[Unusual new Aladdin XT Plus 2 revision]

It should also be noted that there is a space for a solder jumper in the space of R3 (just under the pin socket), which either connects the LPC headers RST pin to ground on the CPLD or to the Reset pin on the 49LF0X0 chip. I'm not well versed enough in this to know why this would be something you'd want, but having the option on this board seems very unusual.

[Unusual new Aladdin XT Plus 2 revision]

I purchased an XT+2 from AliExpress with the purpose of reprogramming it for XBlast purposes (RAM upgrades n such), but I found that this chip I purchased included an NPN transistor on the D0 line to properly drive it (rather than using the pin on the Lattice CPLD directly).The Jafar chip uses this same method albeit using a MOSFET of some description but the effect is the same.

This seems like a new development, I haven't seen anyone else have a chip like this and I imagine most of the new ones produced going forwards will be this way. But it shows that the producers are taking steps to bring the modchips forward into the modern day.

Here is a closeup of the board, you can see the added transistor.

[Xenium (original) removeable d0 connector]

If I had to guess, it's probably that small two pin connector close by the D0 pad on the chip. It looks a little like a JST XH or PH connector of some size (probably 2.0mm or less). You can buy pre-crimped two wire cables for next to nothing.

[Original Xbox Is 1080i or 1080p?]

The Xbox doesn't output anything over 1080i, if your display is reporting 1080p it is either deinterlacing the signal or misreporting it.

Also 1920x1080 photo/video support is a completely different thing from the A/V output.

[How many years do you think until it’s borderline impossible to find a working original Xbox?]

Several generations from now, perhaps.

[Already have a mod chip, Considering removing for a Tsop flash]

That's exactly what I did to my console, an OpenXenium is useful but if you're only using one BIOS it makes sense.

The easiest way is to softmod the system and do it that way or use SDD's BIOS flashing package so skip softmodding altogether. You'd need an exploitable game of course but that's not difficult to get ahold of.

[Dual TSOP with switch possible?]

It's absolutely possible, there should be a chip select or output enable pin on the package that'll let you choose between the two with (I imagine) the rest of the pins connected together.

[So what not Xbox thing have you done with your today.]

I had a spare 1.2 as a footrest under my desk for a good while, it's been cleaned up and put in the closet since then though.

[Cerbios new xbox bios]

I'm glad they fixed the corruption on the boot logo, ever since the switch to 720p it was doing that for me without fault.

[Mods Chip?]

2 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

interesting... What is the purpose though? Youˋre saying that this holds a BIOS thatˋs normally loaded out of the TSOP or the LPC, and uses other methods to patch the boot rom than what we all use now? Was this just the first real way to do it?

I believe it's worked the same way as it always has: With the D0 pin of the TSOP chip connected to ground (or the TSOP removed entirely), the console will attempt to boot from a bios via the LPC header. Andrew Huang's write-up of hacking the Xbox goes into better detail than I ever could.

It's always been a case of "tell the console to boot from the LPC header, provide it with code from a ROM chip of some kind", this is just an example of the very early, very crude way that it was done (and still totally could be).

[Mods Chip?]

2 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Wait, Iˋm confused. Does this chip contain a bios or an EEPROM? ...and why does it look like an Intel 8086? Itˋs fuckinˋ long and huge.

Dude is that SST a couple posts up mounted and wired directly to the LPC port?

It's a UV erasable rom chip (an EPROM) containing a custom bios. To call it an EEPROM would be wrong in both its function and its contents.

And it looks like that because those things came in large DIP packages just like the 8086 did.

[Mods Chip?]

1 hour ago, The InSoMnIc UK said:

Thanks for your input to date much appreciated. Ok that’s a step closer and two back! So what if I remove/desolder could I then go straight to a soft mod from Rocky5? Forgetting the Aladdin as it’s straight from AliExpress. 

That's absolutely an option you can take in the meantime. A softmod will do just about everything you need to. I'd prefer it over keeping the current chip installed.

[Cerbios new xbox bios]

On 5/24/2022 at 5:42 PM, ShinGoutetsu said:

For those interested in udma5 support

[Cerbios new xbox bios]

Separating the boot animation into a separate .xbe file was a great idea, both for providing extra space for cerbios code and also for customisation. Hopefully we'll begin to see more custom anims in the future.

Also thankfully, not including a bootanim at all skips it entirely. I was hoping that would be the case, and it is.

[Cerbios new xbox bios]

5 hours ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:

Source?

my impatience

[Cerbios new xbox bios]

projects dead lol

[what is this switch?]

Must be a very old chip installed in that thing if it uses a dedicated switch for that purpose. Any idea which one it has?

[Swapping Controller Wires - Duke and S?]

Its just strain relief, best to keep it on if you can rather than take it off entirely. Or if you're an uncaring monster you could use hot glue or something.

[Xbe Shortcut Maker 2.0 bios cerbios path partition R S]

It depends whether XBE Shortcut Maker is being actively developed or not, if not you'll need to fix it yourself.

[amusing/interesting/sus xbox restoration]

My heart bleeds for that poor console. Its funny how this fake restoration dross can be both glaringly obvious for some and also just as convincing for others.

 

Don't get me started on the bogus "animal rescue" videos that people make out there too.

[Cerbios new xbox bios]

Guess I'm ditching iND-BIOS once this release drops.

[Cerbios new xbox bios]

nice

[Xbox Original Modded Communicator Shell with Power Button and USB Port]

Seems a waste to hack up communicators for this purpose, especially when custom PCBs exist to do the same job as well as the possibility that communicators will become useful again for their intended purpose.

[SATA to IDE adapter]

4 hours ago, Acidmank said:

Lol, that's rather OTT don't you think.?  There are so many bottlenecks inside the xbox that if you cant wait an extra second or 2 then perhaps you're on the wrong platform.  

Speed comes second to the fact that the StarTech adapters I've used all boot up every single time, while the three or so generic adapters make it like a coin toss.

[SATA to IDE adapter]

Give me StarTech or give me death!