xretrogamedevx

I'm looking on Ebay right now and they're selling for $300-$500. Good job on that find!! I've seen a lot of stuff online (old ps2s, xboxes, gamecubes) that no one cleans. It's like they dig it out of some dusty crawlspace and list it as is. The fact that you could get it for $170 and make it look mint is pretty damn cool. I probably don't need to tell you but careful with those controllers. I had to order 5 of them before I could find one that was in decent shape. Most have worn joysticks (can't even aim because there's no grip), sticky buttons, or just general damage. People list them on Ebay as "tested, working, very good" and you get it and it's like "wtf dude?". I sent 4 back. Ended up paying $35 for the good one. You need some mint controllers to go with that mint box. Keep that thing forever my man.

That's good to know, thanks. I bet that Halo Edition is real nice, congrats!

Jesus, for 50 Euro maybe I'll have it shipped from there. I'll try hardmod and maybe I can find a cheap on at a thrift store here, non-modded, for like $20-30. The only thing I haven't tried is a new xbox, which is probably what I should have done in the beginning. I just figured the components failed or something; who knows. I'll report back in a month or so.

It is. I'll tell you what. In the near future I'm going to buy a hardmodded xbox off ebay and report back. Maybe a month or two, depending on price. I hate failing at things and I'm at wits end with this thing. Maybe if I buy it pre-configured that someone else setup I won't have issues.

SSD had no effect. Honestly I don't have the patience anymore. Hours upon hours diagnosing and testing. More money spent. More sanity lost. Reverted to factory default xbox. No softmod. Green boot screen. Playing Halo 2 like a charm. Even threw the old IDE HDD in there. If it goes, it goes, but at least I'm playing the system now rather than messing with it. Take care everyone. Thanks for trying.

I found a link for reference on another site. I posted this last year. https://www.emuxtras.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=187&t=7441 NOTE: The Seagate 2TB is no longer in the XBox. I have this instead: Western Digital Internal 2TB HDD 3.5” SATA/64MB Cache 7200 RPM(WD2003FYYS) The WD is a CMR drive. I'm wondering if, since the drive is full, seeking is the problem. I'm going to order a cheap $240GB SSD for like $20 on amazon and test it out, since this should remove physical delay with the HDD arm moving.

Thanks for the replies! I'm glad I checked back; new interest. I have the 80pin, 40 wire Chimeric Systems cable that I specifically ordered from this site (although I don't see it listed anymore): https://chimericsystems.com/ I have a startech SATA adapter (the good, red one I spend like $25 on). ** I noticed problems got less when I changed from the 2TB Seagate SMR HDD to a Western Digital HDD (can't remember the model number, and don't want to take apart xbox again. The SMR was DEFINITELY an issue, although fixing this didn't completely fix it. I ended up throwing the 2TB Seagate drive into my PC to use as a generic HDD but it was so slow, and I was past the return window, that I ended up just throwing it out. I will never buy an SMR drive ever again, even for regular use. They are that bad. I was thinking maybe two things were the problem: 1) Some sort of power issue? If I'm using a 3.5" drive will that cause the system to allocate more power to that device and underpower the GPU/CPU? 2) Seek times between reading/writing data (rather than reading off the Disc and caching the drive, it has to read from the drive as well as cache during gameplay). With 2TB filled to the max maybe the seek times are longer because the arm has to move all over the place to read and write data? The only thing I haven't tried is using an xbox that isn't 1.6 or buying a hardmodded one. Maybe in the near future I'll buy a 1.0 with an aladdin chip and try that out. I successfully modded a PS2 and run games flawlessly off the HDD, so I know this type of thing is possible on other systems. Maybe I just have to buy a pre-built system that already works and then never mess with it again. I see hardmodded 1.0s on ebay all the time. If I had bought that in the beginning I would have actually saved money, since I ended up buying everything twice trying to diagnose possible component failure. I'm just pissed because I spent all this money and it still isn't acceptable, and I don't want to just write it off but don't want to end up spending more money to accomplish nothing.

It's been a year now and I thought I would return and see if anyone replied or had similar issues. The system is still unusable. I ended up filling the 2TB HDD with games, emulators, ROMs, videos, and other things just to test it out. Games still lag and chop, videos don't play right, ROMs played from emulators on the system play slowly and are unplayable, making the overall system a massive disappointment. The only thing I haven't tried is buying a new OG Xbox and doing this all over again, but the time and money sink just aren't worth it unless I can get a cheap-ass one for $20 on craigslist or Ebay. I spent a few hundred dollars on this thing and it has let me down. I ended up throwing this thing in my closet, forgetting about it, and buying a PS3, PS2, PS1, N64, Sega Genesis, XBox 360, and XBox Series X and have been having a blast with all of these systems. Some are modded and some aren't. I would like the OG Xbox to work properly so I can play some Halo CE and Halo 2 like the old days, but the frustration isn't worth my sanity and I now have other systems that kick so much ass. The original videos I posted on my other threads are no longer viewable (the hosting site must have deleted them) and I do not have them on my HDD any longer, so new people to the thread can't see what the problem was. Oh well. I don't give up on things often but when I do it's because nothing seems to work and it's not worth the time + effort to continue. It's not worth re-filming and re-posting.

Just an update. Replaced the mobo and nothing changed. Voltages were normal on old one, but thought I would try anyway. I have so far tried the following: Replaced 80 pin cable Replaced SATA/IDE adapter Replaced HDD Replaced TV/monitor Replaced HDMI cable and tried component to TV Replaced motherboard I'm out of ideas. I have zero patience for this anymore. The nostalgia trip is officially over because games run like dogshit. I have grown frustrated and am throwing this thing in the closet and will be buying only current electronics with support from now on. No more internet tutorials for me; they straight up lied about how cool this thing is and how easy it is to setup. Thanks to everyone that tried to help me.

Set to Master. I need to buy a multimeter to test the voltages. In the process of moving and lost my last one. Will repost in a few days when it arrives from Amazon.

Yes, the 8/10GB one. Seagate ST310014ACE https://www.ebay.com/p/69768248 I think I know what the problem is. The StarTech adapter has a power adapter built into it. I was getting random reboots during just sitting on dash earlier. When I went back to IDE I wasn't getting that problem at all. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the power output of the adapter that powers the drive. When I put my new Seagate 2TB drive into a usb/SATA adapter to xfer files from the PC (much faster than FTP), I had zero problems. Speed was okay, transferred 2TB over the course of about 10 hours. When I put the adapter on the drive it's almost as if it's not getting enough power and it's slowing the transfer rate, which is why the IDE drive has zero problems at all playing games from it. I tried a new adapter, but didn't have much luck. Trying the third and final SATA/IDE adapter before I call it quits... just trying to figure out what one to buy next. Probably one without a power supply and will power the SATA drive manually. Thanks for all your help thus far.

I just tried my 2nd 80 wire, 40 pin cable and nothing changed. I spent so much money on this system (mint condition box, the adapters, the games, the hdd, the cables) it's pissing me off that it isn't playable. Please see updated post for reference:

I'm getting horrible lag spikes that makes the system unplayable. I bought Mechwarrior. It plays fine off the disc. Zero problems. When I load it onto the HDD it is unplayable. It's the same with any game I load onto the HDD. Here is an example of the booting sequence into Mechwarrior, both with and without lag. Lagging boot: https://streamable.com/yohvt8 Normal boot: https://streamable.com/71a6ne The lag goes on throughout the game, particularly when heavy combat is involved. Halo is even worse. You can see from just the boot logo that the FPS is like 10. Why does this happen? I even noticed that when shutting the system completely off and powering it back on, the green xbox animation will lag at times. Watch the very end where it begins to stutter. Sometimes, however, it doesn't stutter at all. Lagging: https://streamable.com/vdoktf Normal: https://streamable.com/5220rt I read that the green Xbox animation at the very beginning is algorithmically driven (not off HDD or ROM), so if it is lagging what does that say about the xbox? Is it a cpu/gpu thing? After spending a few hundred $ getting this system up and running I couldn't be any more disappointed. Current specs:Xbox 1.62TB Seagate Barracuda: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H2RR55Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 StarTech IDE/SATA adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EOJNGC2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 24" 40-pin 80-Wire Ribbon Cable: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274553744014 Things I've tried: New 40 pin cable New HDD New SATA/IDE Adapter Putting old IDE HDD back in via 40 pin able (works with much less lag, but still noticeable) I'm at a loss and any/all help would be most welcome. Thank you, -R

Please see new post with better explanation:

Got it working... I had to patch the games and I finally found the right script. It was a problem with 480p on version 1.6. Still dealing with major lag though. I can't figure this out. Makes me motion sick it's so bad.

Xbox 1.6 HDMI Shepherd (was told this was a good model). Fable, specifically. Gunvalkyrie is another. Games play fine off disc. I was told to "patch it" but was given multiple dead links so I'm unsure of what to do next. I might just use the DVD drive for these games, which defeats the purpose of putting all my games on the HDD, but at least it's playable. Would you also know why games played off the HDD would lag? Halo CE on disc runs fine, off IDE HDD runs fine, but off SATA HDD it is so laggy it's unplayable. Other games are like this as well (007, ie). Thanks

So realistically if I'm using StarTech IDE/SATA adapter with an 80 pin cable and I'm getting massive problems it's more likely than not the cable?

I bought an OG xbox and around 10 games. The discs play fine. Upon loading them to my HDD about 5 of them do this weird video flicker thing and are unplayable. I tried downloading the same 5 off of sites (isos and xbe format) and FTPing them and USBing them via FATXplorer. Nothing I do seems to work. https://streamable.com/92nl7k Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it? Thank you.

I set the adapter to master after I transferred over the files from the original HDD. I had to set it to master because if you set it to slave it does not boot at all. I tested the old hard drive with the 40 pin cable and it was faster than the current setup with the 80 pin/newHDD. I couldn't get the 80 pin to work with the old HDD, so I had to use the 40 (constant error messages; the xbox wouldn't boot). I managed to use FatXplorer to write games to the HDD, since FTP was taking so long. I wrote over 200GB of files using the StarTech SATA adapter to the HDD via usb on the computer. Write speeds were close to 200MB/s. So it doesn't seem like it's the adapter, does it? So to recap: 1) Usb PC to SATA via adapter = ok 2) 40 pin to old HDD = ok 3) Boot off of game via DVD drive = ok It's gotta be either the 80 pin cable (which works... can cables be "slow" to move data?) or something on the motherboard of the xbox. I tried the 40 pin on the new HDD and can't get it to work. Gotta wait for the new 80 pin cable I guess (ordered a new one). Also ordered a new SATA to 40 pin adapter just to make sure. Not sure what else to do. Thanks for trying dude. Really means a lot. I've posted elsewhere and no one responds lol.

I bought the StarTech and am using it currently. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EOJNGC2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Is there another brand that you have used with success that you recommend? I bought StarTech because of high reviews, but apparently this thing is garbage. Thanks.

I just hooked the old hard drive up and am playing halo. The lag is improved but still there. There must be a problem with the way the xbox fetches data from the HDD. Maybe poor cables or some sort of interface? The Disc has zero problems at all.

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm at a loss. The F and G partitions are exactly as you describe. I have the Electron Shepherd HDMI adapter. I have a high quality 40 pin to SATA adapter (Startech) that was recommended by another site. Even booting this system is slow, sometimes the xbox logo (the green one in the very beginning) lags!? That boot-up video... is that stored on the HDD or in ROM? Could this xbox be on it's way out?

I bought an OG xbox, softmodded it with Rocky5, upgraded the HDD to a 2TB Seagate Barricuda, have an 80 pin IDE adapter connected to it. I bought 10 games to start off with, to include Halo: CE (the original Halo) and Mechwarrior. I ripped all 10 games to my hard drive. I get horrible, unplayable lag when playing any game (Halo is the most noticeable). Any time I fire the weapon everything lags. I also notice that for every single game, the startup animations (The grey/white/black "Microsoft Game Studios" logo) also lags, so I don't think it's framerate dependent. Here's a link to the logo animation that I am talking about. The animation in this video is how it should look. It's smooth. On my screen (I can't upload a video, sorry), it stutters, lags, and is generally unsmooth. This animation isn't smooth at all, but just showing what I'm talking about for reference. Does this have something to do with HDMI? I am running the output to an hdmi adapter that plays on the monitor. I have tried multiple monitors and have the same problem. The only thing I haven't tried is the component to TV route, because I do not have a TV. I'm wondering if this was a waste of money. Games are unplayable from the HDD, which I thought was supposed to even speed things up. Any help would be appreciated, thank you. -R