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OG Xbox Forums => Hardware Forums => General Hardware/Technical Chat => Topic started by: litspliff on January 20, 2009, 12:18:00 PM

Title: Pulling Ram Chips With Only A Soldering Iron, Braided Copper, And A Ne
Post by: litspliff on January 20, 2009, 12:18:00 PM

okay, so i got tired of bugging my buddy whenever i need RAM chips for upgrades, so i put together a method that works really well.

here's what you need...

1. soldering iron
2. solder wick (a scrap piece of braided/multiple-strand copper wire works fine)
3. a needle that fits tightly between the RAM pins and the RAM chip.
4. a dead mobo with good ram (don't do this to a good board)
5. (optional) liquid soldering flux

all of this stuff you should have already if you plan on doing a RAM upgrade.

• wick the pins of the victim chips with your copper braid. i recommend dipping the braid in liquid flux to speed up the process. when all the pins look wick'd (you can tell by the reflectivity), get out your needle.
• push the needle underneath the row of pins. you should hear a sound like a zip-lock bag as you push the needle under. this is the sound of the pins breaking loose. if they don't break loose easily, then re-wick the stubborn pins. remember, you won't be able to wick all the solder out, so it may take a little force...but fuck it...it's a dead board anyway, right? you won't hurt the chips doing this.
• after you lift a row of pins, drag the needle across the top of the pins in the opposite direction. this will bend the pins back into place, as they will be slightly lifted from popping loose. make sure you re-align the pins now, and not when you go to install them. trust me on this one.
• repeat for the other three rows, then carefully pick the chip up, and store in safe place until installation.
• repeat for the other three chips

i know this sounds like a bit of a brute-force way of doing it, but check out the results i got. it's better than using a heat gun, and you have the perfect amount of solder left on the legs to do the install.

BTW, it also works for Xyclops, PIC16, TSOP, etc....anything with a decently accessible pin gap.

here is the first set i pulled like this...
(IMG:http://www.dynatron.org/imagearchive/upgradekit.JPG)


let me close by saying anyone can do this...
i even got medieval on the last one of these because i didn't want to strip some more braid (laziness). i just ripped the needle out sideways and it bent the pins more than the recommend method, but the end result was the same. it's the first chip on the left!

Title: Pulling Ram Chips With Only A Soldering Iron, Braided Copper, And A Ne
Post by: obcd on January 20, 2009, 03:50:00 PM

Another option is sticking a thin cupper wire after the chip pins. You fix the wire at one end. You need to remove as much solder as possible as well with solderwick before you start this. Start heating up the pins from the loose end of the wire to the other end, and pull the wire under the pins while you heat that pin in question. You will have minimal damage to the chips and the pcb doing so, and the row of pins will become loose. You can then repeat the procedure for the other 3 rows of the chip.

regards.

Title: Pulling Ram Chips With Only A Soldering Iron, Braided Copper, And A Ne
Post by: litspliff on January 21, 2009, 02:42:00 PM

QUOTE(obcd @ Jan 20 2009, 04:50 PM)

Another option is sticking a thin copper wire after the chip pins. You fix the wire at one end. You need to remove as much solder as possible as well with solderwick before you start this. Start heating up the pins from the loose end of the wire to the other end, and pull the wire under the pins while you heat that pin in question. You will have minimal damage to the chips and the pcb doing so, and the row of pins will become loose. You can then repeat the procedure for the other 3 rows of the chip.

regards.

right on man. i'm gonna try that also. sounds like it works pretty good.

Title: Pulling Ram Chips With Only A Soldering Iron, Braided Copper, And A Ne
Post by: Alex548 on April 03, 2009, 08:08:00 PM

There was a video a few years back that does exactly what you described.
It showed how to desolder the RAM, then how to remove it with a needle.
Afterwards, it showed how to add RAM using flux and soldering iron.

I used this method a few years back to remove RAM from motherboards all the time. Works great, but takes longer than using a heat gun.

Looks like the original links are now dead, but here's another one that still works:
RAM Removal

^ That's basically a video tutorial of everything litspliff just detailed.
The one below shows how to install RAM the old school way
RAM Installation

Title: Pulling Ram Chips With Only A Soldering Iron, Braided Copper, And A Ne
Post by: litspliff on April 09, 2009, 08:50:00 AM

good topic.
i'm proud of myself.

i added the RAM stuff to my xbox tutorial page. i even embedded the two videos alex mentioned.
link in my signature below.


i'm off to start another GREAT topic!