Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 3:44 pm Post subject: Which modchip is this?
Hello friends.
I have found an Original XBOX in a dumster bin, and of course I could not leave it there.
The case was not in a great shape, it was quite dirty and beaten up. I opened it up to clean it and check for the clock capacitor; I was surprised to see that the system was hard modded.
it is a v1.4-1.5 system, but I was not able to find any information about the mod-chip on-line. It seems like a xecutor, but I can't tell the version.
Also, when I power up the unit, I get no special massage or indication. I get to the default MS dashboard.
So, my question to the community is where can I get some information about this chip, and how do I activate it.
I have very limited knowhow on hard-mods, I have only done a few softmods.
Thank you very much in advance!!
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SCARFACE Administrator
Joined: Feb 06, 2007 Posts: 2470 Location: Minnesota, USA
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 10:24 pm Post subject:
did you try to hit eject button instead of the power button if that dont work try holding the power button for like 3 secs when booting if that dont work then might have to go over the work done and see if there is cold soldering joint or something other wise youc an download hexen and see if that boots or aid either to me this looks like a earlier aladdin maybe one of many clone models of some sort lmao _________________ The one the only Scarface!!
Xbmcmodsforxbox Moderator
Joined: Aug 13, 2018 Posts: 605 Location: United States
Thanks for the responce!
I have tried the power-on combination suggested by Scarface, but nothing worked.
Before trying running hexen, I'd like to find some more info about this mod in order to check the wiring.
Do you have any advice where to look? Not knowing what chip is this, I can't really check
Also, I'm thinking to remove the mod, and return the system to its original state. Thereafter I can softmod it.
Is this possible?
thanks again!
Xbmcmodsforxbox Moderator
Joined: Aug 13, 2018 Posts: 605 Location: United States
Here are some pics.
Also, here's how the points from the chip are connected to the xbox m/b:
Pin L2 --> last pin on the IDE connector at the back of the m/b
Pin L1 --> R3G5 resistor at the front side of the m/b
Pin BT --> R3G3 resistor at the front side of the m/b
An other, unmarked pad from the chip is connected to a via at the back of the motherboard which is also without a label. Maybe you can identify it from the picture?
Also for the picture I posted on my opening post, you can see that some other pads are directly soldered on the debug pads of the motherboard. I checked all solder joints and they seem to be ok.
Anyhow, at this point I am not that much interested to make this work. I would prefer to remove the mod completely and instead do a soft mod.
Can you please let me know if this is possible?
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wires coming from pads L1 and BT of the modchip
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backside of the motherboard, two wires coming from pad L2 and unmarked pads from the modchip
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SCARFACE Administrator
Joined: Feb 06, 2007 Posts: 2470 Location: Minnesota, USA
Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:44 am Post subject:
the last picture you posted it looks like that wire has 1 tiny wire coming off might be touching the other soldering point? or maybe it is just me and my old eyes lmao _________________ The one the only Scarface!!
michalismeim Xbox-HQ Newbie
Xbox Version: V1.4 Modded: Xecuter 3 2tb xerc 2xe
Joined: Oct 27, 2019 Posts: 7
Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:14 am Post subject:
LOL!!! Apparently, there's nothing wrong with your eyes since you're able to see that !!! that's tiny!!
Anyway, it's just a piece o dirt, it's clean now. My fault, soory for the bad blurry pictures, I did this in a hurry.
I'm proceeding with the removal of the chip, and let you know.
kaos_engr V.I.P. Lifetime
Joined: Jun 04, 2012 Posts: 192
Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2019 4:54 pm Post subject:
For that modchip to work (be enabled), you will need to hold the power button for a couple of seconds. A short tap of the power button will boot the stock BIOS from the motherboard, not the modchip.
kaos_engr V.I.P. Lifetime
Joined: Jun 04, 2012 Posts: 192
Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2019 4:58 pm Post subject:
The wire connected to the IDE port pin on the bottom of the motherboard is used to indicate disc activity on the front panel eject ring by flashing it when there is any disc activity. Requires the modchip's L1 pad to have a wire soldered on the top of the motherboard as you've shown.
The other wire on the bottom of the motherboard is soldered to the modchip's D0 point to the alternate (larger) D0 point on the motherboard. It is used to tell the Xbox to load the BIOS from the onboard TSOP flash or from the LPC Debug port connected modchip's flash chip. Without D0 connected and being grounded by the modchip during power up/boot up the console will run the stock BIOS not the modified BIOS from the modchip.
The wire soldered to BT is used to enable/disable the modchip features depending on the length of time the power button is pressed. There are many different Aladdin modchips with various power button press options. Some of the most common ones I've seen are:
short power button tap <1sec - modchip disabled,
1-2 seconds modchip enabled,
3-5 seconds modchip enabled with flash protection disabled
michalismeim Xbox-HQ Newbie
Xbox Version: 1.0/1.1/1.4/1.6 Modded: X2/X3/XST/Xenium
Joined: Oct 27, 2019 Posts: 7
Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 7:37 am Post subject:
Thank you! That's very useful info.
I have now removed the chip and will proceed to softmod the console. As far as I recall, I have tried holding the power button for more than a couple seconds, but I did not manage to boot from the chip.
Also, I think pad D0 from the chip was not connected to anything on the mobo. Could this be why I could get the console to boot from the chip?
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kaos_engr V.I.P. Lifetime
Joined: Jun 04, 2012 Posts: 192
Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 2:43 am Post subject:
michalismeim wrote:
Also, I think pad D0 from the chip was not connected to anything on the mobo. Could this be why I could get the console to boot from the chip?
Yes, without D0 connected from the modchip to the motherboard there is no way for the modchip to signal the MCPX chip that it should be loading the BIOS from the LPC attached flash memory chip. It will only boot from the onboard TSOP packaged flash memory chip holding the stock MS BIOS.
michalismeim Xbox-HQ Newbie
Xbox Version: 1.0/1.1/1.4/1.6 Modded: X2/X3/XST/Xenium
Joined: Oct 27, 2019 Posts: 7
Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 10:19 am Post subject:
ok! that's good to know...
Strange that someone missed this. This looks as a mod that was stopped before it was complated then. Or a poorly done mod!
Do you happen to have a link where I could find out more about mod chips and their wiring diagrams?
Thanks to all for the support!
kaos_engr V.I.P. Lifetime
Joined: Jun 04, 2012 Posts: 192
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2019 4:01 am Post subject:
The best place to look was xbox-scene.com - but its been offline for years.
You can use the Wayback Machine to pull up captures they made of xbox-scene.
There are several modchip pages that can be found by doing so.
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