GameCube GameBit 4.5mm Opening Tool

po0k

Does anyone know where I can get one of these in Ireland?
Or borrow one off someone?
MrModchips are out of stock and I'm impatient

Or if you have a guide for the hot pen method - can't find one at the moment

po0k

I have over 200euro's worth of stuff in a shopping cart waiting to hit 'checkout'.

• X3 CE & Xecuter 3 Control Front Panel Combo
  - Colour Crystal
• X3IR
• Qoob Pro & Team Xecuter IcedCube Full Case Combo
  - Colour Smoked Black

byte

Hrm, you could try ringing Veronika in Donberg Electronics: 074 9548285.

Or maybe Maplins might have such a tool.

po0k

Thanks, I'll price them and see.
If not, I can order one off mrmodchips when they're back in stock.

Ordered the above kit a few mins ago.
Hope it arrives.

mrmrbungle

i've got one you can borrow as long as you pick it up and drop it back

po0k

I'm waiting till I have the gear in my hands as it was due today or Monday.
I'm in Galway, I'd pay for postage, but if mrmodchips delivers this order, I'll try and buy my own gamebit on Tuesday if they (or Lik-Sang) have it in stock, as I intend doing a bit of extra modding to the case in the future.

mrmrbungle

try ebay, i got mine there

po0k

Stuff still hasn't arrived, if I don't get it by wednesday evening I'll be getting worried.
Anyone order stuff off mrmodchips before?

byte

I bought my SmartXX modchip from MrModChips, it came in about 5 days.

IIRC, it comes from Hong Kong or somewhere in Asia??

po0k

The order hasn't shown up on my mrmodchips account, I think I clicked the wrong button during the securep-payment transition, but the money was stilll debited from my card and I recieved an order confimation email from the secure payment company (CA Avenue).
I'm in no rush to get it, as long as I get it

game_bits

hope this helps:

http://newelectronx.com/proddetail.php?prod=BIT3_8MM

or

http://newelectronx.com/proddetail.php?prod=BIT4_5MM

po0k

That's handy

Shilling for my thoughts: After opening a Helpdesk ticket on mrmodchips, it turns out CCAvenue rejected my order based on a fraud risk assesment (3V card + shipping to business address rather than card billing address). I resubmitted the order (this time the gamebit was in stock/I could order one) and it seems to have gone through correctly this time. It has shown up in my order history.
I await delivery as a spider awaits its prey.

po0k

Just after collecting and checking the delivery in work.
It shipped last Tuesday, arrived today, that's 3-5 business days, depending on earth's rotation and the shape of rice grains grown in zero gravity.

Everything checks out, except the IceCube GameCube replacement case that came was solid black, not the [translucent] smoked black I ordered. Which has me a bit miffed, but fnck it, can always get another one.
2nd gotcha was that the GameBit literally is a bit, not a driver and bit. For €5 it's a bit of a gyp.

Otherwise, spot-on. I'd buy from mrmodchips again. I particularly liked their "no bullsh1t winging muppets" policy. Too many "But-I-don'-wanna-learn" children ordering things like PS2 chips and expecting it to just plug in like a mem card, who then go back crying when it all goes titsup.

Will be reading up on the install process for both tonight.

po0k

Everything went well.

Too well in retrospect.

Something had to give.


*sigh*

Seems my F: partition has packed it when I rebooted after my first successfull boot after using FlashBIOS v3 to flash bank 1234 (1meg)with the new x3 squidy-code on the chip.

I now ask you all to gather round and provide me with unfettered documentation on xbox hdd recovery.

Still have to fiddle with the qoob.

po0k

Fiddled with the qoob, replaced the lower half of the case, went in perfectly. G'wan Xecuter.
Removed the heatsink, and the thick slap of thermal goop, rubbed it down, will be applying it with AS5 when I'm done.
The Gamecube is a joy to behold, really really tidy hardware (pcb) design.the whole thing breaks down to 5 or 6 main parts (aside from screws and little metal widgets).
7 or so wires to solder and I should be good to go.
Anyone want to sell me a BBA?

po0k

You're going to love this.

GameCube soldering went ok. Not the easiest thing, I'd avise doing alot of pre-fitting, with the memory card ports facing you, start from the right-hand side (red wire, blue, green, black, purple, yellow). Trim the tinned tips of each wire if required.
I need to buy a new tip for the iron.

Last night when I was taking off the heatsink, the thermal pad/paste kinda came apart, so I figured I'd clean it off and replace it with a bit of AS5.
Fine, soldered the wires this evening, carefully applied the AS5, slapped on the heatsink, twiddled it a bit to set the paste, tightened the screws and sat back to examine it.

As I looked at the side I noticed light shining through between the board and the heatsink.
"Strange..." I said, muttering "Bollocks" shortly thereafter. There was a reason the stock thermal stuff is so thick. There are 6 stand-offs at each screw hole on the underside of the heatsink. If I had a flat file or a dremel I'd trim them down and all would be well.
I'm hoping to come across some sort of thermal pad large enough to cover the massive die of the Flipper GPU.

po0k

Drilled and filed down the stand-offs, put it all together (Xecuter IceCube is lovely), admired it for a moment and went to bed.
I'll fire it up this evening and see how we're fixed.

weeder

googlefor bic pen gamebit

Ronan|Raven

I demand pictures.

monkeyfudge

Yes... Pictures would be nice.

I've been reading with interest.... but could you tell us exactly what all this is going to do?

po0k

Homebrew gamecube games, curiosity, and "Why not?" factor.

po0k

I'll have the use of a camera by the end of the week.

muppetkiller

Have you got those pics ?

po0k

Mod didn't quite work out. Yet.
The 5V line isn't soldered right. Haven't had the energy or schedule slot available to fix it. The new slim tip for the soldering iron doesn't like solder either.
Got a little tin of tinning stuff.

Was supposed to be buying a camera but there are trials and tribulations involved.

IceCube is lovely though. Highly recommended.
Anyone looking to swap a black one for a smoked black one?