GoTeamScotch

If you have your Xbox configured to look for your preferred dashboard at C:\Dashboard\evoxdash.xbe, then you don't need to keep virtually anything that's currently in your E drive. UDATA and TDATA hold your Xbox gamesaves, so don't delete those, but anything else there on E: can be deleted if you don't have a specific need for them. It would be a good idea to move your EEPROM backups to your PC if you haven't done so yet. "evoxdash.xbe" is a common name for Xbox executables that are intended to be used as replacement dashboards. EvolutionX (evox) was one of the earliest dashboards, so other mods that came later kept using C:\evoxdash.xbe or E:\evoxdash.xbe just to make things more compatible with one another.

Yup. That's a pretty easy one. If you don't want to de-solder it, you can just wiggle the capacitor back and forth until it snaps off. If it looks like it did leak, clean it up with alcohol. Also, take a peek at the other capacitors to make sure none of them are bulging.

If that screw caused a short in the power supply, then it's possible that the issue was contained within the power supply and replacing it will resolve the problem. As a reminder, these power supplies are interchangeable between Xbox versions: 1.0-1.1 1.2-1.5 1.6-1.6b

Welcome! Glad you've had a chance to rediscover the Og Xbox. There's a lot your can do with a modded Xbox and if you want to learn and explore more, browsing around these forums are a great place to start. Also, a good resource is the FAQ and Tutorials area on the Xbox subreddit here. Of course, if you run into problems, don't hesitate to ask. There's usually a few folks lingering around that are happy to help. Your drive belt should be easy to replace. It would be a great idea to clean the plastic mechanism parts with rubbing alcohol and adding fresh lubricant afterwards. Those drives are getting pretty old now days and can collect a lot of gunk. Remember to remove your clock capacitors if you haven't already done so! Cheers

What BIOS are you using? How did you format your hard drive? What app/method did you use?

Usually you don't need to. When your Xbox is softmodded, it boots up and tries to load the original Xbox dashboard, which then loads the exploit, which then loads your Dashloader app, which then loads XBMC. When using a custom BIOS (by either TSOP flashing or using a modchip), you're basically skipping the process and just booting up directly into your dashboard of choice (XBMC for example). But your Xbox won't really care that the softmod is there or not. I'm not familiar with that 'softmodding tool 1.1.7' disc. It might have BIOS flashing apps on it, but I'm not sure. Hexen can flash your BIOS though, so that's an option. To flash your new BIOS, you can either use Hexen OR use the app XBlast over to your Xbox and run it (no need to burn a disc). XBlast lets you pick a BIOS from your hard drive and it then flashes your TSOP with that new BIOS. Hexen comes bundled with a bunch of BIOSes, so in that regard it's a little simpler. I prefer XBlast personally. Instructions for using XBlast can be found here. No. This process doesn't format your hard drive. If you have a larger hard drive installed, then you'll need to use a BIOS that supports large hard drives (also known as "LBA48" patching). Many of them do by default, or they can be patched to support bigger hard drives. iND-BIOS, for example, has LBA48 support built-in. EvoxM8+ can be patched to support LBA48 (and there's pre-patched copies of M8+ floating around on the internet). In general, it's a good idea to, but like I said, you can leave those softmod files in place. After you flash your TSOP, they're not necessary anymore and if you try to load up the stock Xbox dashboard, it could try to load the softmod, which could cause your Xbox to freeze up. Once your TSOP is flashed, you can copy over a stock version of the Xbox's C drive to remove the softmod. If there's files on your E drive relating to the softmod, you can delete those too. Most BIOSes will try to load whatever app you have under E:\evoxdash.xbe. If you have your Dashloader app located here and it points to XBMC, then you should be all set. If you want to skip using Dashloader, you could configure your BIOS to point to a certain app on your hard drive. I have my BIOS set to load "E:\XBMC\default.xbe". If your flash your TSOP and something goes wrong, you can pop in a disc (like Hexen) and use the file browser to look around your hard drive to see what's going wrong. If it were me, I'd flash iND-BIOS 5004.67 to the TSOP using XBlast, then find a backup of the Xbox's C drive on the internet and copy that over to your C drive. iND-BIOS looks at E:\evoxdash.xbe for a dashboard to boot up into, but you can use the "Ind bios configurator" app for PC to make it boot up to an app in a different folder if you wanted to. Again, if Dashloader is already at E:\evoxdash.xbe, then you probably don't have to configure ind-bios. Tip: don't flash the "BFM" version of any BIOS to your TSOP chip.

Not all HDMI cables are made equally, no. Whether or not you'll notice or care about the difference in picture quality is a different story. The HDMI adapter cables made by Pound and Hyperkin are okay, but aren't as good as N64 Freak's internal HDMI mod or Kekule's HDMI cable. The Pound and Hyperkin cables can sometimes show lines or visual noise in the video signal (the amount of visual noise can vary per Xbox even). The cheap $6 Xbox component cables on eBay usually suck, so anything else is a better option. If your TV has component inputs and you can find a good set of component cables, then there's no real need to get an HDMI cord/adapter. Like Dave said, MakeMHZ's HDMI mod is supposedly the best option out there, but it also requires that you solder it onto your Xbox and not everyone is comfortable performing that process.

Are you sure? According to the Xblast manual, a partially working TSOP is needed for this method to work. I bought an Xblast from N64 Freak a few months ago with the expectation that I could use it fix a board that had a bad copy of iND-BIOS flashed to it. Apparently the "inject config into BIOS" feature of the iND-BIOS configurator tool doesn't work and leads to a corrupt BIOS. I tried and failed to fix the TSOP using an Xblast, then researched it and found out this is the reason why. I just have a cheap Aladdin chip on that board that lives there permanently.

Linking a few potentially relevant sites/projects. These projects could have some useful examples or serve as inspiration. ----------- pata-gpio: https://github.com/manawyrm/pata-gpio Purpose: Use Raspberry Pi's GPIO as an IDE interface. Allows you to connect IDE hard drives to a Raspberry Pi, which can then connect to a PC over the Pi's USB port. This basically acts like a IDE-USB adapter. Not exactly an ODE, but could provide some useful insight into reading/writing to an IDE cable over a Pi's gpio pins. One downside is that there's no pins leftover for handling the Xbox's tray state. Another is that the data transfer speeds top out at ~800 KB/s due to the use of libgpio, which isn't intend for data transmission like this. So passing data to an Xbox's motherboard in real time probably isn't realistic using this method. Xbox DVD drives send data to the motherboard at many times that rate. But again, this project could potentially just be used for reference to get an idea of how to tackle sending IDE signals from an Raspberry Pi. Also, in this same project, the author has a GPIO to IDE adapter board (with gerber files). ------------- The NetPi-IDE project (SVN: click here), mentioned in my 1st post, seems to have some interesting hardware to go along with the project. It has a custom board with an fpga that allows for faster transfer speeds. So, in its current implementation it is limited to 2MB/s, but can be clocked faster. An interesting concept. I wouldn't think a single Pi (or Teensy, etc) would have enough overhead to deal with ODE as well as HDMI signal processing. EEPROM tools might be an neat additional feature, but I think the limitation there would be a lack of GPIO pins (assuming they would all would be tied up on the IDE interface).

Yup! I remember your Xbox mini from back then too. Your case mods have always been next-level.

If you're looking for an IDE cable for Xbox, Kekule has 80-wire cables specifically made for original Xbox. I've used them in several Xboxes. Works very well. https://chimericsystems.com/products/custom-xbox-ide-cable

Since it carries a low voltage digital signal, the wire doesn't need to be very thick at all. Something like a 15 to 20 guage (~1mm) wire is fine. Thicker wire is okay, but not needed.

Selling my Raptor PCI Card. This card goes in a computer and connects to a development kit Xbox to facilitate the DVD emulation feature that dev kits support. For more info on what this card is, see here: https://xboxdevwiki.net/DVD_Emulator I bought the card brand new a few months ago. I installed it into my PC and planned on trying to use it with my dev kit, but sold the dev kit before I got to using it. It's in perfect condition. Price: $120 shipped to lower 48 states in the U.S. (if located elsewhere, pm me for shipping rates) Contact me here (reply or PM) or email me directly at my username at gmail dot com. Payment via PayPal (preferred). Shipping via USPS or FedEx. Will be shipped in anti-static bag. Photos -> Full-size: https://i.imgur.com/Do8VKl2.jpg Full-size: https://i.imgur.com/dRQo5N0.jpg More photos available upon request.

It allows a person to use a folder on a computer as if the folder was a disc sitting inside the Xbox's DVD drive. Alternatively, they could connect a hard drive (to the PC card's IDE port, pictured above) that contains the contents of the DVD disc. The equipment will mimic a DVD drive, including tray state (open/closed/busy) and read speeds. Hard drives are obviously faster than DVD drives, so it limits the bandwidth down to that of a DVD drive so devs could see how fast their game would load. This tool ("Xbox DVD Layout Tool") was used back in the day when game studios would go to author their game discs. It let devs decide where files would physically go on the disc so as to optimize the placement of files. So, files for one level in a game could be located next to each other on the disc to reduce the amount of seeks going on while loading. Once they have everything optimized, they would burn the final "gold" disc.

Your USB drive is probably formatted as FAT. XBMC can't write files to a FAT formatted USB drive. It can read FAT drives but not write to them. If you want to be able to copy to a USB drive in XBMC, format it as FATX. I think UnleashX is different though. I'm pretty sure it can write to FAT flash drives (as well as FATX ones). I don't have a drive handy to test with so I may be wrong.

Thanks for the update! After looking up that Zalman of yours, I think I might actually pick one up. It looks like a great way to handle operating system ISOs. I usually have a couple of flash drives that I format and flash as needed, but that looks like a better solution. But yeah, that's too bad that it won't work for this purpose in an Xbox. Once I get some spare cash, I plan on buying a couple options to see if any are compatible. I imagine SD card adapters exist. I have a CF adapter that I use in Xboxes when I use as a bench hard drive for testing motherboards and junk. I admire your dream, but that's a whole lot of work to get to essentially basically the same outcome as using discs. Maybe someday someone can clone the XDK's drive emulator... PC card (installs into a PC and requires special software included in the Xbox dev kit suite) -> Xbox card (sits in between IDE cable and DVD drive) -> Ports open at the back for hooking up cables ->

Very nice. If I still had my iR rework station, I might have given this a try.

That's odd. I usually see about 80-100MB/s. Do you have another drive you can test against? Or maybe even a 2nd PC? You might try seeing if the developer has suggestions. He's usually pretty responsive to support requests. https://fatxplorer.eaton-works.com/contact/

I hope it works because it's something I'm interested in too. Check out my thread here for some other devices I've found. https://www.ogxbox.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3960-optical-drive-emulation/ The DVD drive connector on the Xbox's IDE cable expects there to be an ATAPI IDE CD/DVD drive specifically. I'm not sure if that Zalman device presents itself over eSATA as an ATAPI CD/DVD device. It claims to, so hopefully it does. And hopefully your SATA-IDE adapter passes that flag along to the Xbox. If it presents itself as a regular hard disk, then that would be a problem. Also, according to this website, the eSATA port is for copying files to the device, not for optical drive emulation (only USB offers ODD). If that's true, then it won't work.

Update- I re-did the diagram. Kekule pointed out that the numbering layout was wrong. The diagram I posted above works, but the way the pins are numbered are not standard. This new one is based on a diagram by Smoke Screen. That one was really small though, so I re-did the entire thing from scratch in photoshop. It's much larger now and much more crisp. It's also more print-friendly now (lighter colors). Here's the source PSD file if anyone wants it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tTx7DJOl9cUFaLV3w_hO61bVtvvhJaMv/view JPG Mirror: https://i.imgur.com/ZWvcXtN.jpg Reminder: wiring up the yellow cable to carry digital audio is optional.

Just made myself a component cable today. Came out good. The diagram on the original post isn't very good, so I took one that feudalnate (from Reddit) made and spruced it up a bit, and also added a correction based on KoasEngineer's feedback. Also, for anyone wanting to get digital audio, you can use the yellow RCA plug and connect it to your amp's Coaxial input. Enable digital audio in your Xbox settings and boom- 5.1 digital audio.

This is a very short description of your project. What exactly is it? Is it a framework for building Xbox apps within NXDK? Any further details you wish to share? If it is just original code built by you (or licensed to be shared), then it should be fine. If your code includes proprietary code from the official Xbox development software, then it's probably not a good idea to share here.

It depends on the collector and on the rarity of the Xbox. Some collectors want the console to remain sealed while others don't mind as much. Xboxes in particular suffer from capacitor leakage issues, which can lead to permanent damage to the motherboard if not handled. So, a sealed console (that is not a 1.6) will definitely still have those old capacitors, which means it could be int he process of breaking itself due to trace rot issues. If a collector wants it to put their Xbox on a shelf and doesn't care if it works or not, then having a sealed console is more desirable to them than having a working one. On the other hand, some collectors prefer their devices to work, so a "serviced" console will be more desirable to those folks. In general, if it's sealed-in-box or new-in-box and it's not going to be used, then leave it sealed. If it's a regular old black Xbox, then go ahead and crack it open and increase its lifespan (and value) by servicing it. For me, it's often a positive selling point to be able to say "cleaned and serviced", so the buyer knows it likely won't break itself in 6 months when trace rot issues pop up. But again, it depends on how rare the Xbox is and whether its intended to be usable. I personally have always preferred working Xboxes, so intact seals aren't something I care about or put extra value towards. Some people do. The more rare and expensive the Xbox, the more I would hesitate opening it. Once you get into the $500+ range in value, then I'd pause and consider whether it's worth it to crack it open. The more expensive it is, the more likely you are to attract collectors who are more picky about that stuff. Used Halo/green editions, crystals, even some of the translucent blue ones (excluding Kasumi) are usually fair game in my opinion. I have broken the seals on plenty of Xboxes (launch team edition, debug kit, dvt4, mountain dew, and more) and I don't usually have a hard time finding buyers who are willing to pay what it's worth. Other people desire intact seals and that's also perfectly fine and valid. P.s. consider that some folks peel up the stickers then just put them back when they're done. So even if the labels are pristine, it's not always an indicator of the Xbox not being opened.

Sure. The modchip simply holds your BIOS and you can flash a new BIOS onto the chip as you please. You can use apps like EvolutionX or XBlast OS to flash new BIOSes to your chip. I personally prefer XBlast OS, which you can download from this thread: click here. It's a good idea to ensure the BIOS you're using is right for your needs. You can see a comparison of popular BIOSes here: r/originalxbox FAQ (Reddit). EvoxM8+ is a good bios overall. If you have an upgraded hard drive (larger than 137GB), then it's a good idea to edit EvoxM8+ with EVTool to allow for LBA48 support, which basically makes it so your Xbox knows you have a big hard drive installed. I personally like using iND-BIOS 5004.67 when possible. It has all of the common features people look for, and you can customize it by editing a file on your Xbox's C drive (without re-flashing it whenever you change a BIOS setting). When flashing a new BIOS, make sure you have a dashboard located at the right path on your Xbox's hard drive. If your old BIOS is configured look for your dashboard at C:\evoxdash.xbe and your new BIOS instead looks at E:\evoxdash.xbe, then it might fail to start up. Many BIOSes are set to look for E:\evoxdash.xbe by default (plus a few other spots). If you mess up along the way, it's usually pretty easy to recover by popping in a disc, like Hexen, and booting to that then using the file browser to figure out what went wrong. Hopefully that all made sense. P.s. your DuoX2 modchip has a 512KB chip on it, which means you can flash a BIOS that is up to 512KB in size. Many BIOSes are 256KB, so that's not a problem. You just can't flash a big 1MB BIOS onto it. EvoxM8+ and iND-BIOS are fine and are both 256KB. Cheers

SOLD!