Motherboard Reverse-Engineering & Redesign
Budget: £1,500 – £3,000 GBP
The original schematics and firmware sources for my existing motherboard are no longer available, yet I still need to keep the product alive and solve a series of recurring hardware failures. The immediate objective is to reverse-engineer the board in detail so I have a complete, accurate picture of how every power rail, I/O interface, and embedded controller is wired and programmed. Once that knowledge is captured, I want a refreshed design that removes today’s failure points and is ready for a short production run.
Work starts with non-destructive teardown, high-resolution imaging, net tracing, and firmware dumping via JTAG/SWD or any other proven technique. From there the task moves into schematic recreation (Altium Designer or KiCad preferred), BOM generation with current components, and a clean two-to-four-layer PCB layout that factors in signal integrity and thermal performance. On the firmware side, a well-commented disassembly or decompilation is expected so I can decide whether to keep, refactor, or fully rewrite the codebase.
Deliverables
• Complete reverse-engineered schematic in editable format
• Updated BOM with second-source part numbers and lifecycle status
• Optimised PCB layout files plus Gerbers, drill, and assembly outputs
• Annotated firmware source or IDA Pro/Ghidra project documenting functions, registers, and boot flow
• Short technical report explaining root causes of the observed hardware failures and how the new revision fixes them
The board must power-up and pass the same functional tests as the current unit while eliminating the intermittent faults I see today. Design files remain my property and should be handed over in their native format at the end of the engagement.
Work starts with non-destructive teardown, high-resolution imaging, net tracing, and firmware dumping via JTAG/SWD or any other proven technique. From there the task moves into schematic recreation (Altium Designer or KiCad preferred), BOM generation with current components, and a clean two-to-four-layer PCB layout that factors in signal integrity and thermal performance. On the firmware side, a well-commented disassembly or decompilation is expected so I can decide whether to keep, refactor, or fully rewrite the codebase.
Deliverables
• Complete reverse-engineered schematic in editable format
• Updated BOM with second-source part numbers and lifecycle status
• Optimised PCB layout files plus Gerbers, drill, and assembly outputs
• Annotated firmware source or IDA Pro/Ghidra project documenting functions, registers, and boot flow
• Short technical report explaining root causes of the observed hardware failures and how the new revision fixes them
The board must power-up and pass the same functional tests as the current unit while eliminating the intermittent faults I see today. Design files remain my property and should be handed over in their native format at the end of the engagement.