Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:30 am Post subject: Xbox ram upgrade
Well tomarrow i'm going to try and complete this daunting project. I have a few questions about it though:
1. Does the X3 3294 bios support the use of 128 mb of ram on apps?
2. How to make surreal 64 run off of all of the ram (i know its possible.
Keep checking back here because if everything goes well ill post a tutorial of the installation.
Wish me luck _________________
impwiz V.I.P. Lifetime Xbox Version: all Modded: everything
Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 1070 Location: Detroit
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:05 am Post subject:
the x3 bios supports 128 mb ram. It should see the ram right off the bat after you install it.
As for surreal, have you looked at the ini file? there might be a value that you can change to support 128 ram. I'm not sure, you might also need a special version of surreal.
If you need any help or tips, let me know. I've done a ram upgrade, and it worked great with xbmc and mame (main reason for the install was mame performance). The most tedious part of the upgrade was removing the chips from the broken motherboard. A good tip that helped me was of course the generous use of solder rosin, and when removing the ram, take a fully stripped wire (about 1 foot) and separate the strands so you have a bunch of little loose, thin wires. Take one wire and slide it under the legs of one side of ram. Pull both loose ends toward you, and give a little pull while you hit the legs with you soldering tip from left to right, or vise versa.
Good luck, and take your time. _________________
deltaarmstrong2000 Moderator
Joined: Oct 04, 2005 Posts: 517 Location: OH Canada
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:44 am Post subject:
I wish I had thought about the wire trick, I have used the pin and went popping one pin at a time, but always bent them, and what a pain to get them straight again without breaking. Thanks for the tip!
impwiz V.I.P. Lifetime Xbox Version: all Modded: everything
Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 1070 Location: Detroit
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:26 am Post subject:
Yep, no problem. The wire trick can still bend the legs, but not nearly as bad as shoving a pin under there. _________________
dartht33bagger Moderator
Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:57 am Post subject:
Thanks a lot for clearing up my concerns
So i should just use a wire to lift up the legs then touch the soldering iron to the board and the legs should pop up? Because on the youtube video he uses desoldering braid first, then uses a pin (which would be a wire in my case). _________________
deltaarmstrong2000 Moderator
Joined: Oct 04, 2005 Posts: 517 Location: OH Canada
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:37 pm Post subject:
use a lot of paste first, then set the wick over it(i add a bit more paste on top to soak the solder through easier) and clean all pins first that way. get as much solder off of them first, then go aroud heating a pin at a time. Straigghten the pins after, and the spots where you will solder to are already tinned, and the little solder left on the chip should allow it to resolder back to the new board, but don't overheat the pad. And remember to put the chip on in the right direction, like pin1 to pad1
dartht33bagger Moderator
Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:04 pm Post subject:
Ok thats sounds simple enough, after i get all those little pins alined lol. _________________
dartht33bagger Moderator
Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:57 am Post subject:
With the wire trick is he talking just like a ATA cable wire? _________________
deltaarmstrong2000 Moderator
Joined: Oct 04, 2005 Posts: 517 Location: OH Canada
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:08 am Post subject:
the angel hair wire that you use on some modchips to the motherboard, something stong but small enough to slide under the pins.
dartht33bagger Moderator
Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:19 am Post subject:
Well bad news, i used the wire trick but one of the sides messed up. The first two pins came off fine, but then as i continued on down the row it lifted those pins up. Needless to say the two pins came off, so on left side two pins are missing. At this point am i screwed or could i somehow fix it? I may just have to buy some ram chips online? _________________
impwiz V.I.P. Lifetime Xbox Version: all Modded: everything
Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 1070 Location: Detroit
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:58 am Post subject:
Depending on how close to the actual chip your legs broke, you might be able to bridge the gap with a small wire and solder.
For the wire trick, take a standard 24, 18 etc gauge wire and expose and separate all the little strands, insert under legs, and gently pull. Keep the wire as parallel to the board as possible while pulling while you desolder. _________________
dartht33bagger Moderator
Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:45 am Post subject:
I'm looking at the board right now and no metal is outside of the black case, the legs broke off right at the case. I can still try and solder a wire onto it though right (better than doing nothing).
Good news: i now know how to do it correctly, so i should be able to get 3 chips at least, making it easier for me. _________________
deltaarmstrong2000 Moderator
Joined: Oct 04, 2005 Posts: 517 Location: OH Canada
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:35 pm Post subject:
practice makes perfect, but it sucks having to learn. i'm suprised it broke off that close to the IC chip. If you don't see any metal where the tab was, don't attempt to waste your time with a wire bridge, all the soldering and removing and resoldering might make the pad dissapear from the motherboard.
dartht33bagger Moderator
Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:39 pm Post subject:
Delta you know any place that would sell 1 chip to me? I don't want to have to buy a whole new broken mobo off ebay if i dont have to.
As for the thing breaking off so close it was weird. I was almost at the end of the chip and when i looked back the pins where straight up in the air. I then proceded to carefullly bend them back down, and when they were going back down they broke off. _________________
deltaarmstrong2000 Moderator
Joined: Oct 04, 2005 Posts: 517 Location: OH Canada
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:52 pm Post subject:
Check your pm, not sure about posting outside retailers to the public. This place is too valuable to me to be on the bad guy list
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