Jump to content
OGXbox.com

Can a Gpu Be Replaced or Reballed?


bulkchart32
 Share

Recommended Posts

2 hours ago, SS_Dave said:

Short answer is NO

Use the RAM chips for a ram upgrade on a different board.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

I've got a board with the same issue, fancy taking it off my hands? It already has the full 128MB on it but FRAGs due to BGA solder problems on either the CPU or GPU after getting the heatsinks too hot from a hairdryer while removing them (the stock thermal glue gum is a PITA to remove). So much for trying to replace the heatsinks and getting ahead of myself. It would be a shame for the RAM to go to waste but I don't have the skills neccessary to do this kind of soldering. For someone with the right skills and equipment I imagine it would be easy.

4 hours ago, bulkchart32 said:

google was very unhelpful. does anyone here know?

Long answer is yes. However it is very expensive to get it done and very few people are around who openly advertise that they have the neccessary equipment and can do this. If you were softmodded and have saves on a locked HDD and need to extract the EEPROM however, there are tools you can buy to extract it externally. Keep googling, and donate the board to someone who can reuse the RAM! If you do want to go down the route of learning how to do BGA soldering, you'll need to buy a rework station and practice on some old computer equipment you don't care much for. You'll need to preheat the board carefully on a specially designed tray, then apply hot air directly above the GPU to remove it. Then remove all the existing solder balls underneath. You'll need a stencil template of the bottom of the GPU to help you apply new solderballs to it. I've never come across such a stencil for the XGPU so you may well have to make one yourself. Only then you can place the GPU back on carefully and apply hot air again to solder it back into place. That's... the short story.
A good example of this kind of work can be seen from DosDude1's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/dosdude1 . Good luck with whichever way you wish to proceed, but you well find yourself repairing a lot of other boards as well as other people's once you've learned this stuff! Repairing other people's stuff as well as your own will be the only feasible way you could make up the cost of buying the equipment.

Edited by samspin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/23/2020 at 2:38 PM, samspin said:

I've got a board with the same issue, fancy taking it off my hands? It already has the full 128MB on it but FRAGs due to BGA solder problems on either the CPU or GPU after getting the heatsinks too hot from a hairdryer while removing them (the stock thermal glue gum is a PITA to remove). So much for trying to replace the heatsinks and getting ahead of myself. It would be a shame for the RAM to go to waste but I don't have the skills neccessary to do this kind of soldering. For someone with the right skills and equipment I imagine it would be easy.

Long answer is yes. However it is very expensive to get it done and very few people are around who openly advertise that they have the neccessary equipment and can do this. If you were softmodded and have saves on a locked HDD and need to extract the EEPROM however, there are tools you can buy to extract it externally. Keep googling, and donate the board to someone who can reuse the RAM! If you do want to go down the route of learning how to do BGA soldering, you'll need to buy a rework station and practice on some old computer equipment you don't care much for. You'll need to preheat the board carefully on a specially designed tray, then apply hot air directly above the GPU to remove it. Then remove all the existing solder balls underneath. You'll need a stencil template of the bottom of the GPU to help you apply new solderballs to it. I've never come across such a stencil for the XGPU so you may well have to make one yourself. Only then you can place the GPU back on carefully and apply hot air again to solder it back into place. That's... the short story.
A good example of this kind of work can be seen from DosDude1's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/dosdude1 . Good luck with whichever way you wish to proceed, but you well find yourself repairing a lot of other boards as well as other people's once you've learned this stuff! Repairing other people's stuff as well as your own will be the only feasible way you could make up the cost of buying the equipment.

the xbox was never modded. the hdd contents and the dates of certain saves have sentimental value to me because it is from where i used to take my xbox to lan parties back in 2006-2007. is there anyway to clone that hdd to a working xbox? btw, it frag'ed on me once but now it will work for just a few moments and then start glitching and freeze on me. is the xbox savable? i think i used to much thermal paste and may have ran the gpu hot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I would do in this case is have a second Xbox that IS modded side by side with your stricken one, with the lids off of both.
Provide external power to the existing HDD but with the IDE cable plugged into the stricken board. Start it up allow it to turn on long enough to allow it to unlock the HDD, then unplug the IDE cable but leave the Molex power connector plugged in, so that the HDD remains unlocked so long as it has power to it.
Start up the modded Xbox with HEXEN in the DVD drive, and go through the options for a "disk upgrade". Unplug it's own HDD and attach the IDE cable from this modded Xbox to the HDD you want to extract your saves from. Select and run "preparation" and UnleashX will reload, but crucially it won't touch anything on your HDD, it merely allows the Xbox to recognise a swap safely. Once UnleashX reloads, you should be able to access your saves via FTP in the E partition! Once you've got these you should be able to copy them to a new HDD. Keep in mind at some point that you will want to extract your original EEPROM (you can buy such a cable to do this on eBay) if you want saves that are console-specific to work, and apply this EEPROM to your new Xbox. But at least this way it gives you more time to get your saves archived.
Sam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is an example of having the Xbox hard modded (modchip,TSOP fashed) then the hard drive can be left unlocked and easily swapped to a new hard modded Xbox.

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave


Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

Board Life Status


Board startup date: April 23, 2017 12:45:48
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.