How do I check my work--I did some soldering--I'm real bad at it too. My regular original bios works--it boots up a game but since I installed I can't tell a difference--Haven't installed a dashboard or anything like that yet

did you flash your bios?

if not, just turn on the chip and cromwell should appear.

Oh man I get nothing--no matter how I turn the thing on--It's still the MS dashboard. So at least the mobo isn't damaged--I don't know what to do next

it might be because of a bad connection (make sure d0 is soldered correctly)

i'm guessing you didn't but did you try to flash your chip?

uh oh I think --no I know one of the soldering pads on the chip is gone now--I'm doomed aren't I? The D0 connection is solid.

soldering pads? are you using an alladdin modchip? you can always try to fix the chip by soldering the broken wire to the appropriate point

(it would help to have a pic of the chip)

It's a smartxx chip. I learned last night how to uninstall the chip. I think I'll uninstall it and start fresh. The mobo is not damaged so that's good. I'll check the d0 wire one last time. I think my problem was that I was using a soldering iron rather than a soldering pencil. I used a tutorial that wasn't that great but found a better one last night--I wish smartxx could release some instructions. Quick question: Using the quick solder method how many points will actually be soldered. If I went by the tutorial the D0 wire, the GND, the 3.3v, and that's it. Is that right?

Can someone who has installed a smartxx chip tell me how I can be sure if I've done everything correctly before I flash my BIOS and load a new dashboard. How important is connecting the soldering pads to the LPC? One tutorial makes no mention of doing it and the other does. I'm confused and I think I've really screwed things up--possibly damaged my chip already. Most of the connections I've made can be undone--but there's this one...... I will post a pic of the chip and tell you what I'm talking about...hold on...

Okay I guess I can't add an image w/out publishing it on the web. If anyone thinks they can help I will email the pic to you. Thanks

HoHum, Can't anyone help a dumb jackass like me????

just email me the pic, my email is in my sig, amd i will host it temporarily so you can post it here.

I've sent you the picture AtomiX

since that pad is gone, why not just use the pin-header install?

Oh prolly cause I'm stupid j/k I think I'll try that--I'll just remove the soldering once I get home from work tonight and try, try again. Hey just out of curiosity, what is your dashboard of choice? I already have evolutionX downloaded but have heard there are better "more interesting" dashboards out there.

i use THC (like it says in my sig). i like it because it looks nice. the only prob is that it doesn't have FTP (i use evox for FTP) i also have other dashes but don't use them very much.