• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Mr B's Pally Unlock Procedure

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Mr B

Senior Admin Emeritus
Joined
Dec 28, 2000
Location
East Bridgewater, MA
Here's the "trick" I use. It's a long read here, but a very quick procedure to actually perform. I've detailed it as well as I can, to make it as understandable as possible.

Required:

Bottle of Permatex Rear Window Defogger paint

GM Vehicle Care Instant Gel Adhesive, p/n 12345632 (available at any GM dealership parts department)

Roll of clear Scotch tape

Single edge razor blade (clean or brand new)

Sewing needle (or similar...a pin works fine)

Rag or couple paper towels

#10/0 Floquil 770 Spotter (677010) hobby paint brush (or similar...find this where plastic kit models are sold)

Magnifing glass (jewelers loupe is better), of highest magnification possible ( I got a loupe at a local jewelers for about $10, and it's a 10x magnification. Most store bought magnifying glasses are only 2 to 6x.

Do not attempt this procedure if you are; drunk, hungover, tired, aggrivated, in a rush to go somewhere, etc... You want all of your faculties, steady hands, and time to do this. The first one will take a bit (10 - 15 minutes), but the second and following should only take five minutes tops, plus time thereafter to allow the paint to fully "cure". If you have "shaky" hands, you may want to "modify" this procedure somewhat, by taping off each set of bridges individually...I do (have shaky hands), but was able to do this as laid out here anyways... Taping off each bridge individually runs the chance that you may pull up the paint previously applied with the tape as you move from bridge to bridge.

Please read this all the way through, before starting, to know what you need to do before hand.

The paint brush I used is a very fine pointed brush, for doing extreme detail work on model kits and whatnot... I removed (cut with razor blade) about 1/3 of the bristles, making the brush an even finer point.

Put the chip where you'll be comfortable working, and do what you need to do as precaution to avoid static discharge. I used the small case the chip shipped in, and put it on my computer desk. Whatever works for you...just have it where you'll be comfortable working on it.

A lot has been made of the bridge contacts on the "green" Pallys being just under the substrate. I unlocked both of my "greenies" without doing this, but if it makes you feel better, take the sewing needle (or similar), and scratch the "dots" only. Do the L5 bridge at this time, if you plan on running a duallie. This will remove any substrate material covering them.

Next, take the tape, and you're going to cover the contacts, leaving the pits uncovered. You want to get the tape as close to the pits as you can, to ensure you do not get the glue on the contcts accidentally. I "folded" one end of each piece of tape over, to make a bit of a "handle" to ease removing the tape. I recommend doing this, as you'll want this tape off as quickly as possible at one point coming up.

Make a "rectangle" completely around the pits on all four sides. Make certain it's tight on the surface of the chip, so the glue cannot get under it.

Next comes the glue. I used this glue as it's in a "gel" form, and reduces the chance of it "running" under the tape, and covering the contacts accidentally. You're going to put this on just like you would put thermal compound on the core of the cpu. Put a drop of the glue about 2mm in diameter at the end of the rectangle over the pits. Take the razor blade, and spread it along the rectangle, so that it fills all five pits, and is flat. If you need to use a bit more glue, do so, but ensure the glue fills the pits, and is a flat with the surface of the chip as you can get it. You want to do this as quickly as possible, because you need to get the tape off very shortly.... You've got about 30 seconds, maximum, to get the tape off once you start, or you may wind up gluing the tape to the CPU itself. This is why I folded the ends of the tape over to make it easier to grab and pull off.

Apply drop of glue, smear/scrape with blade, quickly check pits with magnifying glass to ensure the pits are all filled, and remove the tape. OK? Good.

Next take some more tape, and cover the L3 bridges, cover the triangle and L1 alphanumeric bridge designation (this is connected to what you just covered with the glue...if you get the paint on the triangle, or "L1", you will short out your work, and the chip will not be unlocked properly.. Basically, you're making another rectangle around the L1's, but this time, around the contacts themselves.

Now, here comes the hard part. You need to move quickly with this, as the Permatex paint dries very quickly, and turns to mud, rendering it (the paint) non workable. You need to move quickly while the paint is fluid. You will paint one bridge at a time.

It doesn't matter which bridge you start with, but I would go from one end to the other, and not start in the middle. What I did was "practice" this on the L5 bridge, to get a feel for how the paint flows, the time you have to work with it before it changes to mud, being able to cover only the two contacts you want, and get a feel for the brush. Feel free to practice on something other than the CPU itself, until you're comfortable with using the brush and the way the paint works.

Ok...get the magnifing glass, paint, brush, rag/paper towel handy. Here's how I did it.

Shake the bottle of paint well, uncap it, and look at it. If it mixed well, it will be a solid copper/bronze color. Stir it with a toothpick if you feel it's not mixed well enough. Cap the bottle when mixed.

Ready? Ok... Shake the bottle again, remove the cap. Set the cap on the desk/table next to the chip, put the bottle on desk away from the chip. Dip the brush into the paint that is in the cap, and paint ONE bridge. You want a nice thick blob, if possible, from point to point, but not so much that you connect from one set of bridges to another. Set the brush down. Put the cap on the bottle. Wipe off the brush (clean brush) with rag/paper towel. Take magnifying glass and check the bridge. Did you connect the two dots? If not, WAIT! The paint now has the consistancy of mud, and attempting to fix it now will do more damage than good. Let it dry, and apply a second coat later.

The reason for using the cap for the paint "supply", is so that you have more control on how much paint you get on the brush. Dipping into the bottle, you might put the brush too deep, and get too much paint on the brush. It's easier to control the volume of paint on the brush by using the cap.

The paint changes very quickly. You only have time to paint one set of contacts before it turns to mud. You want to wipe the brush after each "painting" to keep it from turning to mud.

If you did not get a good coat of paint, that's ok. BUT, do all five bridges before attempting to repair any missing paint from previous bridges. Once the stuff turns to mud, it's like working with Play-Dough. It will lift up with the brush, and just generally be a PITA.

Ok...so the procedure in the short form is:

Shake, uncap, set cap and bottle down, dip brush in cap, paint one bridge, wipe brush, cap bottle, inspect.

Good or bad, move on to the next bridge. Come back to repair when the paint is dry. Putting on a 2nd coat over a dried 1st coat is a lot easier than trying to deal with a clumpy mess of mud.

If by chance you have the paint from one set of contacts touching the paint on the next set of contacts...let it dry, and then take the needle/pin, and gently scratch between the bridges, disconnecting the two. Scratch very lightly, so you don't dig thru the top of the substrate to the copper underneath the surface.

Absolute worst case scenario, take some Q-Tips and rubbing alcohol, and clean off the paint. You may have to re-apply the glue if you do this. Rubbing alcohol will remove the paint.

When you think you have a good set of bridges painted, allow the paint to cure for a hour or so, before installing the CPU and firing it up. When you do install it, go into the BIOS, and check each multiplier, one by one. Set it, save it, exit, reboot, and watch the boot screen as it comes up for the change in speed.

If you cannot get each multi to work, pull the CPU and check for any bridges contacting an adjacent one (paint line to paint line), and that each contact is covered completely. Touch up any bridge that may need it, in the same way you painted them above.

Good luck!!

Mr B
 
Last edited:
Back