Author Topic: Xbox mod (Read 32203 times)

ChadTower · « **on:** August 30, 2006, 01:54:11 pm »

Okay, this is an offshoot of the Gamecube mod thread from the other day. Seeing as how a cheap Xbox fell in my lap, may as well mod that instead as it's a much better candidate.

I'm ploughing through tons of reading now. I have a spare 20G hard drive sitting on my desk. I don't care much about keeping Xbox games on the hard drive but I would like to keep emulators and the associated files there. It's possible at some point I would enable Media Center but probably not store anything on the Xbox itself.

I have never had an Xbox before, have modded other consoles, have PCB repair experience. So this shouldn't be too hard, just have to figure out where to get the info I need.

BobA · « **Reply #1 on:** August 30, 2006, 02:15:38 pm »

Best source of xbox mod info is http://www.xbox-scene.com/

I just did one on the weekend and cursed and fumed. It was a V1.0 xbox and had the holes filled with solder. My friend is a IT tech and his first question was how do you solder so I took over. Mods are usually quite easy but I used up alot of solder wick on this one.

If you can solder get a regular mod chip as the solderless ones cause more problems in the long run and cost alot more.

BobA

ChadTower · « **Reply #2 on:** August 30, 2006, 02:28:35 pm »

I can solder just fine... was just reading this. Don't like soldering tiny points but then again who does?

Hoagie_one · « **Reply #3 on:** August 30, 2006, 02:46:50 pm »

I did a no solder chip and a soft mod, both were easy.

If you want to do a soft mod, I might be convinced to loan you the 007 game, disk, and memory stick to do it for teh nominal price of shipping, as long as you return said items to me.

BobA · « **Reply #4 on:** August 30, 2006, 02:47:03 pm »

Looks like a good detailed guide. That D0 point is really tiny but using the alternate can make it a bit easier.

BobA

ChadTower · « **Reply #5 on:** August 30, 2006, 02:52:57 pm »

Thanks for the offer, Hoagie. I'm not sure what a soft mod offers yet that a hard mod does not... so far, looks like adding the header pins in the LPC circuit is the way to go. Nothing I haven't done many times on pinball PCBs.

pointdablame · « **Reply #6 on:** August 30, 2006, 04:40:03 pm »

When you mod it, use the alternate D0 on the bottom of the motherboard as was mentioned, its a bit easier to deal with.

I'm a fairly bad, and inexperienced, solderer, but I can mod an xbox with little trouble. You'll be fine. Just solder in the pinheader, and from then on its just the d0 and possibly a few other wires depending on modchip and how you want to turn the chip on/off.

If you never plan to use Xbox live, and don't mind the system being in "modded" mode all the time, you're options are pretty much open. You can get a softmod to do everything you'd want, and you can get a modchip to as well.

For your purposes, the modchip doesn't really matter either. I'd just grab a DuoX for $15 and go from there.

ChadTower · « **Reply #7 on:** August 30, 2006, 04:44:36 pm »

Well I would like the ability to go on Live. I may not use it much or for long but I'd like to check it out as I've never been there.

I'll know more once I have the system and know the motherboard version. I'm picking it up in about 45 minutes.

TapeWurm · « **Reply #8 on:** August 30, 2006, 07:47:16 pm »

Quote from: Hoagie_one on August 30, 2006, 02:46:50 pm

I did a no solder chip and a soft mod, both were easy.

If you want to do a soft mod, I might be convinced to loan you the 007 game, disk, and memory stick to do it for teh nominal price of shipping, as long as you return said items to me.

I did a HD swap method for my softmod, since the Xbox was free and I didn't really care if it toasted it or not. But my question to you, Hoagie, is does your soft-modded box ever get caught in a boot-loop where it takes a few minutes to come out of it and load the dashboard? Mine does, esp after being unhooked for a long while. Just curious.

ChadTower · « **Reply #9 on:** August 30, 2006, 07:51:51 pm »

It probably does that because the Xbox loses its kernel time settings after being without power for a certain amount of time. The bios replacements don't handle that all that well.

TapeWurm · « **Reply #10 on:** August 30, 2006, 07:59:59 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on August 30, 2006, 07:51:51 pm

It probably does that because the Xbox loses its kernel time settings after being without power for a certain amount of time. The bios replacements don't handle that all that well.

I would have thought with it being plugged up it would have maintained the time. Such a minor annoyance but a big one for me.

ChadTower · « **Reply #11 on:** August 30, 2006, 09:59:18 pm »

I've read in multiple places that it does not. Doesn't lose it right away but after a while it does.

BTW, got the machine, pristine shape. Tested tonight, works well. Tomorrow will crack it open and determine the motherboard rev.

shmokes · « **Reply #12 on:** August 31, 2006, 06:03:02 am »

Regarding LIVE, a mod chip can be disabled to allow you on LIVE, but you have to be using original game discs, of course. Backups or games copied to the hard drive won't work with LIVE and when you connect to LIVE using one you will be banned. So, if you don't plan on actually purchasing legitimate copies of games for this thing, don't let LIVE factor into your decision.

Additionally, setting up a hard drive can be a pain in the ass. I HIGHLY recommend a program called AvaNetPrepare. It's made by the team that makes the Avalaunch dashboard. It's incredibly easy to set up and it automates the process of formatting/partitioning the new drive as well as cloning the old drive over.

However, for a 20 GB drive, I'm not sure putting in a new drive is worth the hassle. It probably already has a 10 GB drive, which will hold all the old classics. Once you get into N64 and PSX emulation you need a bigger drive anyway. You can probably get an 80 GB drive for $30. Not only is it convenient to load Xbox games directly from the hard drive, it actually makes games better by substantially reducing load times. Additionally, with a hard drive you can just pop a disc in and rip it directly to the Xbox. I believe ripping a game to an ISO on a PC and then burning it to a disc is MUCH more complicated, not to mention that many games will only fit on a dual layer DVD+R so you either have to buy the still very expensive dual layer blanks, or you have to reauthor the game, stripping out non-important parts, which I don't even know how to do. And I might as well throw in one more "not to mention". Not to mention that Xbox DVD-ROM drives are famous for being finicky about media. Finding a brand and format (+r vs. -r) that works in your Xbox's drive can be an expensive exercise in frustration. You buy a spindle of Verbatim +R's only to find they don't work, so you buy a spindle of Memorex +R's, only to find THEY don't work, so you go with Verbatim -R's, which don't work, so you try Memorex -R's and BINGO. You've got it! . . . and a lifetime supply of blank DVD's that can't be used for your Xbox.

yalborap · « **Reply #13 on:** August 31, 2006, 08:19:10 am »

The big advantage of using an actual modchip if you don't use xbox live is that you can install things like little LCD screens that interact with it and can display stuff like the currently playing song in XBMC. Personally, as cool as that is, I've never really wishes I could do it for actual practical reasons, so I'm happy with my 25 dollar softmod that I can do again and again for no extra cost.

But that's just me, you might desire the little screen showing what song's playing.

ChadTower · « **Reply #14 on:** August 31, 2006, 08:29:52 am »

I don't care much about the little addons, but shmokes made some interesting points. I doubt that setting up a new hard drive is all THAT hard, though. Can't be any worse than the Tivo upgrades I just ran through. Many of the modchips I've read about have drive upgrade software built right in and can lock/unlock the drive with a couple of button presses.

That is good info on Live and real discs. I don't usually use copies other than backups of what I have so that probably isn't an issue. I just don't play enough to go ripping and looking for ISOs. About as far as I usually go is to download an ISO of a game I already have because I'm too lazy to research how to back the disc up myself.

I'll see what it has for a drive already. Manufacture date is 2004 so it's not very old.

BTW, shmokes, I've found that most of the drives in DVD players that are finicky about DVDRs are not finicky about DVDRWs. It's worth a shot.

Hoagie_one · « **Reply #15 on:** August 31, 2006, 08:41:26 am »

Very important to set the time immediately after having a softmodded box unplugged too long

SNAAKE · « **Reply #16 on:** August 31, 2006, 08:46:18 am »

you probly have a 1.6 xbox. these are harder to install than other xboxes cause you have to solder 5 extra wires in the back. attached diagram for duox2 chips. then you need to burn 512k bios on dvdr and flash the chip.

also,installing drives is easy. just replace the stock drive with a new one. burn "slayers 2.6 autoinstaller"(google) on dvdr and boot xbox from that, everything else is menu driven.

PS: if you are not up for the challange you can always hire me, pm if interested

BobA · « **Reply #17 on:** August 31, 2006, 09:07:37 am »

No wiring on the back for the 1.6 chip and the duox2 now. It comes with a thin PC board that solders to the header and the wired points on the back of the Xbox MB. Makes the mod really easy. The LPC mod board comes with all the duox2 chips that I have received.

BobA

ChadTower · « **Reply #18 on:** August 31, 2006, 10:25:39 am »

Thanks for the offer but I should be just fine. I rebuild pinball PCBs fairly regularly and there's nothing here half as complex. It's just a couple of jumpers and adding some header pins.

severdhed · « **Reply #19 on:** August 31, 2006, 11:04:40 am »

one note on xbox Live.

if you wish to connect to xbox live once the mod chip is installed, it is easy to disable the chip..however if you have already connected the xbox to xbox live, and then later change the hard drive, you will no longer be able to connect, even with the chip disabled. when you sign in, MS logs your mac address along with the serial # of your hard drive. if you connect later and you have a different hard drive, the serial # wont match the mac address and you will get banned.

SNAAKE · « **Reply #20 on:** August 31, 2006, 11:29:49 am »

^ correct.

if you already went online then you need to change the xbox eeprom,new drive,new xbox live account. also, www.otbmods.com sells pre flashed duox2 chips so you you can just get one of those and skip the flash. email him for the preflashed chips

ChadTower · « **Reply #21 on:** August 31, 2006, 11:33:50 am »

Is there a way of knowing if the previous owner has been on Live? I haven't done it yet myself.

I was looking at this chip. Looks pretty good.

ChadTower · « **Reply #22 on:** August 31, 2006, 01:08:25 pm »

Geesh. xbox-scene is a mess to wade through. Billions of posts from what appears to be 12 year olds asking people to do their research for them and then do the work for them... so much of it that it is impossible to find the real info. I'm having trouble finding FAQs or reasonable posts that are newer than 2004.

ChadTower · « **Reply #23 on:** August 31, 2006, 01:23:08 pm »

Yack, it's even hard to go to Xbox.com and find details on Xbox Live. Holy flashing images and obfuscation!

shmokes · « **Reply #24 on:** August 31, 2006, 01:56:52 pm »

Don't use the forums at Xbox-Scene (unless you run into problems, I mean). Use the tutorials. There's an enormous tutorials section and they're really well organized. It's still a ton of information to wade through, but it really doesn't take very long before you just suddenly "get" everything.

Still, a lot of the tutorials are now outdated and tell you the hard way to do things that can now be done with no work at all using the latest mod chips or new software programs that have since become available.

ChadTower · « **Reply #25 on:** August 31, 2006, 02:05:12 pm »

That's what I'm saying. I've read through many of the tutorials and most of them are dated 2004 or so. Things have to have changed quite a bit since then.

So far, this is what I have learned:

I likely have a 1.6 mobo. I can confirm that when I get the chance to open the sucker up. I will have to rebuild the LPC port (which seems to be a debug port) by soldering in 4-5 short jumpers. Then I install a 2x6 (with pin 4 removed) set of male header pins into the LPC through holes. I guess I will have to be careful with the wire jumpers since they're both going in the same holes. After that, run a jumper from a header pin to the d0 hole (haven't figured out what that one is yet). Install the chip, boot it up and immediately set the date/time. Proceeding from there it's all dependent on the particular BIOS of that chip but I will likely have to set it up so that it sees the retail kernel and then a hacked BIOS. At this point, if I desire, I can upgrade the drive using the new chip's OS functions. Configure it for DHCP, let it talk to my router, and then I should be able to FTP/SMB all I want to put things on the drive like emulators and additional software.

What I'm trying to dig up now are issues such as the Live MAC/HD serial nugget given above... I don't want to get it all done and then discover I've actually disabled something I may want later on.

shmokes · « **Reply #26 on:** August 31, 2006, 02:27:23 pm »

Check out the installation manual for the Xenium SpICE. It tells you how you can tell what version of Xbox you have simply by turning on the Xbox with no game in and checking some info in the Xbox Dashboard. It takes about 1 minute.

ChadTower · « **Reply #27 on:** August 31, 2006, 02:29:07 pm »

I've read in multiple guides that there are a couple of revisions that can only be told apart by a continuity check on the motherboard. Could be old info, though.

ChadTower · « **Reply #28 on:** September 01, 2006, 10:05:05 am »

Hrm... thought of a desired use for Media Center. I download a lot of PPV events the day after they happen. Many times they are in DivX 6. My DVD player only supports up to DivX 5 and I have never seen an updated BIOS for it. So, if I could have a box in my living room that fits in well, can pull from the network, and can be easily updated to new codecs, that would be useful to me. It would be worth my effort to get that in place if I could do it inexpensively.

shmokes · « **Reply #29 on:** September 01, 2006, 10:49:39 am »

Well, if you're going to mod your xbox either way, putting Xbox Media Center in place won't add to the expense and will almost not add to the effort. It's just a dashboard, and you've got to install a dashboard either way. The only real extra effort is setting up shared folders on your PC and pointing Xbox Media Center to them which, frankly, isn't much effort.

You can use your modded Xbox as a media center and to play backup discs and emulators without upgrading the hard drive. There's pleny of room on the 8-10 GB for all that.

ChadTower · « **Reply #30 on:** September 01, 2006, 10:54:48 am »

That is the conclusion I'm reaching too. I can always upgrade the drive later. I just have to sort out what the issues are regarding Live if I do that. I don't plan on subscribing to Live now but can't say I never will.

ChadTower · « **Reply #31 on:** September 01, 2006, 01:05:22 pm »

Erg, just realized the thing has only that stupid AV port on the back. So I'll have to buy whatever adapters allow it to have digital audio out. Pic is less important but I would like to go with 5.1 for games that support it.

ChadTower · « **Reply #32 on:** September 01, 2006, 01:20:30 pm »

Another thought just occurred to me... going with the header pin install, it really doesn't matter what chip I get. If it is a problem later on I can just swap it with another. Hrm.

ChadTower · « **Reply #33 on:** September 01, 2006, 01:28:32 pm »

Erf... I'm parsing out what software to put, and apparently I need to hunt down a compiler for the Xbox so I can compile XBMC.

Hoagie_one · « **Reply #34 on:** September 01, 2006, 02:02:09 pm »

look for auto installer deluxe 3.0. it has an assortment of programs for the xbox all on a disk you can just run after you mod it, including XBMC.

ChadTower · « **Reply #35 on:** September 01, 2006, 02:04:30 pm »

Including the XBMC binaries? Interesting.

ChadTower · « **Reply #36 on:** September 01, 2006, 02:11:08 pm »

Eh, crap on the DuoX chips, they have a physical switch on them. That's not what I want.

Oooh. Good rundown on current gen chips and each of their strengths/weaknesses.

ChadTower · « **Reply #37 on:** September 01, 2006, 02:40:11 pm »

Yes, this is a stream of consciousness thread. I'm using it so I don't forget anything. It is my notes.

It just occurred to me that I have no idea if the 20G drive I have been talking about can be locked. So that's probably out anyway.

crashwg · « **Reply #38 on:** September 01, 2006, 03:25:36 pm »

Your choice of modchip (Xenium Gold) is a good one in my opinion. I have a Gold and also an Ice (which is pretty much the same thing) and I've been extremely satisfied with it.

As for getting a compiler and such... Toss that idea right out the window, it's not necessary. Check PM for details!

ChadTower · « **Reply #39 on:** September 01, 2006, 03:28:56 pm »

So far nothing in my PMs but that dude taking me up on my offer to mod his Saturn.

EDIT: then it appeared.


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