Norrecito

FIXED! The "settings" menu did not show that parental controls are enabled so I went ahead and read a little more about "Xblast". There is an option to reset these things in the EEPROM from "Xblast" so I did just that. After going through the initial setup (which I would assume are caused by the "reset" I have performed) my retail PAL games boot without any problems! Seems like all of this was caused by a bad EEPROM I have also changed the region back to NTSC in Enigmah to have access to the high resolution modes and games are still booting just fine. Thanks for your help guys! I could not fix this issue without you and I have also learned how to properly install a new HDD in a hardmoded Xbox!

I finally had some free time to check things out. I have installed "Xblast" and looked around the EEPROM. There was one thing I have noticed here: even though my Xbox was set to PAL (with Enigmah), the "GameRegion" field still showed as "NTSC-U". Without a better idea, I have changed this from Xblast's menu (I have NOT edited the EEPROM manually) to PAL. Now I get a different message when I try to load my retail (PAL) games from the MS dashboard: "You can't play this disc because of the current parental control settings. Remove the disc to continue." I went over the settings and there isn't seem to be a parental control enabled so I am kind of puzzled about this. Anyway I have attached a picture of the EEPROM which was made BEFORE I have changed the "GameRegion" to PAL. Could you see anything else that is wrong here?

Correct Using enigmah to change the region rather than UnleashX solved this issue for me.

Okay I am planning to do just that. What should I do with Xblast once it is installed? Seems like some custom OS to me that allows different thing to be changed for a modchip. Unfortunately I could only do this on next thursday as my vacation has just ended I've also tried to copy the "non-working" PAL games with "Dvd2Box" as they are recognized by the Xbox and even the files seems to be correct when looking at them from the file manager. The Xbox can copy them to the HDD just fine but I get the same black screen when trying to launch them from there. I wish I had own at least one retail NTSC game so I could check whether this problem only happens for PAL games.

Seems like I have the habit of choosing the wrong terms when I try to explain my issue. By "error message" I did not mean the screen with the error code that comes up when the Xbox could not boot for some reason. I have no such thing. The HDD is LOCKED and by pressing the eject button to start the Xbox, it boots up without any problems. The "error message" in my definition was the message that comes up when I try to launch some of my PAL games from there: "Invalid game region. Make sure the disc is an xbox game. Remove the disc to continue." YES all of my games are PAL and even the Xbox is set to PAL yet for some of them, I got this message ALL of my retail games are PAL. PAL Burnout 3 Splinter Cell Dead or Alive 3 Kingdom Under Fire The Crusaders Kung Fu Chaos Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition Halo Project Gotham Racing Star Wars The Knights of the Old Republic Doom 3 ...there could be many more...I don't own a lot of Original Xbox games.

This is exactly what I have done when I did the new HDD install with the exception of choosing a PAL Xbox instead of NTSC.

Yes it would be better to not have this problem at all and so there would be no error message However as a Software Developer I clearly disagree that error messages are not helping the diagnostics. UnleashX does not give me any clues why these games are not working. I am simply returned to the menu. I suppose there is a crash in a background or something but I am not sure how UnleashX works and whether it has a log or something that I could check. (Maybe I could look into this) This error message however (which comes with the chip disabled) at least gives me something that I could start on. Error messages could be misleading because the same message could be displayed for multiple different faults but they are still a lot better than nothing at all.

Yes, Hexen started the process by formatting the HDD.

That is true but If I had removed the option to start the Xbox with the chip disabled then I would never see this error message I will keep it this way for now to help troubleshooting the problem. The HDD I got is a 80GB maxtor drive. I have a hardmoded 1.4 Xbox with the same HDD model. I could do the same new HDD install with the Hexen disc on that one as well. That should verify whether the content of the HDD is the problem. (I don't think it is that simple though )

When I start the Xbox with the power button then I do have the evox logo on the top left corner of the screen. If I start it with the eject button then I have no evox logo (this is what I mean by saying turning on the Xbox with the modchip disabled) I have tried it both ways...the only difference is that with the chip disabled, I at least got an error message that could indicate why the game could not be launched. ("Invalid game region") I could not launch most of my PAL games even if the Xbox has been set to PAL region with enigmah. It does not make any sense.

I have just tried this. Black screen and I am returned to UnleashX. (Yes I have launched the game from the MS dashboard) Just for curiosity I have turned on the Xbox with the modchip disabled and this time it has shown the high resolution options here as well. I have put in Splinter Cell (which did not work previosly) and it is still not working by saying "Invalid game region" but now this is at least fair as my Xbox has been switched to "NTSC" region. What's strange however is that when I have put in "Fable" it did not give the same error message but simply launched it. The image was garbled up but I could still see the game playing. I expected an "Invalid game region" message here as I tried to launch a PAL game from an NTSC region Xbox. Something is very wrong here. I wonder whether they messed up something during the installation of the chip. I might be able to take some pictures of the back side of the motherboard on next weekend.

Just for clarification: I have a PAL Xbox, it is set to PAL (I have verified this in UnleashX but the settings of the MS dashboard seems to say the same thing as I have no option to enable the high resolution modes) and all of my retail games are also PAL. I turn the Xbox on with the "Eject" button so the modchip is disabled. The normal boot animation plays (NO evoX logo) and I am greeted by the MS dashboard. I put in the retail disc of "Fable" and it plays without any problems. It is a PAL game. I put in the retail disc of "Dead or Alive 3" and it gives me the "Invalid game region" message. Both games are PAL yet one of them plays and the other gives me this error message. I have tested a bunch of other PAL games (none of them were backups!) and only a small portion of them does not give me this mysterious error message. I wanted to take this one step further so I have changed the region (with UnleashX) from "PAL" to "NTSC M" just for curiosity. (I hope this is the same thing that enigmah does) I started the Xbox with the modchip disabled but it has reseted back to "PAL". I have read a little more about this modchip and the BIOS is listed as 2 x 512KB (512KB for each bank I guess). I was thinking whether the 256K BIOS I have flashed to it is the problem...but on the other hand, the same black screen issue happens with the modchip disabled so I am out of ideas right now. With the modchip disabled, does the Xbox run with a retail BIOS?

Guys I made some progress but you not gonna believe me... I have searched for this modchip and found this page: http://members.ziggo.nl/pve/duox2/duox2.htm It tells how to start the Xbox with the modchip disabled (yes I know so little about modchips that I didn't know how to do this.) This was a very usefull thing to do because it boots up to the MS dashboard and when I try to start a game (a retail disc) I finally got an error message: "Invalid game region. Make sure the disc is an Xbox game. Remove the disc to continue" ALL of the my retail games are PAL yet the ones which do not work are giving me this message. How is this possible? YES it is a PAL Xbox and by looking at the settings of the MS dashboard, it is set to PAL (no option to enable high definition modes)

I have tried the second bank of the chip. The Xbox could not even start with it. It tries to start but turns itself off immediately and repeats this 3 times and after that it comes up with a flashing red LED. (It gives no picture) This might be a very useful information to me though...the original motherboard of this Xbox (which I have replaced as I said in my first post) is having the very same problem. Maybe someone flashed the wrong BIOS to the modchip. It has a very different (and cheap) looking modchip though. Still I might be able to ressurect it if I buy and install another modchip. My main Xbox is only softmoded. I was the first one who opened it up so I am pretty sure about this. I don't have another 1.6 that is hardmoded. (Except for the dead motherboard that I have mentioned) I have a 1.4 which is TSOP flashed (no modchip in it) but it has the same incorrect installation which me made start this topic. That is...I don't have any reference HDDs that I could use. All Xbox's I have managed to buy on flea markets either have a dead HDD or no HDD at all. By the way is the BIOS that I currently have the correct one? (256k "Evox M8+ v1.6 137 HeXeN")

It's not the DVD drive!!! I have swapped the DVD drive with the other (Samsung) drive I got and the very same thing happens. I have tried a few games and what was working with the previous drive still works but what was not working is not working with this either. I have put the drive of this Xbox into my main Xbox just to be sure and it works there without any problems. In fact I will just leave it there because it does not have any problems. This I guess leaves us with two options: It is either something in the motherboard or the modchip itself. Not sure if it is a hardware or a software problem though but I would bet on software. I have also checked what BIOS I have and it is "Evox M8+ v1.6 137 HeXeN". It is a 256k BIOS I have flashed with the Hexen disc. I forgot to check the second bank of the chip though