All,
The opening of this post is going to read more like a confession than anything else, but please bare with me. About two years ago, I tried to solder my first mod chip for a friend of mine. We were using an xecuter 2.3b lite with a 1.4 xbox. By the end of our efforts, I got pretty good at what I was doing, and have since soldered a number of chips successfully. However, this xbox FRAG's, whether the chip is installed or not. We were *VERY* stupid in our first thirty minutes of work, and I think we did a lot of damage then. This friend of mine is a really nice guy, and he still hasn't replaced the xbox. My goal is to get this thing running now that I'm a bit more competent and mail it to him as a surprise Christmas "present."
Attached are three pictures, all of which give me some reason to suspect that they show damage that I'll need to repair. Starting with the d0 point, you can see that there's a pretty big pool of solder off of the point, and it seems possible that the trace is damaged. Since the xbox still FRAG's with the mod chip totally disconnected, am I correct to presume that there is something funky with the d0 point, and is there a way I can test it with the multimeter?
Now, looking at the LPC area. When we first attempted the installation, we were unaware (because we didn't read the directions properly) of the relative ease of the pin header installation. So, you can see that there's some pretty ugly work done on this area as well. In particular, one of the traces near the lower left looks like it may have taken damage. What do you folks think? I'd like to test this with a multimeter, but I'm slightly confused about this. I understand that I should test the contacts from beneath the motherboard with the power on, but how am I supposed to power the xbox on with the motherboard upside down?
Finally, you'll see that we ultimately realized that it's easier to solder the d0 point from the underside of the motherboard. This is where it is currently soldered. However, it looks a bit ugly once again. Do you folks think that this connection is holding up? Could I test this by checking resistance with a multimeter from the wire to d0 contact on the front of the motherboard?
Finally, I want to disclose that we never actually soldered the pin headers on, just let them sit "loose." At the time, we presumed that since the xecuter was lighting up properly, that the connections were good. Is it likely that one or two connections were faulty, and the mod chip never worked? With that said, is it possible that by securely soldering the pin header in place, that this xbox might actually work fine?
I really appreciate any guidance on where I should begin with this. I figure that it might be wiser to rely on the guidance of someone who actually knows what they're talking about, and maybe I can actually improve this situation rather than making it any worse. Please let me know if you need additional photos of another area of the box.
Rog
The opening of this post is going to read more like a confession than anything else, but please bare with me. About two years ago, I tried to solder my first mod chip for a friend of mine. We were using an xecuter 2.3b lite with a 1.4 xbox. By the end of our efforts, I got pretty good at what I was doing, and have since soldered a number of chips successfully. However, this xbox FRAG's, whether the chip is installed or not. We were *VERY* stupid in our first thirty minutes of work, and I think we did a lot of damage then. This friend of mine is a really nice guy, and he still hasn't replaced the xbox. My goal is to get this thing running now that I'm a bit more competent and mail it to him as a surprise Christmas "present."
Attached are three pictures, all of which give me some reason to suspect that they show damage that I'll need to repair. Starting with the d0 point, you can see that there's a pretty big pool of solder off of the point, and it seems possible that the trace is damaged. Since the xbox still FRAG's with the mod chip totally disconnected, am I correct to presume that there is something funky with the d0 point, and is there a way I can test it with the multimeter?
Now, looking at the LPC area. When we first attempted the installation, we were unaware (because we didn't read the directions properly) of the relative ease of the pin header installation. So, you can see that there's some pretty ugly work done on this area as well. In particular, one of the traces near the lower left looks like it may have taken damage. What do you folks think? I'd like to test this with a multimeter, but I'm slightly confused about this. I understand that I should test the contacts from beneath the motherboard with the power on, but how am I supposed to power the xbox on with the motherboard upside down?
Finally, you'll see that we ultimately realized that it's easier to solder the d0 point from the underside of the motherboard. This is where it is currently soldered. However, it looks a bit ugly once again. Do you folks think that this connection is holding up? Could I test this by checking resistance with a multimeter from the wire to d0 contact on the front of the motherboard?
Finally, I want to disclose that we never actually soldered the pin headers on, just let them sit "loose." At the time, we presumed that since the xecuter was lighting up properly, that the connections were good. Is it likely that one or two connections were faulty, and the mod chip never worked? With that said, is it possible that by securely soldering the pin header in place, that this xbox might actually work fine?
I really appreciate any guidance on where I should begin with this. I figure that it might be wiser to rely on the guidance of someone who actually knows what they're talking about, and maybe I can actually improve this situation rather than making it any worse. Please let me know if you need additional photos of another area of the box.
Rog