1st time overclocking = 1 dead thunderbird

[mattreed002]

I had a 1 GIG Thunderbird. I wanted more speed, (what a fool I was). I got a thermaltake heatsink with a delta fan ($50).I bought a circuit tracer pen that was recommended by all the sites on overclocking ($13). I spent 3 hours on bended knees trying to trace the L1 Bridges. I got it right once but Win98 froze. Time to redo. I was wearing thin of nail polish remover. Somehow some Circuit tracer pen got on the pins I guess and I was unaware. Goodbye CPU. Just wanted to tell a little story. Any comments (non-negative)if possible.

I ALSO FRIED MY KT7-RAID AHHHHHHHHH!!!. Oh well it looks like it is me and my k6-2 266 once again. Oh I love the speed. I can almost play Need For Speed 3 with low detail on.

 

[WarCon]

Have you completely cleaned the whole chip again with acetone. Wouldn't bother to try and bridge til you know if its ok. Always pull the power plug from your powersupply before removing your chip. Anyways, with the power plug pulled clear your cmos and try again, being very careful when you put the heatsink on and make sure you plug your fan into the correct fan header. If it still don't boot, its likely that its gone.

 

[FreeFrag]

One Learns by Ones Mistakes....today you have learnt a lot. Congratulations, next time you will be more carefull.

I mean this in the nicest way possible. I'm not trying to bag you, this is comeing from the one who snaps pins of AT power connectors and drops computers

Hey, at least you got a cool Keychain now

 

[koldklock]

mattreed, a fellow Oregonian, how sad it is to hear your tale.

I bought an Alpha with a quiet fan ($30), a .5mm mechanical pencil ($.50), and spent about 45 seconds tracing the L1 bridges.

No redoing; just one, and done. My 1GHz has been overclocked to 1.4GHz for over a month now.

Just an example that you don't need any fancy "circuit tracer pens" to overclock. Just a steady hand (valium can help), and a mechanical pencil.

Hope you have better luck next time.

 

[WarCon]

Yeah, pencil is my solution because it is so easy to undo and try again. I every once in a while get a twitch or something and have to immediately erase and try again, but you can tell under good light if you put down enough pencil lead but still aren't touching its gonna work the first time. For pencil, my feelings are, the more the better, just don't cross.

 

[SuperCyrix]

Excuse my stupidity, but I thought all thunderbirds 800 above were already unlocked.

 

[FreeFrag]

Erm....I never heard of that!

SuperCyrix; whats with the name? I didn't think that a "Super" cyrix existed! Oh, hang on; is A SuperCyrix one that works?

 

[Morjo]

How long can a pencil track along the L1 bridge to unlock to CPU last?


Cheers

 

[McCarthy]

I've read a lot of people saying their original pencil marks are still working from when they first did them months, year ago now. Some have to redo theirs every few months.

I ordered the circuit trace pen...then sent me a circuit sealer instead (basically to coat traces) So I did the pencil and sealed it as long as I have this instead...couple months here anyway.

--Mc

 

[FreeFrag]

Would it be possible to do the pencil trick and then coat the bridge in Clear Nail Polish? Would that not protect the trace alot?

 

[Sharpstick]

I have wondered that also FreeFrag......

 

[TheTeacher]

THe pencil thing lasts for a few weeks for me. But I fixed that. I did the pencil trick, then put a piece of scotch tape over top of it. = ) mattreed002 don't be to mad. So far I have killed 2 700 Classic Athlons, 1 1GHz T-Bird, 1 1.1GHz T-Bird, and 1 600MHz Duron. = ) Not to mention, a KT7A-RAID, an FIC SD-11, and an ASUS K7V. So, if you wanna talk death of CPUs I am the one too see. Ohh yeah, lets not forget a Hercules Guillemot GeForce2 that is dying, and I went through 2 Voodoo3 3500s. Plus, 3 laser mice, and a lot of keyboards. = ) I think 4 keyboards. 2 cases, ummm... I think that's it. How do you kill a case you ask? With you bare F---ING HANDS!!!! MUAHAHAH Plus, I threw it out the second story window of my house. LoL Now I am a trained killer in the Army. LoL I think I found my niche.
Mike

 

[TheTeacher]

oops

 

[kylebisme]

brushubg on clear nail polish could well mess it up. laying a peice of scotch tape over your work does wonders though.

 

[Sharpstick]

Now relax Suicidal, take a deep breath ...now throw that case...get an extra ten feet.....LOL

 

[Garion]

<< Always pull the power plug from your powersupply before removing your chip >>



Be very careful of this.. I'd recommend always LEAVING your power supply plugged in while you're opening the case. That way, you can touch the power supply and ground yourself. Once that's done, you can unplug it and pull up the CPU. I've zapped a few chips with static electricity in my time and grounding is a good thing. Just touching the PS while it's plugged in should do the trick.

Unplugging it after is probably wise, however - Good protection against doing something dumb like forgetting your PC was in &quot;suspend&quot; not totally powered off.

- G

 

[Swanny]

mattreed002, sorry to hear it. I'm lucky enough to never have killed anything

 

[SuperCyrix]

I super cyrix is a fictional character in Mortal Combat. A super Cyrix cpu is one that can cook scrambled egg in 3secs.

 

[jscobie]

mine is working on over 3 months now...but a freind HAS to redo his weekly!

 

[ace31216]

If you first don't suceed, try try again.

 

[FreeFrag]

Well, I have my .5mm mechanical pencil...I'm taking my Duron to work tomorrow and doing the pencil trick good and proper...
I have one of those magnifying glass things on a arm with a light at work...and I have access to Isopropyl alcohol to clean the chip. After nearly Destroying My Chip I think i'll do my overclocking the proper way from now on.....

A question...would i bother either using nail polish or tape to cover the L1's If i use a shim? wouldn't that protect it? If the pencil does come undone, all the cpu will do is try and boot at a higher multiplier (thus a higher speed), right?

 

[Gitta7]

The 1.2's and up from newegg are already unlocked (atleast mine was and thats what i keep hearing). So just get one of those and don't worry about the pencil trick. The difference in price is just $34.

 

[baldy]

Go here, get the 'tape', makes it a five second job, no mess, all you need is a steady hand, what is nice about the tapes is that you can get it perfect, no questions.


http://www.plycon.com/

baldy

 

[tjll11a]

I've unlocked socket a cpu's before and i have to say that by reading that web sight. I don't think that anyone could get it wrong by useing that tape.


Thanks
Jason