KaosEngineer

Yes.

The Cromwell BIOS should have a menu such as shown below for this 2.40 release. Source: Cromwell_Firmware_on_an_Xbox.jpg (1286×966) (wikimedia.org) I suspect it doesn't appear because there's no hard drive installed. Fix: Install an empty unlocked hard drive. The Flash BIOS menu option is in the Advanced menu to the right. Cromwell Manual - Xbox-Linux (archive.org) [Edit: Oops, I need to find a newer version with the Flash menu instructions. Hmm, looks like the instructions were never added to the xbox-linux wiki before they closed down.]

Cromwell BIOS will only boot a Linux disc. It will not boot a homebrew Xbox disc such as OGXbox Installer or TruHexen 2021. It cannot be used to play games unless they run from Linux. Yes, you can hotswap modchips or the SST49LF020 flash memory chip and reflash it when you are running a modified Xbox BIOS. Use Evoxdash or XBlast OS XBE Edition to do so. Edit: Hotswap - isn't the modchip soldered with wires directly to the LPC Debug port? Really hotswapping if you had to desolder and resolder all the wires to remove and reinstall the modchip.

Is there no other menu displayed before the first screenshot you posted? Press the Back button. Does a different menu appear? If not, install an empty hard drive. What happens?

Cromwell / Linux BIOS should have a Flash BIOS option to reflash a modified Xbox BIOS so you can do normal Xbox things.

It will not. It can only boot Linux. Cromwell BIOS cannot do normal / standard Xbox operations (e.g., play games, boot modded Xbox installer discs).

Leaking clock capacitor damaged power button signal trace running to the System Management Controller (SMC) - PIC processor on the motherboard. The power button signal is carried on the outside / bottom trace seen in the above image.

Can you connect the SATA hard drive to your PC but leave power disconnected? After the computer boots, connect the power cable and rescan for new drives with the DIsk Management application's menu option Action > Rescan Disks.

Install and run Evoxdash +3935. Execute its Settings > Backup menu option. Download the hddinfo.txt file it creates in the backup subfolder where evoxdash is installed on your hard drive. This file includes the HDD Unlocking password as well as the HDKey used to compute the unlocking password. The password itself is cryptographically computed using the XboxHDKey, hard drive model and serial number. The unlocking password in this file is 64 characters long (32 bytes) of hexadecimal values. For example: HDDLockDisablePassword dc e8 66 1d cd 84 3f 91 e0 b4 c1 76 68 f6 24 ed 0c be d0 7c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Or, after removing the byte separating space characters: dce8661dcd843f91e0b4c17668f624ed0cbed07c The first 20 bytes (non 00 values) are the unlocking password. I'm not sure what type of data your PC's BIOS expects for the password value - an ASCII text string (e.g., PleaseUnlockHardDrive) or a hexadecimal string (e.g., 50 6c 65 61 73 65 55 6e 6c 6f 63 6b 48 44 72 69 76 65 or 506c65617365556e6c6f636b484472697665). If it expects an ASCII text string (hex byte characters 0x20-0x7F), I'm not sure how you will enter the unlocking password at your BIOS's prompt as some of the bytes are outside of this range. Edit: Easier to connect the upgraded Xbox SATA hard drive using a USB2.0-to-IDE/SATA adapter. This method allows the hard drive to be connected after the PC has booted. Run FATXplorer 3.0 beta and with the Xbox's downloaded eeprom.bin backup file unlock the hard drive.

SATA drives do not have MASTER / SLAVE selection. SATA devices are one device per port.

Not the modchip itself but the person that installed it may have caused damage to a trace on the top of the motherboard now underneath the modchip and pin header inside of the LPC Debug port's outlined area. A trace there carries a logic signal to the RAM to enable it on startup. If the signal is not reaching the RAM chips to enable them - red/orange flashing eject ring.

Don't extract the files from the disc image. Simply burn the dot iso file to DVD-R disc and boot it in your MODDED Xbox. It will not boot on an unmodded Xbox.

Fixing flashing red/orange tutorial - Difficulty 8/10 - Xbox Tutorials - Xbox Hacking, Xbox Modchips, Xbox Dashboards, Xbox Bios, Xbox Softmods, Xbox Auto Installers (xbox-hq.com)

Rocky5 included his hardmod dashloader app, two patched ind-bios 5003 dot bin files (.06 and .67 LBA48 configurations), the Windows ind-bios config application, the original BIOS release's dot nfo and ind-bios.cfg files along with a Readme.txt file describing the patches and dashloader.

Opps, the actual pin is CKE - clock enable. Without enabling the clock, RAM access fails. K4D263238[D,F,M]-QC50 Pin 53 - CKE - Input - Activates the differential clock signal pair (CK - pin 55 and CK# - pin 54) when high and deactivates these signals when low. CKE low, deactivating the clock, indicates the Power down or Self refresh mode of operation. CKE is controlled by the MPCX chip on the motherboard. It is connected to LRESET# (LPC Debug port pin 5) - LPC reset signal; same as PCIRST#. It is not directly connected to the MCPX via LPC Debug port pin 5 but is routed through 2 or 4, I don't remember which, level-shifter transistor driver/buffers on the motherboard.

From the archive's Readme.txt file: Bios has been patched to fix the white+back shutdown bug and also the Ram speed patch has been applied. ( Patching done by xbox7887 from discord, great guy. ) Referring to the bug where the 4 button combo to turn off the console, Left Trigger + Right Trigger + White + Back, activates when only the White and Back buttons are pressed. CoinOPS uses the White+Back button combo which is hard to use when the console shuts off when pressed. CoinOPS Advanced Game Controls BACK and WHITE - Pause Game and Remap Keys or Cheat BACK and BLACK - Show Framerate And Free Memory BACK and Left Trigger and Right Trigger - Restart Game BACK and Right Thumb Button - Onscreen Display BACK and Right Trigger and Right Thumb Button - Load Game ( Buggy ) BACK and Left Trigger and Right Thumb Button - Save Game ( Buggy ) BACK and Left Thumb Button - Lightgun Crosshair Display BACK and A and B - Take In Game Snapshot Source: CoinOPS Tricks and Help - CoinOPS - 1Emulation.com

RAM failure. It can also be caused by the reset signal not reaching the RAM on startup. Damaged trace(s) that carry the signal to them.

M8+ BIOS should never give you an error 16. It does not require the clock to be set as does the stock Xbox BIOS. Edit: Hmm, is your modchip installed with the BT pad connected to a resistor that taps off of the power button signal or in always on mode (shown below), by connecting BT to ground on the modchip? Click image for a larger view Double check that all of the solder joints to the modchip are good. Share images of the LPC Debug port solder joints. Edit2: Which modchip is installed?

No, from what I recall, error 21 means that the stock dashboard files are corrupt or incomplete.

Is the stock MS dashboard installed on the C drive? Where's your replacement dashboard installed? Does CerBIOS's settings file, Cerbios.ini, have a path set to it for one of the boot order list entries:

Yes

Unless you buy an 80-wire 40-pin IDE cable made specifically for the Xbox, CABLE SELECT will not work. Which connector you plug into the device determines its function: host controller master, or slave drive However, with a PC-compatible cable the host controller connector gets plugged into the hard drive and the MASTER (hard drive) connector into the host controller port on the motherboard. Therefore, you must set IDE-to-SATA adater to MASTER instead of trying to use Cable Select. Cable Select is defeated when you have to connect a standard IDE cable end-over-end. From wikipedia.com:

Is the Startech adapter set to MASTER or Cable Select? If Cable Select, set it to MASTER.

Which FTP Client application are you using? You must login to the Xbox's FTP server with a cleartext username and password, not TLS or other encrypted login methods. If you are using FileZilla, create a Site Manager entry to login/connect to your Xbox instead of using the Quick Connect boxes. Set the Xbox entry's Encryption to Only use plain FTP (insecure).

A WAG - Wild Ass Guess. Happened to me. UnleashX changes the Network Configuration used in the MS dashboard. Thus, you have to manually reset the DNS server to the correct IP address, 46.101.64.175, once you run the MS dashboard to test the connection to Xbox Live/Insignia.