MAX77833 Power IC

Power faults on Samsung's S6 and Note 4/5 boards often trace back to one small chip sitting next to the main PMIC — the MAX77833. This isn't the primary power management IC on these boards; it's a companion power control IC that works with the MAX77843 to distribute and regulate secondary power rails. When a technician says a board is "dead after flash" or won't take a charge even though the battery connector tests fine, this is one of the first components worth checking under the microscope.You'll run into this chip on Galaxy S6 (G920), Galaxy S6 Edge (G925), Galaxy S6 Edge Plus (G928F), Galaxy Note 4 (N910F), and Galaxy Note 5 (N920F) boards. All five share a similar power architecture from that generation, which is why the same IC part number shows up across the lineup instead of being device-specific to just one model.On the repair bench, the MAX77833 gets pulled in a handful of recurring scenarios. A phone that's hanging on the logo with no further boot progress, a unit that shows charging current on your power supply but the display never lights up, or a board that was working fine until a liquid damage cleanup left corrosion around the power section — these are the typical entry points. Before you commit to changing the IC, check the board visually first. Corrosion, lifted pads, or a shorted rail around this chip's footprint is common after moisture exposure, and sometimes a proper ultrasonic clean and reflow resolves the fault without a chip swap at all.If the diagnosis does point to the IC itself, this is a jumper-and-reball job, not a plug-and-play accessory swap. The MAX77833 sits in a fine-pitch BGA package, so preheating the board evenly before removal matters — skip that step and you risk lifting nearby pads or warping the PCB layer under heat stress. Use flux generously, keep your hot air station at a controlled temperature, and reball with the correct ball size for this package rather than reusing solder from the old chip. A microscope isn't optional here; pad inspection after removal decides whether the board is even salvageable for reballing.Testing after replacement should go beyond just power-on. Check charging behavior across a full cycle, confirm the board doesn't restart under load, and watch for any abnormal current draw on your bench supply before closing the phone back up. A rushed reflow that looks fine visually can still leave a cold joint that only shows up once the device is back in daily use.This chip is best suited for technicians already comfortable with BGA rework — new soldering technicians should practice reballing on scrap boards before attempting this on a customer's device, since a failed attempt can turn a single-component fault into a board-level repair. For shops that handle steady volumes of S6-series and Note 4/5 units, keeping a few of these in stock avoids downtime waiting on a supplier order mid-repair.