M3 team redesigned the M3 simply and R4

cory1492 · January 26, 2007, 06:02:33 PM

Bad news and good news. I ordered a Chinese R4 from winsunx on the 19th (wouldn't you know, I placed the order before I found out about the hardware revision). I got it here today, and I can confirm, the Chinese R4 I have in hand no longer has ANY of the jumpers to do language/m3 and whatever those other two used to do. Good news to follow with the edit I mention below (at least for those egyptians around here and those with steady hands).

Quote from: "kms"open the card and solder the two joint on the left hand side near the middle.

Ain't gonna work. The Chinese R4 has the language one removed as well as the other jumper points. They didn't revise the hardware any further than that though. :lol:

Just a sec and I'll edit this post to add some images. Sorry they are so lousy though, one of these day's I'll stop getting these bloody cards and get a better camera... one that can actually do closeups.

I think M3's software just lied to me...

About 25 minutes of patience, the right tools and... size definitely matters.

Guess what... they didn't change the hardware that much. Like I originally believed, only the jumper traces were removed, the pads are still lurking under the edge of the epoxy.

Not for the feint at heart... I have done many x many PSP mod chips, and I honestly believed I was going to mess this up (it's that small, and the wires that connect the chip under epoxy are that tiny and close to where you have to remove the goop).

I always enjoy a good challenge, especially when it's making something do what the OEM doesn't really want it to be doing. Like tell the truth...

Doggy124 · January 26, 2007, 09:21:32 PM

So it not impossible. Only they made it harder to do

PharaohsVizier · January 26, 2007, 09:54:39 PM

Like I said...

What do you mean the language is taken out? I thought they said that there is still a connection for the language? The pad underneath.

cory1492 · January 27, 2007, 05:19:47 AM

Quote from: "PharaohsVizier"Like I said...

What do you mean the language is taken out? I thought they said that there is still a connection for the language? The pad underneath.

What pad underneath? The original version had 4 pairs of jumper pads, this one has absolutely none. There is still a resistor there, and two vias, but those have nothing to do with the region/device code lockouts.

I'm going to have to assume the more expensive english version has it still. The cheaper Chinese one didn't - look at the picture with the pin in it, I had to make my own with hair thin wire. Makes sense, since the card is Chinese without the one line being grounded, and it'd protect their extra $5 from english people.

Doggy124: harder, and alot more risky. I had to shave the epoxy off very slowly with a sharp chisel tip on my iron (and even then I am suspicious that the heat will no longer dissipate from the chip properly).

kms · January 27, 2007, 05:51:38 AM

it looks like that they just released a new revised version, that they don't allow you to mod the language either, looks like you got the new info b4 me.

kms

jelbo · January 27, 2007, 06:19:14 AM

Here's some more pics of the latest revision:

Latest Chinese R4 revision

Original and latest revision

PharaohsVizier · January 27, 2007, 12:19:33 PM

Any chance you can take that black pad off for those pics?

PharaohsVizier · January 27, 2007, 12:37:08 PM

O and for cory, could you tell me which pins you have gotten connected? I can't tell from the pictures.

jelbo · January 27, 2007, 12:42:39 PM

Quote from: "PharaohsVizier"Any chance you can take that black pad off for those pics?

I can't unfortunately. Got the images sent to me by that anonymous source who first passed the info about the new R4/M3S revisions.

Great job btw, cory

ssj4android · January 27, 2007, 06:27:51 PM

Wouldn't it be possible to hack the updater software itself to enable converting between the R4 and the M3?

cory1492 · January 27, 2007, 06:56:57 PM

jelbo: thanks

ssj4android: there is no real updater software. There is a crypted file that you put on the SD card. The chip that starts that file is permanently on the asic. It may be possible to change each individual update (my hex compares show only small sections are different between R4 and M3 and Chn vs Eng).

PharaohsVizier: I want you to read this post very carefully since you didn't get the last one where I explained to you what that black stuff is... there IS NO IC PACKAGE under the EPOXY (black stuff). THIS IS NOT (nor anything like) A 360 WHERE THEY JUST COVERED THE PACKAGED CHIP WITH EPOXY. Here is an image I made up with my poor photoshopping skill to try and explain to you exactly the difference between a silicon IC package with legs, and the cheaper die bonding method:
http://nds.cmamod.com/r4/die_vs_ic.jpg
I hope you get it this time, because it took me close to an hour to dig these images up and put it together for you (where it only took me about 25 minutes to do the work myself).

Quote from: "PharaohsVizier"Any chance you can take that black pad off for those pics?

:roll: That is not a pad, it is EPOXY! AKA: stronger than superglue! Instead of putting the die of the processor into a chip casing with legs, it is wired with ultra tiny wires directly to the PCB then encased in epoxy.

QuoteO and for cory, could you tell me which pins you have gotten connected? I can't tell from the pictures.

See above linked picture, it explains the corresponding traces. Since you seem to barely understand what the epoxy is, if you don't get the picture definitely don't try it.

In case you are wondering, in the middle picture on my last post, the 2 things that cross off to the side are a needle and the wire I used. I literally soldered wire smaller than a hair to a point the size of the tip of a needle. If that is too small or you have no experience at SMT level soldering, I don't suggest you try this.

It is not easy, and I suggest using magnification, a really good iron and lots of patience if you are going to try. I knew what I was doing, but I still managed to scrape off 2 of the ends of the pads while getting the epoxy out of the way (luckily I did not damage the two I wanted to test on).

Also, I cannot tell for certain if damaging the epoxy will change the heat characteristics of the chip under it. Doing this could very well make the thing last only a fraction of the time an undamaged one would last. Also, there is nothing stopping the OEM from revising the asic so these pins no longer correspond. I was actually kind of shocked they didn't do so in this last revision.

PharaohsVizier · January 27, 2007, 09:37:42 PM

OOO excellent thats much much clearer. Thanks a ton. Looks like I'm gonna have to find some help for this mod.

dantheman · January 27, 2007, 10:15:34 PM

Or you could, you know, not do the mod at all, like cory strongly suggested several times throughout hist post... =/

PharaohsVizier · January 27, 2007, 10:21:25 PM

Lol, but I have a chinese one coming. Although I am chinese... But still... English, and having bragging rights of being able to swap helps too. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do yet, I have to see the actual cartridge to see if this is beyond my abilities.

gadgetplus · January 30, 2007, 10:37:35 PM

I have quite a few sets of R4 version 1 to spare.
PM me for details