It worked before I cleaned it

[Shmingers]

Ok, I've never seen this before, and I'm hoping some of you awesome mad scientists might have a solution.

I bought a v1.1 in decent condition hoping that I could do the necessary maintenance and use the guts in my X3 project. Got it home, turned it on and it worked...well enough that I was able to softmod it.

Today, I opened it up to work on it and it was caked in dust (I've seen cleaner attics). Cleaned it thoroughly, removed the clock cap (neutralized and cleaned the small amount of leakage), cleaned the DVD drive, bridged the two TSOP points, installed an X3 pin header and replaced the thermal pastes. Pretty standard for what I normally do with an OG Xbox.

Long story short, I put it back together to flash the TSOP, and it won't boot properly. It sounds like it's booting and the eject button ring turns green, but there's nothing on screen. The other odd thing, is it keeps scanning the DVD drive, and if I push the eject button, it turns off, then turns back on again. I confirmed the cables are good by starting up my primary Xbox.

I'm thinking it's one of two things:

1. Trace damage, but I'm not seeing any obvious damage, the buttons work fine and the ring lights up properly.

2. Bad power rail caps, but they're not swelling (I've had caps go bad without swelling before)

Before I make the effort of replacing either option, I wanted to see if this was familiar to anyone here. Any ideas? I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thanks all!

[Bowlsnapper]

26 minutes ago, Shmingers said:

Ok, I've never seen this before, and I'm hoping some of you awesome mad scientists might have a solution.

I bought a v1.1 in decent condition hoping that I could do the necessary maintenance and use the guts in my X3 project. Got it home, turned it on and it worked...well enough that I was able to softmod it.

Today, I opened it up to work on it and it was caked in dust (I've seen cleaner attics). Cleaned it thoroughly, removed the clock cap (neutralized and cleaned the small amount of leakage), cleaned the DVD drive, bridged the two TSOP points, installed an X3 pin header and replaced the thermal pastes. Pretty standard for what I normally do with an OG Xbox.

Long story short, I put it back together to flash the TSOP, and it won't boot properly. It sounds like it's booting and the eject button ring turns green, but there's nothing on screen. The other odd thing, is it keeps scanning the DVD drive, and if I push the eject button, it turns off, then turns back on again. I confirmed the cables are good by starting up my primary Xbox.

I'm thinking it's one of two things:

1. Trace damage, but I'm not seeing any obvious damage, the buttons work fine and the ring lights up properly.

2. Bad power rail caps, but they're not swelling (I've had caps go bad without swelling before)

Before I make the effort of replacing either option, I wanted to see if this was familiar to anyone here. Any ideas? I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thanks all!

Why did you do a softmod if you have an X3? The TSOP flash? There's a tool for that that uses the same exploit and doesn't modify your C partition other than placing a bios file if you ask it to. I saw somebody brick their console with a softmod a while ago...

Softmodding is a no-no if you're booting a hacked bios. Doesn't work out most of the time. I would leave the TSOP alone.

[Marty]

The color code on the front panel power button stays a solid green?

[sweetdarkdestiny]

34 minutes ago, Shmingers said:

...

Softmod and chip didn't play nice with each other. 

Download an installer disc and set up your C&E partition with it. Your xbox then should be back to normal. And since you has an X3 in your box, drop the TSOP idea. 

[fox]

1 hour ago, Shmingers said:

it was caked in dust

static maybe, how did you clean the dust out?

[Shmingers]

On 11/20/2023 at 10:14 PM, Marty said:

The color code on the front panel power button stays a solid green?

Yep, if not for the blank screen, I'd assume it was starting up normally.

On 11/20/2023 at 11:21 PM, fox said:

static maybe, how did you clean the dust out?

Hmm, I used canned air on the board, but I vacuumed the case. I hadn't considered static. Dammit please tell me I didn't create a charge that cooked the board when I put it back in...

On 11/20/2023 at 10:06 PM, Bowlsnapper said:

Why did you do a softmod if you have an X3? The TSOP flash? There's a tool for that that uses the same exploit and doesn't modify your C partition other than placing a bios file if you ask it to. I saw somebody brick their console with a softmod a while ago...

Softmodding is a no-no if you're booting a hacked bios. Doesn't work out most of the time. I would leave the TSOP alone.

X3 box is separate for now. I was treating this 1.1 as a stand-alone - softmod, clean, TSOP flash, then if I was happy with it, I was going to replace the 1.2 in the X3 with the guts from the 1.1. BTW the X3 project is going swimmingly. Replaced the power rail caps and got the clock cap damage repaired.

On 11/20/2023 at 10:17 PM, sweetdarkdestiny said:

Softmod and chip didn't play nice with each other. 

Download an installer disc and set up your C&E partition with it. Your xbox then should be back to normal. And since you has an X3 in your box, drop the TSOP idea. 

Thanks, but as per my note to Bowlsnapper, this 1.1 console is separate from my X3 project.

[lopenator]

take a mm to the trace pads just to ensure they're good. sometimes the damage can only be seen with a scope 

[Shmingers]

10 minutes ago, lopenator said:

take a mm to the trace pads just to ensure they're good. sometimes the damage can only be seen with a scope 

I'll try again, thanks. Sincerely hoping the traces are the issue and not anything worse.

[Shmingers]

Ok all, it took me three days to figure this out and I'm a little embarrassed, but I have figured out the solution.

Long story short, I learned a Sharp TSOP requires more than just bridging the points and adding the jumper wire. After trying MANY other solutions, I found Dphirschler's guide here on how to flash a Sharp TSOP, and they mentioned if you bridge everything right away, you'll get a blank screen.

I removed the solder bridges and the jumper wire, and surprise surprise, it booted up successfully.

While I'm happy to have learned something new, I'm so annoyed at the time lost that I don't want to see this console ever again. Thank you all.

[Bowlsnapper]

53 minutes ago, Shmingers said:

Ok all, it took me three days to figure this out and I'm a little embarrassed, but I have figured out the solution.

Long story short, I learned a Sharp TSOP requires more than just bridging the points and adding the jumper wire. After trying MANY other solutions, I found Dphirschler's guide here on how to flash a Sharp TSOP, and they mentioned if you bridge everything right away, you'll get a blank screen.

I removed the solder bridges and the jumper wire, and surprise surprise, it booted up successfully.

While I'm happy to have learned something new, I'm so annoyed at the time lost that I don't want to see this console ever again. Thank you all.

Lol, nah man. Keep at it. Learn some more stuff. Getting there should be half the fun   Or maybe I just speak for myself.

I am lucky to have NEVER run into a Sharp TSOP in my entire life. If I saw one, I would use a modchip. That's what I use chips for these days: Modding consoles with unusable TSOPs or modding 1.6s. I understand that the Sharp is still flashable. but fuck that.

[Fringle]

Sounds like a Sharp.  Run wire leads from the top tsop point and connect them once the console boots.  Then flash with gentoox.  Alternatively follow this guide.

 

Once it's flashed you can leave the wires connected or properly bridge the point and it will work normally.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Fringle

[Bowlsnapper]

7 hours ago, Fringle said:

Sounds like a Sharp.  Run wire leads from the top tsop point and connect them once the console boots.  Then flash with gentoox.  Alternatively follow this guide.

 

Once it's flashed you can leave the wires connected or properly bridge the point and it will work normally.

I actually finally got a trace writing pen. Now I don't have to solder that shit anymore! Woohoo!

 

I WAS HERE!

[Fringle]

3 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I actually finally got a trace writing pen. Now I don't have to solder that shit anymore! Woohoo!

 

I WAS HERE!

Sweet.  I'm back to work now so haven't been around here to post much.  The brighter side is, I can now start to afford more things to tinker with.