User talk:Speedy22
From Free60 Project
I'm a hardware/firmware person who loves to reverse engineer.
I am currently creating schematics for the 360 using Eagle (http://www.cadsoft.de/). Any help would be appreciated. There are freeware versions available for linux, OSX and XP.
At a point in the near future I will have to dechip the 360 motherboard and may part out the various components. Anyone interested in any of the components, I am willing to consider any proposal. I will be receiving a damaged Core system over the Christmas Holidays. I will start to dechip the motherboard once I troubleshoot the board. Any suggestion before I start?
Things to do
- troubleshoot the core.
Dechipping
- Since I am planning on creating schematics from the dechipped board I need a method of removing, cataloging, and archiving the components so that there values, numbers and board placement can be established.
Suggestions
- remove and glue components to sheets of paper and write the components id beside it. print one of the images of the motherboard and glue them to it.
- label and bag each and every one.
- Take a photograph of the motherboard so that you put bright light behind the board and you can see the traces in midlayers if possible.
- Use your digicam extensively to help your documentation process
- You may not need to measure power supply bypass capacitor values. There might be lots of them, and not measuring them may speed things up
- Ohm meter to measure connections and lots of patience - or better yet
- Try to get an access to an X-ray machine used in electronics manufacturing so that you can see all the traces between the layers and under the BGA chips
- Remove the BGA chips last and use the following procedure.
Using a typical kitchen oven. Place board on a cookie sheet on the middle rack.
1) For 4 minutes at 200ºF/93ºC warm up the board and allow temperatures to equalize.
2) For 2 minutes at 325ºF/163ºC bring up the temperature to the saturation point.
3) For 30 seconds or more at 450ºF/232ºC until solder melts and quickly remove components. Repeat if needed.
Help!
- Parts List Form with the component IDs filled in.
- Someone with a Q meter.
- Decapping experience and access to high powered microscope.
- Access to X-ray equipment. Veterinarian xray equipment should work. I have all the equipment required to calibrate the xray machine.
- you could try the local airport! Near my local airport, there is a jet engine maintenance facility with X-Ray equipment used to find fractures in turbine blades etc. You can pay them $50 to get X-Rays of PCBs and they come out quite nicely, very detailed and good contrast.
I can be found on the free60 IRC channels.
Speedy22--I looked for you on the IRC channels tonight, couldn't find you. I am looking for 360 CPUs to decap/delayer and photograph. If you have a CPU you can part with, please leave a note on my talk page -- eb User_talk:Eb
Dechipping Begins
December 29th, 2005 - Removed all connectors, Inductors and Electrolytic Capacitors.
