Oh No! The X-clamp Owned My Cpu's Under Carrage! Options

[Pacifism]

So I was taking off the X-clamp for the cpu and it seems that the black plastic piece in the center of the x-clamp melted around what I assume to be resistors on the bottom side of the mainboard under the cpu. I should of noticed when the x-clamp didn't just fall off or move after I removed it from the heatsink. Anyway while taking off the x-clamp with this piece melted to the resistors it pulled at least 3 of them off. My question is. If someone is skilled enough (probably not I) at soldering could they re-attach these, or am I boned?



A haunting pic of my frustration and disappointment!

[Eddie_the_Hated]

Hehehe... welcome to the club.

To relieve a bit of your anxiety, no, you aren't boned. At least not yet you aren't. It depends on a few things. If you ripped up the pads on them, to the point where they can't be physically resoldered, then you might be boned.

However, there is still hope. It's physically possible to reattach them to the board, and have a working 360.

The only reason I know this, is because I've done it. Once. Granted, I'm not pretending to be a master at soldering. It was a messy job, and it took me over 2 hours to do 3 of the little buggers. However, realizing that this is a box that is otherwise going to be totally useless, so if I were you I'd make an attempt to resolder, or have someone else resolder it.

I'd suggest that you hunt around your local area for an electronics/tv repair store, or somewhere else as likely to have someone with soldering certification. Have them look at the box, and they should be able to tell you if they can re-attach the offending resistors.

[Tortuga2112]

I wouldn't even bother trying to put them back , you'll probably do more damage trying .

just put it back together and cross your fingers, lots of guys have knocked off a couple of those and their box still works fine.

[RDC]

They're Capacitors, not Resistors.

Once they've been knocked off the board like that it's usually not good to even try and replace them since it typically damages the ends of them where they were soldered onto the board making it difficult at best and in most cases ruins the connections internally, so even if ya did reattach it, it wouldn't be doing anything. It'll be fine with them all missing anyway, every other one there is in parallel with those 3. The 360 isn't gonna have a clue that they're gone and it's not going to cause any issues at all. Nothing at all looks shorted or torn up there that should need attention, you're good to go with it like it is. It would only take me a few minutes at most to install them with a hot air setup, bout the same amount of time with an iron as well, but I've been at that sorta thing awhile.

[s1ckn3s]

I dont know why, but this remind's me of when i put together a swing set an i had all these left over part's

[flippy10]

It would only take me a few minutes at most to install them with a hot air setup, bout the same amount of time with an iron as well, but I've been at that sorta thing awhile.

I <3 my Hakko 850. Glad to see I'm not the only one that still things hot air soldering is fun (and useful).

[Pacifism]

They're Capacitors, not Resistors.

Once they've been knocked off the board like that it's usually not good to even try and replace them since it typically damages the ends of them where they were soldered onto the board making it difficult at best and in most cases ruins the connections internally, so even if ya did reattach it, it wouldn't be doing anything.

So your saying that the capacitors could be internally damage? If thats the case I have another dead xbox360 that was given to me. I was honestly going to use the ones off of that one because I suspected that they would be damaged from pulling them off. Out of curiosity though whats the over all importance of them? Like would they at some point affect the stability of the unit on more demanding games in the future? If they are capacitors it seems like if they are missing the voltage for the cpu wouldn't be as stable or I'm just dreaming up what seems to be a logical scenario for my limited knowledge of electrical components. Anyway if I were to attempt to remove capacitors from the other xbox360. Should I just heat them up until the solder reflowed or should I do what some people do with the the RoL leds and bath them in a little bit of solder until they can be removed?

[RDC]

It's fine with them missing, already stated that. They do serve a purpose as in that ever pin of an IC that is power should have a cap going to ground on it, but it's not something that has to be followed and it's not gonna cause any issues at all with those 3 missing, you could remove half of them and not cause any real issue at all.

If you're going to remove others from another board to replace them then you need to make sure ya remove them properly, as to avoid damage to them as well, drowning them in solder is not the preferred method for removal if you wish to keep the part you're removing, ever thought of how you'd get it out off all that hot melted solder? Using a hot air setup would be best, or if you're going to use an iron they make a tip for that sort of thing, so it heat both ends at once, or use two separate irons. Removing the solder from one end first, then the other with solder wick is right difficult for a beginner on an SMT component and you'll probably end up breaking more than a few with that method, but there are plenty there to try on if ya like. My advice is to leave it alone, it's not going to cause any issues, now or later down the road at all. Do practice on the old board though, that's the best thing ya could have to teach yourself on to see what works and what doesn't in what situations.

[Pacifism]

Alright, thanks man! I'm glad cool people like you guys are on this forum to help out.

This post has been edited by Pacifism: Dec 11 2007, 12:04 AM

[eldup]

Just to elaborate on what RDC said, I too had a couple caps damage on my board. Modded the xclamps with bolts and washers and I am up and running. I am electrical engineer and have use this technique of putting caps from voltage lines, digital input output lines, ,ect.. I always used this standard practice to eliminate electromagnetic interferance in my designs. I have done designs without using this technique and seen 1 out so many board were glitchy. So in conclusion leaving a few caps off most likely won't cause a problem, but there is 1 out so many that may just have problem. Basically in the perfect world you don't need them, but they were put there for a reason. I left the couple that came off my xbox, but saved them incase I ever have issues.