NOTE: The following diagrams are for reference only, we do not take responsibility for damage to the console when using this document. We recommend getting a skilled technicial with some soldering knowledge to do the install. Please always keep the power supply disconnected and take great care and not to rush the installation.

Step 1.

Turn the case upside down and locate the screw points marked below. You will have to remove the rubber pads and peal back part of the sticker to gain access to some screws as shown. Please note: doing this will void your warranty.

Step 2.

The console should now look like the picture below showing the HD and DVDROM units. You will need to remove these so carefully remove the IDE and power leads. Be careful and do not force anything. You will also need to remove screws which are located in the pictures below.

Once the HD and CDROM bays have removed the console will look like below:

Step 3.

Now you need to carefully locate all the torx screws and carefully remove them and place them in a safe place for later. Also remove and unclip the Power Supply Lead, fan cables ect. once done the motherboard will lift out. It is a good idea to use antistatic strap at this stage. The power supply does not need to be unscrewed as this is not needed.

Step 7.

Once the Motherboard has been removed you should have what looks like the picture below. The next part of the installation involves soldering a pin header in the LPC header (16 Pin Header). We have marked the header in red on the picture below. If you have a very old mode console V1.0 the holes will be soldered, you will need some desolder braid to carefully remove the solder. All the models V1.1-V1.3 now have holes so the task is very simple.

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Step 8.

Now take the Pin Header socket provided and insert the like the picture below. We have removed one of the pins so it fits in the socket correctly. The pins can only go in one direction, so be careful not to force them.

Step 9.

Now turn the board upside down, and carefully solder in the socket using just a small amount of solder. We use a 20W soldering iron, hold the tip between the pin and the board for a couple of seconds, then apply the solder inbetween and the holes will fill up like below. Do not use too much solder, just enough to secure each pin. The soldering is very simple but if you do not feel confident then get someone with some good soldering experiance to to the install.

Step 9.

With the board still on its underside (bottom) solder wire to the point marked 'D0' This is the D0 rom testpoint and is in the same place on all models V1.0-V1.3. It is a presoldered pad and very easy to solder. This way is far easier and much safer than soldering to the top of the board. Once the wire is soldered safely, feed the wire through the hole as shown in the picture below. You can now turn the board the right way up and insert the board back into the console. Please do this carefully and be carefully not to snag the wire which is now popping through the hole.

Step 10.

Now with the board back in place and the wire popping through the hole solder the other end of the wire to the ground point marked below. There are other ground points but this one is easy to solder. If you scratch the metal down before applying heat it will make soldering much easier also.

Step 11.

Now all the soldering is done, you can now pop on the Akira chip to the pin header socket. To make sure you put the chip on the correct way we have marked the points on the back of the PCB. It will slot on nicely and now you should have a picture of what looks like below.

Your Akira chip is now installed!. You can now screw your console back together, you will need to leave one screw where the wire is fed through but this will not cause any harm or damaged to the console. Remember to install all IDE and power leads the correct way, otherwise the console will not boot correctly. Now power up your machine with all leads installed and the console will boot with your Akira installed. :)

Note: There are other ways to do the install but we have chosen to the easiest and safest way.

Installing The Switch.

Installing the switch is very simple. Solder one wire to the switch pad and connect solder to the D0 ground at install (STEP 9). Then the solder the other wire to the other switch pad and solder to the GROUND point on the top of the board on install (STEP 10). The picture below shows how we solder and connect the switch.

Feed wires through the case at the front like shown below then feed the wires through, this requires no modification.

Akira 1.5 Diagrams

Akira chip installed, showing correct soldering points, the pads on the top can be used as shown below:

Note: Please use old diagrams for V1.0 to V1.4. 1.5 Versions have no power to pins 2, 12 and 9, and can be seen by naked eye.

Here is the 3.3V point you need to solder to the 3.3V pad on the chip, this shows more clear where you have to solder.

Below just standard, connect the D0 point to any ground. I have fed the wire to through to the top but you can use any ground point. I have shown an alternative point.

All tested on all 1.5 consoles.

Note: Please use old diagrams for V1.0 to V1.4.