Aladdin XT FRAG

[jeffl]

I am attempting to install a modchip for the first time. I have an aladdin XT clone from Aliexpress. The xbox is 1.4. I have a wire from bottom-side D0 to the top-side D0 pad on the chip. BT on the chip is wired to ground using the quick solder connector. The HD is stock with the standard xbox dashboard. Xbox was verified functional pre-modding. The only other mod is the removal of the clock capacitor.

The console performs 3x boot attempts before FRAGing and eventually powering off.

I used the LPC diagnostics page to verify my soldering. All eleven pins have continuity to the points described in the "baldbouncer" diagram. The only weirdness I noticed is that baldbouncer pin 4 to test point 4 has a resistance of about 1K. The via immediately below test point 4 has a much lower resistance to pin 4. See blue arrow in attached diagram.

Despite watching a lot of tutorials and reading the documentation, I can't rule out some rookie mistake. Any tips for troubleshooting this?

 

[Marty]

Remove the chip, clean up your solder....and see if you can boot into stock.

[jeffl]

Removing the chip (though leaving in the pin header) does not result in a boot to stock. Visual inspection of both sides of the mobo reveal no damage or solder blobs.

 

Let me offer some additional info in case it is relevant. The seller of this xbox posted it as "for parts or not working". After discussing with him, he indicated that he bought the contents of a storage locker and had no interest in testing it to verify operation. I could see that the console was previously opened up although there were no signs inside of modification. No signs of a soft mod in the stock dash. While I verified operation when I first brought the console home, I don't think I verified operation after removing the clock cap. I double checked that I removed the correct cap for 1.4. I am not clear how one determines that the console is in a clock boot loop or if this would apply to me (perhaps the console was soft-modded but booted to stock dash).

 

I'm puzzled at how I could have arrived in this situation. I'm wondering if the console had a pre-existing but intermittent issue. Can folks provide additional assistance?

[Bowlsnapper]

58 minutes ago, jeffl said:

Removing the chip (though leaving in the pin header) does not result in a boot to stock. Visual inspection of both sides of the mobo reveal no damage or solder blobs.

 

Let me offer some additional info in case it is relevant. The seller of this xbox posted it as "for parts or not working". After discussing with him, he indicated that he bought the contents of a storage locker and had no interest in testing it to verify operation. I could see that the console was previously opened up although there were no signs inside of modification. No signs of a soft mod in the stock dash. While I verified operation when I first brought the console home, I don't think I verified operation after removing the clock cap. I double checked that I removed the correct cap for 1.4. I am not clear how one determines that the console is in a clock boot loop or if this would apply to me (perhaps the console was soft-modded but booted to stock dash).

 

I'm puzzled at how I could have arrived in this situation. I'm wondering if the console had a pre-existing but intermittent issue. Can folks provide additional assistance?

The condition you are describing ( no obvious mods even though it's been opened) could be a tsop mod. Check the solder points.

The BT on these chips does not work And causes me to frag when attempting to use. It will detect button presses on its own. BT is not necessary. Disconnect it and report back  I know you're saying that the console is Fragging with the mod removed now, but that is how it should be wired. No BT.

could you also take a good pic of the D0 point?

Removal of the clock cap with a 1.4 has never put me in a boot loop, so at least there's that.

also if you could take a  better pic of the area... This inle looks like it was taken in 1971 with a Polaroid.

[jeffl]

The previous picture was not my console. I used baldbouncer's LPC diagnostic diagram from the posting on ogxbox.

 

Here is my console. I am aware that the soldering is terrible and that I need to improve.

 

 

[Marty]

Someone's "misadventures" inside the console damaged it, possibly beyond reasonable repair.

[Marty]

brutal soldering

[Bowlsnapper]

1 hour ago, jeffl said:

The previous picture was not my console. I used baldbouncer's LPC diagnostic diagram from the posting on ogxbox.

 

Here is my console. I am aware that the soldering is terrible and that I need to improve.

 

 

Definitely reflow those. With a healthy amount of flux. You really can't have enough. This could be the reason for your frag alone. Some pins look like they may not even be connected to vias. Others have solder all bunched up at the tops of the pins. Remove excess solder. You should have enough to circle the vias and cover them but little enough that you can see the pins poking through the small mound. D0 looks to be the proper point.

Lotsa flux buddy.

[Fringle]

Looks a lot like my first attempt many years ago.  As a tip, heat the pins one at a time with the soldering iron and allow it to heat up, touch your solder to the leg and via and it should flow nicely into place with little effort.  As Bowl said, use plenty of flux to help it flow where it needs to go.

[FrostyMaGee]

Agreed with Bowl and Fringle on reflowing those. Also remember to clean all the leftover flux up off the board (if you aren’t already) with some ipa and a soft bristle brush, cotton swab, et al after you’re done soldering. Just a good habit to get in to doing. 

[Bowlsnapper]

8 minutes ago, FrostyMaGee said:

Agreed with Bowl and Fringle on reflowing those. Also remember to clean all the leftover flux up off the board (if you aren’t already) with some ipa and a soft bristle brush, cotton swab, et al after you’re done soldering. Just a good habit to get in to doing. 

Yes, cleaning this area with alcohol and then cleaning it again after reflowing is something that should be done here. Thank you for reminding me.

Also remember, if you are testing the stock boot by removing the chip but leaving D0 grounded, the console will frag because it is trying to boot from the lpc but there is nothing to boot because the chip cannot be read when unplugged. And again, bad lpc soldering can cause fragging no matter what is going on with the chip being socketed or D0 being grounded. D0 on the chip does not work with Aladdins, so D0 must be grounded in order for it to work. BT is not used. Leave it bare.

@jeffl

[Aero_105]

I would practice soldering on a dead scrap motherboard for at least 10 hours until you feel comfortable.  I would practice tinning wires with rosin flux and keep the solder iron tip tinned.  If the tip is not taking solder when hot then it could be black and oxidized then it is not good to use.  Make sure you don't leave the iron on any longer then you need to.  Add fresh solder once in a while and clean the iron tip, I use steel wool to wipe the old solder and add new solder keeping the iron tip tinned.

[jeffl]

I appreciate all the tips. I am still really puzzled. How the poor soldering on the pin header could be causing my issue of FRAGing with no D0 grounding and no modchip is not clear to me but I will reflow nonetheless. LPC pin continuity to the "baldbouncer" test points all check out as I noted in my original post.

[Bowlsnapper]

2 minutes ago, jeffl said:

I appreciate all the tips. I am still really puzzled. How the poor soldering on the pin header could be causing my issue of FRAGing with no D0 grounding and no modchip is not clear to me but I will reflow nonetheless. LPC pin continuity to the "baldbouncer" test points all check out as I noted in my original post.

I've seen weirder things happen. like Aero said, check your iron tip and make sure it's nice and silver. A cruddy tip will make even the easiest of jobs almost impossible. Grinding into it can help in the short term, but always leads to MAD oxidation.

[Marty]

56 minutes ago, jeffl said:

 How the poor soldering on the pin header could be causing my issue of FRAGing

When I see soldering and stuff like that in the condition it's in, I can't rule out that the board was mishandled or damaged in some other way.

When I see pin-straight solder joints, I assume the modder knows how to handle electronics....static electricity...drops....unexpected power surges....scratches...etc....

[jeffl]

I desoldered the pin header from the LPC. Now the behavior is to attempt 3x boot prior to orange flashing, eventually powering off. Consolemods wiki indicates this is an overheating problem or a problem with the temperature sensor at U6F1. Visual inspection does not reveal anything. I will follow the wiki's advice to clean the temp IC and to replace the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU.

[Fringle]

6 minutes ago, jeffl said:

I desoldered the pin header from the LPC. Now the behavior is to attempt 3x boot prior to orange flashing, eventually powering off. Consolemods wiki indicates this is an overheating problem or a problem with the temperature sensor at U6F1. Visual inspection does not reveal anything. I will follow the wiki's advice to clean the temp IC and to replace the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU.

Looks like it could be a damaged trace or lifted pad.

Edited December 9, 2023 by Fringle

[jeffl]

21 minutes ago, Fringle said:

Looks like it could be a damaged trace or lifted pad.

Fortunately just a solder blob that I subsequently cleaned up.

[Fringle]

Not to sure about this one but it looks like the legs could be bridged/shorted together.  I suspect if there was one blob of solder there are probably more.

Edited December 9, 2023 by Fringle

[Marty]

27 minutes ago, Fringle said:

 I suspect if there was one blob of solder there are probably more.

many such cases

[jeffl]

40 minutes ago, Fringle said:

Not to sure about this one but it looks like the legs could be bridged/shorted together.  I suspect if there was one blob of solder there are probably more.

The legs are bridged. I can't find high res pictures of a 1.4 mobo to compare to. I assume that any time IC pins are bridged that it is an anomaly but I'm very hesitant to attempt a repair. Should I proceed?

[Fringle]

It's possible that it is suppose to be like that, I'm not sure as I don't have that revision of board here to look at and all of mine are screwed down in cases at the moment.  With the FRAG you're describing it's really hard to narrow down as it could be a corrupted eeprom, hardware fault, corrupted Tsop, etc..  It doesn't take much to corrupt a tsop and since it's only a 256k on a 1.4 a working modchip installation would be your only fix.  I'm not sure if there is a fix for a corrupted eeprom without a known good backup.

[jeffl]

36 minutes ago, Fringle said:

It's possible that it is suppose to be like that, I'm not sure as I don't have that revision of board here to look at and all of mine are screwed down in cases at the moment.  With the FRAG you're describing it's really hard to narrow down as it could be a corrupted eeprom, hardware fault, corrupted Tsop, etc..  It doesn't take much to corrupt a tsop and since it's only a 256k on a 1.4 a working modchip installation would be your only fix.  I'm not sure if there is a fix for a corrupted eeprom without a known good backup.

I will probably hold off on IC repair for now. I ordered CPU paste and will perform that work when it arrives.

Edited December 9, 2023 by jeffl
Removed statement that didn't make sense

[ChriZz]

I haven't read everything yet. But did the Xbox even work before or is it some kind of eBay victim? I also recently had this QUESTION in connection with 3 restarts. It was due to the damaged reset line (pin4) on the lpc. The previous owner simply fried them away. But it was repairable.

[jeffl]

4 minutes ago, ChriZz said:

I haven't read everything yet. But did the Xbox even work before or is it some kind of eBay victim? I also recently had this QUESTION in connection with 3 restarts. It was due to the damaged reset line (pin4) on the lpc. The previous owner simply fried them away. But it was repairable.

Seller sold as "for parts or not working". I think he just meant untested. The console booted to stock dash when I fired it up for the first time. I only let it run for 2 mins. No stress testing. Someone had been inside it though. What was done inside I do not know.