i want to do some mods on the calculator, but am completly out of my safety space with hardware. any help will be appreciated. first i need to recognise the parts of an 84+

Here are some images of a TI-84+ Silver Editions' Printed Circuit Board (or PCB). It doesn't say what's what, sadly.

I should also mention that I edited your topic title for clarity.

I can help:

>> The chip in the middle is a custom TI ASIC that includes a z80 core, RAM, and TI's custom USB/bus/memory-management IP.
>> The chip on the left is the Flash memory.
>> At the top, from left to right, are the USB port, the LCD ribbon, and the I/O or serial port.

What exactly do you want to do with your calculator?

for starters, im just doing some basic upgrades for a TI84+ (NOT SE, if that makes a difference), such as turbo switch and a USB splitter. i might also change the paint on it, for i bought this one off Ebay with a fatal flaw.

The paint is easy to do. What do you mean by a USB splitter? If you mean a USB hub, that can be done, but there's not really a point currently (as no software has been written that supports USB hubs). A turbo switch will be particularly difficult, as you'll need to (via switch) swap out the crystal with another crystal, without the leads getting long enough to provide an unstable signal.

the turbo needs a crystal? i thought that you add a switch and different capacitor, or was the TIcalc.org tutorial i read wrong?

http://richfiles.solarbotics.net/Turbo83.html

That's relevant to the TI-83 and the TI-83+ calculators. The TI-83+SE, TI-84+, and TI-84+ use a crystal instead of an RC tank to keep time.

drat...
but USB not having any software written yet?
what happened to USB & MSD8X?

USB8x and MSD8x work very nicely! However, they communicate with a USB device directly connected to the USB port. USB hubs, contrary to popular belief, are not invisible to the USB host (in this case, the calculator). You can't connect a hub to the calculator and a device to the hub and have the calculator immediately understand how to speak to the device through the hub.

uhh... first explain 'Hub.' what im talking about and what your talking about might be 2 completly different things...

I mean one of the things that you plug into a USB port that gives you four more USB ports. Perhaps that's not what you meant by "USB splitter"?

oh, it is, but only 2. one stays open (the one you connect to a computer) and the other uses the USB, but if it wont communicate right, then i know what im doing when the Kjix compression is done. i thought that since only 1 port would be used when the TI is operating, then the Calc would operate fine.

if i didnt know any better, id say your trying to make me ditch this.
but i do know better

No, I just want you to not get frustrated when things don't work out; all of the concerns I've brought up are legitimate things that won't work properly, eg the turbo thing (there's literally no capacitor in your calculator corresponding to that Richfiles guide). If you're planning to have only one of the USB ports connected at a time, then that will work fine. And I definitely recommend some snazzy-looking casemods. Have you considered adding a PS/2 port, as Ultimate Calculator 1/2?

case mods are fine, i allready started on one.

however, by PS/2 port, are you talking about the older
(non-USB) mouse and keypad ports?

Yes, that's a PS/2 port. I included one on the Ultimate Calculators 1 and 2, as it is possible to get the calculator's I/O port, connected to a PS/2 with 5V power injection pulling from the batteries, to speak to a keyboard or mouse.

that is a big connection plug...

and where would i get one for modifications like this...?

They sell them at places like RadioShack, or online at Mouser, Digikey, and the like. Section 3 of my Ultimate Calculator 2 has a schematic of how to connect it. You only need the 5.1V zener and the PS/2 port, so you can ignore everything to the right of the Modular Section Connector, including the connector itself.