ANSWERED A Question about STBY_CLK

[JonesyIV]

Hi there,

I've got a busted old 360 board which i've been practising my soldering skills on tonight.

No massive problems - i've found that taking my time and using tape to hold the wires in place whilst I solder them make a big difference and i've even managed to get the PLL_BYPASS soldered without too much trouble.

However, I have a question about the STBY_CLK connection (more out of curiosity as i'm actually using Quick Solder Boards on my working console).

The STBY_CLK connection is the right hand solder pad - but is it a problem if the wire bridges to the left hand pad? The biggest problem i'm finding is soldering the wire AND routing it so that it stays away from the left hand pad. Of course the other option is to use the alternate point on the back of the motherboard instead, but it set me wondering about how the top connection should be made.

Thanks

Jonesy

 

[KhaineGB]

I did the same as you, practised on dead boards first.

From what I understand, you don't want the bare wire touching the other pad, since that'd make a connection. However, having the covered wire resting on it is not a problem. Personally I used the QSB and had only a minor problem... it certainly eliminates the possibility of having the two pads bridged.

 

[JonesyIV]

I've already got the QSB's fitted to my console and I managed to dump the NAND ok, but of course it doesn't require that specific connection for NAND dumping so I won't know if my connection is good until I come to fit the CoolRunner.

Wish me luck - I figure i've had enough practice for now. I made a couple of minor mistakes during my practices but the thing I was happiest about was that I managed to recover without making a mess of anything.

Key points for me seem to be flux and plenty of patience - I could see how rushing would make it easy to screw the whole thing up.

 

[DayvG]

Rushing in is definitely what not to do. I had 2 Falcons an totally messed up my STDBY_CLK. I managed to fix it but the hassle and time spent doing it has taught me to take my time and get it right first time. Good luck in the rest of your install mate.

 

[JonesyIV]

Cheers I'll report back once i've done with either tales of wo or the good news.

 

[KhaineGB]

After doing my first RGH, I think it'd be easier to flux STBY-CLK and tin it, then solder the QSB in starting with that point first.

The other pads are pretty easy to do with the board in place. That one near the HANA was a sod!

 

[dumaytje]

It should not make contact with the left hand pad. The open connection isn't there for no reason!
To make sure the wire does not bridge the two pads you can always put a strip of kapton or isolation tape over the left hand and place the wire on top of that. For the rest make sure that the exposure of the wire is kept as minimal as possible, this way the isolation of the wire itself prevents the bridge.

 

[RavenPhoenix]

To be honest the alternate stb-clk points should be used for both the slim and phat consoles for the inexperienced as they are much much easier to solder too and if you mess it up the effects are not as devastating. If the original stb-clk points are lifted and/or burnt then you would get into all sorts of strife with the xbox not powering up so I recommend skipping the original points and going straight for the alternates. If you do a search in google you would be able to see quite a few results for the alternate stb-clk points.

Good luck.

 

[JonesyIV]

Yeah, you're absolutely spot on - the alternate location is a lot lot easier - in fact it was probably harder to figure out where the pad was than it was to do the solder itself.

I had a go at soldering that point tonight just out of curiosity.

 

[locobrown]

The alternate B point on the slim, is the way to go. I used the alternate B point on my first RGH only because i forgot to tin the point before soldering the other points of the QSB, and i have used if for all installs ever since. If the original point gets damaged, trying to resurrect it, only a professional can do.

 

[JonesyIV]

The even better news is that I managed to repair what I was told was a faulty board and it now boots perfectly, which I think gives me even better confirmation that my soldering was fine. About the only way I can now check to be even more sure is to fit the CoolRunner itself to this unit.

(Incidentally the fault with the board was twofold. The 27mhz timing chip had been dislodged from the motherboard in transit and then I got a secondary error 0110 which seems to have been fixed by doing the XClamp fix).

CoolRunner boards are at home as I speak to i'll be brandishing the iron tomorrow.

 

[zpersi1995]

good to hear, I also agree that the alt point is much much easier though. I think Ill be using that for my installs from now on.

 

[JonesyIV]

And, just to bring my tale to it's conclusion.

Got my CoolRunner yesterday and fitted it last night - was a lot easier than I expected but I deliberately took my time over it.

It worked first time and the boot time was super-fast. I'm now running the FreeStyle Dash and now need to look at ripping my original games so I can install them on the hard drive. We look after foster kids so I really don't want to hand over original game disks to them - they're highly likely to get damaged, so this is an idea solution.

Thanks for the info - this site has been a massive help.

 

[KhaineGB]

Congrats on your success!

I just did my second RGH, and it went a lot smoother than my first... though I'm still using the primary point for STBY-CLK rather than the alternate on the back of the board. I might try the alternate with another console.

I do like using my QSB's though... especially for NAND dumps.

 

[JonesyIV]

I'd already fitted the QSB's but wasn't sure if my connection on STBY-CLK was good or not - it seems it was as the CoolRunner is working faultlessly.

Really nice bit of kit and a great hack.

 

[DayvG]

Glad it all worked out buddy. Congrats

 

[Martin C]

Nice to get success stories once in a while. You went about it the right way and took your time (as well as practised on other things). Chance of success is increased exponentially once you combine the two.