Cool that you want to help your friends; that guy charging $200 to install was ripping folks off, in my opinion. For $50, i'd say that's fair, but $200?
The only chip i ever installed was my xbit. I read a bunch of posts on the board, and it took me a whopping 10 minutes to do it. possibly 5. I then did a couple of things that took longer, but trust me, it's an easy install IF YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
1) you need the right tools, it's been a while, but i think a philips head screwdriver, and a T10 and T20 driver (there are tons of tutorials to open, and as your board was accessed, you likely know how.
2) you need to know your D0 point cold - and it shifts between certain versions of the box. Find a high res image, print it out, and you should be good to go.
3) my recommendation: completely unplug the drives. your box can boot without the drives, then you get an error, but at least this way you'll know if you have the chip seated properly.
4) correctly program the chip with a proper bios - of late i'm using xecuter's latest, previously I used M7 and 4977 (colored) with good results. my 4983 bios, with the proper game patches, so far plays everything. when you program, BE SURE TO VERIFY - THIS CAN TAKE A COUPLE OF TRIES. I've verified, had failures 1/2 way through the verify, then tried again (just the verify), it's gone further, etc. until it verifies properly, or else reinstall the bios. you need a good verify or you're wasting your time.
5) CLEAN THE LPC AND D0 point - use alcohol and a qtip for the lpc, and use a pin head or similar to GENTLY clean the d0 point -- there can be clear varnish on the D0 blocking conduction -- this is a major source of trouble
6) pre-work the pogos - hold the top of them so they don't desolder by accident, and gently work each pogo so it doesn't stick - takes 1 second and well worth it.
7) finally, gently and carefully install your chip, using the spacer and longer screw. When it's right, you should hear a small click -- the D0 seating.
when the chip is snugged down, boot up without the drives -- if you see the xecuter word, or your colored bios, you're good to go (make sure the banks are correctly selected, and stealth mode is off)
9) if it works and you want to leave it this way, you're done, install your drives, close the box, and play. otherwise, install the power switch control with the diode (highly recommended, but does require soldering onto the chip, it's an easy solder. i chose to stick the wire into the power harness instead of soldering to the motherboard -- it's supposed to be a very difficult soldering job to the mother board.
and that's it!
suggestions for checking your dead motherboard:
1) remove the drives
2) try to booth with stealth mode on - if it boots, your chip is dead/wrong. if not, ugh
3) remove the chip and try -- if you can boot, the chip is the problem. if not, your board is fried, etc. - if you can, you may be able to boot from the chip and ignore the onboard tsop
hope this was helpful!
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Topic: Advice On Install Of Chip (Read 118 times)