Date: Tuesday, November 07 @ 00:18:46 UTC Topic: Homebrew
You might remember Team MODFREAKz posted a nice Video HowTo a few weeks ago explaining how to remove the transparent epoxy resin found on some Toshiba-Samsung TS-H943 drives.
Microsoft uses this epoxy on chips inside Xbox360 DVD drives to prevent you from easily accessing some ic-legs and solderpoints.
The tutorial worked great, however Microsoft is using a new 'black epoxy' in their newer DVD drives like the Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L v0078fk (but I think also in some newer Toshiba-Samsung TS-H943 MS28 drives) so Team MODFREAKz released a new HowTo video.
The procedure is pretty much the same as with transparent epoxy, you'll need your hands, a simple scalpel and an hotair-gun, but the temperature required is higher than with transparent epoxy, you'll need something around 100-120C/212-248F.
Certainly for the Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L v0078fk this tutorial can be a very useful as there's no way to flash that drive via software yet. What's even better ... the 6:44 video will also explain you how to desolder and resolder the Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L TSOP firmware chip!