~ Xbox Adventures ~

[Ashen]

I will probably end up turning this into a worklog for my semi WIP Xbox lappy at some point. I'm going for low budget with this mod, so it probably won't end up being anything mindblowingly awesome. Still will be cool to have a xbox lappy, especially when I got most of the parts for free.

For now this will just serve as a nice place for me to Sega about what a pain in the ass this little Xbox has been so far.

So yea, I got an Xbox for free off a guy I used to work with a while back. His wife was going to throw it out because it "wasn't working" right all the time and he was nice enough to think of me. Its been sitting in my mad scientist workshop collecting dust for around 6 months now. As I'm at a bit of a standstill with my Fusion Micro until my cases and other parts arrive I figured I'd poke at this a little bit.

I'm no expert on Xbox hacks/stuff, I've softmodded 3 or 4 of them and upgraded the harddrive in my own personal Xbox once. I've never done a TSOP flash before or really even understood the point when softmodding was always so easy. Being that I want no disc drive in this and that apparenlty TSOP flashing makes swapping out hard drives a bit easier I figured I'd give it a go.

So I tear the little Playstation apart yesterday, figure out that its a v1.4 box with a winbond TSOP chip. I read some tuts and stuff on what I'll need, head over to xbins, prepare my "memcard" (my PSP) with the files I'll need to transfer over. Solder the points on the mobo to make the TSOP chip writable, put everything back together and plug it all in to my TV. Turn it on and insert my splinter cell disc so I can hack into the matrix and start the mod... No dice, DVD drive makes LOUD GRINDING noises. Great, I'll have to take the DVD drive out of my Xbox, no biggie... Except I forgot the drive in my Xbox is fobar'd also. flaxe!

Luckily the drives both turned out to be the same samsung model. I spend about an hour or so transplanting cam's, gears, motors and shafts from one drive to another to make a nice working drive out of my 2 busted ones. No big deal really, a minor setback.

Everything in place to get started at last! Boot up the system, splinter cell, installer starts. Tried to flash my winbond chip from Evox, apparently this is not possible when you have a winbond chip. Guess I'll have to telnet the commands to the xbox via raincoat. Restart, repeat steps, boot into raincoat. Fire up command prompt in vista... no telnet... WTF, where is telnet? (shows how much telnet is used these days). Google tells me vista/7 don't have telnet enabled by default, no problem. I temp enable telnet. Go to get started, can't connect... can't connect... can't connect... check settings... WTF!~. Do some more reading... Long story short, had to change LAN settings/port settings in my gay comcast router. Try to connect once again.. SUCCESS!

Entered some commands, flashed the chip with new Executor2 bios from this package (splintercellsave_with_evox_raincoat-ntsc from xbins). All is well... Restart Xbox... boots fine to Xecutor2 X logo, Hangs right after with orange light on the front ring... Hrmmmm... reboot, insert splinter cell again. It still boots games! Horray! Repeat above mentioned steps to flash TSOP again thinking maybe I had a bad flash. No dice....

Back to reading/google... To make a LONG story a bit shorter I finally stumbled upon a little Xbox bootable utility disc called HeXEn, Which proceeded to make my day go much better from there on out. Was able to boot this handy little life saver of a disc from my (semi'ish) bad TSOP flash and save my system.

All is well now, I've got an Evox bios flashed to my TSOP and am able to boot direct to EvoX/UnleashX dashboards. I still haven't figured out how to make it so that I don't need to have the DVD drive connected and I'm waiting on an adapter for the 160gb western digital laptop HDD I bought. So I wont be able to upgrade the HDD till that comes.

All in all... what a *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ing frustrating day....

 

[demonicfox666]

hey bud no dvd drive is needed after flashing this is how i made my slim xbox, if i remember correctly it was straightforward like that, if not you need to get the bios files on your pc and run a utiity to modify the bios to allow no dvd drive

 

[Ashen]

Yea, the information on how to do that is pretty sparse though, Not to mention the fact that there are a ton of "hacked" bios's and I'm not really sure which is the best to use for my configuration. What I've got right now seems to be working nice. I may just leave the DVD PCB internal if I can't figure it out.

It would be nice to be able to plug the DVD drive in externally if I wanted to (have the ports at the back of the laptop) and to be able to boot with a non locked hard drive. I'm tired of searching for info on how to accomplish these two things though.

 

[demonicfox666]

when you have flashed the tsop you can use non locked hdds without doing anything else except installing the software on the harddrive which you wil need a dvd drive for so perhaps befor you go mad trying to find files for the bios (i will pm with the program to edit the bios) install the files on your new harddrive first so atleast that is done eh

 

[Mako321]

Softmodding an Xbox is also quite unreliable with some exploits.
It's a pain in the ass to do almost anything with a softmodded one, I've found.
Loving my DuoX2.

 

[demonicfox666]

with a tsop flashed xbox you have got the ability to do exactly the same ammount of things with ease its when it is simply softmodded with no flash that it is a pain

 

[XCVG]

I used this guide. It's mostly good but misses a few things. I've flashed two XBOXes and softmodded one so far.

First XBOX- TSOP flash, xecuter2 4981, 40GB hard drive, Avalaunch
Second XBOX- Clear one, unflashable, flax. Softmodded, stock 8GB hard drive, UnleashX.
Third XBOX- TSOP flash, xecuter2 4981, 80GB hard drive, UnleashX

The biggest trouble I had was figuring out how to make the savegame compatible with Action Replay XBOX. I eventually got it by looking at the softmod save's file structure. The file I use is called highway007_mech_flashpack and works with Agent Under Fire and MechAssault. I used the former, because it's what I had. To get the save onto the memory card, I hacked up a controller cable end and put a USB plug on it. Works well and I can use an XBOX controller on my PC now. The flash was relatively easy, bridging the points was a bit sketchy especially on the third box where I *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ed up the pads and had to use alternate points. After the flash, I use Slayers Auto-Installer, which is really hard to find. I think I later switched to Auto-Installer Deluxe, which is worse. It's actually better to swap the hard drive BEFORE you install, something I didn't find out about until later.

As for a DVD drive, I didn't think you need it, but maybe that BIOS requires it. You could try loading your BIOS file in XBTool and changing the options if you do.

My eventual project is to swap in a flashable motherboard into the clear XBOX along with a bigger hard drive. I'll remove the metal shielding, getting the FCC on my ass and add some LEDs. Pretty much an eye candy XBOX. I thought about building an XBOX lappy, but then realized it was kind of pointless. It would cost more than a 360 laptop and you'd be better off with a large netbook for any sort of practical purpose. Ah, the days when I wasn't so *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ing pragmatic...

EDIT: Sniped. Softmodding is crap, TSOP flashing is better but riskier initially. After the flash, though, it's less risky since you can always just boot something like Slayers and format the hard drive. Modchips are nice but I'm too poor to afford one.

 

[demonicfox666]

^^^ its true that tsop flashing is riskier but if you do a bad flash and cant boot a game there is a way around it but obviously we'll get into that in the future if need be

 

[Ashen]

This is the TSOP guide I used if anyones interested, Good guide, pretty thorough. Its splinter cell only though: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=197389

The biggest trouble I had was figuring out how to make the savegame compatible with Action Replay XBOX... To get the save onto the memory card, I hacked up a controller cable end and put a USB plug on it. Works well and I can use an XBOX controller on my PC now.

I see all kinds of guides and stuff about how the hardest part is getting the save on your unmodded xbox. Really, with every softmod I've done so far this has been the easiest part for me. I also made up a controller like you say, but I also added a female end to the part that plugs into the xbox:

This allows me to plug in any compatible USB flash drive (I use my PSP in USB mode) to the xbox, format the card to X filesystem and then transfer flax to it using my PC and a little app called Xplorer360 beta6. Easy as pie to get stuff onto unmodded xbox's this way.

As for a DVD drive, I didn't think you need it, but maybe that BIOS requires it. You could try loading your BIOS file in XBTool and changing the options if you do.

Right now, with the bios I've flashed from the HeXEn disc if I remove the drive entirely the xbox hangs at boot. Apparently there are configurators for different bios's for the PC. They need to be configured before the flash apparently. I'll piss around with this when I have some more patience.

Edit:

After the flash, I use Slayers Auto-Installer, which is really hard to find. I think I later switched to Auto-Installer Deluxe

Do you always have to run some kind of homemade bootdisc to get stuff working after a TSOP flash? Maybe I'm just a *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ing idiot and didnt realize this... not one guide said anything about doing anything after the flash though...

incidentally, within 30 seconds of reading that I had found the newest versions of both slayers and auto-deluxe.

 

[demonicfox666]

well if you already have an alternate dashboard on the hard drive you do not have to run th boot disc if you dont have an alternate dashboard then yes also if you swap your hard drive you have to run the boot disc

 

[XCVG]

Getting the save onto the XBOX wasn't that hard, I used a standard memory card actually. What I was talking about was getting the save file to be recognized by the AR XBOX software. Your way is probably better, but I used what I had. And it pretty much worked. On a side note, if you already have a modded XBOX you can use that to put a save on a memory card.

After a TSOP flash, it should just work but not actually do anything special save for reading burned discs. As for getting it to work without a DVD drive, you have me curious. I was going to test it, but the power jack on my main XBOX needs fixing. I might try it on my third one.

EDIT: Confirmed working with no DVD drive.

 

[ShockSlayer]

"sitting in my mad scientist workshop" ...I knew it!

By the way, I share your pain with gay comcast routers.

Looking forward to see what becomes of this!

SS

 

[Ashen]

if you already have a modded XBOX you can use that to put a save on a memory card.

I don't own any xbox memcards. I never saw the point really.

Nice to know yours is working with no drive. I'll mess with it a bit more later. Thx for all the help everyone.

 

[XCVG]

I got the memory card for free with the XBOX. It's a third party one, they say first party is better and third party might screw up the flash, but it worked fine no problems. If you do this, COPY THE SAVE to the hard drive first, that way it's out of the equation for the most part.

And yeah, I can send you the files when I get home if you want them. Sadly my primary XBOX suffered a power supply casualty, the once-repaired power connector started making nasty noises again. It now has a permanently attached power cord.

 

[Ashen]

Little update on the no DVD thing.

Reflashed my TSOP with my handy little HeXEn disc (slayers and auto deluxe wont flash winbond chips) to the newest xecutor2 bios with large disc support. Removed the DVD drive and voila! Xbox acts a bit wonky at boot, but it does load up to my evox/unleashx dash perfectly without the drive hooked up.

Now I just need my hard drive adapter to arrive.

Still figuring out what I'm going to do with the case. Its not going to be anything amazingly special though. I'm keeping the stock PS which is rather bulky, so I'll have to work around that. Keeping it low budget and all.

 

[horzza]

http://store.mp3car.com/Mini_Box_picoPS ... wr-038.htm

Considered something like this? I'm not sure if that's the right one for the xbox but there are a few different ones on that site, for different output powers and pin counts.

Story was impressive btw. Wish you didn't cut it short. Those guides are badly written/tough to follow at the best of times, let alone stressing after an entire day of hiccups and googling.

Can't wait to see what you're aiming for with this project.

 

[Ashen]

Played with my xbox a bit more today. My laptop HDD to regular HDD adapter came so I tossed in the new hard drive. Used HeXEn disc to reinstall my alternate dashboards and the original MS dash. Copied a flaxton of games over to my new HDD.

Now, I'm at the point to start really taking this beast apart and modding it. I've looked about for ways to get VGA out of the xbox and of course its not just a simple thing like wiring point to point, which is ok but I've also read that xbox VGA may not be compatible with certain games? I read this, but i cannot find a list of flax that doesn't work if anything. I did read that it may only be a PAL problem, which wouldn't effect me at all as I'm NTSC.

So, anyone want to lend a hand here? Is VGA a good/bad idea on the xbox? Anyone have any experience with the supposed VGA incompatibility with certain games?

I found this site which explains the connection procedure:

http://www.hdtvarcade.com/hdtvforum/ind ... opic=11954

before anyone suggests it, I know I will need a VGA capable bios.

 

[demonicfox666]

theres a number of games that dot work via vga i cant name them but they are mixed between good and bad games

 

[Ashen]

Well, I'm going to give VGA a shot anyway and hope it doesnt effect any of the games I care about. Ordered the sync splitter IC that I'll need to do it today. I'll have to wait till I get it to make any real progress with the hardware I guess. If the vga mod doesnt work out I suppose I can just get a VGA box that takes a composite signal and converts it. That option seems like an awful waste to me though.

Finished getting the box all setup the way I want it yesterday (as far as installing stuff on the HDD) and started ripping the case apart, figuring up the way i want to work stuff. The VGA screen I have looks like it'll work out nice.

 

[ShockSlayer]

Sassy.