Hello, new to scene, I have been trying to read as much as possible before posting.

I went out and bought:

1) 15 watt soldering pencil from radio shack
2) Kester Rosin Core solder .02" 63/37
4) Flux Pen

My question is how to prepare a brand new soldering iron for work. I know that you have to tin the iron, and I have tried that by letting the iron warm up for 3 minutes and then melting some solder onto it, but the solder does not seem to stick to the tip.

When I have tinned the iron properly, is it supposed to look all "silvery" color like the color of a properly sodlered joint. I cannot seem to get this to work. The solder either bubbles up in one are, or it seems to evaporate or fall off.

I am trying to practice on an old PCB before getting into my XBOX.

Any advice on how to prep a brand new iron? Is it possible that I ruined the tip already? I seemed to have used a lot of solder but the iron does not look tinned.

Thanks for the help, and AMAZING site by the way. This looks like a great hobby.

Go buy some tip tinner/cleaner.
Don't allow soldering pencil to get too hot when applying solder.

I don't know a thing about soldering but I do know that if you aren't comfortable soldering you can always buy a no-solder modchip. Either the Matrix or the Xecuter team has a solderless modchip as well which has more features than the Matrix. Just wanted to let you know that there is an alternative method and unlike the PS2 the no-solder chips have all the features of a modchip that needs to be soldered. Later and good luck on your journey through the xbox scene!!