Solder That!?

UPDATE 9/10/00:

Turns out the pin pattern I used from Tweakers Net is not the same as I have on my Duron 650. UnaClocker and Lonely Raven suggested I try all the pins with a continuity tester and shown below is what I found: Leg 2 of the leftmost resistor is connected up, NOT Leg 1 as shown in the Tweakers Net article.

I just got this email from Jasper Janssen of Tweakers Net:

“You’ll notice the resistor pack pins you get are equal to the not-cut bridges of L3/L4. If yours was a Duron 650, that leftmost two pins of L3 should connect to the second pin from the left, not the first as in my 600. To be exact, the first half of L3 does BP_FID[0], up to the last two of L4 which control BP_FID[3].”

Well, that explains it! Each speed rating has a different pattern, but all you do is read L3 and L4 and you know what goes to what. Thanks Jasper!

UPDATE 9/9/00: Using a continuity tester, I figured out what is resistor leg is connected to which pin.

UnaClocker had a great idea – use an ohm-meter to find what’s connected to what. I tried it on my Duron 650 using a continuity tester (thanks Lonely Raven) and this is what I found:

The only odd thing was that the leftmost leg on the resistor did not connect with any pin – at least, according to my continuity tester; the other three rang through OK. In this diagram, I am looking at the back of the CPU, the two corners with pins missing at the bottom. The right bottom corner has the notch in the CPU.

The top resistors are as you would see them with the CPU’s notched corner at the bottom right.

We are waiting for a pinless Duron to show up – when we do, we will try connecting the resistor legs to the back of the motherboard where the pins should be. Stay tuned.

9/7/00:

If you’re thinking soldering four wires to the resistors of AMD’s Socket A CPU…

…I hope you have a very fine soldering iron tip and very steady hands.

Email Joe