Here is my experience with overclocking my Powerbook Pismo/400 to 500Mhz.
Saturday, 10:10AM: Wake up. Girlfriend is out. Decide to finally try my hand at overclocking my Powerbook. I know it's possible, but i've always been scared to try, what with the tiny parts to solder.
10:20AM: All equipment is ready:
10:35AM: Powerbook is disassembled. Man, those resistors are _tiny_! They're the ones with the numbers R1xx beside them. I need to move R130 to R127.
10:37AM: I look despairingly from the tiny resistors, to the giant, solder crud encrusted tip of my 35W, ungrounded soldering iron, to the tiny resistors, to the giant, solder crud encrus... you get the idea.
10:40AM: I get a brilliant idea. I'll cut the resistor at R130 off with a sharp knife. I whip out my SAK, and have at it.
Success:
10:50AM: OK.. before i took the resistor off, i should have thought about how i'm going to get it back on in the other spot. The resistor is about the size of three grains of salt.
I decide to try to bridge the gap with solder.
11:05AM: I have a large burn mark on the board, and a big messy, black sblodge of soldery material that may or may not be bridging the pads.
I'm getting rather worried that i've destroyed the Powerbook. It's my only computer, and i really can't afford to buy a new one. I'm starting to panic. I stop taking photographs.
11:15AM: Computer is reassembled. I want to see if it works.
I press the power button. Nothing. Then three long beeps. I know how Ellen Feiss felt. It's a bad trip.
11:25AM: Powerbook in pieces again. I take an ohmmeter, and test the conductivity of the connection. It has a reasonable resistance. I must have screwed up. Or maybe, i need to use the resistor. My heart is pounding.
11:50AM: I'm at the RadioShack down the street. I ask if they have any conductive paint pens. The sales lady only speaks Spanish. I go searching through the dusty rear of the store (why is it that Radio Shacks have transformed from electronics stores to cellphone showrooms? Aren't there enough seedy cellphone stores?). The best thing i can find is a better soldering iron, with a fine tip and grounded plug. I buy it.
12:15PM: Back at home. I cut the solder away with the SAK, and decide to solder the tiny resistor back.
12:16PM: I have lost the resistor. Yes. It went somewhere. I don't know where. I consult the large glass tool in the first picture.
12: 25PM: I decide to re-bridge the pads with solder using the new iron. I test the new blob with the ohmmeter. It has no resistance. Good.
12:40PM: Computer reassembled. I press the power button. 'Bong!' says the computer. I dance wildly around the room.
12:42PM: I finish dancing and look at the computer. It's off. But i just turned it on. I turn it on again. It goes 'Bong' and then shuts off. Visions of computerlessness dance before my bloodshot eyes.
12:55PM: Computer in pieces again. I decide to admit defeat and go back to 400Mhz.. if i can.
1:15PM: Solder over R127 scraped away for the second time. R130 rebridged with solder. Ohmmeter tests seem ok.
1:30PM: Reboot. The computer works! It works! It's amazing! I have a genuine, working computer that is just as fast as it was before, and it only cost me three and a half hour, $15, and 5 years off my life.
I take a fourth and final picture. My beautiful, 400Mhz Powerbook. Why did I want 500Mhz anyway?
The End.
Anyway, it seems that the solder bridging trick does work. I think my CPU just couldn't handle 500Mhz. The backside cache is ok, because i have run it at the speed it would run with a 500Mhz CPU, through software.
I thought about trying 450Mhz, but that's moving 7 parts rather than 2... an even hairier operation.
So i think i'll leave it where it is.
Hope somebody found this useful
Cheers,
-robo
Saturday, 10:10AM: Wake up. Girlfriend is out. Decide to finally try my hand at overclocking my Powerbook. I know it's possible, but i've always been scared to try, what with the tiny parts to solder.
10:20AM: All equipment is ready:
10:35AM: Powerbook is disassembled. Man, those resistors are _tiny_! They're the ones with the numbers R1xx beside them. I need to move R130 to R127.
10:37AM: I look despairingly from the tiny resistors, to the giant, solder crud encrusted tip of my 35W, ungrounded soldering iron, to the tiny resistors, to the giant, solder crud encrus... you get the idea.
10:40AM: I get a brilliant idea. I'll cut the resistor at R130 off with a sharp knife. I whip out my SAK, and have at it.
Success:
10:50AM: OK.. before i took the resistor off, i should have thought about how i'm going to get it back on in the other spot. The resistor is about the size of three grains of salt.
I decide to try to bridge the gap with solder.
11:05AM: I have a large burn mark on the board, and a big messy, black sblodge of soldery material that may or may not be bridging the pads.
I'm getting rather worried that i've destroyed the Powerbook. It's my only computer, and i really can't afford to buy a new one. I'm starting to panic. I stop taking photographs.
11:15AM: Computer is reassembled. I want to see if it works.
I press the power button. Nothing. Then three long beeps. I know how Ellen Feiss felt. It's a bad trip.
11:25AM: Powerbook in pieces again. I take an ohmmeter, and test the conductivity of the connection. It has a reasonable resistance. I must have screwed up. Or maybe, i need to use the resistor. My heart is pounding.
11:50AM: I'm at the RadioShack down the street. I ask if they have any conductive paint pens. The sales lady only speaks Spanish. I go searching through the dusty rear of the store (why is it that Radio Shacks have transformed from electronics stores to cellphone showrooms? Aren't there enough seedy cellphone stores?). The best thing i can find is a better soldering iron, with a fine tip and grounded plug. I buy it.
12:15PM: Back at home. I cut the solder away with the SAK, and decide to solder the tiny resistor back.
12:16PM: I have lost the resistor. Yes. It went somewhere. I don't know where. I consult the large glass tool in the first picture.
12: 25PM: I decide to re-bridge the pads with solder using the new iron. I test the new blob with the ohmmeter. It has no resistance. Good.
12:40PM: Computer reassembled. I press the power button. 'Bong!' says the computer. I dance wildly around the room.
12:42PM: I finish dancing and look at the computer. It's off. But i just turned it on. I turn it on again. It goes 'Bong' and then shuts off. Visions of computerlessness dance before my bloodshot eyes.
12:55PM: Computer in pieces again. I decide to admit defeat and go back to 400Mhz.. if i can.
1:15PM: Solder over R127 scraped away for the second time. R130 rebridged with solder. Ohmmeter tests seem ok.
1:30PM: Reboot. The computer works! It works! It's amazing! I have a genuine, working computer that is just as fast as it was before, and it only cost me three and a half hour, $15, and 5 years off my life.
I take a fourth and final picture. My beautiful, 400Mhz Powerbook. Why did I want 500Mhz anyway?
The End.
Anyway, it seems that the solder bridging trick does work. I think my CPU just couldn't handle 500Mhz. The backside cache is ok, because i have run it at the speed it would run with a 500Mhz CPU, through software.
I thought about trying 450Mhz, but that's moving 7 parts rather than 2... an even hairier operation.
So i think i'll leave it where it is.
Hope somebody found this useful
Cheers,
-robo
