Ragnarok Mod Chip not working

[ThermalM16]

I received my Ragnarok mod chip yesterday and installed it verbatim to the PDF installation guide. I tested it before I put the shell on it to make sure it worked correctly and I tested all of the modes and they all worked. After I confirmed all of the modes were working I put the shell back on and it fit in without any visible issues. After putting the shell on and all of the screws back in I began to run some more tests in a custom game on Black Ops II mainly to figure out how all of the modes worked. After getting used to some of the modes about 5 minutes later the special LED 3 and rapidfire LED 4 stayed on and would not turn off. I hit D-pad down and A while holding the mod chip and the LEDs stayed on. None of the mods would change either like switching to akimbo etc.; the lights would not "twinkle" or do anything. Later after taking the shell back off and checking all of the wires then replacing all of the wires (yes I uninstalled the mod chip and re-installed it after taking about 3 hours to put it in the first time; I feel bad for you having to install these all day Odingalt) and it still did not work. After moving some wires around the player 3 and 4 LEDs began to blink back and forth rapidly and then would change whenever I hit the right trigger to a different blinking style/rate. Not sure what that means, but I would really like to get this working so I can get hate mail for using the 870MCS with jitter on.

http://s1121.beta.photobucket.com/user/ThermalM16/story/6307

 

[WHITE 4ND N3RDY]

Some where in that install you didn't have a good enough connection to the directional pad soldering points or you accidentally soldered to the negative points instead of the positive directional pad soldering points. The problem u explained seems to lie all in the directional pad portion of the install. Also are u using 30 AWG wire and making sure your wires are laying nice and flat on the circuit board so the rubber pressure pad is resting flat on the all it connections? U shouldn't have to de solder everything and put it all back together just open it up and double check all your directional pad wires. Make sure that u scraped enough of the black coating off to exposes the copper trace underneath the black coating. Sometimes it can be a pain in the butt but take your time and u will get it!

I like to route all my wires real clean and tac them down in place with a little dab of hot glue. I leave enough area away from the soldering points to where i secure the wires down with hot glue to be able to de solder the connections without heating up the hot glue that holds my wires down to the board. If i could see what u got going on in the front I could probley diagnose the problem your having. Everything on the back of the controller seems fine but i would suggest tapping your chip securely down to the circuit board and use a dab of hot glue to secure your wires from moving around. U dont want to add stress to the wires that are attached to your chip. when you push that chip down your creating stress on the wires that are connected to the chip and that can cause the wires to rip the soldering pads off the chip rendering it useless! Its a good looking install Just be careful of that one wire that runs to your LB connection. U got that wire on a pinch point. It would be better if u run it closer to the side of the LT and not the little (U) looking opening where u have it now. When u tighten that down it can ruin that wire.

Try not to get discouraged its a trial by error thing just check your directional pad points. If all your mods are working but u cant shut the modes off or use the mods on the directional pad then that's where something is wrong. One more question. Can u shut the mods off that run off the A button? If not then u will have to check that connection out as well. Good luck and keep at it. U will eventually get it. Its a lot of work and its not easy but if u practice u can get real good at it! P.S u should do the usb portion of the install as well! The hardest part is of it is finding the right space to fit the jack to were it wont obstruct on with anything. Good luck and post some more pictures of the front of your install!

 

[odingalt]

Hi Guy

Thanks for posting pictures. The first thing that stood out to me is that I've always done modding work using 30 AWG (American wire gauge) wire since I started modding 17 years ago. It looks like you're on a 26 or even a 24 gauge and that stuff can be difficult to work with for two reasons - reason 1 is that the connections we're making here are very very small, smaller than the 24 gauge wire itself, and number 2 that gauge wire is going to be a little stiffer and thus harder to route the wires properly before closing up the shell.

Actually I'm surprised at the workmanship considering the large wire gauge in comparison to the size of the connections that needed to be made.

Question before I get too far into a post, can you get the USB working (even if the modchip itself is going berzerk) so as to communicate with the computer? If so I can send you a "button test code" that you can load into the controller using the USB that might at least help narrow down which solder connections have gone bad on you.

I received my Ragnarok mod chip yesterday and installed it verbatim to the PDF installation guide. I tested it before I put the shell on it to make sure it worked correctly and I tested all of the modes and they all worked. After I confirmed all of the modes were working I put the shell back on and it fit in without any visible issues. After putting the shell on and all of the screws back in I began to run some more tests in a custom game on Black Ops II mainly to figure out how all of the modes worked. After getting used to some of the modes about 5 minutes later the special LED 3 and rapidfire LED 4 stayed on and would not turn off. I hit D-pad down and A while holding the mod chip and the LEDs stayed on. None of the mods would change either like switching to akimbo etc.; the lights would not "twinkle" or do anything. Later after taking the shell back off and checking all of the wires then replacing all of the wires (yes I uninstalled the mod chip and re-installed it after taking about 3 hours to put it in the first time; I feel bad for you having to install these all day Odingalt) and it still did not work. After moving some wires around the player 3 and 4 LEDs began to blink back and forth rapidly and then would change whenever I hit the right trigger to a different blinking style/rate. Not sure what that means, but I would really like to get this working so I can get hate mail for using the 870MCS with jitter on.

http://s1121.beta.photobucket.com/user/ThermalM16/story/6307

 

[ThermalM16]

I'm not at home right now so this message is not as complete as I'd wish for it to be but anyway here it is. Odingalt I can definitely get the 3.5mm jack attached again. I had it attached, but I took it off so it would be easier to see all the other connections, but I will go ahead and reconnect it. And thanks for the compliment on the soldering. It was my first time soldering anything like this, all I've soldered before was a wire to a wire, so it was a little different. Also what heat do you use when soldering, I've been using 450, but I'm not sure what the best temperature is. So just link me to the diagnostic and I'll run it as soon as I get back home.

 

[ThermalM16]

Nerdy, the reason why the chip is just kind of floating there is so it would be easier to see the board and everything, but if you want more pictures of the front or wherever I can definitely take more pictures (I put some more pictures in anyway). I was just using my phone, but I could grab an actual camera and use macro. I will definitely take your advice on the little dab of hot glue though, as you can see my wires are quite rebellious.

Odingalt, all the electronic stores are closed today so I'll have to wait till tomorrow to change out those wires to 30 gauge, but I will go ahead and connect the 3.5mm port to the board since I am finally home.

Also I'd like to thank you Odingalt and Nerdy for all the help. I'd be lost on what to do without you guys' help. Oh, and whenever I finally do get this working I have an HD PVR if you ever need a video or something.

 

[WHITE 4ND N3RDY]

Thats good work man. Seriously for that fat of wire! ya I really cant see what is making it malfunction maybe use odins button test he sends u. After u get everything working Do use hot glue to hold the wire were u want them to run. The A,B,X,Y and directional are going to be a pain with the button pad. I must say thats pretty impressive for a first time install. To bad u dont have 30awg it would make things fit easier for ya but ive done installs with that thick of wire before. Nice pics good work! Your get man dont worry. Ive dealt with this before were u put everything together right and it dosent work right. Your just going to have to chase every connection looking for the slightest bugs. Good luck and happy modding!

 

[ThermalM16]

Thanks for the encouragement and I'll just be glad to finally get this working! I'll definitely use the hot glue to hold those wires in place.

 

[ThermalM16]

Well when I plugged the controller into my computer using the 3.5mm to USB I got a warning message saying that the device tried to draw too much power, and my computer shut the port down to keep it from blowing out. I've since tried different ways of connecting it and it is not being picked up. I am using Windows 7 on an HP-Pavilion dv-7 laptop if that helps. So I guess my next question is do I power the controller when it is plugged in or not? I've tried both and I get the same error every time and have to reset the port. I'd like to let you guys know I really appreciate all the help your giving me and am glad I can trust Viking.

 

[ThermalM16]

OK third message in a row now and I figured out why I got the warning. It was because I had the wrong point on the 3.5mm Female soldered. It was the middle one in the triangle-ish group by D+ rather than the one on the right. I'm ready for the button test thing as soon as you have time Odingalt.

Really don't want to do a fourth post in a row, so I'm adding to this one. To keep you guys up with whats going on I've just been sitting in a custom game in BLOPS II experimenting with this controller and I got it to shoot automatic on the FAL. I have no idea what caused it, but then I tried changing the mode and it stopped and I haven't been able to get it again since. During all of that the light never twinkled or flashed or anything.

 

[ThermalM16]

Well I got my 30 AWG wire today and I re-soldered every connection on the controller with the new wire. I tested the controller without the shell and it still had the same problem. I then put it in the shell and figured I'd try to play with it a little bit to see if I could get it working and all of the buttons worked fine, both analog sticks were good including clicking them. Miraculously rapidfire came on and worked perfectly for the FAL in Black Ops 2, but about 10 mins later I could not sprint as well as throw grenades. The clicking on the left analog stick no longer works as well as RB. Everything else on the controller works fine...fortunately. So at this point I've wasted $50 on a mod chip which has not worked but for 5 minutes the first day I got the chip, possibly ruined two rather important buttons on a $50 controller (I'm hoping it's just the mod chip either constantly holding the buttons down or something), wasted $10 on Radio Shacks shi**y wire, and hours of time. On the bright side I've become much better at soldering and learned plenty about the inside of an Xbox controller. Odingalt I'm still waiting on your "button test code" to see if that can solve anything. If you guys have anything to help it would be much appreciated. Oh, and the player 4 LED still stays on. All I can figure from this is that the mod chip is defective.

 

[modded matt]

I have installed a more than a dozen of these chips. Never had an issue. Just flash it with the newest software.

 

[radio8712]

Hey everybody, here is the test code and firmware update that Odingalt mentioned earlier in the post. Hope it helps.

Click below to download the files:
<a href="http://www.viking360.com/downloads/XBOXRagnarok/XBOX Ragnarok Test Code and Firmware.zip">Test Code and Firmware</a><br>
<a href="http://www.viking360.com/downloads/XBOXRagnarok/XBOX360 Ragnarok Firmware Updater Tool (special).zip">Firmware Update Tool</a>

 

[radio8712]

Lets try the links again.

Click below to download the files:
http://www.viking360.com/downloads/XBOXRagnarok/XBOX Ragnarok Test Code and Firmware.zip
http://www.viking360.com/downloads/XBOXRagnarok/XBOX360 Ragnarok Firmware Updater Tool (special).zip

 

[radio8712]

Sorry, forgot to list the flash sequence for the test code:

LED 3:
Left Thumbstick - 1 Flash
Left Bumper - 2 Flashes
Right Bumper - 3 Flashes
Right Thumbstick - 4 Flashes
Sync Button - 5 Flashes

LED 4:
X - 1 Flash
Y - 2 Flashes
B - 3 Flashes
A - 4 Flashes

LED's 3 + 4 Together:
DPad Left - 1 Flash
DPad Up - 2 Flashes
DPad Right - 3 Flashes
DPad Down - 4 Flashes
Back Button - 5 Flashes

LED 3+4 Alternating:
Left Trigger - 1 Flash
Right Trigger - 2 Flashes

 

[modded matt]

Great post! alot of the DIY users have been looking for this for a while now. I am going to repost the info you have shared in a new thread so it can be stickied and easily found.

 

[odingalt]

The last thing worth mentioning on the button test code is that the test code starts running whether or not you power on the controller -- so if you put the batteries in it will start blinking like crazy, just turn on the mod and wait a minute and the blinks should subside.