Nooob Frag of two different kinds.

[MasterChiefB]

Dear all,

I have an X3 and a v1.4 mobo. I practiced soldering prior to the XBOX job, but this is my first real soldering endeavor.

1st try: Frag with chip activated, light remained red on X3 dipswitch panel, if pressed power to bypass chip, light would stay red and it would boot to msdash.

Corrections to fix 1st try 1-4: Frag with light on X3 dipswitch panel staying red, could not boot to MS dash and bypass chip, could not boot from chip to get cromwell.

Correction attempt #5: Cannot boot from chip, could not bypass chip; but the light on the X3 dipswitch control panel is BLUE. So this is a Frag with a blue light instead of a red light.

For all attempts the HD light has worked so at least I know that solder point is decent.

My question-does the blue light suggest that the Pin header solders are now decent, and that I should focus all of my resoldering attempts on the DO point? Or is it a non soldering problem?? Under my magnifying glass they all look like pretty decent solders.

Any thoughts or points in the right direction are appreciated. Thank you.

 

[MasterChiefB]

I forgot to add that each time I also tried to boot from the back up bios on the chip with the hit power then quickly hit eject to method and that did not work.

Thanks again for any thoughts.

 

[chaosfactornine]

Are both of your blue LEDS on the actual X3 chip lighting up?

 

[MasterChiefB]

Yes, both blue chips are lighting on the actual chip. Sorry I didn't mention that in the original post.

 

[MasterChiefB]

Bump. Does anyone have any advice on this particular frag?

 

[MasterChiefB]

I am still trying to Solder correctly and all I am getting is Christmas lights. So sad...

 

[ianmcmill]

so i just got mine x3 to work. i drove crazy cause all my solders were 100% ok. i checked them with a multi meter => all good.

But listen, maybe find a friend with excelent soldering skills or practice alil bit and desolder EVERYTHING and clean the cables/pins and points on the mobo to solder with a q-tip and some nail polish remover and resolder everthing.

all (99.9999%) of frags are caused by bad solderings. i couldnt believe it first but thats only thing !!!!!!!! really only thing.

good luck !

 

[MasterChiefB]

Thanks. I will try again very soon...

 

[MasterChiefB]

I am going nuts over this. There are no destroyed traces and every solder point looks good. I can't get the box to boot with or without the chip without getting a Frag. I think I am going to desolder everything and see if it works without the chip.

 

[GoldnGT]

Make sure your 15 pin adaptor for the chip is done PERFECT. I thought mine was until i checked it with a mag. glass (still looked good in that light too!) I kept looking and looking and finally went as far as removing the tape that was on the three LED solders to find a stray piece of solder UNDER the tape.... that was my ONLY problem. get some caned air and spray your board down really good and retape everything.. might be your only problem.