Does it matter where i solder the passkey to the TSOP? I mean can i solder the 9 wires of the passkey directly to the actual legs of the TSOP instead of to the traces, which are rather delicate? Those traces don't lead anywhere, right, so i would think soldering directly to the legs of the TSOP would work just fine as long as im careful not to short any of them.

Perhaps you might want to stagger the ones that are close together. (most of them) Put one on the chip and the second one on the traces then the third on the chip and so on. The traces are very solid if you are at all good at soldering and i hope you are you will not damage anything.

Yes, you could solder to the legs, but you must be careful not to apply too much heat or you will risk damaging the chip.

I installed a Passkey about a month ago and soldering the wires onto the pads was not that hard. Just tin the pads and wires separately and then press them together with the iron. Be careful not to lift them, because as you know, they are delicate. Once you are finished, put some hot glue over everything; that will prevent the wires from lifting any of the traces.

I would really recommend doing it on the pads instead of the legs, even if you do lift a pad, you can expose the traces that connect the pads to the legs and solder to them. Your drive will still work even if you damage all of the pads/traces (as long as they aren't bridged), so use the legs as a last resort.

If you are using the FFC connector, I highly recommend that you solder it directly to the pins of the TSOP. For two reasons.

The FFC connector fits better and more solidly when butted up against the TSOP legs; there are fewer components that get in the way of it sitting flat.

As mentioned, the other solder pads are very delicate, and a small tug of the connector (as in while inserting/removing the FFC cable) can damage multiple traces. Since the connector doesn't sit flat against the board, it is even easier for it to move.

is he talking about the dvd key chip from one drive to another? if he is i think i need to do this too.

I prefer soldering my wires to the traces because I'm too lazy to scrape all that epoxy off all the way to the TSOP. They are delicate though, and if you're repeatedly soldering/desoldering a wire, it can lift the trace right up. Last night I did just that and had to scrape up that same trace a little upwards. I think the main reason these lift is because they are trace ends so you have to be careful.

Yeah I think if ya put good glue on the socket to secure it all should be fine. anyone have any good pics of their installs they wanna share?

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sadly, i think i fried the TSOP trying to solder to the legs. The stagger idea was a good one - unfortunately i thought of it after the drive died. Either the heat of the soldering iron killed the chip or i accidentally bridged two legs of the TSOP. All i get now is E64. SIGH. Actually i attempted this after trying to solder to the leads themselves but that didn't work and i thought my soldering job then was pretty good. I suspect i got a bad passkey in the first place though.

put board on your scanner and scan a pic and post it. it might be fixable

It is unlikely that you have a bad passkey. It's also unlikely that you fried the TSOP, unless you held your iron on the pins for a LONG time. As mentioned, post pics.

Why unlikely that i have a bad passkey? This is the 2nd console that i've tried it in and it didn't work (the first one was a 79fk, this latter a 79fl). I'm pretty sure my soldering job was good both times. It was in REMOVING the passkey from both drives that i screwed things up. I cleaned this new drive up as much as i could. Some of the traces are torn up but none are bridged. And looking at the TSOP the legs look free of solder and again none are bridged and yet i still get E64. Unfortunately i do not have a camera to show you pics but i'm convinced that the drive is dead. I can think of no other reason for it not to work than for the TSOP to be fried.

The Passkey is a very simple device, which is why their failure rate should be low.

If you are in the USA and would like me to take a look at your drive, send me a PM. At the very least, I can read the TSOP in an external programmer and attempt to get the DVD drive key so you can use another drive in your system.

Cheers,
Plex

you say "Some of the traces are torn up but none are bridged. " their are a few traces that if they get torn up the drive is dead and you have to repair those traces to fix it. Take a look at a pic of a good drive like on the passkey site and then look at yours. if you have the traces right in front of you looking towards the chip were the connector goes on I believe they are on the left side. 2 or 3 traces that are important.

Other poster is correct there are 3 traces that are important and if removed you have to rebuild. see my picture the ones that look like they continue which are if you count from right to left are 2 and 3 and 8 they just intact if not drive wont boot work at all once they are rebuilt you should be ok. Ive had a customer who has removed all traces I rebuilt those 3 and soldered the passkey to tsop and flashed it just like any other so mod can still be done if drive works after fixing traces. just you must be an expert solderer. If you have screwed up 2 79's then id say you are a noob as they are easy as hell (for me at least). take your time and try rebuilding those 3 tarces and see if works. if doesnt work after that then yes more than likely tsop is fried.

Hey, appreciate the suggestions guys. Strangely enough, those three leads are the ones that appear to still be intact. Still, i'll check them under a magnifier and try to re-build if necessary. In any case, Perplexer is going to take a look at it for me. Thanks everyone.

Is Pin8 a Ground wire?