Fixing a Destroyed XBox 360 Development Kit
As common as the Xbox 360 was, the development kits (XDKs) for these consoles are significantly less so. This makes it even more tragic when someone performs a botched surgery on one of these rare machines, leaving it in dire straits. Fortunately [Josh Davidson] was able to repair the XDK in question for a customer, although it entailed replacing the GPU, CPU and fixing many traces.
The Xbox 360 Development Kit is effectively a special version of the consumer console — with extra RAM and features that make debugging software on the unit much easier, such as through direct access to RAM contents. They come in a variety of hardware specifications that developed along with the game console during its lifecycle, with this particular XDK getting an upgrade to being a Super Devkit with fewer hardware restrictions.
Replacing the dead GPU was a new old stock Kronos 1 chip. Fortunately the pads were fine underneath the old GPU, making it easy to replace. After that various ripped-off pads and traces were discovered underneath the PCB, all of which had to be painstakingly repaired. Following this the CPU had apparently suffered heat damage and was replaced with a better CPU, putting this XDK back into service.
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