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It has long been thought that the Xyclops chip, which contains the BIOS on a v1.6 motherboard, is not flashable. However I recently discovered it has a serial port with a variety of interesting commands. It supports dumping the BIOS as well as the Intel 8051 code that runs the SMC functions of the chip. And just like the other Xbox versions that have the TSOP flash, we can reprogram the BIOS on the v1.6. In one way this mod is better than your typical TSOP flash because it's easy to recover from if you screw it up. The serial port will still be available. Tutorial Required items: 3.3V USB to UART adapter. You can find many of these available online at very low prices. See if you can get one that has a TX resistor value lower than 1k because the Xbox's RX has a 1k pulldown. v1.6 Xbox with Xyclops marked A-A02. A-B01 is not supported. Soldering iron Either the GUI for Windows or the command-line script: GUI Download XycloModGUI by OGXLABS https://www.ogxlabs.com/xyclomodgui Script Python installed on your PC Download the script https://github.com/Prehistoricman/Xbox_SMC/blob/master/Xyclops/xyclops_flasher.py A 256KiB BIOS bin file Steps: Connect your USB to UART adapter to the Xbox. This can be done either by connecting to the AV port, or by opening the Xbox and using internal connections. Internal connections Xyclops pin 29 is DEBUG. Wire it to the 3.3V standby voltage. Xyclops pin 64 is TXD. Wire it to the adapter's RX pin. Either: Near Xyclops: OR under the AV port: Xyclops pin 63 is RXD. Wire it to the adapter's TX pin. Either: Top side, near AV port: OR under the AV port: Connect ground to the adapter's GND pin. You can use the xbox metal case, any screw holding the motherboard down, or pin 2 of the LPC header (see pin layout here). AV cable - not advisable! See AV plug diagram here https://xboxdevwiki.net/AV_Cables Pin 5 is DEBUG. Wire this to 3.3V. Pin 18 is TXD. Wire this to the adapter's RX pin. Pin 6 is RXD. Wire this to the adapter's TX pin. Remove resistors below the AV port: R5M3, R4M10. This will affect the video mode recognition and can prevent normal display, so they should be replaced after the mod is complete. Connect any ground pin (such as pin 6, 7, or to the adapter's GND pin. If you cut LFRAME to do a modchip install, you will have to reconnect it. Plug in the USB. It's better to do this before powering on the Xbox Plug in the Xbox. It can be left in standby. Identify what serial port your adapter has. On Windows you can expect it to something like COM5. GUI method: Run the XycloModGUI exe Select the COM port if you know it Click the Connect to Xyclops button Click Browse... to select the BIOS to flash Click Start Selected Operation to flash the BIOS to your Xbox. It should take about 6 minutes Script method: Install Python 3 if you haven't got it already Open cmd, powershell, bash, or whatever the terminal is on your PC. Execute the script by writing python xyclops_flasher.py your_bios.bin COM5 to the terminal, replacing your_bios.bin with the path to your BIOS file, and COM5 with your serial port. Press enter Follow the on-screen text. It should say Xyclops communication established and ask if you want to erase the flash. Once the connection has been made, or even attempted, you may be unable to turn on or off the Xbox. That's normal. The SMC gets frozen while the serial is active. The Xyclops can get upset and stop responding sometimes. If you can't get communication, try unplugging the Xbox for 10 seconds. If you get erase timeout, make sure you made the GND connection. If you can't get communication, then your serial adapter might have too much internal resistance. Identify its TX resistor and reduce it to ~500 ohms. The flashing process takes about 2 minutes, and the verification (if you want to do it) takes another 2 minutes. If you want to verify again, use the -v option: python xyclops_flasher.py your_bios.bin COM5 -v The Xbox power button should work again, so try turning it on. If you get video issues (like greyscale video) and you removed two resistors in step 1.2.5, you will need to place the resistors back. Disconnect the DEBUG wire for enhanced stability. The Xyclops will freeze whenever it sees any activity on the RX pin. FAQ Can we use a BIOS bigger than 256KiB? Not on a retail xbox. Some rare devkits may be able to do 512KiB but I have not confirmed that. I ran the script and my Xbox won't turn on! Yes, the SMC will freeze when it receives serial communication. The script should resolve that if it exits successfully, so I must assume it failed. You can unplug your Xbox for 10 seconds and plug it back in to reset and try again. Can this be done via a software method? Not to my knowledge, but it is rumoured to have been discovered. Technically the answer is yes, but it involves using the serial first and then reprogramming the SMC (advanced). What else can it do? The Xyclops serial port is able to do a lot of low-level actions on the SMC. For example, it can 'press' the front panel buttons, change fan speed, change LED colours. It can also potentially do some hacky things such as spoofing the video cable mode, or bypassing the boot challenge (FRAG). We are also able to re-program the SMC which could lead to some more advanced mods for specific and niche purposes. Through the AV port??? Yeah I know right? We can't be sure why Microsoft made it this way. It's too slow for factory programming AND there's those resistors preventing it on retail units. It could definitely have expedited the development process of Xyclops, but that doesn't explain why it was left present in the retail motherboard.

I just restored the latest V1.6 with the Samsung ram that I've ever seen, 2005-07-06, 1098021-52805 serial #. Has anyone else seen a later date V1.6?

Hi all, I was given this power supply and I can´t find much information online about it. I need to know more before I connect it to the power outlet because i don´t want to break it! I did saw some topics and pictures on the forum from people in the UK who had the same "TUSCANY" Branded PSU. so if UK is 230v then i wanted to know if mine is also 230v I want to know the following: 1) is the TUSCANY POWER SUPPLY only found in Europe with 230volts or there is a TUSCANY version for USA 110v? 2) is the TUSCANY POWER SUPPLY dual voltage? 110v and 230v ? 2) my power supply (pictures below) ... I have no clue if it is 110v or 230v, does anyone know? 3) if my power supply is a UK power supply for 1.6 revision of OGXbox motherboard,can it work also on a USA 1.6 motherboard? 4) my power supply (pictures below) at first looked like untouched, but after looking at some pictures online I have he feeling that 3 capacitors were replaced. because from the pictures i saw, from factory, they place a red dot on top of the capacitor, but mine has no dots( I have marked the 3 caps in circles, i believe were replaced and provided what they used as replacement, does anyone know the UF and voltage of the original caps?)

My HDD on my main xbox is an old IDE from 2004 so I decided it was time for an upgrade to modern SATA WD Drive. Only problem is that it now doesn't fit in my case, despite it being large, due to the NES microcontrollers. I'm pretty sure that if I use this adaptor that I can get everything to fit in the case as I'm no longer extending the length of the HDD with my usual goto adaptor. I've tried googling around but everything I see mentions doing some sort of TSOP flash. Is there a way to skip the DVD check without doing a TSOP flash?

Hi everyone, I hope you're having a good summer so far! So I saw an ad for this v1.6 Xbox in my local Kijiji listings for $10 CAD (roughly 90 cents US...j/k). It was mangled, like it fell off a desk while the lid was off and the power rail caps were visibly leaking. I figured, what the heck, it's probably those caps - I'll replace them and hey, one more 'Box saved. So I bought it, cleaned it up, reshaped the frame and replaced the caps. Figured it would boot up right? Nope, absolutely nothing happened. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what the problem is...everything on the motherboard looks good and all connections are tight. The only other visible issue is a swelling cap on the power supply (see pics). I tried testing it with a multimeter and it's out of range, but I also noticed there is continuity across the power supply. I can literally touch any two points on the power supply and get continuity. Is the power supply the issue? Is there anything else I might have missed? I have two working consoles (a 1.1 and 1.2), but I don't think I could use the power supply from the 1.2 to power a 1.6, right? (Of note, I have the DVD drive, hdd and the remaining mobo screws, they're just not in the pictures.) Thanks all.

My Softmodded v1.6 is having issues on soft restarts. It’s going into an Error 07. Weird because it’s running an Samsung EVO SSD and a Startech adapter that I Installed a few years ago. Any clues? It doesn’t have a boot issue. It has an issue with soft restarts using my controller with the four button method from XBMC and the softmod.

Thanks to @zzattack and his help I have been able to more successfully complete CPU Upgrades (2/2) with his technique so far! Will be getting some units up for sale as soon as I can figure out the proper cooling technique! The VCORE Voltage Modifications necessary for 1.45volts on a v1.6 xbox is as follows (using 0ohm resistors)

I softmodded a series of XBox OGs in a marathon week but discovered an issue with model v1.6 and dualboot not working. All versions below seemed to work ok. Anyone else have this issue? Thanks

As the title says, I have a Xbox v1.6 modded with a DuoX2 Hyundai chip that I haven't used for years and now I get no TV-signal. I then remembered I could start it without the chip by starting it with the open button. Then I did get a working TV-signal so my problem seem chip related. One time when I tried to start I think the xbox ring blinked green and red, but now it always look normal green. I am basically a comlete nuub when it comes to electronics but I do have a soldering iron etc including a multimeter so I'm ready to try some CPR. I did clean some goo from the mod chip between the switch and the chips, but can those even leak something? Most of what you see in the image as white is reflection of light and not that worn out from cleaning with a q-tip and isopropanol. I pulled the switch back and forth a few times to clean dust from it and make sure it has a good connection. The chip blinks red once every second but I read that this is normal for this chip when it runs. The thought have crossed me to try to boot it switched the other way just to see what happens, but that is for lower versions of the motherboard I believe and I had never opened the xbox before so it should be in the right position. The motherboard seems fine too me. No leakages and all its capacitors look fine to me. I have the golden clock capacitor which seems to be in good condition. However the PSU Delta D capacitors may be leaking, or are those just some production markings? Looks a bit like some pen mark. The big capacitor have a surface difference on top due to my cleaning. I didn't want to clean it where it seems to have a blue stain before the photo so it is the blue stain I am wondering about. If they are leaking I suppose new capacitors or a new psu could perhaps solve my problems? I read that one thing I could try is to use some flux and resolder the mod chip but since I'm a bit inexperienced I don't want to do it if I don't have to so I don't make a worse mess. But I just came to think of the fact that the entire chip can be tilted in it's socket on the motherboard. I dont know if it is supposed to fit that loose in the socked or if that socket is the problem? I also read about a similar problem where it was recommended to try to reinstall bios in the mod chip by using a separate working chipped xbox and switch the chip just before install, but buying a working chipped xbox kind of defeats the purpose of fixing my old one. I suppose I can't install bios on the chip if I start it from without the chip by using the open button to power on and it would be difficult to install bios without a working TV-signal I guess. Any helpful thoughts on where I should start? Are the PSU capacitors busted so I should start there or should I just get a new mod chip or what would you suggest? Just buying a new chip don't seem that easy either though.

Hi all, I've found an Original Xbox which is a v1.6. After connecting it, it doesn`t powering on, so I opened it up and did a check of all the capacitors. The clock cap was a bit leaking, so I removed it, cleaned everything, checked all the traces on the board with a magnifier and didn`t find an issues. At this moment I use a wire instead of the clock cap (I found some topics on this forum and reddit about that). So before ordering a new clock cap I want to have the console working. The console turns on now, but no audio or video. The light around the eject button is solid green. I've no clue how to fix this.

I have one game that I use xdvdmulletter to recompile and when I load into my disc drive of Xbox it never plays. But the full .iso plays no prob on my laptop via xemu

As the name suggests, I have some odd things happening, and I'm not sure how many are to be expected, and which ones are par for my rocky modding adventures. After softmodding a recent purchased box with SID, splinter cell exploit (successfully done 12 or more times so far), here's some weird stuff: Can not access original MS dash to change the time zone. I explain this more below. I followed @KaosEngineeradvice in a past post, and picked up the "stock" C and E drives. I copied the xboxdash.xbe over, naming it something else as to not overwrite the current one. Once in file explorer on console, I entered this renamed xbe dash. It did indeed take me to the MS dash, however, it's altered something else to only allows MS dash. After powering down and on several times, I can only get the MS dash, it loads as if's it's not softmodded. While in this mode, trying to re-softmod just get's me a frozen or black screen or reboots itself, and never loads. The ring always resets to solid orange, no matter what I set it to. I just want default, I then change it within Unleashx as I have before (12+ other mods successfully), I then save, and the color changes to green. After turning off/on it's orange again. I've input my own config.xml which I know has my desired settings, but the problem is the same. The clock resets occasionally when power is removed: maybe I'm wrong in thinking that the clock retains itself after short periods of no AC input. Even after changing settings for Date and Time SNTP on the console, the config.xml sometimes changes but sometimes it does not. I changed the port there to 80, and it registers in the config.xml, but on restart, in the menu it returns to the stock "123" port, but the config.xml says 80. Restarts/"Reboot" always end up with error 7, I must shutdown and then hit the power button. This occurs on several softmods I've done. They all have 80 wire IDE cables with generic SATA-IDE adapters... basically all the parts I have in my 1.6 mods is also what I have in my TSOP mods, the TSOP mods however reboot w/o issue. I've emptied the cache. I've deleted ALL files on C and E using xboxHDM23usb to unlock, and FATXplorer to mount drives. I used the same programs to copy my original C and E, along with several others thereafter because even the originals had the same persistent issues. While I had the originals in, the TDATA and UDATA folders I completely wiped to make sure there wasn't some settings in there that related to stuff. I inserted a know working link and port for SNTP clock stuff, into the config.xml. It worked, but I was behind an hour. This is what spurred all the above attempts at reaching the stupid MS dash: to change the time zone. I couldn't reach the MS dash.... (start reading bullet points from the top again to see this viscous circle), Except now the SNTP doesn't register (it's showing stock settings on the menu, and the time doesn't update), even though it IS in the config.xml, quadruple checked and reentered. Settings say it's enabled and allowing HTTP. Aside from trying to get the clock to sync, ring color, and reboot issues, everything else seems ok: games play, and that's really all i use it for. So it's not a "please help me, I'm begging for help now" type of deal, but I am curious to learn more, and see why some of this occurs. Thanks for the input folks! (Ebay #8)

Got an v1.6 softmodded xbox (with non ejecting dvd drive) that i thought I could turn into a devkit system. Using MVG's 2018 Youtube video. But all i got was a bricked xbox. When i was supposed to start the pbl from the E: the xbox froze. And after a restart the xbox error 21 was present. I then fixed the drive belt on my dvd drive, so i now can eject and insert dvd's but no luck starting slayers-evox or any of my original xbox game. I didnt backup up the eeprom files. On the E: drive there was already present some similar PBL files - so i copied these to my pc before overwriting with MVG ones : ( boot.cfg, M8_LBA48_IGR_Q-06-BFM.bin, xbdm.dll, default.xbe (21kb), dashboard.xbx ) Is there a way to make this xbox come back alive ?

Hello, my name is Carlos, I have an original xbox, I am connecting it by the eject button, because the power button is not working, when analyzing the tracks under the board I did not find corrosion, could someone please provide me with the scheme for measuring the points contact of the four tracks? so I can really check if they are broken.

I have an xbox with a X3 CE chip installed with the attached bank switches. I was able to update to flashbios 3.0.1. Bank 1234: on on off off This xbox does not get passed the Xecuter boot screen when I short press the power button (chip enabled). If I long press the power button (chip disabled) I get code 13. If I long press the power button with an original xbox game in the DVD drive the game runs no issues. I am also able to reach the flashBios screen by long pressing the eject an power buttons together. I bought this xbox a while back and have been trying to make it work properly. I believe I'm missing another bios file but I'm really not sure. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, I have a 1.6 XBox with the 5 caps near the power supply bulging a bit, now I want to replace them but I don't know which caps to get. I am currently looking at this set: https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/panasonic-electronic-components/EEU-FK0J332L/9921194?s=N4IgjCBcoEwKwyqAxlAZgQwDYGcCmANCAPZQDaIMALDAJwAMVIAukQA4AuUIAyhwE4BLAHYBzEAF8iAdnhIQqSJlyES5SmADMjCKxCdufIWMlEYjWvMXL8RUpAqbt9AAQBWgGIt2XSCACqwoIcAPJoALJ4GDgArvx4ppT00pbQCujYtmoOIABsAHSaLgBq3vq%2BAUGhEVGx8YkAtBBp1pmq9hRg9CwSvUA Are these good quality ones that will work no problem on the XBox? Sorry if this has been asked for 1000 times but I've not been able to find a post that has exact cap specifications because I don't want anything to go wrong. Thanks.

Hello everyone, A while back I bought a couple of Xbox's 1.0 , 1.3 & a 1.6 . Fixed the first two up and running , now the last one turns on and off 3 times, then flashes red/green without video, previous owner says it had the error 06 but for me It doesn't give a video signal at all. A visual inspection of the board for any bulged capacitors shows no obvious faults, although I am aware that sometimes with an ESR meter (which i dont have) you can tell which is good and which is bad. I'm using a component cable and the V1.6 xbox is a PAL unit and the hard drive inside is definitely not stock 160GB storage and no hard mod is installed. A quick search gives me the idea that its probably the eeprom ( dead or corrupted ) if that is the case and assuming i have no backup as i do not know what the previous owner did to it, what should i do ? if not any ideas what should i check / do to troubleshoot the problem ? . I have a Rpi , arduino and an old eeprom universal flasher ( i will check if it supports the chips ). Oh and i have an Aladdin XT PLUS2 on hand if that would help , but kindly note that I have never used them before but if someone has a guide that would be appreciated as well. Best Regards SP

Hello everyone, I was able to find a 220V powersupply for my broken v1.1 xbox . Now I am aware of the connector and pinout and standby voltages are different. But assuming I have the connector, a 5->3.3V voltage regulator ( for standby ) would it ok ?. Note : The model I'm working with is DPSN-96DP-1 BR

Hey, So I recently hardmodded a v1.6 xbox with an Aladdin XT Plus 2 chip and a self wired LPC rebuild (cut the Lframe trace). That all worked perfectly and I was able to update the bios on the chip using HeXen 2018. When I installed a 2TB hdd and set it up using hexen 2018 everything worked perfectly (Unleash X dashboard). But now I am trying to actually put things on the HDD via ftp but EVERYTIME I try to connect, WinSCP gives me this error (see photo). I am at my wits end now and I have NO idea how to fix this. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know! I can provide more data if that is needed for diagnosis of the issue.

Hello Friends I think this has 2 x 512mb banks on this chip. On bank 1 I have xecuter x5035 and when I switch to bank 2 I get a blank screen, so I presume its empty. I am going to use @sweetdarkdestinyinstaller disc 2021 as it has everything! Is there any software to check this correctly? I have tried the BIOS checker on @sweetdarkdestiny installer disc and it doesn't actually state x5035 but one of the dashboards does identify it. I was thinking of keeping x5035 on bank 1 and flash Evox M8Plus_1.6 nodvd on bank 2. I believe x5035 uses a config ini file to modify its settings, and I can use Evox m8 x4gamers EEC and ignore the presence of the DVD drive. I presume I can do this on the x5035 via the ini to point to x4gamers dash and ignore the DVD? If this all sounds right, which app should use to keep bank 1 and flash 2 as there is a x2 flasher software. I can see an x2config under the BIOS on the installer DVD. @sweetdarkdestinyrecommends "2.2. Flash ModChip or TSOP (No Winbond/Sharp TSOP!)." and there is "2.2.3. Flash Xecuter Bios (XBox v1.0/v1.5)." but I have a v1.6 Sorry for all these questions, I have been thinking about this for days and need your advice. Thank you

Looking to sell my X3CP xbox. It's a 1.6 with a 2tb hdd and startech sata to IDE adapter with 80 wire IDE cable. The hdd isn't a fully loaded one, it allows you to put the content on that you want but does have xbmc4gamers front end and a few games/emulators on there. The Xerc 2 XE allows you to turn the console on/off via the official dvd remote and also fades the eject button LED's on and off when in standby. No controllers included, but I can include a dvd remote if required (albeit with out battery cover) Video of the actual xbox here: £350 plus postage from the UK. Postage will depend where you are obviously. PM for more info

I have a BGA rework station and decided to upgrade the CPU in my v1.0 xbox because why not. The operation went fine, except when removing the awful plastic clips for the heatsink attachments, my screwdriver slipped and knocked off 2 components. I did not notice this until after the operation. One component knocked off was the RP5N1 100 Ohm terminator block for the RAM. This was easy to replace. The other component knocked off was the R5N1 resistor. None of the resistors around it report any consistent value, so I can't just guess at it. A 128MB RAM upgrade guide here https://quade.co/2018/xbox-128mb-ram-upgrade/ actually has a picture of this resistor with the value printed on it, but the image is too blurry to read. On v1.0 this resistor is just blue with no value, but it looks like some version between 1.1 and 1.5 actually has the value printed on the resistor. If I could get that value, then I can fix the FRAG. I would hate to buy a 1.0 board just to get this resistor value. I would really appreciate it if someone could get me images of the resistor value. It cannot be measured with a multimeter as one end has a really big cap on it, but maybe getting that reading would still be useful to me to narrow guessing at values (resistance will be something higher than what is read). Also lesson learned: When removing the heatsink bracket screw clips, just chop them off and replace them with screws/nuts. It's way safer for your board.

Hi, I'm struggling to read the eeprom of a Crystal 1.6 xbox. Was sold as faulty, hard drive clicking, decided was worth the gamle so bought it as I wanted to replace the hard drive anyway. I have some Alladin XTs coming in the post to longterm this will be hard modded, however I'd really like to find out/change the HDD key from the eeprom and start building a new drive for it. I'm using https://github.com/Ryzee119/ArduinoProm in ordre to read the eeprom.bin file. I've read multiple people talking about how on the 1.6 there is some sort of protection which makes it harder to perform a read operation, but can someone explain exactly that this is and how to bypass it? I'm able to scan the I2C bus using my cable + Arduoino Nano, so I'm pretty confident the issue is the I2C protection for the eeprom.

well, i modded my 2nd xbox tonight and i'm having a weird problem. on the home screen, the cpu temp is slowly rising. the temp limit was set at 50 c and it would get up to about 51c and the fan would kick up to about 3.0x. so i raised the temp limit to 55c. the xbox is slowly climbing to that temp. it's sitting at 54c right now. what is causing this and how do i fix it? my 1st modded xbox is a version 1.4 and it idles in the 40's at 1.0x fan speed. btw, i changed the 3 caps in front of the heat sink on both systems.i also changed the cpu thermal paste on both systems(i didn't change the gpu thermal paste).

i pulled my version 1.6 apart about a week ago to change the thermal paste on it. i wasn't able to get the gpu completely clean so i put some new paste on it and reassembled while i waited for my arcti-clean order to get here. the system did great during this time. today, i pulled it apart and cleaned it better this time and reapplied thermal paste. after doing that, i was testing a game(i also serviced the dvd reader) and it froze on me(i thought it was because of the dvd reader). i restarted the console and kept playing. the xbox seemed to do fine for several minutes of playing the game. so i turned my attention to getting the disk tray to function correctly. i was opening it and shutting it multiple times when the system suddenly started glitching graphically. i let it do it for just a few seconds while i wondered what the heck was going on and then i pulled the power cord. when i tried plugging it back in, the xbox started frag'ing. to make a long story short, the point i'm at now is that i can let the system stay unplugged for an hour or so and plug it back in and it will function fine for just a few minutes. after that, it will start graphically glitching or freeze. it will do this with both the dvd/hdd drives installed but also with them both completely removed(including the ide cable). it doesn't appear to be frag'ing anymore and i don't think the processors are getting too hot. none of the caps appear to be bulging. any idea what's wrong with this thing? google is not being very helpful.