Original XBOX Modding

[pharoah007]

I have a original Xbox I want to Mod to play MAME and Console games....

Can someone point me in the right direction so I can do some research and learn how to do this?

I have heard of Coin-Ops...however, I do not know what program is best.

The xbox is not used, so Hard or Soft mod is fine...I guess hard is better.

Thanks in advance.

[NOP]

try the consoles forum, particularly this thread
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,131104.0.html

[twistedsymphony]

if you have any specific question let me know, I used to be a head moderator on xbox-scene.com

step 1 is to determine which motherboard version you have, the best way to do this is to open it up and look at the motherboard and match it to pictures online... my personal favorite is v1.1.

Softmoding got to the point where it was nearly as good as a modchip... for all but the last versions you can soft mod and then flash a hacked bios to the internal tsop... this is every-bit as good as a regular no-feature modchip. I still prefer an actual chip since you can remove it and instantly make your console "stock" again. Soldering chips is pretty easy on these things. you have 1 pin header which is all easy through-hole stuff and then a single additional wire which can be tricky because it's a small point requiring 30gauge wire.

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I highly recommend upgrading the ribbon cable for your hard drive to an ATA 133 also when you upgrade the drive get the fastest one you can find. you can dramatically improve loading times this way.

lots of other cool stuff you can do too they make kits to power on/off the console via IR remote and some modchips allow installation of a small LCD that displays the name of the currently running game or music or other stuff like %processor and ram or cpu temp etc.

[Generic Eric]

if you have any specific question let me know, I used to be a head moderator on xbox-scene.com

step 1 is to determine which motherboard version you have, the best way to do this is to open it up and look at the motherboard and match it to pictures online... my personal favorite is v1.1.

Is there a date of manufacturing to avoid?  Such as avoid xboxs manufactured after April 2002? 

Do you have an opinion on using a IDE to sata adapter.

Do you have an opinion on which dashboard to use?

Are you still active on that forum you referred to?

[twistedsymphony]

if you have any specific question let me know, I used to be a head moderator on xbox-scene.com

step 1 is to determine which motherboard version you have, the best way to do this is to open it up and look at the motherboard and match it to pictures online... my personal favorite is v1.1.

Is there a date of manufacturing to avoid?  Such as avoid xboxs manufactured after April 2002? 

Do you have an opinion on using a IDE to sata adapter.

Do you have an opinion on which dashboard to use?

Are you still active on that forum you referred to?

the V1.6 Xboxes was the last generation and they can't have their tsop re-flashed which means for a reliable solution you'll want a modchip... there is a date of manufacture after which you should avoid to not get the 1.6 units but it escapes me at the moment.

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I've never used an IDE to SATA adapter... back in the day when the Original Xbox was still a current gen console SATA drives were rare and very expensive so there was no real point in trying to adapt them.

Since transfer speed is essentially limited to IDE there's still no real benefit to SATA however I could see benefit today in trying to use an SSD or Hybrid drive for the added access speed... or simply due to availability.

In short I have no idea if an adapter would work, but I suppose if it doesn't require any software/drivers/etc. then I don't see why not.

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You can use Xbox Media Center as a dashboard, IMO that's the best as it provides essentially all of the functionality you would want or need to launch games, apps and media. Not to mention it looks great and is super easy to navigate and use.


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I was but X-S went offline last October, I'm not entirely sure what happened but it took a lot of fantastic information with it (this is why I can't give you a mfg date to look for). You might be able to find stuff through archive.org, a lot of stuff was duplicated on other forums too.

Some of the best chips you could get were from Team Xecuter, their forums are still online and is probably one of the better resources still around.


EDIT:
I managed to find info on versions and date ranges: http://www.eurasia.nu/wiki/index.php/XboxVersionTable

[pbj]

If I recall correctly, I've gotten a SATA -> IDE adapter to work, but it was a tight fit in there. 

 

[Ginsu Victim]

the V1.6 Xboxes was the last generation and they can't have their tsop re-flashed which means for a reliable solution you'll want a modchip

I've had my 1.6 softmodded for several years without a hiccup.

[twistedsymphony]

I've had my 1.6 softmodded for several years without a hiccup.

Lucky you 

I know lots of people who have run a successfully softmoded Xbox for years without issue... I know a lot MORE people who've run into issues and had to fix their softmod setup multiple times when they accidentally screwed up some files on their hard drive, or suffered data corruption, or other drive issues.

a TSOP flash or modchip will run as rock-solid reliable as original un-modified hardware. Softmodding is a great cheap (essentially free) solution if you can't TSOP flash but given the choice I'd rather have a modchip or TSOP flash an older mobo.

[astrog21]

I would pull the guts out and put a Raspberry Pi, small form factor PC, or even a Mac Mini inside. It would be much easier, but it is always better to have the original hardware intact.

[SlammedNiss]

I would pull the guts out and put a Raspberry Pi, small form factor PC, or even a Mac Mini inside. It would be much easier, but it is always better to have the original hardware intact.

How would doing any of that be easier than modding the original hardware?

[twistedsymphony]

Raspberry Pi is better for media since it can do HD while the Xbox's P3 chokes on newer codecs even at 480p

However a modded Xbox is great for playing... wait for it... XBOX GAMES! Which is something that no small PC or RPi can do.

It's also fantastic for emulation of 16bit and older games (it can do PS1 and N64 but not as well as a PC).

IMO At this point the only reason for a modded Xbox is to play old Xbox games since we never got a good emulator it's still the best option for that.