copper wire to repair the traces and it looked ugly. I was jumping up and down in excitement, shouting: "YES YES YES! It works! YES!" when it finally worked. I couldn't believe it. It was such a relief and I was so happy.

New QFN chips that have likely been sitting around for 10+ years tend to not stick unless you tin the pads under the chip first. So add flux and solder and tin the pads then when you hot air the chip it will automatically stick and all pads will be soldered. Also, you made the right call by wicking away most of the solder on the middle ground pad. Too much solder can squeeze out and create shorts on the outer pads which would be bad, most likely resulting in having to remove the chip and start over.

Your thought process troubleshooting was so great to learn from, thank you for keeping it in the video. And what a satisfying repair! I hope Focusrite see it and realise how important it is to share schematics and firmware versions for their community.

Great job with the repair, and even a greater job with the video editing, multimeter/oscilloscope shots, schematics and overall description of the whole process. Always a pleasure and very informative.

Ciao Tony. I was the service manager for Technics musical instruments for the entire life cycle of Technics. I love the way you explain what you are doing. It's not easy for one to make a living repairing digital circuitry. Customers have no idea that we work at microscopic level. I am an Italian national and your English is really brilliant. I heard the Italian long eeee sound where your pronunciation of the word ' this ' (singular) sounds exactly like ' these ' (plural). If you listen to an English speaker you will hear the word ' this ' sound a very short I sound with a long S thîssss and ' these' sounds like theeez.

That 486dx2/66 casually laying on the bench. Anyway, great repair. Random Italian "cursing" when something unexpected happen is just icing on the cake. :)

Great work! Your frustration and joy were both palpable. I can't imagine working on something so tiny with that USB chip. Well done!

That poor abused little red box! Well done for saving it!

Love your repair videos Tony, this one was a fun watch. Congrats on keeping the audio card out of land fill and hopefully saving some money too!

The "YES" moment was worth it. A little luck together with know what´ya do can work out. Congrats and a happy new year wishes

Good investigation, analysis, and fix! This reminds me of what my team and I were trying to do when we were setting up a streaming system during 2020/COVID. While we were pretty good at computers, we were still trying to figure out how to spell "audio-visual", and all the unfamiliar hardware bits and pieces to bring sound and picture together for a decent stream. And just like you did here, it all eventually came together and it just worked! Great job, Tony. I really enjoy your presentations - keep them coming 👍😁

Thank you to let us experience some real Italian temperamento😊

Great repair sir. It's so rewarding to fix a piece of faulty electronics. One of the most satisfying things.

What a great, real-life video. I've always been a bit scared of SMT hand soldering and you've shown that I don't need to be. Thank you!

really great video. i love that you don't waffle on unnecessarily, it's all killer, no filler.

Great job, Tony. Expert troubleshooting and repair. I've learned quite a bit from this video. Thanks so much for sharing!

Great video! Thank you for keeping your experience truthful and showing that anyone can regroup and conquer unexpected PCB issues within. Some creators will go out of their way to hide any scope footage that shows that they have little to no experience working with. People need to shown what it looks like to jump in feet first and not be worried about being embarrassed while trying. Whoever would have a beef with such logic is probably the same person that would edit their own video to not show that they’re a noob at something. I’ve done quite a few projects like this one but I’ve never attempted to record it. In my experiences I’ve seen my work improve on the soldering as well as the finished product. Some of my first projects looked rather rough at the end. The biggest reward is seeing your work actually work like it was designed to. If I could clean up my rework aesthetics that is my goal to make. Thanks again!

This was great! I'm secretly happy you didn't get this to work on the first attempt...proving you are human like the rest of us lol! I'm often working on vintage audio gear from the 1970s... really have to be careful with those solder pads as the bond between the board and the pad itself will fail even if you look at them funny. It was very rewarding to see this device come back to life. I really liked the segment where you pulled the firmware chip to validate. Fantastic as always!

awesome repair, Tony. enjoyed it a lot

Amazing job. Your joy is very contagious 🙂

Nice to see it works! Thank you for your excellent demo on how to troubleshoot and fix a bad electronics.

So cute when you finally repaired it, we can feel the joy xd

Thanks for your work. It really gives a great insight on the diagnostic method. A lot of devices I find quite daunting so a logical, methodical way of hunting down the problem is greatly appreciated.

I need to replace one of these on my Macbook pro and couldnt find a video for a quick tutorial to make sure was doing it best way possible, amazing video thank you! I never thought about soundcards using same USB IC controller.

Congratulations, Ilove to see people fixing things....

An excellent repair and a very enjoyable and professional presentation, thanks!

Congratulations!🎉 Great repair

Love your work, the way you explain it and how you show the process 👍👍👍👍

Man, that soldering looked challenging. Great that you got it working.

Brilliant video, i adore your methodology and explanations

Very nice video, your commentary in it and the workflow :) i feel like it's 7 a.m. again today and i'm sitting at my desk at work :D

Many thanks for posting this video! I have a Focusrite 2i2 with the exact same problem. I think go straight to replacing the USB intercafe chip. I have a 2i4 on which I replaced the USB port and that just worked fine so I guess I got lucky. I also have an M-audio interface, but those are known for the power supply chip going bad and cost more than the device is worth when I last looked so it's still an expensive doorstop at the moment. However, watching your video has given me hope that I may be able to repair at least one of them.

I really enjoyed this repair 👏👏

Ottimo lavoro! felice di aver scoperto il tuo canale :D

I have the same model device and I suspect it has the exact same problem. It's been sitting in a box for at least a year, I never tried fixing it, and somehow the algorithm knew to recommend this video. I'm not so confident with my SMD soldering but I'll have to try fixing it now

Nice job, Tony!

Great job and love the way of troubleshooting!

Another great video and repair. New old stock parts having older solder sometimes don’t work well with hot air. I have found adding some fresh solder and flux does wonders. Keep up the good work and I look forward to the next one.

Loved how you described in detail, what tool you use for what purpose in your hunt for the issue. Made it even more fun for me to follow along. Thank you!

Your happiness when it worked, I can totally relate haha, great video, thank you!!

Congratulations my man. I was feeling your frustration, as my skills (or lack of) are about the same level as yours!😁😁

Great diagnostic work as per usual. You might want to give solderpaste a go instead of reapplying solder to the pads. That way you can skip soldering pin for pin. Clean the pads, apply a small amount of solderpaste, put the chip in place and blast it with hot air.

I have the solo and they are amazing! Great to see some repair on one and see what’s inside

Perseverance! Congrats...nice work.

Finalmente qualche italiano che porta video del genere fatti con passione

Thank you. great video. I've learnt a few things and I admire your humbleness and honesty. Bravíssimo

This is a masterclass.

Good work and very interesting repair.

Very great job, Tony and very sympathic ;-)

Such a great moment looking at you seenig thing started work again after those hopeless tries! Good job! For me making my first steps in soldering (just start recently) is very appealing to see such learning process not that far awai AKA Luise R. level!

Great video. This motivates to learn more with my hotair station and oscilloscope.

You must have the patience of Angels to repair this soundcard. I would have ditched it and purchased a new one. It just goes to show, a little tenacity goes a long way. Great video.

Fantastic video!

Nicely done.👍

Incredible repair. Thank you for sharing your problem solving process. I have this exact model of card in my PC right now, in fact! If it ever gives me trouble, I'll know who to contact ;) You've earned yourself a new sub!

Nice repair. Thank you!

Well done! Keep on repqiring! Got the newer model of this soundcard, awesome piece of kit for the price.

Fantastic. Great work. I've worked on mice and keyboard for people in the past. The human slime factor is always gnarly with peripherals.

Great repair.. cheers.

Well done pal 🎉

Great work mate! I just picked up a new addiction hahaa. Might need to start learning how to do this stuff haha.

Great video!

Great work! Replacing this kind of devices has no monetary value (a working unit should go for around 30-40 USD second hand) but fixing any devices instead of buying a new device is always good for the environment.

Excellent job man, you had me worried with that piece of pad coming off 😅

nice troubleshooting methodology. it appears all you need is a micro-soldering station. knowledge and tools are the key.

You da man Tony. I am about to buy one of these 2i2 fourth gen. And now I know what they look like inside. Chers. I'm subed.

Great video. Thanks.

Hey Tony! happy to see that you repaired your USB soundcard! To be honest I somehow stumbled upon this video and I am lucky I did, because I am troubleshooting a very similar problem with a DJ controller (Pioneer DDJ-SR) I bought but barely used until it started acting up intermittently until one day it said good bye forever! I ordered 2-3 TUSB3200AC IC's from aliexpress and tried this very procedure by replacing it but that just didn't worked, I then decided to give up on it and sent it over to a professional workshop so the guy there of course said I did a very terrible job soldering it (it wasn't that bad in my fair opinion, I made sure all contacts are solid and there are no bridges, also tested in continuity) so he fixed that but what he also did is he removed the inductor on the data lines and bridged the lines directly with a wire :D not sure what he was trying to do there but I am sure that inductor plays a role since I can see the same board design here too! Sadly I noticed that late since he came back with a negative and I just put it at rest until after some time I decided to have another look, but by then I assumed that inductor is long gone. Anyway, I've got more tools over the years, got better at soldering, I do lack an oscilloscope and that's why I kind of let it rest in the corner, but I might just go and replace couple of stuff, order another batch of those USB IC's and that inductor and see how that goes. Cheers!

Nice Fix Tony :)

I had the 2i4 card and the same usb ic failed a few weeks after purchase, fixed under warranty. Well done with the repair.

Nice Video, thanks!

Really greatly enjoyable video Tony! many kudos to you! it's the first time I watch one of your videos after I've seen hundreds of others about electronic repair. What made me super surprised it's to realize about your italian origin and yet, till that point, I had never imagined that English isn't your native language. How did it happen that you speak English so fluently without the typical italian accent? ha? I envy you 😛non solo perchè parli inglese benissimo, ma anche perchè sei estremamente capace. Fare una riparazione elettronica è già una sfida che richiede capacità, ma farci un video come l'hai fatto tu, dettagliato, informativo, con grafica dedicata e composizione, ci vogliono ancora più competenze e lavoro... lo so perchè l'ho provato io stesso. Saluti da un Veneto scappato dal manicomio italia a 42 anni suonati e che da solo e senza mai esperienza di viaggi all'estero è andato dall'altra parte del mondo a cercare di lavorare e vivere in un paese dove la pazzia non ha ancora pervaso tutto e lo stato non è già diventato pervasivo, oppressivo e vessatore, e si può ancora vivere un po' come Dio vuole e non come vogliono una massa di psicopatici col coltello dalla parte del manico. Poi, se mi dici che flux usi e che stagno usi... mi fai un piacere perchè quello che ho comprato io fa schifo... ma ce ne sono mille in vendita e mica posso comprarli tutti per sapere quale è quello buono! 😉 Auguri Tony a di nuovo complimenti!

Great work! Congrats and THX for sharing! ;-)

Great work dude. Amazed you didn't blow all those capacitors away accidentally when using the heat gun. I would have made a right mess 🤣

I had a similar/opposite issue. My MOTU interface was having issues with the 3.3v overheating and dropping out. After a number attempts to fix it I finally gave up on it. It was a firewire interface anyway, so not a total loss. I am using a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 now, love it.

Cool fix! I have quite a few of these Focusrite interfaces (different sizes and gen) that I have collected over the years. I have never actually seen inside one, so it was cool to see its guts. It must've taken a fall at some point to manage to snap off the 1/4 jack tip.

Very difficult little chip of the devil there to solder indeed Tony... But glad you eventually persuaded it to stay at its seat completely, but the most important thing here is the correct troubleshooting method you used to discover that tiny faulty IC. I was a bit scared with the firmware situation cause you did not say, do you run the card with 214 firmware or reverted back to the original that the little ROM had inside? Also the black knobs seem to have that velvet feeling coating which eventually turns to a gross glue on plastics and looks dirty without being. Cheers from Greece, keep up, best wishes and better year for all of us than that shitty 2023! Jim.

You got a nice pick there... I always used MOTU soundcards, but for the money the Focusrite Scarlett was a formidable little soundcard especially for it's price point!

Thank you for your video. Love the accent. I was going to buy one of these, and I also have the same disease of getting the one in a thousand million products with a fault that causes the card to record all vocals in reverse, or something similar. I fancy myself as a bit of an electronic repairman but I would have binned it early on in this repair! BTW I bought a UA i/o box which has v. similar specs and its great.

Great repair, ive got a native instruments audio 8 dj soundcard that has a similar issue and has been dead about 5 years after a usb hub socket shorted out, hopefully this will work for me👍

good job

Hard to not to subscribe to you. A refreshing change instead of the guys that just seem to can’t get it wrong. At least you don’t hide your mistakes and errors behind the scenes and show the actual process of repairing stuff and how it goes on daily basis, not just some glorifying RU-vid video

Ahhhh esa sensación cuando funcionannn ❤

Wow, this video is really great! I was considering getting one of the larger Scarletts at a third of the original price with 2 loose inputs and 1 loose output. Your video convinced me not to. Thanks for making it!

I was impressed by your excellent failure analysis and repair. I like watching various people's repair videos, and I feel like I often see USB chip failures among them. On the contrary, there are almost no cases where the CPU/GPU core fails. Perhaps the amount of protection circuitry is different. thank you.

That was a cool video.

As someone who has not only had to replace the USB connector on a Focusrite 6i6 but also on an Akai MPK88 keyboard one word of advice: upgrade them to USB-C while you're at it, I bought a couple of 4 pin type-c connectors that terminate in a little DuPont jack and just soldered 4 wires to the pads of the old connector in the interface and crimped a fitting connector on. The type c jack fits snuggly (although diagonally) into a type b slot and can be additionally secured with a little hot glue. You don't have any real benefits but moving my complete setup to type c has been so nice and even micro b plugs can usually be upgraded with a little bit of filing.

very impressive

NICE!!

Nice work. The plug tip breaking in a jack is a pain, had it happen a couple of times which lead me to only using Neutrik plugs. The construction is much better than most with the tip being one full length piece of metal instead of a riveted design and the strain relief is the best I have seen in any plugs. And they are not the most expensive either, sold at Thomann as assembled with Cordial cable at very reasonable price..

Nice work! Those J-lead style packages are such a hassle to solder, even for larger ICs, and because of the angle it's not so obvious when you have a bad joint.

Hi, nice job.

As someone whos scrapping and saving and just got their first 2 channel hot air soldiering iron combo, vent fan and helping hands and have been soldering away everything in my home since it arrived a few days ago this is a goal! Being able to buy electronics cheaply and have the knowhow to fix them for cents on the dollars! Great fix. My station has already paid for itself!

Hah, great work! Did you keep the 2i4 firmware in the end with no issues?

Great video!! I am learning a lot :) - How do you plug the device while holding the oscilloscope probe? or, how many hands do you have? :) - I would love to see your setup

Great! No more Spiders! :) Ahahaha! This was a very nice one! Thank you! When do you Set up your Superthanks and/or Patreon?

Great work 👌👍👏 I think reflowing the original usb IC will fix connection problem. Great Northridge fix IC soldering technique

Very nice. Do you have any videos on that whole flux/soldering/cleanup process for surface mounted components and pin components, from microscope setup, to what that gunk is, to temperatures etc... would be great to see and try to learn it!

Hi. I had a 6i6 1st gen on the bench, same issue, same chip to replace. First i ordered a few from china since they were not available anywhere (mouser)at that time. Replaced 3, none worked, probably fake ones. Then after more then a 6 months they became available back in Mouser, the first one worked ;). Good video, i really liked the detailed fault finding. thanks