Kicad Crash possible Bug when placing big BGA footprint

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1

Hey everyone,

I’ve stumbled upon a problem in my current project. I’m designing a substrate and need to place a BGA on the bottom side. The BGA has 9801 balls – a 99x99 matrix.

Unfortunately, KiCad crashes immediately when I try to place the footprint. I can select the footprint, but as soon as it shows up in the layout, the program freezes and then closes—no error message, no autosave, just a crash. After that, the project reopens like nothing happened.

To check if it was a project-specific issue, I created a new empty project and tried again. Same result.

Has anyone else experienced similar problems or found a workaround for large BGA footprints in KiCad?

Any help is appreciated!

Best regards,

2

You don’t say what version you’re on. If you aren’t using 9.0.3, first update.

1 Like
3

I would suggest to upload an example design showing this crash, so others can try to reproduce it easily.

1 Like
4

Please upload this simplified project and details from Help - About KiCad - Copy version info

5

ownlocallib.pretty.zip (297.9 KB)
test80x80_BGA.zip (3.9 KB)
so here are the problematic files. I can’t upgrade to 9.0.3 for a different reason.

9.0.3_error
9.0.3_error1414×331 16.7 KB

Had to black out the project path but its a serverlocation. Works fine in 9.0.2 not in 9.0.3. But this could also be a servererror and I didnt have time to look into it so far. So maybe this is a possible bug as well :smiley:
Below is also my version info

Application: KiCad x64 on x64

Version: 9.0.2, release build

Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.2.6
FreeType 2.13.3
HarfBuzz 10.2.0
FontConfig 2.15.0
libcurl/8.11.1-DEV Schannel zlib/1.3.1

Platform: Windows 11 (build 26100), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW

Build Info:
Date: May 7 2025 02:29:49
wxWidgets: 3.2.6 (wchar_t,wx containers)
Boost: 1.86.0
OCC: 7.8.1
Curl: 8.11.1-DEV
ngspice: 44
Compiler: Visual C++ 1942 without C++ ABI
KICAD_IPC_API=ON

Locale:
Lang: en_GB
Enc: UTF-8
Num: 1,234.5
Encoded кΩ丈: D0BACEA9E4B888 (sys), D0BACEA9E4B888 (utf8)

6

I just realised i mixed up rows and lines. Just in case someone is confused :smiley:

7

What a chonker!

image
image766×811 83.1 KB

no probs here. pretty fast too.

Application: KiCad PCB Editor x86_64 on x86_64

Version: 9.0.3-9.0.3-0~ubuntu24.04.1, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.4
	FreeType 2.13.2
	HarfBuzz 8.3.0
	FontConfig 2.15.0
	libcurl/8.5.0 OpenSSL/3.0.13 zlib/1.3 brotli/1.1.0 zstd/1.5.5 libidn2/2.3.7 libpsl/0.21.2 (+libidn2/2.3.7) libssh/0.10.6/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.59.0 librtmp/2.3 OpenLDAP/2.6.7

Platform: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, X11, mate, x11
OpenGL: Intel, Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2), 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.2.8-1ubuntu1~24.04.1

Build Info:
	Date: Jul  8 2025 13:02:59
	wxWidgets: 3.2.4 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
	Boost: 1.83.0
	OCC: 7.6.3
	Curl: 8.5.0
	ngspice: 42
	Compiler: GCC 13.3.0 with C++ ABI 1018
	KICAD_IPC_API=ON

Locale: 
	Lang: en_US
	Enc: UTF-8
	Num: 1.234,5
	Encoded кΩ丈: D0BACEA9E4B888 (sys), D0BACEA9E4B888 (utf8)

is there a reason to have pads on bottom? just curious.

8

It’s a substrate so basically a BGA Chip :smiley: so i need the pads on bot so they can go on top on the carrier PCB

1 Like
9

ok so 9.0.3 fixes this problem for me but i can’t save on this version see screenshot :smiley: any troubleshooting for this?
i could quickfix it most likely by copying project to local put in BGA then save revert so 9.0.2 and hope it doesnt crash but not realy the prefered solution.

10

I can place your footprint on 9.0.3++ Testing on Win11.
I can see it in 3D viewer and save.

It is unusual to have a footprint only on the B layer

11

If you use a 9.0.4 testing build (not a nightly build) this saving issue should be resolved, I think.

1 Like
12

like this one ?
kicad-9.0-testing_9.0.3.359.g21ed7a0641-x86_64.exe today 1.1 GB
just to be sure is everything after 9.0.3.0 basically 9.0.4 testing?

13

Yes, exactly.

(This is the commit that fixes your save bug; it was added slightly after 9.0.3, so any build after that should work)

2 Likes
14

ok great :smiley: thanks a lot for the help