Original Xbox help.

[Howard_Casto]

So my Xbox is on the fritz.  I pulled it out, hooked it up, and the ring around the eject button flashed.... I couldn't get any video or audio.  My xbox was modded with those god-awful pogo pin chips, so I took a look at that.... it was mal-aligned so I adjusted it.  Now it appears to boot, but still no a/v. 

I've got those xbox 2 usb cables so I was thinking on ditching the mod chip and doing a soft mod instead.  I think mech-warrior has an exploit and I've got that game, so I'm good to go. 

So is my issue a result of a goofy mod chip and if so, what do I need to do to get things stock again so I can just perform a soft mod?

*edit*  Doh!  Bad typing strikes again.

[thomas_surles]

Have you tried removing the modchip?
Depending on the chip you might be able to flip a switch or disconnect a wire to disable it. Then you can do the softmod.

[nexusmtz]

Chances are, you've replaced the drive with a larger one and didn't lock it, so it's not going to boot without a locked drive if you remove the mod chip, but you should get an error screen and a red ring. At least you'll know that the xbox is working.

You might be having the known problem of trace rot if the xbox is acting funny. If you look at the four traces along the front(?) edge of the board, there may be small breaks which open while the box is running. I temporarily fixed one of mine with conductive paint, but it stopped working again about a year later. You can bypass those traces, but that's probably more work than you want to put into it.

[Howard_Casto]

It's actually got the stock hdd in there.  I'm unsure if it's locked or not though. 

I'll try removing the chip tomorrow and see what happens. 

I vaguely remember having xbmc on there and it was outputting 720p.  Could that somehow be an issue?

[pbj]

Yup, that could be your issue.  Plug in a composite cable and see what happens...

[Howard_Casto]

Ok ... sorry I've been busy.  So I tried the original av cables.... nothing.... tried all configurations of the mod chip and tried turning it on without the mod chip installed.  Still nothing. 

So what do you guys think?  Dead hdd, corrupted bios, or something else? 

For now I'll probably just keep it as a wall hanger.  The only thing I've used my original xbox for in the past several years is outrun 2 sp, and I've got that covered on the pc now. 

[thomas_surles]

If it was a dead hdd it would still boot and go to the error screen.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah it's odd.  I can hear the hdd spin up and the fans are working as well.  I'm just not getting a signal. 

[woosdom]

did you try the composite cables as pbj suggested? not the regular AV cables.

[Howard_Casto]

Yup.  It's just dead as a doornail in the AV dept. 

I think I have the original hdd images backed up somewhere, so I might pull those out and see if it fixes it, but it's probably a lost cause at this point.

[woosdom]

that's too bad. you know GameStop sells the original xbox for $50. maybe soft mod one of those.  I soft modded mine about a yr ago but it died not too long after that. Was in the attic for way too long.

[Malenko]

get anything on screen with HD/DVD disconnected?

[Howard_Casto]

No, not a thing.  Like I said though, you can hear stuff spinning up, so I'm not sure what happened. 

Yeah it's unfortunate.  I thought when I got everything out that the older consoles would be the issue.... nope, it's the newer ones.  They don't make 'em like they used to.

[Malenko]

if theres nothign on screen with the HD/DVD connected it removes them from the equation.

I'd pull the box apart and check the mobo where the video out put is for broken traces or cold solder joints. Good luck with the fix thought!

[pbj]

Lol, yeah, good luck reflowing those joints.  I'd look to make sure you haven't torqued the motherboard into the RF shielding, to be honest.

[nexusmtz]

If you're going to start de/soldering things, see if you made a backup of your eeprom somewhere and rewrite it. A corrupt eeprom could be at fault.

[pbj]

If you're going to start de/soldering things, see if you made a backup of your eeprom somewhere and rewrite it. A corrupt eeprom could be at fault.

Yeah, one in ten millions m chance there....

[nexusmtz]

Yeah, one in ten millions m chance there....

Should have gone with a million. Whether you meant that people don't back up, or that eeproms don't get corrupted, it only takes 3 cases of each to cover the 25[url] million total units, and I've backed up and repaired more than 3 myself.

Given that people would toss in a solderless chip with an embedded-eeprom bios to flip a messed up box, it doesn't seem like a 10 million stretch to me. If Howard knows the history of this Xbox, he'll know whether the suggestion makes sense for his case.