128mb Ram Upgrade Problem(going Crazy), Boots but doesnt boot..... Options

[barnhilltrckn]

Ok well where do I start.......I just finsished upgrading my ram to 128mb but I seem to be having some VERY strange issues that I can seem to find info on anywhere. I have a 1.4 with a flashed tsop(winbond) and I can get the xbox to boot into cromwell(been using the gentoox loader so I had flashing ability) with it showing 128mb but here is the kicker....if I flash any x2, ind, or any other hacked bios it does the turn off and on 3 times then just circles the colors on the button. The starnge thing is if I push eject after it stays running it will boot into the dashboard, play games, ect, ect but will only show 64mb.

I can flash back to cromwell and it will show 128mb again. I have looked over the chips SEVERAL times over and cannot find the first single joint. I have a magnifying glass that Ive looked through and even went as far as taking pictures of the ram and then zooming in really close to check.

Point is that I am at a complete loss on whats going on. I have been at this for almost a week now and nothing has changed at all. I have tryed to reflow the chips with plenty of flux over and over with about every other method I know of short of taking the ram chips back off. I would rather not take them off again seeing how long it took me to get it right(well partly right:P) and destroying 3 boxes learning how to do this.

Im ussualy pretty good at figuring out my own problems and seldom have to ask for help but this has me stumped. My wife is sick of me clamming up in my work space trying to fix the problem and I have allready spent more money than I should have on this. If anybody has any insight on the problem I am having please let me know because I am litterally about to go crazy over this, as you can see:P. Thanks for any help someone may have to give me.

ps: Yes I have all samsung ram on here that were taken from a 1.4 xbox. The ram chips do have a few numbers that dont match but from what I have read that is normal and as long as they are all smasung it should work.

[xboxmods2977]

3 questions:
What color pattern are you getting (red and green or red and orange)?
Where did the donor chips come from?
If you removed them yourself from a dead board, what method did you use?

[barnhilltrckn]

3 questions:
What color pattern are you getting (red and green or red and orange)?
Where did the donor chips come from?
If you removed them yourself from a dead board, what method did you use?

1-Green then turns off, green then turns off, then green rororo and just keeps going between r and o.
2-They came from another working board which was a 1.4 same as the one I installed them on.
3-No the board was a good one I sacrificed for the project and I used a heat gun on the opposite side of the chips then gave the board a light tap so they would fall right down on a pad I had under them.

I dont have a hot air station so I had to go the cheap route, I know its not as good but I honestly dont think I ruined the chips but then again I just dont know. I have another set of samsung chips here although they are from a 1.6. Now since they are still samsung wouldnt they work just as well??

Any help you may have to give will be very helpful becuase I am about to just scrap the whole project and be happy with a normal box here. I know that from doing this I wont gain much but if you are anything like me then you understand the need I have to make this work as intended.

This post has been edited by barnhilltrckn: Mar 4 2012, 07:58 AM

[shambles1980]

sounds like your using a bios thats not made to utilize the 128mb ram, the latest ind bios should work ok..
you can use the unleash-x dash to view the amount of ram installed or xbmc.

red and orange usualy happens because of a solder bridge on the ram but you say it boots up cromwell.

This post has been edited by shambles1980: Mar 4 2012, 04:14 PM

[xboxmods2977]

Yes, the Samsung ram from a 1.6 will work, but first try the latest iND as shambles suggested.

[barnhilltrckn]

Yea the latest iND bios is 5003 correct?? Ive used it and several other bios's over and over and over. As you can tell this is one of those problems that makes no sense at all.

Dont let my join date fool you, I have been modding for a pretty long time now and I was just a lurker before I joined. Not that this really has anything to do with the problem but yea I just dont understand this.

This post has been edited by barnhilltrckn: Mar 4 2012, 06:58 PM

[shambles1980]

if it did not boot cromwell and report all the ram i would think that you have a solder bridge or 1 or more legs arent properly solderd.

Is it possible that since removing the working bios and installing a new one that one of the legs has had a crack in the solder or possibly just a little fleck of wire has managed to find its way across some of the legs?

you seem to state definitavly that you have checked the ram thouroughly. and that you can flash back to the working bios and it works ok..

Where are you checking the ram count in your system when running the IND bios?
I use the unleashx options menu then scroll through to system info and right at the bottom it tells you the ram count.
Or i use xbmc and enable system debug, and that will also report the ram ammount.

the red and orange error when ram is involved for me has always been because of some sort of bridge on the legs.
I think red and orange can also be AV pcak? not sure i dont remember proerly.

[barnhilltrckn]

Ok well it seems that one of the top ram chips were damaged. I removed the top 2 and just replaced them with the other set of ram chips I told you I had and now its all working great. I was suspecting that one of them was bad because I just didnt like the way it looked(even though it was on perfectly)and that was obviously the root of my problems.

So thanks for the help guys even though it turned out being what i thought it may be in the first place . Everything on my end is good so I guess its just time for me to put everything back together so I can do what I need to get done around the house(honey do list). Thanks guys!!

ps: It was always booting cromwell no problem and reporting the ram but I just thought it was VERY strange that with a hacked bios(iND, X2) it would turn off and on but then as soon as I pushed eject it would boot up and only report 64mb. Just a strange problem to me.

This post has been edited by barnhilltrckn: Mar 4 2012, 07:39 PM

[rickygina]

I have recently done a ram upgrade and cant figure out why nothing will show it.

xbmc and others just show the normal 64mb, but if i run a program xbmemcheck it shows the extra memory, though it comes up with 'cant allocate 74mb'

fustrating!