Conductive Paint?

In links at a Home Depot or Ace for conductive paint/lacquer/silver for unlocking a CPU?

Just unlocked one of my XP1600+'s tonight...super glue in the pits, and auto defogger paint. works perfectly.

I've heard putting another thin superglue layer ontop after unlocking it is a good idea....to help preserve the links. I've seen many links where peoples chips have become 'locked' overtime, just an idea

Thanks guys - Mr. B, where can I get auto defogger paint? Would an Autozone, PepBoys, etc. have it?

daS_mAgg0t - I've also seen people putting a piece of tape to preserve it also, but the thin layer of glue is a good idea also.

Tape would be better yes, i never seen that, would be easier to remove if u ever wanted to for some reason. Ignore me, use msmasitti's method

As for places to buy, I live in England so.....but i reckon some good stores are www.pcmods.com, www.heatsinkfactory.com and www.coolerguys.com.

I've never bought anything form them, as i didnt realise they were USA until i noticed prices one time, but look for an Athlon XP unlocking kit at the heatsink factory, or a defogger at one of the others

I've got super glue, knife, etc, all I need is conductive liquid. And I am not real keen on paying $15~$20 for it either. Plus I don't want to wait for delivery.

Go to Autozone, PepBoys, what have you... Look in the section where they have all the tubes of RTV silicone gasket stuff. It'll be there. I paid $10 for a bottle of Permatex's "Quick Grid" Rear Window Defogger Repair Kit, Permatex's P/N 15067.

From what I've read, most peeps are putting this on with a pin or toothpick, after taping off each individual bridge.

I did this (either I've gotten brave, or stupid...LOL); I happened to have a paint brush kicking around from the "building the plastic model kit" days. Hobby stores that sell plastic model kits would have these. The numbers on the brush handle read: 10/0 Floquil 770 Spotter USA 677010.

This is a very tiny brush. I cut a few of the hairs out of it, and made it even smaller. I then literally "painted" each bridge, w/o taping each one individually. I had a hard time with the tape lifting the paint off after painting one bridge, and then masking over it to paint the next one, when I tried to unlock my first XP last fall.

I also bought a 10x jeweler's "loupe". (one of those magnifing glasses they use to inspect jewelry with. I got it at a local jewelers for about $10. I just asked if they actually sold them, and was kinda surprised when they said yes...LOL) This is extremely handy for checking each painted bridge as you go along. Really get a good look at things up close with this...

One other thing I noticed, from my experience doing the first XP I got last year...the defogger paint "skins" over very quickly. You need to move fast, as it turns from liquid to mud very fast. I painted one bridge at a time, like this.

Have brush ready, and a small clean rag, as well.

Shake bottle to mix. Unscrew cap. Dip brush into paint in the cap. Paint bridge (one!) Close bottle. Wipe off brush with rag. check bridge with magnifing glass.

I dipped the brush into the paint in the cap, so I didn't accidentally oversaturate the brush by dipping it into the bottle too far. Do one bridge at a time, as the paint will start turning to mud by the time you get to a 2nd bridge, and won't flow or stick to the chip well.

Anywho, that's how I did things on the chips today. Worked a lot better than when I tried it last fall. I tried doing all of the bridges at once, which didn't work well, and kept sticking the brush too deep into the bottle, and having to wipe off all the excess so I didn't get it all over the chip.

There's a ton of methods used by people here...this is how I did them today, and it seemed to work quite well for me.

Good luck with yours!

Cheers!

B.

Thanks Mr. B (*prints page out right now*) - also, is there a way to check I did it right without starting it up in a computer?

See, I also have a dead XP 1600+ that I would like to try it on - of course I can't pop it in to see if was done correctly or not.