An Xbox mod gone wong

qBot

:mad:

Hmmmmm, just modded an xbox. Installed an xecuter 2.2 lite. When i fired up the xbox afterwards all i got was black screen, and a flashing power light. the box rebooted twice (i could here it) before on it's third atttempt accessing the hard drive. However at this point i'm still left with a black screen and a flashing led. The dvd drive also refuses to open.
If i disable the chip, i can work the xbox away fine and play games and dvd's, however, i wanna be able to play games, dvd's and divx.
My guess is it's probably solder wrong, but i just want to put this up here to see if anyone else experienced this same problem and if/how the solved it.

peterk19

Never had that trouble mate wheniput mine in it went quite fgood

qBot

I presume once it's installed properly, it should just load up the ms dashboard without any problems. ya?
I'm going to open it up again tomorrow and see can i fix it. just hope the modchip isn't a dud. cost me 45 spuds.

qBot

I'm wondering is there anyone out there in the limerick area who has a working modded xbox or a flash tool for an xecuter 2.2 lite, I need an updated bios for my chip.

I ordered them off www.mrmodchips.com during the week and even though they said the chips were compatible with the 1.4 and 1.5 xbox's, turns out their not. They indicated on the site that they were preflashed with the correct bios for compatibility with xbox 1.4 and 1.5. ( I got a 1.5 box). I can't link to that page now, cause they have discontinued the 2.2's and are now selling the 2.3's

When i emailed support today they told me i needed a newer bios. talk about false advertising.

qBot

btw, i went through all of the lpt points with a voltameter religiously following the tutorials on www.xbox-scene.com, (Well, a friend of mine did). I know for a fact that the chip is soldered properly.

thelad

your Do point is not soldered properly... you probably have rubbed laquer off one the nearby tracks and it is causing the frag... try bringing the DO wire in from a different angle where you can avoid crossing other tracks.

joc_06

I know for a fact that the chip is soldered properly

Try taking the chip out completely and then booting up the box. That way you can say for definite that the chip is at fault. Otherwise you may be using too hot an iron and fried some chip. What wattage is your iron, what guide did you follow??

qBot

Originally posted by thelad
your Do point is not soldered properly... you probably have rubbed laquer off one the nearby tracks and it is causing the frag... try bringing the DO wire in from a different angle where you can avoid crossing other tracks.

na, looked up the xbox-scene tutorial section. If the d0 is connected wrong the xbox will boot normally as thought there wasn't any modchip. If it reboots 3 times before fragging, it means either the lpc solderings are dodgy, wrong mem bank is selected on chip or the chip contains the wrong bios. And i know for a fact, the lpc is soldered correctly. so that just leaves the bios possibility

check out section 9 in this link
http://www.xbox-scene.com/modchips3b_table.htm


It boots normally once i disable the chip from the switches. so all i need is someone who is willing and in the limerick area to put this chip into there box, boot, and upgrade the bios for me. The chip will work on any xbox version 1.3 or under.

joc_06

what kinda chip (microcontroller) is used?? PIC, ATmel, Scenix??

You can reprogram those using a pc attached programmer, well that the way you did it with a ps2. Do you have to flash it thro the cd??

At a guess i'd say it's using an atmega16 - atmel. Can u see any markings on the chip itself

thelad

just to reiterate what i said earlier.. anytime i've had this problem it was down to the do point.. as for the bios. your chip will have the cromwell bios(it spits out tray at power on) .. this is the only way that you can get xbox modchips in UK as any other bios will make them illegal.. you will need a programme called ozflash to reflash it

qBot

Originally posted by thelad
just to reiterate what i said earlier.. anytime i've had this problem it was down to the do point.. as for the bios. your chip will have the cromwell bios(it spits out tray at power on) .. this is the only way that you can get xbox modchips in UK as any other bios will make them illegal.. you will need a programme called ozflash to reflash it

I'll take a look at d0 so. however in regards to the bios, u can't upgrade the bios through dvd drive if the bios in the chip doesn't run on the xbox. It is a cromwell bios I have, but it's cromwell bios 2.27 bios that I need before it'll will run properly and allow the dvd drive to open. or am i wrong

qBot

Originally posted by joc_06
what kinda chip (microcontroller) is used?? PIC, ATmel, Scenix??

You can reprogram those using a pc attached programmer, well that the way you did it with a ps2. Do you have to flash it thro the cd??

At a guess i'd say it's using an atmega16 - atmel. Can u see any markings on the chip itself

Ya, I can get a controller for it. but then i have to wait which is something i've been doing for a month now. And it's kinda pointless buying one, when i'll only need it once.

muffen

Sounds to me like it's the BIOS on the chip thats causing the problem.

Try flashing it with the 4979 BIOS, as that one should work for all versions of the xbox, or alternatively the latest cromwell BIOS that works for you versions of the xbox.

You need an external programmer for this, or you can do the hotswap.

Hotswap is done by having a working modchipped xbox, booting it up, while it is running, remove the chip from it and put the "new" chip in there, and then just flash it. This isn't very hard to do, and I usually use this method, but it does require a working modchipped xbox.

qBot

Originally posted by muffen
Sounds to me like it's the BIOS on the chip thats causing the problem.

Try flashing it with the 4979 BIOS, as that one should work for all versions of the xbox, or alternatively the latest cromwell BIOS that works for you versions of the xbox.

You need an external programmer for this, or you can do the hotswap.

Hotswap is done by having a working modchipped xbox, booting it up, while it is running, remove the chip from it and put the "new" chip in there, and then just flash it. This isn't very hard to do, and I usually use this method, but it does require a working modchipped xbox.

Ya, was aware of that, thinkin about getting a programmer alright, but was hoping there was someone in lim who could do it for me.

qBot

Originally posted by joc_06
what kinda chip (microcontroller) is used?? PIC, ATmel, Scenix??

You can reprogram those using a pc attached programmer, well that the way you did it with a ps2. Do you have to flash it thro the cd??

At a guess i'd say it's using an atmega16 - atmel. Can u see any markings on the chip itself

It's a AMD - Am29F080B. have u got any way of flashing these joc. your big into the whole electronics thing.

joc_06

Sorry for not replying so soon cuan - been busy fyp an all.

(jus did a tiny bit of research myself)
check here
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=63396&st=0
http://www.system-mods.com/cgi-bin/pd/kb.cgi?view=9&lang=en




I dont think you did enough research before you bought this product. It comes with a bios already on it and this bios can only boot linux therefore it wont play game's as is . You will need to flash it to illegal bios before it will do anything constructive. I think that you are going to have to get a programmer!! I dont have anything that will program a AMD - Am29F080B. It's as far as i know a comercial chip as in not much used by hobbyists. I can do 8051,pic, scenix, atmel etc. If its any good to you there's a master programmer up in b2 fyp lab that can do 100's of different chips, i'll check it after and get back to you

qBot

Originally posted by joc_06
Sorry for not replying so soon cuan - been busy fyp an all.

(jus did a tiny bit of research myself)
check here
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=63396&st=0
http://www.system-mods.com/cgi-bin/pd/kb.cgi?view=9&lang=en




I dont think you did enough research before you bought this product. It comes with a bios already on it and this bios can only boot linux therefore it wont play game's as is .......

Well that is supposed to be the plan anyway. Problem is the bios that comes with my chip "Cromwell 1.8" doesn't support version 1.4 and 1.5 boxes (I have a 1.5). They have a new video chip in them, which up till recently wasn't supported by any open source bios. Therefore u can't upgreade the bios by simply inserting a cdrw with the bios on it.When I bought my chip, i was assured that they were compatible with 1.4 and 1.5 boxes.... but it wasn't. The bios the told me that was on it was the new 2.27 cromwell, but it was just the same old, same old 1.8.

Doesn't matter now anyway, I got it flashed last night doing a hotswap with a friends machine (no programmer needed). Going to check it out the weekend. If it don't work, i still have one soluton left. I can solder my pcb like this. It's needed for some 1.5 boxes.
http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/2/x-ecuter2/color-diagram-v15.jpg


Thanks 2 everyone who replied

qBot

Yup, alls well, the new bios worked.

joc_06

Good stuff. Im actually after an xbox myself now, trying to swap for my ps2. Kno any1?? U got a dvd burner for back up's? i saw mikey b with a 103 there last week. that yours??

qBot

Originally posted by joc_06
Good stuff. Im actually after an xbox myself now, trying to swap for my ps2. Kno any1?? U got a dvd burner for back up's? i saw mikey b with a 103 there last week. that yours??

Nope, not me unfortunately. i'm just going to get a 160gb drive and put a load of films on it. That's all i wanted it for really, www.xboxmediaplayer.de . Your supposed to be able to backup your games onto the harddrive also, so no need for dvd-r

peterk19

as far as i know the xbox will only take a 130gig maximum size hdd
Pete

muffen

as far as i know the xbox will only take a 130gig maximum size hdd

Used to be 137gig, but the lmit has been increased. The new limit is 2Tb (2048gigs). You need the new xecuter bios (4978.03 patched or 4979) as well as the latest Evo-X build.

peterk19

Great gotta upgrage my bios so

Zion

hey cuan, did u use any flux when u solder the chip?

also what do u need to do when u put in the new harddrive into the xbox? I'm a newbie and know nothing but still wanna mod my xbox

thanks

qBot

Originally posted by Zion
hey cuan, did u use any flux when u solder the chip?

also what do u need to do when u put in the new harddrive into the xbox? I'm a newbie and know nothing but still wanna mod my xbox

thanks

Nope, didn't use any flux (although it would prob be easier if i did). i got a friend of mine to mod my xbox. however since then i've modded a friends xbox and didn't really have a problem. I did however use a voltmeter and a magnifying glass to test my solderings later.

As for the hard drive, depending on whether or not u want xbox live u may be restriced in terms of what hard drive u get. to be able to use xbox live, u need to buy a hard drive that's lockable. Otherwise any harddrive will do, however u will not be able to use your xbox with the modchip disable if you have an unlocked hard drive. Below is the one i got, which is lockable
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&sku=117394&p=&t=715&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=9&GrpID=1&cks=PRL

To replace the drive it's fairly simple if you have the correct software for the job. First of all, you'll need a copy of evox installed on your original xbox so as you can backup all the relevent information for your hd and box (eeprom, hdd unlock password etc.).
You will also need a copy of the "evox hdd install" burned to cd so that when u install your new hard drive you can use this utility to format and setup the new drive properly.
After that it's simply a question of putting whatever software u want on your box.

I found the below word document priceless when installing everything on my box. It goes through everything from start to finish. Hope this helps
http://dwl.xbox-scene.net/~xbox/xbox-scene/tutorials/modanxbox.zip

Zion

Thanks for the info cuan. Just one more question is how to know a hard drive is lockable or not coz I don't think I really need a 160GB one!:p

qBot

Here u go,
It's not a conclusive list but see if the hard drive u want to get is listed in this thread.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=137365&

muffen

Just one more question is how to know a hard drive is lockable or not coz I don't think I really need a 160GB one!

It's close to impossible to buy a harddrive right now that isn't lockable.
Any seagate, maxtor or western digital from komplett.ie (80gigs and up) is lockable.

Unless you plan on buying the HD second hand (or smaller than 80gigs), don't worry about it.