problems after hdd upgrade

[smkirnats]

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, Apologies for my poor English, it's not my native language. I'm writing to you from Moldova.

I am a happy owner of an original Xbox version 1.1, equipped with a DuoX3 modchip. I decided to upgrade the hard drive, replacing the original IDE with a SATA 500GB drive using a no-name adapter.

The Xbox recognized the new SATA HDD. Using the TruHeXEn 2021 disk, I followed these steps:

• 3.TSOP Flashed / Chipped Xbox Tools

• 3.3 Chipped/Flashed Xbox Disk Upgrades

• 3.3.3 New Disk, NTSC Xbox

The firmware installs successfully, and the Xbox boots with the original dashboard. However, when I try to install any custom dashboard, the Xbox freezes on the loading screen with the Windows logo.

Can you suggest where I might have made a mistake and how to fix it?

[smkirnats]

upd: This morning it launched with the dashboard avalaunch, even though I didn’t install it. But after switching to Unleashed, it stopped loading again beyond the Microsoft logo.

[KaosEngineer]

1 hour ago, smkirnats said:

upd: This morning it launched with the dashboard avalaunch, even though I didn’t install it. But after switching to Unleashed, it stopped loading again beyond the Microsoft logo.

How'd you switch from Avalaunch to UnleashX?

Which BIOS is booting from the modchip?

Do you know its dashboard boot order (the locations it looks to run a replacement dashboard from the hard drive)?

[KaosEngineer]

Is the stock MS dashboard installed on the C drive?

[smkirnats]

6 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

How'd you switch from Avalaunch to UnleashX?

1 load hexen disk

4 install apps/dashboards

4.2 install Dashboards

4.2.11 Install All Dashboards

5. Dashboard Tools [ModChip/TSOP]

5.1 Switch Dashboards [ModChip/TSOP]

and there im chosing the dashboards

 

Which BIOS is booting from the modchip?

how i can check it ? 

 

Do you know its dashboard boot order (the locations it looks to run a replacement dashboard from the hard drive)?

i dont know it, how i can check it ?

 

 

Edited March 15 by smkirnats

[smkirnats]

On 3/15/2025 at 1:06 PM, KaosEngineer said:

Is the stock MS dashboard installed on the C drive?

Yes

[smkirnats]

On 3/15/2025 at 1:05 PM, KaosEngineer said:

How'd you switch from Avalaunch to UnleashX?

Which BIOS is booting from the modchip?

Do you know its dashboard boot order (the locations it looks to run a replacement dashboard from the hard drive)?

i dont know how to check the dasboard boot order, but it looks like the problem is the startup of dash, if i launch installed dasboard via file explorer it works.

[KaosEngineer]

49 minutes ago, smkirnats said:

i dont know how to check the dasboard boot order, but it looks like the problem is the startup of dash, if i launch installed dasboard via file explorer it works.

Which modified Xbox BIOS is installed?  

Being able to find the boot order depends on which BIOS is being used.

[smkirnats]

7 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

Which modified Xbox BIOS is installed?  

 

can i check it via "live" tools ?

[smkirnats]

10 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

Which modified Xbox BIOS is installed?  

Being able to find the boot order depends on which BIOS is being used.

BIOS checker says this:

[smkirnats]

Upd3:

"Using the TruHexen disc, I can access the file manager and run any dashboard installed on drives C, F, or G. However, when booting normally without the disc, my Xbox freezes on the Xbox logo with the Microsoft inscription."
 

[KaosEngineer]

On 3/18/2025 at 2:27 PM, smkirnats said:

BIOS checker says this:

KaosEngineer here, I removed the picture to save space

Run Evoxdash's Flash BIOS option.  What are the manufacturer and product IDs it displays when you try it.  Don't continue after it displays these values:

 

HOMEBREW (ffff) shown by BIOSChecker isn't what I expected.

I'll check to see if the BIOS MD5 hash value, 2FDD6851B32AE931637D4845C037B550 - I think that's the value in the image, a bit blurry to me - is in the evox.ini files I have.

Edit: Found that value but another not what I expect to see for a BIOS's MD5 hash:

(1MB)BLANK (do not flash it!)=2FDD6851B32AE931637D4845C037B550  (I've not seen this BIOS version ID before now!)  More research needed.

Is it actually 1MB of 0xFF bytes -  a empty 1 MB flash memory chip?

Kernel version: 1.00.5838.01 posted in an earlier evoxdash image in this thread.

DuoX3 custom boot logo in the upper left corner of the startup animation makes me think it is a modded Evolution-X M8 or M8plus BIOS.

[KaosEngineer]

On 3/18/2025 at 2:37 AM, smkirnats said:

i dont know how to check the dasboard boot order, but it looks like the problem is the startup of dash, if i launch installed dasboard via file explorer it works.

Can you post a close-up picture of the modchip, please?

[smkirnats]

[smkirnats]

On 3/22/2025 at 9:13 AM, KaosEngineer said:

Can you post a close-up picture of the modchip, please?

 

[smkirnats]

On 3/22/2025 at 8:08 AM, KaosEngineer said:

Run Evoxdash's Flash BIOS option.  What are the manufacturer and product IDs it displays when you try it.  Don't continue after it displays these values:

 

HOMEBREW (ffff) shown by BIOSChecker isn't what I expected.

I'll check to see if the BIOS MD5 hash value, 2FDD6851B32AE931637D4845C037B550 - I think that's the value in the image, a bit blurry to me - is in the evox.ini files I have.

Edit: Found that value but another not what I expect to see for a BIOS's MD5 hash:

(1MB)BLANK (do not flash it!)=2FDD6851B32AE931637D4845C037B550  (I've not seen this BIOS version ID before now!)  More research needed.

Is it actually 1MB of 0xFF bytes -  a empty 1 MB flash memory chip?

Kernel version: 1.00.5838.01 posted in an earlier evoxdash image in this thread.

DuoX3 custom boot logo in the upper left corner of the startup animation makes me think it is a modded Evolution-X M8 or M8plus BIOS.

If I run the Flash BIOS option in Evoxdash, nothing happens—it's empty.

[KaosEngineer]

15 hours ago, smkirnats said:

If I run the Flash BIOS option in Evoxdash, nothing happens—it's empty.

Strange.  Seems like the flash memory chip's identification bytes are not accessible.  The chip is not writable or of a type that Evox is NOT capable of flashing.

Does Evox.ini contain the Flash line to ID an SST49LF020A?

Flash = 0xbf52,"SST 49LF020A",0x40000

And, what is the value of the Current= line?

 

[smkirnats]

15 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

And, what is the value of the Current= line?

It is? 

 

[KaosEngineer]

10 hours ago, smkirnats said:

It is? 

 

 

Ok, it has the Flash = line for an SST 49LF020A.

What about the Current= line?

There should be a line in evox.ini that reads:

• Current=<hexadecimal MD5 hash of the currently running/loaded BIOS/Kernel>

Seems the Duo X2 is write-protected.

I wonder if it uses the same trick that some Aladdin modchips have.  You must hold the Power or Eject button, whichever activates the modchip to load the BIOS flashed to it, for 5-10 seconds to write-enable the modchip.

Try holding the button for 10 seconds then run Evoxdash's flash bios menu option. 

Does it now display the ManufacturerID and ProductID?

[smkirnats]

14 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

What about the Current= line?

 

[smkirnats]

14 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

You must hold the Power or Eject button, whichever activates the modchip to load the BIOS flashed to it, for 5-10 seconds to write-enable the modchip.

If I hold the eject button, nothing happens. If I hold the power button, the Xbox turns on. The eject button flashes red, but nothing happens on the screen.

[KaosEngineer]

23 hours ago, smkirnats said:

If I hold the eject button, nothing happens. If I hold the power button, the Xbox turns on. The eject button flashes red, but nothing happens on the screen.

I believe that's it.  Once the eject ring flashes, the modchip is write-enabled. 

After that happens, try evoxdash's flash bios option again to see if the manufacturer and product IDs appear.

 

[KaosEngineer]

23 hours ago, smkirnats said:

 

 

This MD5 hash value, 0x09A1D434DBD7197E7C3AF8A7C28CA38B, is for 1MByte of 0xffs.  An empty 1MB flash chip???

[smkirnats]

On 3/29/2025 at 6:52 PM, KaosEngineer said:

I believe that's it.  Once the eject ring flashes, the modchip is write-enabled. 

The eject ring flashes, but the screen remains black. Should I turn off the Xbox and enter flash BIOS again?

[KaosEngineer]

On 3/30/2025 at 2:21 PM, smkirnats said:

The eject ring flashes, but the screen remains black. Should I turn off the Xbox and enter flash BIOS again?

When you power on the console, hold the power button until the eject ring flashes, then see if you can get to the flash BIOS menu in evoxdash.