Does anybody still interested in add RAM to a atv 1gen?

[willx]

I have a atv1 with a dead enternet port and I can do the BGA works(infact I have replaced the IO chip of it,but enternet still not working)

but I know nothing about RAM chips,either SPD,if anyone who would love to provide some help,I'll replace the RAM chips for test~

sorry for my bad English~

[trag]

There is a small filter on the ATV1 board between the RTL8100 chip and the ethernet jack.   Internally, the filter is a couple of inductors and (if I remember correctly) maybe a cross connecting capacitor.   Anyway, check continuity on that filter.  Or just check that it is present.  On one of my ATVs that chip popped right off of the board, and so the ethernet chip was no longer connected to the ethernet jack.

As far as the memory expansion, since posting that idea a few years ago, I've been so backed up on projects I've never managed to do anything with it.  Heck, I haven't even managed to set up a MythTV box using ATV clients.  Sigh.  Still on the to-do list.   I have managed to coach several little league baseball teams.  :-)

If you're interested in giving it a try, these chips should do the trick: 
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/MT47H64M16HR-37EIT-E-Manu-MICRON-Encapsulation-BGA-1Gb-DDR2-SDRAM-Component-/110886795710?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d15e39be>

Or these:
<https://avnetexpress.avnet.com/store/em/EMController/DRAM-Chip/Micron/MT47H128M16RT-25E-C/_/R-13459725/A-13459725/An-0?action=part&catalogId=500201&langId=-1&storeId=500201&listIndex=-1&page=1&rank=2>

The former are twice the capacity of the ATV1's current memory.  The latter are four times the capacity of the ATV1's current memory.   Four chips are required.

However, I still don't know whether Apple included the extra bank and address lines on the circuit board.

Assuming that the required address lines are present, after the memory is installed, it may still be necessary to make some change to the ATV1's firmware to get it to recognize the extra memory.  I don't know if it auto-detects the size of the RAM, or is programmed for the manufactured size.

Jeff Walther

[willx]

I think it's not a jack connection problem,my ATV will show the RTL enternet card when I type lspci,but if i type ifconfig,there is no eth0.

I have 3 ATV, the other  two will show eth0 even if there is no enternet cable plugged in

and I have decided to use that one as victim~

here I'm in China,and a second-hand DDR2 ram is more cheap,for a 1GB one with 8 chips,only costs about USD$8,so my question is, how to figure out the chip on the ram is fit or not

 

 

[Scott D. Davilla]

Late shipped atv1 had double the vram than the original, this was
verified a few years back. No clue about main RAM, you have to pop
off the existing chips and check the pads for traces.

[willx]

Yes,I have one 40GB(the broken one)and two 160GB that produced after 2010, 160G models all have 128MB VRAM.

I'll  remove the chips in January after I go back home.

Of course I also interested in find extra USB ports,ATV's sourth bridge chip should support 4 usb 2.0 ports

a device that lacking some function but booting is very good for reseaching:)

[trag]

On Wednesday, November 14, 2012 11:47:32 PM UTC-6, willx wrote:

I think it's not a jack connection problem,my ATV will show the RTL enternet card when I type lspci,but if i type ifconfig,there is no eth0.

I have 3 ATV, the other  two will show eth0 even if there is no enternet cable plugged in

and I have decided to use that one as victim~

here I'm in China,and a second-hand DDR2 ram is more cheap,for a 1GB one with 8 chips,only costs about USD$8,so my question is, how to figure out the chip on the ram is fit or not

 Other than simple things,I'm out of ideas for the ethernet.  I would double check the power supplies to the RTL8100.  Pins 3, 7, 20, 26, 41, 56, 71, 84, 94 and 107 should be at 3.3V.  Pins  12, 32, 54, 78 and 99 should be at 2.5V.  Also, double check your soldering.  Exam the chip visually under magnification.  If you have the patience, check the continuity between the pins where they enter the chip body and the associated pads, and neighboring pads.

Regarding the RAM, I do not think that you can salvage the necessary RAM from a DIMM.   The RAM chips on DIMMs are either 4 bits wide or sometimes 8 bits wide.   The ATV1 uses four 16 bit wide memory chips.

Using Micron as an example....   Micron makes DDR2 memory chips in three capacities, 512 Mbit, 1 Gbit, and 2 Gbit.   But each of those total capacities is manufactured in three organizations.   The memory chip may be 4 bits wide, 8 bits wide or 16 bits wide.

So, a 512 Mbit chip which is 4 bits wide has 128M addresses.  8 bits wide gives 64M addresses.  16 bits wide gives 32M addresses.   The latter is what was used in the ATV1.

The Micron part number for 16 bit wide, 1 Gbit and 2 Gbit chips are, respectively:  MT47H64M16 and MT47H128M16.

Note the trailing 16 in the part number and the 64 and 128 in the middle of the part number.   64M X 16 bits.  128M X 16 bits.  

There are additional characters after the 16 in a real part number, denoting package type, speed,  temperature range, and revision.   Anything as fast or faster than 3.75ns should be fine (-37E or faster).    I think that -25 or -25E is much more common now days.

The package will be 84 ball FBGA.  The 60 ball package does not  have enough pins to support the 16 bit width (16 data pins needed). 

The writing on the package will not use the above part numbers.  You need to use the Micron FBGA Decoder
Micron FBGA Decoder

to translate between the part number written on the actual package and the long part numbers discussed above.

If you do not have them, get the datasheets from Micron for 1 Gbit and 2 Gbit DDR2 memory.   Looking over the datasheet helps a lot.

BTW, I recently investigated a little further into the possibility of replacing the RTL8100 with the RTL8110 or maybe 8111.   One of those has a version for which RealTek's literature claims it is pin compatible with the RTL8100.   However, while the chips are "pin compatible" the 8110 uses several of the NC pins on the 8100 as new power pins for 1.8V and additional connections to the RJ45 jack are required.   One could drop in the more capable chip, but one would have to run a bunch of rework wires to various pins to get it functioning.

Interesting about the extra VRAM.  I missed that. 

[willx]

OK then,MT47H64M16 is about RMB ￥ 17 here in China,it's about 3 USD.

I'll buy 4 and try to replace them after the end of this semester.

but what worries me is the small chip located at the edge of the board(near the last RAM chip),it  looks like a SPD ROM

在 2012年11月16日星期五UTC+8上午6时13分41秒，trag写道：

[willx]

sorry I just too busy the last semester,I'll do the replacement one week later,and now I'm trying to buy the memory chips.

would  MT47H64M16HR-3IT be fine?

thx~

trag於 2012年11月16日星期五UTC+8上午6時13分41秒寫道：

[Jeff Walther]

> sorry I just too busy the last semester,I'll do the replacement one week
> later,and now I'm trying to buy the memory chips.
>
> would MT47H64M16HR-3IT be fine?
> thx~

That part number should work fine. The 64M16 means that it is 64M
addresses by 16 bits wide. The HR means that it is 84 pins/balls which is
what you need. The -3 is a faster rating that the chips on the ATV (667
vs 533) and the IT just means that it is rated for industrial operating
temperatures -- no harm in that.

If you could find some MT47H128M16HG that would be even better. That
would multiply the on-board RAM by 4 if the experiment succeeds.

Jeff Walther