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ShALLaX - I know that you have a 128meg box whats the process in fitting the 4 chips? do you know? does anyone know? is it just soldering the chips to the m0b0 or do i have to add anything else or move jumpers etc.?

any help helpful

There are 4 chips you need to solder to the mobo and thats it.

Other than GentooX there are only a couple of Xbox apps that recognise the extra ram i.e mameoX

Here is a useful link to a thread over at xbox-scene. Although the guy has sold all the chips there are a couple of good article regarding soldering them on.

Cheers
XBoxgeek

thanks for the link im noticed the person selling the chips says if there is enough demand he will order more.. something to think about...

cheers xboxgeek, see im game to solder the ram on but spathi thinks i will muff it (hes probably right) so i want to know how its done "properly"

I have got some chips on the way . The only way I know for *home* installation is the solder/oven way. I really don't fancy the oven method so I am gonna solder them.

Wish me luck
XBoxgeek

good luck..

i have a mate doing micoelectro engineering at uni.. i will see if he has a tool to solder 100pin chips

how much did you pay for the chips? where from? can i have a cuddle?

Search google for "andy fearless solder god", that should give you a good idea of how to solder

Not sure if this will make any sense to you guys but when my chips arrive I will be using the easy way (in my oppinion as an electronics type bloke!)

Disclaimer

I accept no responsibility for any damage you create. If you are not comfortable doing this, quite simply don't or at least practice on some scrap circuit board!


Stuff you'll need

Soldering iron
Plenty of desolder braid/wick
Solder (the thinner the better)
Flux cleaner
Good magnifying glass


What to do

Prepare the board for the chips using desolder braid/wick, this is done by heating the reverse side of the braid with a soldering iron and carfully moving it over the pads where the new chips are to be located until there are no traces of solder left on the board.

Align the chip in the correct orientation and perfectly to the pads. Now carefullysolder ONE pin on each corner of the chip to make sure it does not move when you are doing the rest of the soldering.

If you chip is now not totally flat to the board you can heat two corners at a time with your soldering iron whilst pressing down on the top of the chip with your finger.

Happy with how it looks now.... good!

Now comes the easy bit, one side of the chip at a time using plenty of solder connect all of the pins to each other and to all of the pads on the circuit board. Hmm looks a state now doesn't it!

Time to remove the excess solder. Return once more to your trusty solder braid and this time CAREFULLY remove the solder from the pins on the chip one side at a time until there are no longer any pins shorted together.

"Oh no my board has gunk all around the chips is this healthy?"

Well erm.... NO it does not directly stop the RAM chip working but the gunk is flux and is corrosive over long periods of time!!!
Yep you've guessed it time for the flux cleaner, go on spray it on there and scrub that flux off (do this outside as you ideally want to wash the flux off the edge of the board)

Now everything is nice and clean get a good magnifying glass and VERY VERY carefully visually inspect the board for pins being connected together or not being connected to the circuit board.

If any of the pins are connected together time for the braid again!

If a lot of the pins aren't quite connected back to more solder and braid it off again!

If one or two of the pins aren't quite connected put a very small amount of solder on the tip of your iron and slowly and gently run the very tip of the iron down the leg of the RAM chip and hold it between the pad and the leg for a second.

Thats it, Done!!

Hope this helps
(you might have guessed this is from a forth coming tutorial I haven't finished yet!)

i read someplace that orignal games, or backup games on the hdd did not work when we install more ram in the xbox.. is that true?