Recovering from bad EEPROM flash (Original Xbox).

[oldE]

I flashed my eeprom using configmagic and everything seemed to go well--until I rebooted the system. Now I get a solid green ring and no video/audio/eject function on the dvd drive. I've read that it's possible to recover from a bad eeprom flash but don't know how or where to start. Can someone give me a bit of guidance or link me to a tutorial? Thanks.

Note: I backed up the eeprom and transferred it to my PC before attempting the flash.

[ark_ader]

Which mod chip? 

[oldE]

Which mod chip?

Softmod using SID5.

I'm considering buying a mod chip to reflash the eeprom. Any suggestions on which to get? (Preferably one that doesn't require soldering since I don't have an iron and soldering wire).

Unless there's some other way to reflash the eeprom with no video/audio/eject....

[ark_ader]

What version of Xbox?

I think you need to look at getting a chip.   Something solder-less and cheap.

Or go and buy an used one.  Whatever is the cheapest.

Next time just soft-mod it.

[jammin0]

what version xbox?  I just picked up an xbox second hand and did this llama hack in 5-10 mins and it worked perfectly.
http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Repairs/ComaConsole.htm
Mine was doing the same thing with a solid green light. The tut says it only works for a version 1.0 or 1.1.

[oldE]

What version of Xbox?

I think you need to look at getting a chip.   Something solder-less and cheap.

Or go and buy an used one.  Whatever is the cheapest.

Next time just soft-mod it.

v1.6

What's the best option available for a solder-less chip?

I did softmod the xbox btw. It worked fine, including cloning to a larger disk.

Flashing the eeprom with the xbox's own eeprom.bin using configmagic caused it to comatose. I need a way to flash it back to stock and undo whatever I/ConfigMagic did wrong to the chip.

[oldE]

what version xbox?  I just picked up an xbox second hand and did this llama hack in 5-10 mins and it worked perfectly.
http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Repairs/ComaConsole.htm
Mine was doing the same thing with a solid green light. The tut says it only works for a version 1.0 or 1.1.

v1.6 unfortunately. I found that same tut yesterday when researching a fix to a bad eeprom flash, but sadly it won't work on 1.6. Any idea how to flash a 1.6 eeprom from a comatose xbox?

[jammin0]

not sure your options for a solderless solution with a 1.6
They used to have a chip called a spider that was pretty cool where you just used these tiny spring wires and push them into the tiny holes on the motherboard.  There are 4 or 5 different connections you have to make.

Unfortunately beyond accessing those extra banks on a v1.0/1.1 I have no experience doing what you're trying to do.  I have picked up 3 xboxes from my local goodwills in the last few weeks, the cheapest one cost $3 and the most expensive cost $10.  I t might be cheaper to try and pick up a new box over trying to find a modchip.

[oldE]

not sure your options for a solderless solution with a 1.6
They used to have a chip called a spider that was pretty cool where you just used these tiny spring wires and push them into the tiny holes on the motherboard.  There are 4 or 5 different connections you have to make.

Unfortunately beyond accessing those extra banks on a v1.0/1.1 I have no experience doing what you're trying to do.  I have picked up 3 xboxes from my local goodwills in the last few weeks, the cheapest one cost $3 and the most expensive cost $10.  I t might be cheaper to try and pick up a new box over trying to find a modchip.

The cheapest chip I've found was $20 and required soldering. I think most of the others are off the market now, so replacing might be the cheapest option available.

Any idea why a softmodded hard drive from another system wouldn't work on my xbox?

Thanks for the help.

[ark_ader]

Maybe from a Hard Mod - the hard drive can be used.  Just remember the drive is pretty much a throw away, unless you want to stick linux and or swap on it, the pen drives of today are much better and require less power.

Cheapest option is to buy a used one.

Gee $3 at goodwill?  My local goodwill wants $35 

[jammin0]

Maybe from a Hard Mod - the hard drive can be used.  Just remember the drive is pretty much a throw away, unless you want to stick linux and or swap on it, the pen drives of today are much better and require less power.

Cheapest option is to buy a used one.

Gee $3 at goodwill?  My local goodwill wants $35 

You can't use a harddrive in the xbox at all unless it is locked and keyed to whatever the eeprom is looking for.  To use an xbox harddrive in a computer you just need to unlock it on a computer using xboxhdm and then format it.  Likewise, if you have the eeprom.bin file you can prepare any harddrive to work.  If you were to get a new xbox you would want to mod it, copy the eeprom.bin file using evoX or some other way.  Copy your bigger harddrive to the computer, use xboxhdm to prepare a new harddrive, softmod the new harddrive, then copy over your backed up files back.  alternatively you can use the clone harddrive option on a lot of tools and then FTP over your backed up files.

quick question though, are you sure it's the eeprom?  I mentioned that I had 3 xboxes I recently purchased, a 1.0, 1.1, and 1.6.  I soft modded and upgraded hard drives on the first ones but had a hiccup on the 1.6.  It had some harddrive error so I restored a stock harddrive and got it to boot fine.  then I tried the softmod and all of a sudden I had no error codes, a flubber screen and eject but black screen after that.  after fussing around with it I figured out that the harddrive had died a sudden death.  No error codes though.  I made an eeprom reader following unicorns tutorial and it worked like a charm.  I'm fresh out of harddrives but I expect to be able to get it up and running.  correct me if I'm wrong but you aren't able to write over the eeprom unless your talking about a tsop flah which requires extra soldering.  Anyway, to make a long question short, are you sure your harddrive is working.  Mine is proof that it doesn't always show an error code.

[pbj]

Where the heck do you guys find Goodwills that actually sell something I'd want?   

[oldE]

You can't use a harddrive in the xbox at all unless it is locked and keyed to whatever the eeprom is looking for.

Bingo. That is exactly why I tried to flash my eeprom. I softmodded my xbox and cloned to a larger drive. Everything went smoothly. So smoothly a friend asked me to mod his xbox. So I grabbed a cheap hard drive online for $15, cloned my mod over to the hard drive and it booted up nicely...from my xbox. Tossed it in his xbox and got an error (07 I think).

Fine, I thought, I'll just soft mod his stock drive and clone over to the larger drive again. Modded his xbox and tossed in the drive. I/O error while attempting to clone. Something about bad sectors (didn't happen on my xbox). So I figured I'd just flash his xbox with my eeprom since the larger drive worked fine on mine. Flashed my eeprom from stock just to see if I could do it with ConfigMagic before messing with his. Worked fine, until I rebooted into ComaConsole--no video, no audio, no eject. Fan ramps up during boot-up.

I thought maybe I did something wrong, so I was extra careful as I flashed his eeprom with my eeprom.bin. Comatose.

In hindsight, his drive was likely locked onto my eeprom/motherboard, which is what I thought the eeprom-flash was intended to work around.

So now I'm stuck with two comatose xboxes that should work perfectly fine, and two expanded and softmodded hard drives ready to play. That's why I'm trying to find a way to reflash my eeprom (and his) with the stock eeprom. Can't find the steps or software to do it though.

[jammin0]

I see, makes sense.  You don't have access to the eeprom from the xbox now without a modchip so yeah, you're kind of screwed.  Besides a modchip, the only other option I can think of is to desolder the eeprom chip and use a programmer to try and fix it with your backed up eeprom.  Probably a hard task to get the eeprom off the mainboard and I have no idea if these cheap programmers would work . . .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Port-24CXX-25XX-EEPROM-Programmer-24C1024-25T80-support-XP-VISTA-WIN7-/370908032233?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item565bd76ce9

good luck, aren't eeproms version specific, if you and your buddy don't have the same version that might have been what nuked his.

[oldE]

I see, makes sense.  You don't have access to the eeprom from the xbox now without a modchip so yeah, you're kind of screwed.  Besides a modchip, the only other option I can think of is to desolder the eeprom chip and use a programmer to try and fix it with your backed up eeprom.  Probably a hard task to get the eeprom off the mainboard and I have no idea if these cheap programmers would work . . .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Port-24CXX-25XX-EEPROM-Programmer-24C1024-25T80-support-XP-VISTA-WIN7-/370908032233?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item565bd76ce9

good luck, aren't eeproms version specific, if you and your buddy don't have the same version that might have been what nuked his.

I don't have a soldering iron or wire either so that's an added cost (plus I'm a little rusty--haven't soldered anything since robotics courses in school). Looks like my best option is just buying another box and modding it. I'll sell the comatose boxes to someone online that has a solder-less chip for cheap I guess.

His box is a v1.6b, and mine a v1.6, so it makes sense his would reject my eeprom, but it doesn't explain why my box died from reflashing from by backed-up eeprom.bin. I guess I'll never know.

Thanks for the suggestions jammin0.