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[run088]

Flux will help solder stick to metal.

Ive never had much luck with the pen so I am not the one to answer.

Find a scrap motherboard from something and practice a little bit until you think your skills are good enough if you are uncertain.

[Bighomedog11]

QUOTE(run088 @ Jun 24 2008, 02:35 PM)

Flux will help solder stick to metal.

Ive never had much luck with the pen so I am not the one to answer.

Find a scrap motherboard from something and practice a little bit until you think your skills are good enough if you are uncertain.

Alright... Good idea. I have one more xbox i can try to put the chip in. But i am going to do alittle practice because i even mess with that d0 because that's were i fuckd up at last time.

Run088.. Thanks for your help i really do appreciate it. Run088 Can u get on AIM or what messager do u have?

Also thanks to the other people that help with my problem..

[run088]

I dont have any messenger installed I took all of them off a long time ago.

I like to help here anyway so there is a record for people to use to fix there xbox if they run into a similar problem in the future.Its how I learned alot of what I know so its only right to give my knowledge back here when possible.
Chancer and Lord Vader129 posts have been priceless to me with there knowledge and I most likely would know little about the xbox without them.I think about all the patience and time they spent in these forums answering questions so there would be that record for the modders of the future.

This is what xbox-scene is about to me giving back in return for what I have learned here.
Helping here is my way of saying thanks.

[Bighomedog11]

Today i went ahead and removed the solder from the lcp on my other xbox. And i put in the chip. But i didnt solder nothing down yet because i always screw up when i had to solder it onto the d0 pad. I am wondering is there a different d0 pad i can use for i wont have to risk soldering there and messing it up. I am thinking about just taping the d0 down to the point. But my xbox did not frag and tomorrow i am going to go to Radio Shack and get some better solder..

What kind of solder would you recommend that sticks good on the board?

Also what can i do with my FRAG boards? Do more advanced modders buy them? I might just sell the parts ill probably get more $$ that way.

[Bighomedog11]

QUOTE(BigPotty @ Jun 24 2008, 07:42 PM)

Yes there is an Alt D0 point on the bottom of your motherboard that is about twice the size of the top one. It is still very small and fragile though. Check out the Xecuter 3 tutorials:

http://teamxecuter.e...st.com/x3ce.pdf

or

http://www.team-xecu...s/x3pin1015.htm

You should be using electronics silver solder of a very fine gauge. I also use tip cleaner and tinner, it helps to keep the tip heated evenly and from oxidizing.

When I attach to the Alt D0 point, I first tin the stripped (like a 32nd of an inch) wire (30 gauge prefferably, 24 gauge at the most!) and then lay it in the correct position on the D0 point. Get the iron cleaned and tinned and have a tiny drop of solder on the end of it. Touch it very lightly to the wire on top of the D0 and it should stick.

DO NOT pull on the wire!! You might lift this trace if you do! Especially on such an old box. You will know if it's attached or not because it will move if it isn't.

MAKE SURE that you move the wire as little as possible. Now you can tape it down in a couple of places, making sure it's not covering any screw holes.

Hope this helps!!

Ok thanks that help some..I really am afraid to solder on the Alt d0 point because thats how i ruined my trace last time. Can i just put the wire on the d0 point and take it down.. So i wont have to solder it down and risking messing up a trace? I am going to practice some on a old pc part i got..

[run088]

Just practice until you get enough confidence to do it.This is the only way you will learn.You learned an important lesson last time and it will be a small price to pay when it is all said and done.It is ok to make mistakes if you can learn from those mistakes.Trial and error is the best teacher I ever had.

[Bighomedog11]

Yea true.. Thats the only way to learn is the trial a error. I just cant belive i mest with my softmod box.. I thought i had to upload a bios to the chip in order for it to work.. But i dont and i screwd that box up

[Chancer]

QUOTE(run088 @ Jun 25 2008, 06:07 AM)

Just practice until you get enough confidence to do it.This is the only way you will learn.You learned an important lesson last time and it will be a small price to pay when it is all said and done.It is ok to make mistakes if you can learn from those mistakes.Trial and error is the best teacher I ever had.

Small price to pay?? A wrecked motherboard!
The place to practice is on old boards from scrap equipment. No doubt practice makes perfect but not on  your Xbox.

QUOTE

You should be using electronics silver solder of a very fine gauge. I also use tip cleaner and tinner, it helps to keep the tip heated evenly and from oxidizing.

You don't need silver solder for electronics work. Jewellers use it more for repairing jewellery.
60/40 Rosin cored solder 022 gauge will be fine.
Use at least a 25 watt iron unless you have a very good quality one . Cheap low wattage irons do not get hot enough to flow the solder correctly.  Lower wattage ones certainly do not have the power to be used with braid.
When using braid to remove solder the braid has to be heated as well, the solder has to be fully liquid to be absorbed on to the braid and it still has to be liquid when you remove the braid.
If you use  a low wattage iron the solder doesn't melt so the the natural reaction is to push harder on the iron, causing damage. Then when you lift the braid away, the solder is still stuck to the braid and the connection so lifts the point being soldered from the board.
When you are soldering something to the board- If you need to clean the area use a fibreglass pencil. very cheap and it will clean the board with zero damage. slip with a craft knife or razor blade and at best you damage the board... at worst you are on your way for stitches in your hand.
Buy the best temperature controlled iron you can afford. I can buy from SEME a digitally controlled station in the UK for £25 and even though very cheap they are excellent. The iron that comes with them is 40 watt. I can remove 80 pin QFP chips with them as good as the station I paid £1200 for.
The soldering should be over in less than 2 seconds per point. the greater power of a decent iron pools and flows the solder very quickly causing no damage to the board. Use an underpowered iron and you have to keep the iron on the work piece longer. the solder doesn't melt correctly due to inadequate heat and the result is.. you either push harder and damage something or withdraw the iron with everything stuck to it and lift the printed circuit track.
If you are in the UK Pm me I will ship you free an old board to practice on. (Edit: just noticed you are not..sorry)
To show how easy it is with correct equipment (even with an old weller soldering station) some pics after removal with braid on a board with many SMDs round the chip (no damage). Then replacement of  a standard chip. Note the wattage of the iron.
Soldering is not  a magical art if you use the correct gear.. but please don't use your next Xbox for practice.

[Bighomedog11]

Thanks for the reply. I am going to use one of my FRAG motherboards for my pratice work. And just practice with that board till I think i am good enough to move to my xbox to solder it down. This is the solder i am going to get.
I heard the flux is good for sticking onto the motherboard. The last solder i had it seemed like it didnt wont to stick down onto the motherboard. So i am going to get this solder and see how it is. I also have a 30 watt solder iron that i have been using for all of my LED work and little repairs.

[run088]

Still get the flux as well it is also very useful and makes it alot easier to tint wires with and such.

One xbox mobo is a small price to pay if you learn a skill that could be valuable to fix many other things other than the xbox some things that could be more expensive than an xbox and the cost it would take to have someone repair these things that you would not be able to repair yourself if you did not have this skill.

And whats done is done we cant undo the fact the mobo is in its condition so there is no need to dwell about it.Just try to learn something from it and move along.
The good news is the xbox is still repairable. As long as the cpu,gpu,mcpx is good all hope is not lost.
It will take good soldering skills to complete such a task but it is possible.

[Bighomedog11]

yea true.. good thing it wasnt a pc. but lets get back on subject i pick up some Silver Bearing solder. it is very thin compared to my other solder i had. And the guy at RadioShack said that this is good for putting wires on a motherboard.  Is the silver bearing solder the kind i need to use? I also picked up a new tip. So i am going to do some practice and when i got some more skills i am going to try to solder the d0 point on. And everything should be good to go  Just wish me luck

[run088]

Good Luck

If the guy at radio shack told you it was the right solder most likely it is.
my part # is 64-005b
.032 dia
2.5 oz
60/40
light-duty
Rosin-Core Solder

It has lasted me years and I still have half a roll left.

[Bighomedog11]

What am i doing wrong? Because i install the chip but i didnt hook up the HDD or the dvd drive.. The reason i didnt do that is because i  notice the chip was not lighting up. I am wondering why is it not lighten up...
Here is some pixs of my install.. I just tape the d0 point on there for now. But the chip should still light up..

[Chancer]

The pictures are really very blurred, but the LPC soldering looks poor. It appears to be blobs of solder on top of the connections. The whole mention in here of "getting solder to stick" worries me some what as you don't stick solder on. If you get solder to simply stick it hasn't flowed correctly. This appears to be the case here and the very obvious cause is the iron is not hot enough to correctly melt the solder when also having to heat the pins from the pin header. Try with some better pictures as I may be seeing the wrong thing.
 The D0 connection can not be simply taped on as it will not make a good connection, even for test purposes.
Did you practice before soldering this?
 It sounds harsh but I really would get someone to do this for you. I don't agree that wrecking Xbox motherboards is the correct way to learn to solder.
The end result is what you are after. Yes it is satisfying to do all the soldering etc but what you want is a chipped working Xbox.
It's a pity you don't live closer because you would be welcome to use the facilities in the workshop here and I would have helped you through the process.

[Bighomedog11]

Ok well i thought i had my lcp in backwards. So i turned it around. I also solder my d0 point on. I didnt mess up  But anyways the chip is still not lighting up the little LED on it. I dont know why its not everything looks like its hooked up rite.