lopenator Posted June 22, 2023 Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 (edited) I am trying to set Cerbios to launch XMBC off of E drive. I edited to the .ini to say "DashPath1 = \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1\Dashboard\default.xbe" and placed it in C:\ I then put the XMBC files in E:\Dashboard and it doesnt boot. The only thing the BIOs boots into is C:\xboxdash.xbe. I am trying to do this because I want to put MSDash on C and not XMBC. What am I doing wrong? I want to be able to boot stock dash when I want. Its a pain in the ass when the dash doesnt boot because I keep needing to put the HDD into my Stellar xbox inorder to FTP again. I dont have a IDE port on my PC. Edited June 22, 2023 by lopenator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incursion64 Posted June 22, 2023 Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 (edited) 14 minutes ago, lopenator said: I am trying to set Cerbios to launch XMBC off of E drive. I edited to the .ini to say "DashPath1 = \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1\Dashboard\default.xbe" and placed it in C:\ I then put the XMBC files in E:\Dashboard and it doesnt boot. The only thing the BIOs boots into is C:\xboxdash.xbe. I am trying to do this because I want to put MSDash on C and not XMBC. What am I doing wrong? I want to be able to boot stock dash when I want. Its a pain in the ass when the dash doesnt boot because I keep needing to put the HDD into my Stellar xbox inorder to FTP again. I dont have a IDE port on my PC. Here is what i would do. XBMC on the root of E, rename that folder to "dashboard" . This will satisfy your stellar requirement. Now - Download this here: and place on C. This will be the hardmod "dashloader xbe" (named evoxdash.xbe) and a folder called dashloader. https://github.com/Rocky5/Xbox-Softmodding-Tool/tree/master/Extras Disc/Hardmod/dashloader In that dashloader folder, there is a custom_dash.cfg file. Edit that file in notepad and change the path to E/Dashboard/default.xbe. Now when using Cerbios your default settings will look for the evoxdash.xbe file on C and dashloader will point to your dashboard location. Edited June 22, 2023 by Incursion64 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 22, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 (edited) why do I need another file? how come the cerbios.ini isn't working. this got it working but what if I wanted to use cerbios.ini for other setting also? like the fan speed setting etc. why does it need to be done this way? edit now im getting an error that says 21 on the top left when i boot the console using this method. also if im using the stock IDE cable but a 120GB IDE HDD which UDMA do I flash? another edit: I flashed cerbios.bin with no udma in it's name this time and the .ini seems to be sending the bios to boot from e: I am not really sure why it wasn't working before but I think it's okay now. When I upgrade my HDD to sata in the future with a startech do I need to flash the cerbios bios with UDMA5 in it? Edited June 22, 2023 by lopenator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted June 22, 2023 Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 1 hour ago, lopenator said: also if im using the stock IDE cable but a 120GB IDE HDD which UDMA do I flash? Flash this file "Cerbios Hybrid V2.X.X BETA" as it's the UDMA2 version of the bios and is more suited to a IDE drive. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 22, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 (edited) that is the one I flashed and it's working now. quick question, when I upgrad my HDD and get startech adapter should I flash udma5 one? I'm a little confused about the whole udma thing Edited June 22, 2023 by lopenator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted June 22, 2023 Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 5 minutes ago, lopenator said: I'm a little confused about the whole udma thing UDMA is the IDE bus speed UDMA 2 = 33.3Mb/s This its the Xbox original DVD/HDD data transfer speed UDMA 4 = 66Mb/s This is suitable for a 80wire cable and a cheaper sata2ide adaptor UDMA 5 = 100Mb/s This is if you have a good quality sata2ide adaptor like the Statech brand and a 80 wire IDE cable UDAM 6 = 133Mb/s This setting is experimental on the version 2.3.1 of cerbios and is the maximum of the IDE cable and if you are using this you will probably need a SSD On your Open Xenium I would have the UDMA 4 and UDMA 5 then test which version gives a reliable booting by powering the Xbox on and off over a couple of days. You should be OK with the UDMA5 as long as the HDD is a 7200rpm drive. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 22, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 Thanks for the breakdown brother. This is super helpful. I use the 80 wire IDE on my Stellar Xbox with the startech adapter and it works great. I am using an aladdin chip with xblast os at the moment and not a OX. Not sure if I can change that setting on in xBlastOS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowlsnapper Posted June 22, 2023 Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 2 hours ago, lopenator said: why do I need another file? how come the cerbios.ini isn't working. this got it working but what if I wanted to use cerbios.ini for other setting also? like the fan speed setting etc. why does it need to be done this way? edit now im getting an error that says 21 on the top left when i boot the console using this method. also if im using the stock IDE cable but a 120GB IDE HDD which UDMA do I flash? another edit: I flashed cerbios.bin with no udma in it's name this time and the .ini seems to be sending the bios to boot from e: I am not really sure why it wasn't working before but I think it's okay now. When I upgrade my HDD to sata in the future with a startech do I need to flash the cerbios bios with UDMA5 in it? The Cerbios ini files changed at some point, so it became necessary to replace it. Guess internally they started looking for different things at different points. 58 minutes ago, SS_Dave said: UDMA is the IDE bus speed UDMA 2 = 33.3Mb/s This its the Xbox original DVD/HDD data transfer speed UDMA 4 = 66Mb/s This is suitable for a 80wire cable and a cheaper sata2ide adaptor UDMA 5 = 100Mb/s This is if you have a good quality sata2ide adaptor like the Statech brand and a 80 wire IDE cable UDAM 6 = 133Mb/s This setting is experimental on the version 2.3.1 of cerbios and is the maximum of the IDE cable and if you are using this you will probably need a SSD On your Open Xenium I would have the UDMA 4 and UDMA 5 then test which version gives a reliable booting by powering the Xbox on and off over a couple of days. You should be OK with the UDMA5 as long as the HDD is a 7200rpm drive. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. UDMA 6 is working reliably for me. Try that too! Fall back if it proves to be crashy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 22, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 I didn't realize it was common for the bios to randomly fail to boot if you flashed an incorrect udma. learning a lot on this forum. thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowlsnapper Posted June 23, 2023 Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 2 hours ago, lopenator said: I didn't realize it was common for the bios to randomly fail to boot if you flashed an incorrect udma. learning a lot on this forum. thanks. Yeah that's possible. Sometimes it's able to be surmised and you can see that's what it is and sometimes you're just guessing. It helps to fall back to verify this. Thankfully there are many UDMA versions to try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted June 23, 2023 Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 8 hours ago, lopenator said: I am using an aladdin chip with xblast os at the moment and not a OX. Not sure if I can change that setting on in xBlastOS. The Aladdin chip has 2 bios banks that you can flash the Cerbios too. One bank is a 256kb and the other is a 512kb but you can just flash two 256kb versions of the cerbios to it. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 23, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 what is another example of me utilizing both banks? I have no idea what to do with the 512 bank. I'm coming from stellar which was my first chip so I'm learning this stuff backwards. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowlsnapper Posted June 23, 2023 Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 52 minutes ago, lopenator said: what is another example of me utilizing both banks? I have no idea what to do with the 512 bank. I'm coming from stellar which was my first chip so I'm learning this stuff backwards. I don't see any purpose for it either... I see 512 and I think x2 bios. Lmao. I'm always using any 256k bank for Cerbios. Dave, what would you be using this 512 for, assuming you have Cerbios loaded on the 256? I honestly Don't see a purpose for any other 256k bios. Ind, evox... What would they be used for anymore? Lope: it is odd that you got Stellar first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted June 23, 2023 Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 6 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said: I don't see any purpose for it either... I see 512 and I think x2 bios. Lmao. I'm always using any 256k bank for Cerbios. Dave, what would you be using this 512 for, assuming you have Cerbios loaded on the 256? I honestly Don't see a purpose for any other 256k bios. Ind, evox... What would they be used for anymore? The design of the Xblast chip has been around for years and way back when the executer bios files where 512kb plus the eeprom on the chip has 1024kb space with the 1st 256kb used for Xblast and that leaves either 3 X 256kb or 1 X 256plus 1 X 512kb and they opted for a 256kb and 512kb You can flash a 256kb bios to the 512kb bank and that way you can have a UDMA4 and UDMA5 for testing what bios works best for your Xbox configuration. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 23, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 31 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said: I don't see any purpose for it either... I see 512 and I think x2 bios. Lmao. I'm always using any 256k bank for Cerbios. Dave, what would you be using this 512 for, assuming you have Cerbios loaded on the 256? I honestly Don't see a purpose for any other 256k bios. Ind, evox... What would they be used for anymore? Lope: it is odd that you got Stellar first. yeah stellar got my foot into the door of Xbox modding. I became very interested in it due to how much of a PC it is like and wanted to learn more. since then I have bought several Xboxes and each have all different setups and configurations. I wish ghost shells were still around or some other aftermarket shell. all my shells are not in great shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowlsnapper Posted June 23, 2023 Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 5 hours ago, SS_Dave said: The design of the Xblast chip has been around for years and way back when the executer bios files where 512kb plus the eeprom on the chip has 1024kb space with the 1st 256kb used for Xblast and that leaves either 3 X 256kb or 1 X 256plus 1 X 512kb and they opted for a 256kb and 512kb You can flash a 256kb bios to the 512kb bank and that way you can have a UDMA4 and UDMA5 for testing what bios works best for your Xbox configuration. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. I think maybe the cpld should be programmed to just have 256k banks. That way, we could do all that without having a double bank AND we would have more banks to use. There is no 512k bios for us to use anyway. What do you think? I mean, the history is cool (truly) but the bank layout is outdated, in my opinion. And people are still buying these chips today in an era where no 512k bios exists. Just seems like extra work for no gain at all, you know? 5 hours ago, lopenator said: yeah stellar got my foot into the door of Xbox modding. I became very interested in it due to how much of a PC it is like and wanted to learn more. since then I have bought several Xboxes and each have all different setups and configurations. I wish ghost shells were still around or some other aftermarket shell. all my shells are not in great shape. I'm the same way. I was interested in how much of a PC it is and I thought that was really, really cool. I WISH I had learned more about it and ended up as knowledgeable as Kaos or Dave. I look at it as a missed opportunity. I also wish the shells were around still. I wish ANY shells were still around. Maybe with a bit more time that will actually be the case. I have a feeling that that's true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 23, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 I wonder why when I try to boot from retail bios bank via xblast it boot into cerbios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowlsnapper Posted June 23, 2023 Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 1 hour ago, lopenator said: I wonder why when I try to boot from retail bios bank via xblast it boot into cerbios. Let me try that... Edit: Wow. XBlast does NOT like my component cables. Lol. Forgot about that. Edit 2: My console did a hard reset back into XBlast. I'm assuming it's because my console's D0/Lframe is grounded to a pad and my chip can't let the console boot the TSOP in the first place... LPC is set up to ALWAYS load. I gotta see if the chip's D0 is working okay. If it is, I need to solder to that instead and start using it. Are you grounded too, instead of using the chip's D0? @lopenator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 23, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 (edited) 22 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said: Let me try that... Edit: Wow. XBlast does NOT like my component cables. Lol. Forgot about that. Edit 2: My console did a hard reset back into XBlast. I'm assuming it's because my console's D0/Lframe is grounded to a pad and my chip can't let the console boot the TSOP in the first place... LPC is set up to ALWAYS load. I gotta see if the chip's D0 is working okay. If it is, I need to solder to that instead and start using it. Are you grounded too, instead of using the chip's D0? @lopenator it might be because your HDD is unlocked. try locking it. yes I grounded d0 on the motherboard. I then wired d0 to the pad on the chip. Edited June 23, 2023 by lopenator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowlsnapper Posted June 23, 2023 Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 38 minutes ago, lopenator said: it might be because your HDD is unlocked. try locking it. yes I grounded d0 on the motherboard. I then wired d0 to the pad on the chip. ... You did BOTH? It's supposed to be one or the other. The little D0 via on the mobo is supposed to be either grounded or hooked up directly to the chips D0 pad. When D0 is grounded to the chip's pad, the chip momentarily grounds the pad at boot ( I THINK I have this right. Lol) to tell the MCPX (I THINK it's the MCPX. :P) to boot the bios from the LPC port instead of the TSOP. That's why there are considerations surrounding D0 being grounded all the time to a pad(chip always on/LPC always loads): If D0/Lframe is always grounded instead of just for a second at boot, it can fry shit. It wasn't designed to work like that. So by grounding D0 on top of having it hooked up to the chip... You might as well not have it hooked up to the chip, because D0 being grounded means the mobo will always look to the LPC for a bios, even if it's just XBlast. It will ignore the TSOP. Disconnect the D0 from ground and only have the mobo D0 via hooked up to the chip. As long as the chip's D0 is functional (Modz said he wasn't sure) that will make D0 function properly and you should be able to load the TSOP, in theory. If it was just my HDD being locked, I should get an error number/screen, not a hard reset. But if I want to successfully boot the MS dash with a stock bios, then yes, I will need to lock the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 23, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 (edited) When I first installed the chip, I wired d0 to the pad on the chip. The console kept fragging. I then read modzville installation instructions and it said to try to ground d0 on the motherboard. You're saying I should disconnect the pad on the chip? Am i hurting anything by leaving it connected? I was under the impression that d0 being grounded all the time is fine. Lframe being grounded is not ideal for mcpx. From the factory, 1.6 has d0 grounded. Edited June 23, 2023 by lopenator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 23, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 Having d0 grounded twice is just like.... double grounded. I dont think it would hurt anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowlsnapper Posted June 23, 2023 Report Share Posted June 23, 2023 Are you sure the frag was from D0 being hooked up? That's kinda lame... You're sure it wasn't BT being hooked up? That's what caused my damn initial frags. If D0 really doesn't work, then that's kinda lame. I'm gonna have to just get chips from @Dtomcat18 and @sweetdarkdestiny because D0 just not working makes the TSOP section of XBlastOS useless. Sorry, I have the memory of a goldfish. I'm sure I covered the D0/Lframe grounding thing with @SS_Dave and I'll go to my thread in a sec here, but if D0 is okay to be hooked up all the time and Lframe is what's problematic, then I will definitely have to swap that out with another chip. But yes, D0 being grounded is what's causing your TSOP problems. It HAS to be. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. And if that's the case, then I don't want this XBlast Aladdin... I would instead go with an XBlast from either tomcat or sweet. And I recommended it to you. I need to fully vet things better before I give them the go ahead. You're not hurting anything with the chip having its D0 connected, as far as I know. But if your D0 is already grounded anyway, then it serves no purpose. Your d0 is grounded, which means the chip is always booting, which means your chip's DO isn't functioning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopenator Posted June 24, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2023 I guarantee that when I had d0 from the Xbox mobo connected to the Aladdin d0 pad the Xbox was fragging. after I grounded d0 on the mobo i was able to boot into xblast. and yes you're correct that makes the tsop bank of the chip usless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted June 24, 2023 Report Share Posted June 24, 2023 10 hours ago, lopenator said: I wonder why when I try to boot from retail bios bank via xblast it boot into cerbios. I tested my Xblast chip and it seams to boot to the onboard bios from the Xblast menu if I have the D0 point on the main board connected to the mod chip. 9 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said: Let me try that... Edit: Wow. XBlast does NOT like my component cables. Lol. Forgot about that. Edit 2: My console did a hard reset back into XBlast. I'm assuming it's because my console's D0/Lframe is grounded to a pad and my chip can't let the console boot the TSOP in the first place... LPC is set up to ALWAYS load. I gotta see if the chip's D0 is working okay. If it is, I need to solder to that instead and start using it. Are you grounded too, instead of using the chip's D0? @lopenator I tested my Xblast on a 1.1 with 128meg ram and a internal HDMI from N64 freak and that is wired as a component output It all operated fine with the D0 connected to the mod chip. The only issue with Xblast is it will not work with a non original controller. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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