Xenium Modchip in v1.2 Xbox OG - Flash new BIOS

[neildeadman]

I found my old Xbox OG in a cupboard and decided I fancied getting it out and playing some old games I had. It boots up to the old dashboard I had (Avalaunch 0.49.3) and games play etc.

Reading the latest on the new features of the Xbox OG Modding scene, I see I can now put much bigger HDDs into it as well as some other features such as Cerbios CCIs etc.

I'd like to update my BIOS but I can't get into XeniumOS (XOS) to flash the Cerbios .bin - The OpenXenium BIOS utility by MakeMHz says I am on an older version and need to be on 2.5 at least, but I cannot get there either.

I've read that powering on with Eject can reboot to XOS or holding the white button (small problem that I don't have the original controllers anymore and am using a Brook Wingman XB2, so maybe that prevents the white button [Left Trigger] being detected at startup).

Its such a long time since I did all this I have forgotten everything I learned back when I modded it LOL

My aim is to have all my games on a single HDD and use xbmc4gamers|xbmc-emustation as a nice menu system to choose.

[Bowlsnapper]

9 hours ago, neildeadman said:

I found my old Xbox OG in a cupboard and decided I fancied getting it out and playing some old games I had. It boots up to the old dashboard I had (Avalaunch 0.49.3) and games play etc.

Reading the latest on the new features of the Xbox OG Modding scene, I see I can now put much bigger HDDs into it as well as some other features such as Cerbios CCIs etc.

I'd like to update my BIOS but I can't get into XeniumOS (XOS) to flash the Cerbios .bin - The OpenXenium BIOS utility by MakeMHz says I am on an older version and need to be on 2.5 at least, but I cannot get there either.

I've read that powering on with Eject can reboot to XOS or holding the white button (small problem that I don't have the original controllers anymore and am using a Brook Wingman XB2, so maybe that prevents the white button [Left Trigger] being detected at startup).

Its such a long time since I did all this I have forgotten everything I learned back when I modded it LOL

My aim is to have all my games on a single HDD and use xbmc4gamers|xbmc-emustation as a nice menu system to choose.

Eject should still be configured to load the XBlastOS... If you have an XBlast. What chip do you have?

XBMC works great for me.

[SS_Dave]

On 8/4/2023 at 8:03 PM, neildeadman said:

I found my old Xbox OG in a cupboard and decided I fancied getting it out and playing some old games I had. It boots up to the old dashboard I had (Avalaunch 0.49.3) and games play etc.

Reading the latest on the new features of the Xbox OG Modding scene, I see I can now put much bigger HDDs into it as well as some other features such as Cerbios CCIs etc.

I'd like to update my BIOS but I can't get into XeniumOS (XOS) to flash the Cerbios .bin - The OpenXenium BIOS utility by MakeMHz says I am on an older version and need to be on 2.5 at least, but I cannot get there either.

I've read that powering on with Eject can reboot to XOS or holding the white button (small problem that I don't have the original controllers anymore and am using a Brook Wingman XB2, so maybe that prevents the white button [Left Trigger] being detected at startup).

Its such a long time since I did all this I have forgotten everything I learned back when I modded it LOL

My aim is to have all my games on a single HDD and use xbmc4gamers|xbmc-emustation as a nice menu system to choose.

Can you upload a pic of the modchip.

In my view the version 2.3.0 firmware is better than the MakeMHZ version because I have seen several post's of a failed mod-chip after trying to update the bios files on the MakeMhz chip

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.
 

[Bowlsnapper]

14 hours ago, SS_Dave said:

Can you upload a pic of the modchip.

In my view the version 2.3.0 firmware is better than the MakeMHZ version because I have seen several post's of a failed mod-chip after trying to update the bios files on the MakeMhz chip

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.
 

Also, it's MakeMHZ.

[SS_Dave]

4 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Also, it's MakeMHZ.

The OP it trying to update to the MakeMhz Open Xenium OS from an older chip but as he has tried to update it 

The Open Xenium has a recovery link but I don't think the original Xenium had the link for recovery.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

 

[Bowlsnapper]

1 minute ago, SS_Dave said:

The OP it trying to update to the MakeMhz Open Xenium OS from an older chip but as he has tried to update it 

The Open Xenium has a recovery link but I don't think the original Xenium had the link for recovery.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

 

Recovery link?

[SS_Dave]

43 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Recovery link?

Yes the Open Xenium has 2 holes you short together for recovery mode and the Xenium has a switch

I have just been playing with this and all it seams to do is make the LED orange and nothing else.

 

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

[Bowlsnapper]

17 minutes ago, SS_Dave said:

Yes the Open Xenium has 2 holes you short together for recovery mode and the Xenium has a switch

I have just been playing with this and all it seams to do is make the LED orange and nothing else.

 

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

Is the recovery flash separate from the main flash, or part of it, and only accessible with the bridge?

[SS_Dave]

1 hour ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Is the recovery flash separate from the main flash, or part of it, and only accessible with the bridge?

It's supposed to be but the only this that happens is the orange LED then it frags for a while and shuts down, I made a recovery DVD from a an ISO file and the same happens.

Once you enter recovery the chip appears to get wiped and the only way I have found to restore the chip is to boot to a working hard drive and then load Xenium_tools.xbe from the working hard drive and once that's loaded then hot swap to the non working xenium/open xenium and either flash with a backup bin file or the recovery bin file. The recovery bin file will only load the OS and you then need to add your bios files.

Edit:

I think I have worked it out

When in recovery mode ( link on or the switch to recovery) you power on the Xbox and the LED turns orange and the DVD tray opens then you load the recovery DVD and the LED flashes red/green and eventually shuts down the Xbox, The remove the link or return the switch to normal and power on. Then if no bios files are present the it will ask you to flash a bios and if there is a bios files present you can select one to boot he Xbox.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

[SS_Dave]

On 8/6/2023 at 4:04 PM, Bowlsnapper said:

Is the recovery flash separate from the main flash, or part of it, and only accessible with the bridge?

The recovery mode is also in the main menu.  But about the only time you need the recovery mode is because the chip is corrupted and you wont have access to the menu

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

[Bowlsnapper]

15 minutes ago, SS_Dave said:

The recovery mode is also in the main menu.  But about the only time you need the recovery mode is because the chip is corrupted and you wont have access to the menu

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

That might actually be useful to me. I REALLY don't like the idea of hotswapping, although it's been done many times without issue. I haven't done it yet, but I'm sure I will eventually.

[neildeadman]

On 8/4/2023 at 8:16 PM, Bowlsnapper said:

Eject should still be configured to load the XBlastOS... If you have an XBlast. What chip do you have?

XBMC works great for me.

Apolgies for the absence and long time to reply. I've been away and unable to spend time with the Xbox to get the info you require.

The modchip I have says Xenium but its not like the images you guys have posted. Here is mine:

 

On 8/5/2023 at 10:35 AM, SS_Dave said:

Can you upload a pic of the modchip.

In my view the version 2.3.0 firmware is better than the MakeMHZ version because I have seen several post's of a failed mod-chip after trying to update the bios files on the MakeMhz chip

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.
 

Images above.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. Pressing the eject button does not take me anywhere different to using the regular power button. I have also tried putting the .bin files on the HDD but that does nothing either.

[neildeadman]

Hold on, I take that back! How did I never see that switch before reviewing my post just now DOH!

[neildeadman]

On 8/6/2023 at 8:45 AM, SS_Dave said:

It's supposed to be but the only this that happens is the orange LED then it frags for a while and shuts down, I made a recovery DVD from a an ISO file and the same happens.

Once you enter recovery the chip appears to get wiped and the only way I have found to restore the chip is to boot to a working hard drive and then load Xenium_tools.xbe from the working hard drive and once that's loaded then hot swap to the non working xenium/open xenium and either flash with a backup bin file or the recovery bin file. The recovery bin file will only load the OS and you then need to add your bios files.

Edit:

I think I have worked it out

When in recovery mode ( link on or the switch to recovery) you power on the Xbox and the LED turns orange and the DVD tray opens then you load the recovery DVD and the LED flashes red/green and eventually shuts down the Xbox, The remove the link or return the switch to normal and power on. Then if no bios files are present the it will ask you to flash a bios and if there is a bios files present you can select one to boot he Xbox.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

I'll give this a go over the weekend then....

[Bowlsnapper]

1 hour ago, neildeadman said:

Hold on, I take that back! How did I never see that switch before reviewing my post just now DOH!

Neil! How did you not notice that!? You're a fuckin dead man!

[neildeadman]

Right, I finally had the chance to do this. Followed your steps and all went smooth. Now I get to this screen 

I guess that is good, but with a USB keyboard, or a XBox 360 controller via the Wingman XB2 adapter, I cannot change the selection

So close, but yet so far!!

[SS_Dave]

14 hours ago, neildeadman said:

Right, I finally had the chance to do this. Followed your steps and all went smooth. Now I get to this screen 

I guess that is good, but with a USB keyboard, or a XBox 360 controller via the Wingman XB2 adapter, I cannot change the selection

So close, but yet so far!!

Have you tried hot swapping from a working chip and flashing a 2meg back up?

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.
 

[neildeadman]

On 8/26/2023 at 2:23 AM, SS_Dave said:

Have you tried hot swapping from a working chip and flashing a 2meg back up?

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.
 

OK, so I'm not 100% sure what you mean.... I'll need that explaining as I am back to being a noob about all this. This is the only chip and Xbox OG I have, if that is close to what you mean. How do I flash a 2meg backup?

Sorry

[JohnWick]

Listen, ssdave has given you all the answers!

Ill attempt to be a tad more specific.

when you move the switch on the Xenium chip, it will boot to the Xenium OS. You have gotten this far, I see it!

Bite the bullet and spend $10 on an OG Xbox controller. 
 

Burn a dvd (reads easier than old cd’s) with ANY BIOS YOU WANT TO FLASH the Xenium with. The Xenium you have has 2 virtual banks to flash 1 bios on each. Lucky!!! You can flash 2 bios’ to choose from. 
 

Now go to “Launch menu” (with the bios dvd you burned) in the CLOSED DVD TRAY. Another subdirectory will come up. Choose “add item” I believe. Choose that. One of the options in next subdirectory is flash bios from DVD drive or hdd. Choose the DVD if you have your bios disk ready. Then choose your bios of choice. Tell it to flash whichever bank you choose. Repeat for flashing 2nd bank. If you want, flash both banks with the same bios! That way if one becomes corrupt, just switch the bios boot order.

If you have bios on your hdd (I always keep multiple on the Xbox’s hdd in case of emergency) choose that instead of DVD. 
 

If you flashed a bios or bios’ successfully, move onto telling Xenium witch to boot from.

In the settings menu, there is a section to choose which bios to boot from. Pick your main bios. If you’re feeling squirrelly, boot to the 2nd bios at any time by entering Xenium OS. You can just boot to the second bios manually from Xenium OS in “Launch” menu, or change settings to boot from 2nd bank. It’s been like 20 years, but if memory serves I think that it labels the banks A/B and not 1/2. Not 100% positive on that. It will be obvious once you’re in there. The banks are “virtual”. I think your version Xenium has a total of 1mb to flash to. 

 

Let us know if it works for you so other people searching this thread with similar issue will have a solid answer. 
 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by JohnWick

[JohnWick]

2 hours ago, JohnWick said:

Listen, ssdave has given you all the answers!

Ill attempt to be a tad more specific.

when you move the switch on the Xenium chip, it will boot to the Xenium OS. You have gotten this far, I see it!

Bite the bullet and spend $10 on an OG Xbox controller. 
 

Burn a dvd (reads easier than old cd’s) with ANY BIOS YOU WANT TO FLASH the Xenium with. The Xenium you have has 2 virtual banks to flash 1 bios on each. Lucky!!! You can flash 2 bios’ to choose from. 
 

Now go to “Launch menu” (with the bios dvd you burned) in the CLOSED DVD TRAY. Another subdirectory will come up. Choose “add item” I believe. Choose that. One of the options in next subdirectory is flash bios from DVD drive or hdd. Choose the DVD if you have your bios disk ready. Then choose your bios of choice. Tell it to flash whichever bank you choose. Repeat for flashing 2nd bank. If you want, flash both banks with the same bios! That way if one becomes corrupt, just switch the bios boot order.

If you have bios on your hdd (I always keep multiple on the Xbox’s hdd in case of emergency) choose that instead of DVD. 
 

If you flashed a bios or bios’ successfully, move onto telling Xenium witch to boot from.

In the settings menu, there is a section to choose which bios to boot from. Pick your main bios. If you’re feeling squirrelly, boot to the 2nd bios at any time by entering Xenium OS. You can just boot to the second bios manually from Xenium OS in “Launch” menu, or change settings to boot from 2nd bank. It’s been like 20 years, but if memory serves I think that it labels the banks A/B and not 1/2. Not 100% positive on that. It will be obvious once you’re in there. The banks are “virtual”. I think your version Xenium has a total of 1mb to flash to. 

 

Let us know if it works for you so other people searching this thread with similar issue will have a solid answer. 
 

 

Edit correction: I meant to type “Launch” section to “set default item”. This is where you choose the default bios you want to boot from. 
 

“Settings” is where you select “Xenium settings”, then enable “Instant boot”