Joined: Aug 08, 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Clarksburg WV
Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2004 6:39 pm Post subject: Chip suggests?
I am buying a 200 gig Western Digital hard drive for my xbox and i am thinking about getting a modchip. I have no idea what the details mean for the modchips so that leaves me in the dark, but i was wondering if someone could throw in a couple ideas for a nice chip. I dont have DSL so no xbox live and i would like someone to bring out the power of the xbox. _________________ When Dad found out the house was full of termites, he got real mad. But I was glad, because now I wouldn't have to go all the way to the woods to get termites for my termite farm.
TheModGod Xbox-Hq Legendary
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2004 8:54 pm Post subject:
Hey lionheart, welcome to xbox-hq.
I'm glad to hear you are entering the modding world!! You will very much enjoy what your machine can do and the 200GB HD choice is sweet man! I am only plugging away with a 120GB HD and will be upgrading as soon as I have time to do work on my own machine.
You need to determine what version your xbox is. Check out some of our tutorials that show you how. If you are still unsure, don't hesitate to post. I personally like the Xenium Chips. But, there are many more to choose from. The Xecuter 2.3 lites and pros are popular, and the Aladdin chip is gaining in popularity as well.
Don't sell yourself short on Xbox Live or other features. You never know when your situation may change.
There are other factors to take in regarding chips besides Xbox Live. There are solderless chips and there are chips that require soldering. It's up to you what you choose. Keep in mind, that if you have a 1.6 version xbox..plan on extra soldering and extra wires.
Once you decide on the correct chip for your xbox, then have it installed you will need to flash your modchip with a new bios. The bios that will come with you chip will not allow you to do much of anything except play xbox games from the original disk. You won't be able to backup your games to the HD so they don't get scratched up. You also won't be able to launch certain applications that allow you to play certain movies and such. Now, not all modchips are flashed the same. Some are flashed via programmers (little devices that connect from your PC to the chip) others can be flashed directly from your DVD Tray in your xbox.
Do yourself a favor and figure out exactly what you want. Figure out how you want to install your chip (solder or solderless). Figure out how you want to flash your chip (Programmer or DVD Drive). Then make another post if you still need pointers or opinions. We have a lot of members here that use a plethora of different chips. I am sure we can help you once we know exactly what you are wanting to do and what version xbox you are running.
Later man _________________ Good Deals: Death@Hand, funkydopenloven, StaticMind, Slamscaper, PorscheXboxter
Bad Deals: None Yet
Pending Deals: Vanguard
Lionheart Guest
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:12 am Post subject:
Ok I'm pretty sure its 1.0 or 1.1, I will find out later. I want a solderless too..i dont know anyone who knows how to solder and I dont know how either. X-ecuter for some reason seems to draw me in...you said its pretty popular so i think i will go for it. I dont know how to flash my chip, so i would kind of like to find an easy and safe way. and finally the hard drive is my last question...it says it can come "xbox ready" and this is what it says.
"This drive comes unformated ready for an XBOX or PC, unless you pick for it to be pre-setup for an XBOX.
*$10 charge* We can pre-setup this drive to come with the original file structure as the OEM 10gig HD. (MS Dashboard ONLY). The drive will come UNLOCKED, so it is plug and play on an MODDED system.
General
Rotational Speed 7,200 RPM (nominal)
Buffer Size 2 MB
Average Latency 4.20 ms (nominal)
Contact Start/Stop Cycles 50,000 minimum
Seek Times (Average)
Read Seek Time (Average) 8.9 ms
Write Seek Time (Average) 10.9 ms (average)
Track-To-Track Seek Time 2.0 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek 21.0 ms (average)
Transfer Rates
Buffer To Disk 736 Mbits/s (Max)
Buffer to Host (EIDE)
Mode 5 Ultra ATA 100.0 MB/s
Mode 4 Ultra ATA 66.6 MB/s
Mode 2 Ultra ATA 33.3 MB/s
Mode 4 PIO 16.6 MB/s
Mode 2 multi-word DMA 16.6 MB/s"
Will this come ready to just put it my xbox and go or will i need to do anything else for it to work?
TheModGod Xbox-Hq Legendary
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:03 am Post subject:
Well, it's your $10 so if that interests you then go for it. However, for a $10 donation to this site you can get access to an autoinstaller that will do all the work for you. First, let's talk about flashing your bios.
If you are going with the Xecuter and the solderless adapter (Incidently Xenium makes a great solderless adapter too) you need to make sure you flash your chip PRIOR to installing it. That is very important. If you get access to our VIP download section you can download a bios of your choice. You can also dowload the autoinstaller, and a kick ass Emulator autoinstaller.
You then burn the bios.bin .ISO and include a dummy file with it. What I mean by dummy file is you need to include a file or files on the bios.bin CD that exceed 50MB. You can use apps, mp3's, images, whatever you want. The reason for this is the bios.bin file is very small. If you burned that and that only to your bios CD your xbox may not recognize it. So putting the extra files on there gives the drive something extra to read and it can find the bios.bin file much much easier. Once your chip is flashed you can then install it.
After your chip and new HD is in, you can then use the autoinstaller. The xbox-hq autoinstaller is based off of the Slayers autoinstaller BUT it has all new apps on it. First you will have the ability to format your HD...that is important! Once it's formatted you can then install your dashboard...
What is a dashboard? A dashboard is a program like Evolution X, MXM (Media X Menu), Avalaunch, and several others. The dashboard is the menu structure you see when your modchip and hacked bios load up. It is what allows you to launch other applications like DVD2Xbox or XBMC. After you have your dashboard intstalled you can also intall apps. PxHDD Loader and DVD2Xbox are programs that can rip original Xbox games right to your HD. They automatically patch them so you can play them off of the HD and put your disks away so they don't get scratched.
XBMC (Xbox Media Center) is an application that you can use to play divx movies, mp3's, stream live internet tv, sites, radio..all kinds of wild stuff.
Our autoinstaller's apps are the latest available for the most part.
The autoinstaller will also install the original MS Dash too! So you have a choice. You can pay them $10 to prepare the HD for your xbox, and then try to find all the apps, dashboars, bios' or you can donate $10 here and get a disk that will do exactly what they are going to do as far as getting it ready for your xbox...
Personally, I think you are better off with a VIP membership access than them just putting a MS Dash on the HD. The other thing you will have to do to your HD is lock it. I'll go over that when you are ready. That's after you have it installed.
What size HD did you settle on? _________________ Good Deals: Death@Hand, funkydopenloven, StaticMind, Slamscaper, PorscheXboxter
Bad Deals: None Yet
Pending Deals: Vanguard
CHEEZ_PUF Xbox-HQ Experienced Xbox Version: v1.1 Modded:
Joined: Jun 18, 2004 Posts: 151 Location: Morgantown, WV
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:07 am Post subject:
A modded box will take just about any HD. The other main thing you need to be concerned about is whether or not you want to lock it. The oem xbox dash will not boot an unlocked HD, but if you never turn your chip off, who cares? right? The HD you are looking at sounds like it will work just fine. Since you don't have DSL (what about cable?) you might want to think about paying the $10 and having the drive pre-formatted. The only other way I know of (easily) to format a drive is to use one of the available autoinstallers. They are rather large in size (several hundred MBs) so if you don't have broadband you can forget about it.
I have an X2.3B lite+ (solderless) and I like it a lot. It was really simple to install (instructions with pic available at the xecuter website) and uninstall if you ever need to use the programmer (I did). Make sure that you can buy a programmer (or get one with your chip) for safety reasons. You never know when you will have a bad flash and unless you can hot-swap with another xbox, you'll need a programmer.
If you haven't yet, open you box and take out the HD and dvd drive. Familiarize yourself with the inside and figure out which version you have. You'll need Torx (star) bits in size 10, 15 and 20. The Torx20 is for the case screws, the 15 for the Mobo screws, and the 10 for the drives and controller ports. I went to Lowe's and bought a ratcheting screwdriver with 18 bits and a couple sockets for $8 or $9. It also has a magnetic tip (telescoping) which makes putting some of the screw back really easy.
Feel free to ask any question you want, but also try to search the forums since a lot of questions get repeated. If you have looked and can't find the answer then by-all-means post. good luck. _________________ XBOX v1.1 - Philips DVD
Xecuter 2.3 Lite+ (that's a tiny d0!)
TheModGod Xbox-Hq Legendary Xbox Version: v1.1 Modded:
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:29 am Post subject:
Hey Cheez, thanks for helping out with the Xecuter questions...
Now I know who I can bug when I break down and install one...hehehe.
I just haven't been able to stray from the Xeniums. I want to teach a friend how to install solderless chips because she lost the use of her right arm in a very bad car accident. She can still use her hand, and move her arm slightly, but most of her motion is from the wrist to her fingers. She used to work for SONY and has tons of soldering experience, but I just think soldering is gonna be too tough at first.
Have you ever had to retighten your solderless chip? And, how much do you move your machine around? What originally kept me away from going with the X23 is I didn't want an external on-off switch. I typically play on xbox live 2-3 times a week and that was a big factor for me. But, from what I hear the install switches aren't hard to install. I was just trying to make it as easy as I could at first.
BTW all, here is a xbox HD compatibility chart if anyone is set on getting a lockable HD. It's pretty extensive!
http://xboxdrives.x-pec.com/ _________________ Good Deals: Death@Hand, funkydopenloven, StaticMind, Slamscaper, PorscheXboxter
Bad Deals: None Yet
Pending Deals: Vanguard
CHEEZ_PUF Xbox-HQ Experienced Xbox Version: v1.1 Modded:
Joined: Jun 18, 2004 Posts: 151 Location: Morgantown, WV
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:26 pm Post subject:
I have used an autoinstaller (Slayer's) and you don't have to change all of those files. Once you boot from an autoinstaller you'll have to choose from the options the one that best fits your drive. It can format for a large HD so F has almost all of the space or you can choose the smaller retail format.
The best time to change the evox.ini is while you have the autoinstaller running. Most of what you will change is simply Yes or No. Swapdate = No (day/month/year) if you change it to Yes you will see month/day/year. The same goes for temperature, etc.
You can change the network setting to use DHCP or not, depending on how you are connecting.
You can also add and remove sections. I like my menus more spread out so I have (under Launch Menu): Apps, Emulators, Games, and Xbox Media Center (my list of apps is very long and xbmc is at the bottom). The Emulators dir is supposed to be under Apps but it doesn't get picked up. You can make items and sections to target anything on your HD. I'll try and post some of my .ini to give you an idea. _________________ XBOX v1.1 - Philips DVD
Xecuter 2.3 Lite+ (that's a tiny d0!)
CHEEZ_PUF Xbox-HQ Experienced Xbox Version: v1.1 Modded:
Joined: Jun 18, 2004 Posts: 151 Location: Morgantown, WV
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:39 pm Post subject:
Yes I have an to retighten my chip. I had a bad flash a couple weeks ago and didn't seat the chip correctly when I put it back. The box would try to load 3 times and then frag. After using the programmer to flash three more times I found out that it wasn't seated properly . I don't move my box around much anymore, but I modded my box before I moved to Knoxville (from Nashville). I think moving it wont cause a problem unless you start banging it around. I took one of the foam inserts from the box it came in and put it at the bottom of a backpack (and wrapped it in duct tape so the foam would break apart) and use that to transport it. Using one hand might be difficult because the chip doesn't have to move very far so once it is aligned the screw needs to be tightened, quickly. A set of 'helping hands' (those little crimper things) might make it easier if you friend can take the board out.
I found a tut here (i think) that tells you how to get the switches out of the box through the ethernet port so they are on the back. I hated the really bright LED on the front so I move it. You have to take the board out and all of the wires have to lay flat (one layer) on top of the ethernet port. If you can't find the tut let me know and I will take some pix of mine. _________________ XBOX v1.1 - Philips DVD
Xecuter 2.3 Lite+ (that's a tiny d0!)
-Lionheart- Xbox-HQ Newbie
Joined: Aug 08, 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Clarksburg WV
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:16 pm Post subject:
Ok my Xbox is Version 1.0. I have been searching and found Xenium ICE solderless that seems to be very nice, but there is still Xecuter 2.3b lite plus and pro. I'm for sure im getting the 200 gig Hard drive. Xenium ICE says it comes pre-flashed so will I have to flash it again , Also what is a good site to find a programmer for Xenium ice. My last thing to say is i might just become a VIP..it sounds really nice. _________________ When Dad found out the house was full of termites, he got real mad. But I was glad, because now I wouldn't have to go all the way to the woods to get termites for my termite farm.
CHEEZ_PUF Xbox-HQ Experienced Xbox Version: v1.1 Modded:
Joined: Jun 18, 2004 Posts: 151 Location: Morgantown, WV
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 9:45 pm Post subject:
2 thumbs up on the VIP membership.
I don't know anything about Xenium chips. I doubt that it will come flashed with the kind of bios that you NEED. It might come with some form of legal bios that really wont let you do much.
The Xecuter Pro chip is not solderless, if that is what you are looking for, go for the Lite+. The solderless chips are a little more expensive because a lot of the work is done for you. All you should have to do is uncover the d0 point and tighten a screw (that's all I had to do).
That reminds me. Be very careful when uncovering the d0. You'll have to scratch some of the plastic or whatever off of the trace in order to make a connection. Some tutorials mention a fiberglass pen (couldn't find one) but you can also use a screw driver. I used the short side of a flat-head because it was just as wide as the trace. That helped keep me from screwing up other traces.
Make sure you have a steady hand and DON'T RUSH. If you get frustrated, take a break and come back to it later. _________________ XBOX v1.1 - Philips DVD
Xecuter 2.3 Lite+ (that's a tiny d0!)
TheModGod Xbox-Hq Legendary Xbox Version: v1.1 Modded:
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 1:49 am Post subject:
Unless some company is flashing them on their own, Xenium Ice chips do not come preflashed.
I just installed one tonight and I had to flash it. It is so easy though. I used the pin header install and highly recommend that, or the solderless adapater. But, like Cheez said, you may have to retighten every once in awhile.
The install took me about an hour because I left a little gap in one of the LPC holes where a pin was coming out. Once I grabbed a magnifying glass I was able to see my gap and fill it with some solder. So it involved tearing down one extra time.
The Xenium Ice has a great OS. You can also back up your EEprom's original settings to the chip.
The TSOP flash config is easy too. This way, when your xbox boots up you just select what bios you want to boot from. Either the MS Bios/Dashboard/TSOP or the hacked bios that you load, in this case I loaded the Xecuter2 4983.67
The Xenium also comes with a DO loom, but I just clipped one of the loom wires and soldered both ends, one to MB and one to chip. That way, I didn't have to solder the ground. You also get a USB port and an external LED if you feel like mounting. Once you get it flashed you can also assign a specific color to the modchips LED so you can tell what you boot with. YOu can specify say green for MS Dash and Blue for Xecuter bios. It also gives you a "are you sure you want to boot MS Dash" warning prior to just launching it.
I really liked my 1.1 OS with my Xenium, but now that I got wind of the 2.0 I really like it better!
Whether you go with the Xenium Ice solderless or pin header, or the X23 lite solderless or pin header, both chips will give you great results. Not too mention you can find a lot of support for both of those chips.
Later man _________________ Good Deals: Death@Hand, funkydopenloven, StaticMind, Slamscaper, PorscheXboxter
Bad Deals: None Yet
Pending Deals: Vanguard
|
All times are GMT |Page 1 of 1
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
HQ Network: 28,900 | 
Guests: 23211 | 
Members: 1 
Forums 
. I don't move my box around much anymore, but I modded my box before I moved to Knoxville (from Nashville). I think moving it wont cause a problem unless you start banging it around. I took one of the foam inserts from the box it came in and put it at the bottom of a backpack (and wrapped it in duct tape so the foam would break apart) and use that to transport it. Using one hand might be difficult because the chip doesn't have to move very far so once it is aligned the screw needs to be tightened, quickly. A set of 'helping hands' (those little crimper things) might make it easier if you friend can take the board out.
