Forlorn Penguin

You can just customize the UnleashX configuration yourself by opening config.xml in Notepad. That's what I did. Or better yet, drop UnleashX entirely and upgrade to Rocky5's XBMC-Emustation or XBMC4Gamers dashboards, which are much better.

Some drives will take CDs, but it doesn't seem to be very common. DVD-R is the go-to. Also, what is up with everyone thinking they have a 1.5 lately? No one has a 1.5.

On the contrary. It'd be a sin not to mod it. Due to troublesome hardware restrictions put it in place by the stock BIOS, a stock Xbox will effectively become a dead Xbox. Every Xbox should be modded. No exceptions.

Make sure you remove your clock capacitor.

You softmod it first, then you use HeXEn to TSOP flash. Or better yet, XBlast OS.

Are you trying to run it from the Xbox HDD? If so, you have to launch it via root.xbe, not default.xbe.

If you're getting an EvoX logo during the boot animation that means the console is hardmodded with an EvoX BIOS. If there's no modchip in the Xbox that means it was TSOP flashed. Also, if it was TSOP flashed, that means it's not a 1.6, which means it has a bad clock capacitor. Remove the clock capacitor ASAP, as it will leak (probably already has) and eventually destroy the motherboard.

Just to chime in here, we don't need multiple Discord servers for the same thing. This one has been around for some time, is much, much more active and is where everyone should go. A lot of regulars in the mod scene are here and help out all the time. https://discordapp.com/invite/emWX5Uq

No one's Xbox is a 1.5. And yes, of course it needs to be modded before it can read burned media.

DVD-R, usually.

1.2 is 256KB, yes. iND-BiOS 5003.67 and EvoX M8+ are both good. I personally use iND.

Some versions of UnleashX incorrectly label almost all motherboards as 1.1, so I wouldn't go by that. Check the board yourself, or just flash with XBlast OS instead of HeXEn.

The stock BIOS is trash and will render the Xbox unusable if the DVD drive fails (not just the laser, but the actual board), or if the stock HDD fails. These restrictions can be avoided through modding. Hardmodding removes the need for a DVD drive entirely, as well as removing the need to lock the HDD to the motherboard. Softmodding can't stop the DVD issue, but will at least partially get around the HDD issue as long as you null your HDD key. Leaving an Xbox stock also means that you have to play games via the DVD drive, which is a very big no-no, because these lasers are old and dying left and right.

That date means it's either a 1.1 or a 1.2. Get that clock cap out.

It's hard to tell from that picture, but it doesn't look like that's a 1.1. The TSOP looks smaller like how it is on 1.2-1.5 Xboxes. Confirm before flashing. Gentoox does not resize the BIOS. You can use XBlast OS to flash it instead, as it can flash Winbond and will resize the BIOS. You'd have to manually install a dashboard and any BIOS config files before flashing though, because XBlast won't do that.

If you mean that you want to reinstall the original dashboard as a launchable application, that's fine. However if you mean that you want to revert the Xbox back to stock, well that's a terrible idea. Xboxes will die if they are left stock due to awful hardware and software restrictions that Microsoft put in place. You always want your Xbox modded. Specifically, hardmodded, or at least softmodded with a nulled HDD key. I would strongly suggest upgrading the softmod on your your Xbox to Rocky5's softmod (because it's likely running some outdated, unstable softmod) and then nulling your HDD key. After that, upgrade to a bigger HDD and install all of your games to the HDD. Never play games/DVDs/etc. from the DVD drive because the lasers are old and dying. Additionally if this Xbox is not a 1.6, remove the clock capacitor ASAP before it leaks all over the place and destroys the motherboard.

Check which revision it is. If it's not a 1.6, remove the clock capacitor ASAP before it kills the motherboard.

You can just install the chip and manually delete the softmod, yes.

Solid red LED is what's supposed to happen. This disc does that intentionally. The flashing LED indicates some kind of error, which is simply due to the DVD drive struggling to read the disc. Xbox DVD drives are old and unreliable. If your drive struggles to boot HeXEn there really isn't much you can do about it. Make sure the disc was burned at lowest speed possible with your PC's optical drive. Don't go any higher than 4x.

If the Xbox was TSOP flashed, that means it's already hardmodded, which is better than a softmod. There's no reason to install a softmod and doing so will cause a conflict with the BIOS of the hardmod, which prevents a dashboard from booting. Just clean the C partition to get rid of the softmod, but make sure you have a working dashboard path for your hardmod to boot with (probably C:\evoxdash.xbe). EDIT: Oh. I didn't notice this was already answered in the other thread.

You don't need to flash the TSOP if you're already chipped, no. You can still do it if you want to though. Some of my Xboxes are both chipped and TSOP flashed.

It's up to you. The only BIOS that was updated though was EvoX M8+ (to remove the DVD drive check), so if you're using another BIOS, there's nothing different.

I have the software from the first link, but it never worked. Don't remember if it booted or not. It all could have been because of the BT to GND connection though, maybe. Nothing I had found before made any mention of that.

If you got it on launch day then it's a 1.0 motherboard. So if you haven't done so yet, make sure you remove the clock capacitor ASAP before it kills the Xbox. Highly likely that it's already started leaking.

Yeah, here.