Connecting L1 Bridges with Pencil Trick

[spiffym7]

I have a 1ghz Thunderbird system in which I am wanting to do the pencil trick on. Is there any risk of frying the cpu if I do the trick? Curious?

[Bovon]

I just replied to another thread about unlocking the Durons and Tbirds, and provided some links to sites with the how toos...the thread is:

"What happens if you try overclocking a locked CPU?"

There is no real risk to unlocking the cpu...just be very carefull, have a good light and a good (strong) magnifying glass. The bridges are VERY small...not for working on with the naked eye. Do not handle the chip bare handed...or, at least have a ground strap on yourself...these thing are very sensitive to small amounts of kinetic energy that can be stored in the human body...and a discharge of this energy can be in the hundreds of volts...ever touched a doorknob or something in the house and was shocked??...same thing, and that will kill a chip as quick as a .45 slug right thru the middle.

Personally, I do not like the 'pencil trick' for a permanent unlock. Graphite from a pencil lead tends to get smudged and fades away apparently. It is good for somebody that has the board out on a test bench, and will just be overclocking a processor to see what it will do. The most of the guys that are doing the unlock and will leave it, are using conductive ink or, get a 'defogger repair' kit from an automotive parts place. The defogger repair kit has a conductive type liquid that when dry, is much superior to graphite. You do not EVEN want to be removing your HSF after the install. Many guys are chipping the cpu while doing this, and the cpu then goes to cpu heaven...

Cheers...

[trimai]

I totally agree with Bovon regarding the choice of defogger kit for unlocking Tbird multiplier. However, you do not need any magnifying glass to perform the unlocking. Dipping a needle into the conductive paint and then apply it to the L1 bridges. After you finish painting all four bridges, use a new business card with sharp edge to help you clean them up. Dip the edge of your business card into rubbing alcohol (90% alcohol works best) and then run that edge between the lines on the L1 bridge. Keep doing it until you satisfy that all four lines on the L1 bridge are completely apart. This technique is described at this web site and it is working really well.

The CPU core is also really fragile. Today, I brought 1 Ghz CPU (AXIA code) to a store so that the guy can install it on my machine. The main technician is away and his associate decided to do the job. He really struggle with my PAL 6035 heat sink. Seeing that he used too much force and could not finish the job, I asked him to stop. I can see that the top right hand corner of my brand new CPU is slightly chipped. When the main technician came back, he needed only 5 seconds to put the H/S in without using any force. Luckily, the system boot up and working well now. Ask someone who used to do these jobs to help you if you do not want to kill your CPU.