XenoGC Installation guide (Gamecube[Hard Mod])

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BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO DO THIS INSTALLATION, IT'S HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU PRACTICE SOLDERING WIRES ON OLD ELECTRONICS BOARDS



Firstly remove the casing of the gamecube with a special tool usually known as a "gamebit" screwdriver. It usually sells on ebay for under $2, or a lot of retailers will provide you with one when you purchase your XenoGC. Some electronics stores will carry them also, they look something like this.



Once your casing is off, your gamecube will look like this



Turn it upside down and remove the 6 screws on the plate covering the drive unit



Then you should be looking at the board below the drive unit



Look for the spot on the board that has "CN302" printed on it. This is where your XenoGC will be soldered.



Before soldering, clean the solder points with alcohol based cleaner or something similar. Line the XenoGC chip onto the solder points before you start so you make sure you know where each solder point should be

You may want to use some electrical tape to cover the traces that should not get solder. If you're not careful enough, you could get solder on other traces and thereby cause a short.



Apply a small amount of solder to the solderpoints before you place your XenoGC on it, then a small amount of solder on each point and its installed!



IMPORTANT
Before putting your gamecube back together, you need to do two things. Firstly, check that the Xeno is installed properly. To do this, just place your gamecube back together without replacing any screws. Here's a photo that shows the xeno gc connected using the wired method and temporarily taped. Note the use of cardboard to isolate the chip from the board (prevent electrical shorts)



Now just put the drive back onto its connector. Don't put any screws in because you still need to adjust the POT. Here's a photo of it put back together temporarily.



Power it on, and you should see through the cooling vents a small red light.



Watch it for a few seconds, and if it turns green you know your chip is properly installed.



Secondly you need to adjust your POT (laser) settings so that you can play imported or backup games

You can find the guide below

[gamfrkI]

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This guide will show you how to change the value of your POT (potentiometer). You will need to do this once you have installed a modchip. It helps the laser read backups and imports without getting dreaded DRE's (disc read errors). You will find the POT located on the board beneath the drive unit



You will need a multimeter (preferably digital) in order to change the value of the POT. Although it is possible to change without one, it will be very difficult to get the settings right. The two multimeter testing points are marked in red circles on the picture. Once you have a reading, you will need to change that reading by turning the POT screw anti-clockwise. It is VERY sensitive, and the smallest movement could be the difference of 50 ohms, so you need to be patient. From what I understand, the gamecube laser was released with a reading of about 650 ohms and was designed to gradually decrease over time.



For those of you new to multimeters, you will need to set it like this



There is no "correct" setting. When testing, your GC should say around 350ohms or less. I recommend starting around 200ohms, then trying to boot a few backup games and play them for 10-15 minutes before reassembling your gamecube. If you're getting error messages, just lower your POT setting a little bit more. Try not to go more than 5-10 ohms at a time. But do try a few different games, what may work for one game may not work for all. It may take a little while, but it's definately worth it in the end.