TSOP Dead. Rescue possible?

[ChriZz]

Hello everyone.

I have another tricky question.

Let's assume I have an Xbox 1.3 with a failed tsop flash. Assuming nothing works anymore. No picture, no sound, no dvd drive, nothing.

 

Could I just solder an identical working chip piggyback onto the other one and then flash it again? Maybe you could also use a cable and connector to disconnect the working chip during the flash process?

I would just be interested.

Or is there an even easier way that I don't know yet? 

 

Greetings

[prtscn]

Logically should work, both chips receive exact inputs, so i don't know why it wouldn't work.

[Fringle]

If this were to work you would need to install a switch on the Tsop vcc pin or something to that effect so only one tsop can be active at a time.  You would boot up with the known working tsop enabled, flip the switch so the second tsop was enabled and proceed to write it.  If both tsops were powered at the same time I can see the xbox getting confused and not knowing which one to use and still not boot.  To do this though you would need to lift the vcc pin first on the currently soldered tsop as well.

On another note, is the xbox fragging?  If so have you attempted the 3 wire trick in an attempt to boot from a different tsop bank?  I recently was able to recover from a corrupted tsop with this method.

[ChriZz]

Thank you for the answers. I still don't have an xbox with a damaged tsop. So far it's just a consideration on my part as to whether the thoughts I'm having about it would also be feasible. Because I currently have a lot of Xboxes that have a Winbond chip in them and they are known to be a bit bitchy. What you say makes sense...add a switch. I didn't think of anything like that. The 3 wire trick only works with a 1.0 I thought. Since the same bios is flashed 4 times? In another topic I found something that ss_dave wrote. If I manage it I'll link it. It sounds promising and very complicated at the same time. 

[Fringle]

1.0 and 1.1 both have a 1mb tsop.  So yes, those are the only ones capable of splitting the tsop using the wire trick.  I think it's also possible to do this with a certain modchip but I'm not sure which one or the procedure.

[Marty]

4 hours ago, ChriZz said:

Assuming nothing works anymore. No picture, no sound, no dvd drive, nothing.

A failed TSOP flash should give you some sort of error message, or stalled boot, then loop and FRAG.

It sounds like your "misadventures" inside the console led to more dramatic damages.

[Bowlsnapper]

I was under the impression that a failed tsop would just be a regular frag, as it amounts to the mcpx basically not being able to load a bios at all.

[ChriZz]

On 5/23/2020 at 10:23 AM, SS_Dave said:

So since I successfully integrated mimicked Chameleon TSOP recovery feature into my own modchip, I've started playing some hex editor magic. I made my own BIOS, similar as tsop_d6.bin, that will work exactly as tsop_d6.bin. The only difference is that this BIOS will boot on every Xbox that has a flashable TSOP(so 1.0 to 1.5).

I named it tsop_m7.bin as it uses the kernel found in Evox M7 BIOS.
As tsop_d6, you need to have to solder a wire to the TSOP A15 signal. Chameleon modchip will work it's magic by itself.

If you don't have a Chameleon (or soon a XBlast), you can *try* to manually make it work using a basic modchip like a DuoX2, Xecuter 2.x or aladdin XT. I recommend you use a modchip with at least 2 banks to still be able to flash over this BIOS once you're done. To make it work, you'll have to manually operate D0 and A15 wires. Make them long enough to reach a ground spot. Here's the procedure:
1. Insert you booting disc in the DVD drive(HeXen, Auto-Installer...)
2. Tie both D0 and A15 to ground
3. Boot the Xbox with tsop_m7
4. Remove D0 from ground (leave it hanging without touching anything)once the front LED starts flashing
5. Remove A15 from ground one you see the Xbox logo on your TV.
6. Flash your TSOP using your favorite tool.

Some important info:
- As tsop_d6, you can only boot from a Xbox disc in your DVD drive. If no disc is in the DVD drive, the Xbox will just sit at the booting Xbox Logo.
- There is no boot animation. I chose a really weird color combination for the Xbox logo so you know you're booting the right thing.
- There is a chance this BIOS will not boot if you have previously flashed a hacked BIOS on your TSOP. From personnal experience, M8+ and X2 5035 are problematic across all revisions. IND-BIOS 5004 works on my 1.2 and 1.4 but not on my 1.0(probably an RC4 key issue).
- There is no LBA48 support. This BIOS is not meant to be used as your everyday BIOS anyway.
- Pre-insert you disc in your DVD drive. This BIOS resets on Eject.

 

You are going to need to have the bios in the download I linked flashed on a modchip you are also going to need to solder 2 wires 1 to the D0 and a 2 wire soldered to the A15 point in the pic I posted.

Or you fit a modchip(Aladdin,Xenium Ice,Open Xenium) and not bother trying to reflash the TSOP chip

Cheers

SS Dave

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

I found this. Maybe this approach from ss_dave will work 

[STR4Y]

Hey all, I would be interested to learn the options available for this as I almost have this scenario happening after a TSOP that was working. I have tried to install a mod chip and with D0 to GND it changes to flashing green and red. any thoughts or advice would be freaking awesome.

Side note: Believe it is a 1.4 and maybe on evo bios.

[Bowlsnapper]

7 hours ago, STR4Y said:

Hey all, I would be interested to learn the options available for this as I almost have this scenario happening after a TSOP that was working. I have tried to install a mod chip and with D0 to GND it changes to flashing green and red. any thoughts or advice would be freaking awesome.

Side note: Believe it is a 1.4 and maybe on evo bios.

As long as the bios isn't a 1.6 Bios, I would check the soldering on the pin header. Can you take a pic?

You say maybe an Evo... did you buy an aladdin from AliExpress?

[STR4Y]

I will get a few pics and upload,

For now a little history: Got it second hand and was in a pretty bad state case being rusty, leaking clock cap. cleaned up the rust and removed and cleaned the clock cap area, all looks to be good and was working after TSOP, I was doing hardware stuff mate was doing the software side so cant recall the exact bios that was installed. Had a XBMC dash and was looking nice(Side Tracked). Gave it to another friend that it was purchased for and he had been using for a few months. Said he went to turn it on and was getting the red light flashing. both drives appears to be working. Read that most of time if the TSOP did fail you can install a chip. So i have tried both an old xchip with a solderless header however the chip would not do anything in this box.

had a dumb chip that is a SST 49LF020 on a wired header and have had this working on many consoles when testing, Still nothing, but the light is flashing red and green with D0 attached to ground. I have attempted to use PiPROM to grab the EEPROM however is on active for a second and then cant be probed by PiPROM or i2C detect. Want to try doing some more probing of the board but not sure what to check.

[Bowlsnapper]

2 hours ago, STR4Y said:

I will get a few pics and upload,

For now a little history: Got it second hand and was in a pretty bad state case being rusty, leaking clock cap. cleaned up the rust and removed and cleaned the clock cap area, all looks to be good and was working after TSOP, I was doing hardware stuff mate was doing the software side so cant recall the exact bios that was installed. Had a XBMC dash and was looking nice(Side Tracked). Gave it to another friend that it was purchased for and he had been using for a few months. Said he went to turn it on and was getting the red light flashing. both drives appears to be working. Read that most of time if the TSOP did fail you can install a chip. So i have tried both an old xchip with a solderless header however the chip would not do anything in this box.

had a dumb chip that is a SST 49LF020 on a wired header and have had this working on many consoles when testing, Still nothing, but the light is flashing red and green with D0 attached to ground. I have attempted to use PiPROM to grab the EEPROM however is on active for a second and then cant be probed by PiPROM or i2C detect. Want to try doing some more probing of the board but not sure what to check.

If you're fragging with both a chip AND the TSOP then I would say that something else is causing the FRAG. Not a failure to load a bios... I mean unless you have extremely coincidental and bad luck.

[STR4Y]

So an Update and LPC Pic i said I would upload: While not the prettiest job all pins have been confirmed to be good with a multimeter. Its now also not doing the same thing, after pulling apart again to take the pic and re-assembled and tried to boot from chip once more, Now upon power on is is fragging 3 time the starts flashing red and green. Previous which I forgot to mention would start flashing orange and green but only for a second, Then started flashing red. Then when i grounded the D0 it would start the same only flash red and green. which has me lost as to why it is now fragging but wasnt before. I am about to look at the PSU for possible power issues.

Happy for any advice as would like to fix this if possible. Can even start a new thread as I did high Jack this one.

Also curios as to what the recommended BIOS as i have seen a lot of stuff essentially saying dont use the evo M8+

Edited October 19, 2023 by STR4Y
added additional text