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Aladdin XT Plus2 On a XBox V1.0


HDShadow
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36 minutes ago, HDShadow said:

Understood, thanks again - I will try doing it again with the pins as recommended later this week.

The first thing I did before even attempting the LPC pin header install was to connect the BT point as shown. 

Any reason you are not just doing a TSOP, you will get more choices for a bios?

You could do both and not solder the BT link and you could then have a choice of 2 bios.

Edited by Ging3rguy
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I've done a successful TSOP on another Xbox and I may well do another but I'm not convinced that it actually makes any practical difference to me when compared to my softmods. If the TSOP is stuffed up the Xbox is practically a write off unless you install a chip. I do not like the thought of that however unlikely.

If something goes wrong with my softmods I can fix it or at least get it working again as I have backup basic softmodded stock HDDs locked and set up for use with every Xbox I have. 

This chip installing project is just that, a project - I do not really need to do it but it will be very useful having another chipped machine available.

 

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1 hour ago, HDShadow said:

I've done a successful TSOP on another Xbox and I may well do another but I'm not convinced that it actually makes any practical difference to me when compared to my softmods. If the TSOP is stuffed up the Xbox is practically a write off unless you install a chip. I do not like the thought of that however unlikely.

If something goes wrong with my softmods I can fix it or at least get it working again as I have backup basic softmodded stock HDDs locked and set up for use with every Xbox I have. 

This chip installing project is just that, a project - I do not really need to do it but it will be very useful having another chipped machine available.

 

I’m the reverse, all my boxes are chipped or TSOPed apart from one that I keep as a softmod but that even has a pinheader so I can drop in a modchip.

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I thought about doing that myself, adding a pin header to my softmods, nulling the eeprom too but not got around to that yet.

Definitely need to practice my soldering skills first - despite using extra flux with this current project only two of the pin solderings ended up looking anything but amateur. I think I may actually have been using too much flux because the solder whilst not sticking to the soldering iron tip as it tends to also didn't want to flow around the pin either.

In several cases I ended up with a perfect small dome of solder just sitting on the MB the other side of the pin from the soldering iron's tip in a pool of flux. It would not attach to the pin let alone flow around it to connect to the LPC contact.

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I am guessing some of your solder joints look like some in this pic.

 

811006411_images(1).jpg.82078e3b4c5009d13c3f85c4a2d804ae.jpg

 

I use a flux paste and 60/40 solder (60% tin and 40% lead) and for soldering a LPC pin header it set a temp of around 375-400c and when soldering ram IC's the temp is around 350c then up to 425c for cap replacement.

I would highly recommend you get some old PCB's to practice soldering on 1st.

Tools required are

Temperature adjustable solder station

0.8mm 60/40 solder, I don't recommend the lead free solder as the working temperature is higher and the Xbox was made with leaded solder anyway

Flux paste in a syringe (easy to apply)

Solder wick/braid (it's used to remove solder)

Magnifying glass 

Isopropyl alcohol (to clean the board)

Tooth brush (to clean the board)

A multi meter is also really helpful to test for shorts and continuity 

And you're basic hand tools like cutters, small pliers, tweezers, screwdrivers, some Kayner wire.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

OMG I think I've finally got my Aladdin chip working.

My soldering skills or rather lack of have been the problem. Once I reinstated all the pins, except pin 3 of course, doing as recommended here instead of the 4x pin removal found in some guides the chip actually showed activity. The LED came on. But three times I re-flowed the solder to the pins with obvious issues and the result was the Xbox still fragging on start up.

Fourth time lucky and I'm now of the opinion it may not have been my soldering that was the problem. First time I booted it still fragged. The chip was level and appeared properly seated but I found that if I pressed it down very gently and retried that the Xbox booted and Evox logo appeared...............yay!

As regards the soldering - the extra flux I used caused as many problems as it solved. The solder didn't stick to the soldering iron tip as much but it seemed to be having the same effect on the pins and contact rings around the LPC holes. So many times rather than flow the solder actually balled just sitting there next to the pin but not actually attached.

The solution I believe is to do what one of the YT videos about fitting shows the Aladdin type chips suggests - use a fibre-glass pen to 'rough up' the LPC area, particularly the pin holes.

I recently needed to attach a couple of wires to a 1.5v battery for circuit testing purposes. I found it near enough impossible. With extra flux or without it the solder just balled. However when I used a fine grade sandpaper to 'rough up' the surface each end of the battery the soldering was a doddle; it attached firmly and with minimal amounts of solder used.

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1 hour ago, HDShadow said:

recently needed to attach a couple of wires to a 1.5v battery for circuit testing purposes.

Time to invest in a multimeter I think..

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

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4 hours ago, HDShadow said:

OMG I think I've finally got my Aladdin chip working.

My soldering skills or rather lack of have been the problem. Once I reinstated all the pins, except pin 3 of course, doing as recommended here instead of the 4x pin removal found in some guides the chip actually showed activity. The LED came on. But three times I re-flowed the solder to the pins with obvious issues and the result was the Xbox still fragging on start up.

Fourth time lucky and I'm now of the opinion it may not have been my soldering that was the problem. First time I booted it still fragged. The chip was level and appeared properly seated but I found that if I pressed it down very gently and retried that the Xbox booted and Evox logo appeared...............yay!

As regards the soldering - the extra flux I used caused as many problems as it solved. The solder didn't stick to the soldering iron tip as much but it seemed to be having the same effect on the pins and contact rings around the LPC holes. So many times rather than flow the solder actually balled just sitting there next to the pin but not actually attached.

The solution I believe is to do what one of the YT videos about fitting shows the Aladdin type chips suggests - use a fibre-glass pen to 'rough up' the LPC area, particularly the pin holes.

I recently needed to attach a couple of wires to a 1.5v battery for circuit testing purposes. I found it near enough impossible. With extra flux or without it the solder just balled. However when I used a fine grade sandpaper to 'rough up' the surface each end of the battery the soldering was a doddle; it attached firmly and with minimal amounts of solder used.

If you have a temp control on your iron try it between 360-39O C and use decent 60/40 solder, it will flow a lot better and will melt at about 180 C.

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No temperature control on the iron I'm using. Its fixed 25W one.

I've always used 60/40 solder - none of that green lead free stuff. :)

As regards the multi-meter unless the thing you're testing has resistance setting it to omega (Ohms) to test the resistance surely gives no reading with what is just a basic wire connection with no power. I couldn't see how I could test the D0 integrity under power when using the connection D0 to ground points on the back of the MB. That's why I used the v1.5v battery. It worked and proved the D0 connection was good.

Don't most fully featured multi-meters include a separate circuit tester setting, usually with a buzzer?

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You don’t need power to test for continuity, in fact you should only do resistance testing with the power disconnected just in case you short something. Open circuit, probes a part should read 1  .0, might be different on your meter. Probes together, closed circuit should be 0.0. My meter actually reads 0.2 as I don’t have a null function for the leads.

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7 hours ago, HDShadow said:

Don't most fully featured multi-meters include a separate circuit tester setting, usually with a buzzer?

Not all meters include a buzzer.

Back in it's day (1960's) this was considered a fully featured meter 

 

IMG_20200708_062608.thumb.jpg.300a0136d8652821cbc494c3e3c285b3.jpg

And this one still works

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

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7 hours ago, Ging3rguy said:

You don’t need power to test for continuity, in fact you should only do resistance testing with the power disconnected just in case you short something. Open circuit, probes a part should read 1  .0, might be different on your meter. Probes together, closed circuit should be 0.0. My meter actually reads 0.2 as I don’t have a null function for the leads.

So that's what the (1) means. News to me.

The very limited information in the leaflet that came with my cheap multi-meter doesn't have anything about that. I thought the (1) was just poor zeroing. 

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The pic on the left is the probes not touching and on the right is the probes touching each other.

 

IMG_20200708_124148.thumb.jpg.a5219825e96d9a7e96fe3b3a40722a8f.jpg

And this 1970"s meter does not have a beeper function.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

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On 5/14/2020 at 12:02 PM, HDShadow said:

Not done a chip install before but decided to take the plunge and have just received an Aladdin XT PLUS2 including pin-header.

Thing is I have two options: install on a v1.0 or a v1.6.

I've started by bridging the BT to adjacent GND point so when fitted the chip will be always be on. A bit fiddly and I overcooked the solder on one end but it looks clean enough.

The question is what to do now: there are plenty of guides for the the v1.6 but that involves rebuilding the LPC which with my soldering skills I'm not 100% confident about. There is also contradictory information about the pin-header set up too. Some guides remove just one pin others like this very clear YT guide recommends removing four pins.

The v1.6 LPC hassle made me tend towards using the v1.0 instead but the guides I've found for that are limited and seem unclear in comparison. Nothing at all about using the pin header, if there are any differences, and the pins that need removing or even what needs to be connected to what. Available pictures are particular poor. It also appears that to use the pin header I'm going to have to remove the existing solder from the LPC holes too.

Is the info in the v1.6 YT tutorial about using 5v from the right transistor leg to make the LED only switch on when the Xbox is powered up applicable to the v1.0?

Advice/info please. 

If your soldering skills are lacking, I would highly recommend installing the Alladin in the 1.0 box using the surface mount method as that eliminates the need to remove the solder from the LPC.

EDIT: I see you already got it installed. Disregard.

Edited by VCoupe376ci
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This is how I prep the Aladdin modchip for the version 1.6 boards

You cut the trace (a razor blade works well for this) on the yellow line to isolate the 5 volt supply to R1 

Then add 2 links as the black lines the BT to pin 2 (ground) and from R1 to Pin 9 (3.3 volt)

 

IMG_20200708_193309.thumb.jpg.dc358fd60baf88b9c74c35da9f29488e.jpg

By doing this the led is switched off when the Xbox is off

When you are installing the pin header you need to remove pin 4 only.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

 

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This getting frustrating.

Yesterday I rechecked everything was working, partially reassemble the Xbox - no DVD or HDD. Tested the chip still worked OK, it did. This morning I do nothing except reconnect the AV and power cables, turn it on and the thing starts fragging again. No adjustment in the chip mounting position worked this time and I'm back to square one, in fact worse.

In my latest solder reflow attempts something I've done that means the chip LED doesn't even come on now. I've looked at the LPC pin soldering under a powerful Lupe and whilst ugly it appears all the pins are, at least at some point, soldered to or at least touching the LPC contact rings. The D0 connection still seems fine.

The multimeter, now I understand how the circuit integrity can be tested with it, shows that as still good.

I think no LED suggests either pins 6 (5v) or 9 (3.3v), not sure which powers the LED, or the grounding pins: 2 and 12 have a problem.

Any advice at this point welcome. 

   

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59 minutes ago, HDShadow said:

This getting frustrating.

Yesterday I rechecked everything was working, partially reassemble the Xbox - no DVD or HDD. Tested the chip still worked OK, it did. This morning I do nothing except reconnect the AV and power cables, turn it on and the thing starts fragging again. No adjustment in the chip mounting position worked this time and I'm back to square one, in fact worse.

In my latest solder reflow attempts something I've done that means the chip LED doesn't even come on now. I've looked at the LPC pin soldering under a powerful Lupe and whilst ugly it appears all the pins are, at least at some point, soldered to or at least touching the LPC contact rings. The D0 connection still seems fine.

The multimeter, now I understand how the circuit integrity can be tested with it, shows that as still good.

I think no LED suggests either pins 6 (5v) or 9 (3.3v), not sure which powers the LED, or the grounding pins: 2 and 12 have a problem.

Any advice at this point welcome. 

   

Do a continuity test on the pins to make sure you don’t have a short. If you have gone heavy on the solder and keep reworking it there maybe a short you can’t see. Are you using the D0 on the underside to the chip?

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3 hours ago, HDShadow said:

This getting frustrating.

Yesterday I rechecked everything was working, partially reassemble the Xbox - no DVD or HDD. Tested the chip still worked OK, it did. This morning I do nothing except reconnect the AV and power cables, turn it on and the thing starts fragging again. No adjustment in the chip mounting position worked this time and I'm back to square one, in fact worse.

In my latest solder reflow attempts something I've done that means the chip LED doesn't even come on now. I've looked at the LPC pin soldering under a powerful Lupe and whilst ugly it appears all the pins are, at least at some point, soldered to or at least touching the LPC contact rings. The D0 connection still seems fine.

The multimeter, now I understand how the circuit integrity can be tested with it, shows that as still good.

I think no LED suggests either pins 6 (5v) or 9 (3.3v), not sure which powers the LED, or the grounding pins: 2 and 12 have a problem.

Any advice at this point welcome. 

   

I you have no LED then pin 6 or Pin 2 and because it's FRAGing I would say pin 2(ground).

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

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410382635_XboxLPCPinouts.png.b3997609cef42f93d1b05b550df5a1ab.png

Using this pic which I think SS_Dave posted originally I've been testing just the pins as they are currently soldered using a multi-meter.

Voltage on each pin using the metal shielding to ground it are as follows:-

Pin1: Nothing

Pin2:  GND (not working)

Pin3: 3.3v

Pin4: NA

Pin5: 0.17v

Pin6: 5v

Pin7: 3.3v

Pin8: 3.3v

Pin9: Nothing

Pin10: 3.3v

Pin11: 3.3v

Pin12: GND (working) 

The obvious problems are Pin9 with no voltage detected and Pin2* which is definitely not grounded so I've highlighted them in red. They obviously have to be redone, better.

But the two others Pin1, no detected voltage and Pin5 only 0.17v I'm not sure about so marked them in purple.

* as SS_Dave mentions ^^ this is a prime suspect.

The alternative v1.1 D0 point to ground connection is the only one I am confident about and I know is OK.

As said the chip was working and my suspicion is that it was doing that because the soldering was 'almost' OK. It was a warm day and I'd had the Xbox running many times testing the chip. That heat caused enough metal expansion to let it work. Next day was cold and it didn't.

I wish I'd tested the pins then, it might have only been one of them that had a problem but I re-flowed the five that looked most dodgy and I must have messed up some which were actually OK.

Any advice/suggestions on the evidence presented welcome.   

 

Edited by HDShadow
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I think it is using too much flux that has been causing the problem - it helps the solder not stick to the soldering iron but seems to have a similar effect on the pin too and the solder ends up balling one side of the pin sitting on a pool of flux rather than help it flow around it to make a good connection.

Anyone know if those Pin1 and Pin5 voltage reading are normal? I can't find any info about that.

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