Hardware Urgent Help Needed with Xbox 360 S Resistor

TankedThomas · May 22, 2019

I've been trying to fix this blasted Xbox 360 Slim for ages now and finally came across a fix that involves replacing resistors R4D3, R4D4, R4D5, R4D6, R4D7 and R4D8. I saw a recommendation to bridge the connections instead if you don't have correct replacement resistors (I currently don't but would like to get them for future-proofing).

Anyway, R4D7 was bad but I decided to replace them all because it was "easier" (it's hell either way, especially with a shitty soldering iron not designed for SMD soldering).

So after repairing it successfully (I honestly was not expecting such a result), I decided to clean up some of the flux... because apparently leaving it alone was too good to be true. I knocked off the joint on R4D7 and it ripped the solder points right off. Tried to scrape at the traces to fix it but no luck.

TL;DR does anyone know of alternate solder points for R4D7 (and all the others as well, just in case)? I don't mind using wires etc. - I just want to fix this damn thing after it failed for no reason (seriously, it was hardly used and hadn't been touched for a while when it died).

I've attached an image of my shitty hack-job in case it helps (yes it's horrendously bad - you try doing SMD soldering without the right tools and tell me how well it goes).

Robika · May 22, 2019

Looks pretty dead to me... Sorry

TankedThomas · May 22, 2019

Robika said:
Looks pretty dead to me... Sorry

It's not. It may look ugly, but it's not dead. It was working fine before I knocked off the connection I'd made (clearly already weakened before I even removed the resistor from what I can only assume was heat damage from the heatsink).

It's just that one trace that needs to be joined up, so all I need to find is an alternative route. Problem is, I don't know where to look, my eyesight is pretty trash, and the lighting around here isn't great either, so it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack for me. Can't find any schematics to help, either.

DinohScene · May 22, 2019

You could scrape the trace a bit higher up.
Connect the traces with wirewrap, bypassing the lifted pads.

I don't really know any alternative points for them atm, sorry.

FAST6191 · May 22, 2019

I also don't have any alt points (don't know if there are or aren't, or if maybe you could tap another rail for a signal or something where it gets where it is going). At this point scraping away and doing a bridge over that is your best bet.

What I am more here to say is if a simple bridge is an acceptable thing here (basically zero resistance) then assuming you are not using the fattest iron out there designed to solder on tags to equipment or something then it should not be a major problem and that kind of result should not happen if you have the right technique.

Get some tweezers, some side cutters and a long length of wire strand of thickness enough to do what needs doing (split any stranded electrical wire that is not enamel coated, or deal with the enamel if it is). Tack one point (preferably not the end) to one side of the resistor (no need to remove it -- if it has gone high or open then who cares, if it has failed low you are bridging it anyway), bend it over to the other side, tack that on. Now you can snip (preferable for me) or fatigue the wire (if you don't have a decent set of snips then what you might have to do, try not to unseat it from your newly made joints though or rip a component up in your haste). If you have to tape down the wire to the board in the first place then do so. If you want to flow some glorious leaded goodness onto the resistor first then by all means.

TankedThomas · May 23, 2019

DinohScene said:
You could scrape the trace a bit higher up.
Connect the traces with wirewrap, bypassing the lifted pads.

I don't really know any alternative points for them atm, sorry.

I tried lightly scraping before I posted this thread but either they're too thin or just very fragile because I'm not getting much of anything, unfortunately.

FAST6191 said:
I also don't have any alt points (don't know if there are or aren't, or if maybe you could tap another rail for a signal or something where it gets where it is going). At this point scraping away and doing a bridge over that is your best bet.

What I am more here to say is if a simple bridge is an acceptable thing here (basically zero resistance) then assuming you are not using the fattest iron out there designed to solder on tags to equipment or something then it should not be a major problem and that kind of result should not happen if you have the right technique.

Get some tweezers, some side cutters and a long length of wire strand of thickness enough to do what needs doing (split any stranded electrical wire that is not enamel coated, or deal with the enamel if it is). Tack one point (preferably not the end) to one side of the resistor (no need to remove it -- if it has gone high or open then who cares, if it has failed low you are bridging it anyway), bend it over to the other side, tack that on. Now you can snip (preferable for me) or fatigue the wire (if you don't have a decent set of snips then what you might have to do, try not to unseat it from your newly made joints though or rip a component up in your haste). If you have to tape down the wire to the board in the first place then do so. If you want to flow some glorious leaded goodness onto the resistor first then by all means.

A bit late now unfortunately since I've removed the resistors already but I appreciate the input nonetheless. I think my soldering iron tip is in need of replacement (again), so that's probably the issue. I've been meaning to get a good station for years but alas I still haven't... My side-cutters are going blunt too. You know the story - everything fails at once! How convenient.

I THINK I've found points on the back of the board that join to the same points so I'm going to have a look at that shortly and will report back. I probably panicked and unnecessarily put "urgent" in the title, now that I think about it... but I've been trying to change my gamertag email addresses (without using the awful PC method where you add/remove aliases), and I wanted to avoid having to buy a new one (though admittedly I didn't realise how dirt-cheap second-hand consoles have become, so that's actually a non-issue anyway).

TankedThomas · May 23, 2019

Update: I fixed it! Woo!

It was precarious and God only knows how good the solder joints were (they didn't look good at all), but it works and that's all that matters. I found that there are some little solder joints just north of the resistors, but the other side goes straight to the CPU/GPU die, so you have no choice but to scrape at the VERY thin traces (you have to be careful because they're in pairs).

I threw some heat-resistant tape on top of it (was meant to be Kapton tape but the reel says "Kopton". Heh) and hopefully it'll last.

Thanks for the help guys. I'm not sure if I needed it in the end but I appreciate the input and the encouragement because it made me more hopeful to jump back in and try again. And it was worth it! So thanks again.