[Video distortion / interference]

That type of distortion is indicative of some of the components around the AV encoder needing to be replaced; in particular the electrolytic capacitors. Replacing them should clear up that choppiness in the signal that you're seeing.

[Unusual new Aladdin XT Plus 2 revision]

The chip it comes with has an ID of 0xBF and 0x57, I'd assume its an 002A based on that and the jumper position (it's a 0 ohm link in the photo).

I've attached a copy of the dumped bios to this post, MD5 checksum is 9C1D5305B8F284609A9E15AC66B2C49F

And here's the listing I purchased it from specifically:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003135763443.html

002Dump.BIN

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[Best (highest compatibility) way to install games? ReDump to XISO mount]

I feel as though I'm missing something when trying this myself. I'll go through the whole process but my console will just relaunch the dashboard (XBMC4G) and not boot the game at all. I'm using a supposed XISO supported version of ind-bios 5003.

[Necessity of the top panel RF shield]

The metal shielding is there to comply with regulations such as those laid out by the FCC in the US for transmission of RF signals coming from the console, rather than taking in anything of the sort.

Removing it won't make a difference unless if you're running some extremely sensitive and unshielded equipment close by.

[Is a HDD shell window possible?]

Hypothetically you could perform such a mod and have the hard drive continue to work afterwards for an indeterminate amount of time, ideally you would have prepared another top piece with the window already installed and ready to go so you don't have the internals exposed any longer than necessary.

Based on a tiny amount of second-hand anecdotal evidence (namely the video 'Can a hard drive breathe regular air like us' by Cathode Ray Dude), I'm sure you could do it and have a working drive afterwards... Just don't leave any super important and irreplaceable files on the drive.

[Need a source for Thomson laser flex cable]

I think the search terms you're looking for are "AWM 20624 Ribbon Flex", there should be plenty of sellers on eBay and AliExpress that have 20 pin variants in many different lengths. No sense in scavenging something like this from another drive when it's a standardized part.

[Reflashing a corrupt bios for the Original Xbox?]

I had good luck in the past using an Aladdin XT2+ with the m7 tsop recovery BIOS flashed to it, of course you'd need to boot the Xbox with the chip in order to program said m7 BIOS onto it or do it externally via a device like the TL866.