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Introduction

In the few months that the Athlon XP has been on the street, there have been several guides on how to close and unlock the L1 bridges of the chip. No longer can we simply use a pencil to close the circuit as the space between the L1 dots has become a pit. In addition, the bottom of the L1 pits are conductive and open to ground. So, it is necessary to first fill the pit then connect the bridge. Many people have had success in using Super Glue to fill the gap and conductive ink to close the bridge. This is a very good solution. However, it is also very permanent and hard to correct should a mistake be made. HighspeedPC has what they feel is a good solution to unlock the AXP. And, the best part is that it can be easily removed and wiped clean.

Preparing The CPU

The kit comes with six items - three vials containing conductive grease, gap filler, and cleaning agent - a 3X/6X magnifying glass - a straight pin - and some clear tape for masking. From what I can tell, the gap filler is just white thermal paste and the cleaning agent is nail polish remover. But, I could be wrong. I am not sure what Scott at HighspeedPC is using as conductive grease...he wouldn't let me in on that one :(. Each vial contains a small amount of material. However, it is more than adequate to unlock several Athlon XP CPU's. The clear masking tape is a bit thicker than standard clear tape. I found regular "wrap your presents for Christmas" tape a bit more useful because of it's thinner properties.

The first thing you will want to do is scrape the L1 dots with the tip of the pin. You don't want to go nuts on it but you want the conductive grease to actually conduct with the dots. After you have that part done, clean the entire area with the cleaning agent. The instructions do not mention anything about scraping the dots. But, I found it very helpful after several failed attempts of trying to unlock the CPU. Another step not mentioned in the instructions, but very handy, is the use of a multi-meter

All of the numbers and letters as well as the AMD symbol, large dots and delta symbols are connected to ground. It is imperative not to get any conductive grease on these areas or the unlocking attempt will not work. If you choose to use a multi-meter, you should place one probe on Arrow 1 and take resistance measurements across all of the dots on the Arrow 3 side of the L1. The Arrow 4 side of L1 should give you 0L readings. The bottom of the pits and the symbols on the chip should give a near zero resistance reading because they are connected. I also found it useful to use the pin to take the measurements while holding it to the probe. The pin is much smaller than the end of the probe. I am not going to get technical on the readings because I simply do not know the proper measurements. This is just what I did and it worked. If I'm wrong about anything here, then by all means correct me.

Unlock It!

Before filling the L1 pits with the gap filler, you should first tape off the L1 dots. If you do not, the gap filler will cover the dots and they will not conduct. Simply smear the gap filler over the L1 pits and wipe it clean. Then, remove the tape. Next, dip the pin into the conductive grease. Only a very small amount is needed! Pull the pin across the gap and repeat. I used my fingernail as a guide when connecting the dots. Chances are that you will not get it right the first time. That is why this product is so great. You can just wipe it clean and try it again...and again...and again. The third picture above is one of my many failed attempts...I have the hands of a crack baby. You can see that I got some of the grease on the delta symbol. If the machine doesn't boot, is permanently locked to one speed or you simply cannot change the multiplier, you probably screwed up. This is why a multi-meter saves time. Just compare your readings to what you got before you started. This way, you don't have to keep installing and uninstalling the cpu. You should also use the meter to check for bridge to bridge lap-overs.

Conclusion

After unlocking the bridges, I was able to get my 1600+ to 1.53GHz with little effort. Better cooling and more voltage might get higher results. The AthlonXP Unlocking Kit is currently selling at HighspeedPC for $11.99. At that price you really can't beat it. You would probably pay the same amount for a conductive pen but you wouldn't get the magnifying glass and it wouldn't be as clean and forgiving. I have had the XP unlocked for several days now and it is still working. I don't know how the grease will react after long periods of time. Though, I think it should hold up. Special thanks to Scott over at Highspeed for sending the gunk.

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