Aladdin XT Plus2 On a XBox V1.0

[SS_Dave]

The readings are with a working Open Xenium

You need to get the 3.3 volt on pin 9 working 1st.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[Ging3rguy]

4 hours ago, HDShadow said:

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.

If the solder isn’t flowing it’s not to much flux it’s not enough heat, what type of tip are you using? Use the side of the tip not the end, place it at the base of the pin to get heat into the pad and pin equally. This should make the solder pull towards the tip.

[HDShadow]

I'm using a sharp pointed head but have been using the side of that on the opposite side of the pin to  the solder wire. It does seem to take a long time for the heat to get to the solder to melt it so maybe you're right and I should use a more standard angled or spade tip.

I'll try that.

Edited July 10, 2020 by HDShadow

[HDShadow]

10 hours ago, SS_Dave said:

The readings are with a working Open Xenium

You need to get the 3.3 volt on pin 9 working 1st.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

Thanks, very helpful.

[HDShadow]

I think, just think, I've finally done it.

I decided to clean up the two pins I knew were not connecting to the LPC contacts rings. Desolder braid (1.5mm) worked really well eventually removing all the solder around pins 2 and 9. Nothing wrong with the LPC contacts which, with difficulty, I managed to test with multi-meter and some fine wire. Pin 2 was not grounded and pin 9 had no voltage but both contact rings worked correctly so no damage.

The resoldering did not go smoothly but using a more standard soldering iron head than the pointy one I had been using definitely helped, as did lightly roughing up the contact ring and area around it. I don't have the fibre glass pen recommended for this so I used an 'alternative' method.

Pin 9 eventually reported 3.3v after a couple of reflows but pin 2 refused to be grounded after three attempts so I removed the solder again and retried. Second reflow and suddenly there it was multi-meter reporting 3.3v when testing connecting  to pin 2 and pin 3 (3.3v).  Yay!

Fitted the Aladdin, connected the Xbox to a TV, power on, chip lights up and this time instead of fragging the Xbox booted to the Xbox MS screen with the Evox shield top right. Double yay!

No HDD or anything else fitted so I'm taking this as just that the chip appears to be working. But I won't be counting my chickens until its all back together and booting an AID disc.   

   

[SS_Dave]

2 minutes ago, HDShadow said:

Fitted the Aladdin, connected the Xbox to a TV, power on, chip lights up and this time instead of fragging the Xbox booted to the Xbox MS screen with the Evox shield top right. Double yay!

 

If you have the Evox shield then the chip has worked .

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[HDShadow]

That's what happened last time but when re-fitting everything my soldering was clearly not good enough and it didn't work when reassembled.

Knowing the voltages that should be on each pin (thanks again for that info) has been exceptionally helpful meaning I could easily quick test which pins were and were not connected correctly but with minimal reassembly.

I just reconnected the power cable*, power/eject button connector, fan (not really required) and MB screw to ground the D0. Powering it up without the chip means it frags but stays on and a multi-meter can then be used to identified any problem pins.

*The power cable is a pain to remove if you re-seat it fully. Disconnecting those three separate plug clips each time (why three?): you don't need to do it. Pressing it lightly down just to the point before the clips engage works fine for quick connection test purposes.

[SS_Dave]

It's made so it will not fall off

and that's why my test plug doesn't have a lock tab

 

 

I find if you hold the board down and then pull on the leads as you flex it longways back and forward  it will come up

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[HDShadow]

I do not believe this.

Today I had a spare hour so I thought I'd reassemble the Xbox and install the unlockable and virtually unused 80GB 2.5" IDE HDD I'd earmarked for it as temporary measure.

At each stage of reassembly I checked the Aladdin chip was still working - all OK. The wiped, empty HDD was spinning up as it should so all OK there too.

Loaded an AID 4.53 disc, powered down,  cold booted and up came the AID menu. I was a bit surprised because with my Xecuter 2.6CE chipped Xbox an empty cold booted HDD usually provokes AID to offer basic set up formatting. But I went ahead and used the One-Click install.

It progressed through all that and 5 minutes later asked me to shutdown and reboot. I forgot to take the disc out so I used eject to do that and.........nothing. The disc drive refused to open and instead of cold booting it started fragging. WTF?

Long story - tested everything obvious, tried a different HDD, changed the IDE cable all to no effect. Took most of it apart again and tried re-seating the chip and it started but then immediately froze midway through, on the Evox icon screen. After that with all attempts it would just frag again not even attempting to launch.

Took the chip off and voltage tested the pins and that bloody pin 2, again, was showing as not grounded. All other LPC pins are good.

How does that happen? How can the Xbox be working, cold booting an AID disc (so the chip must have been working) and goes through installing a new dash and apps to the HDD from disc all without issue. You shutdown and restart not even touching the the Xbox itself except to press the eject button to start it and suddenly its not working?

Dodgy soldering on that pin affected again by the heat from the Xbox perhaps? That was my theory before too.

Any reason I can't ground pin 2 somewhere else with some Kynar wire if this happens again? Not what I want to do but that way I could be 100% sure it is and should remain grounded. 

           

Edited July 16, 2020 by HDShadow

[sweetdarkdestiny]

When you start the XBox with the eject button the xbox try to boot up the MS dashboard.

You are sure you have one installed?

And if your HDD isn't locked and you do the same, power on with eject, you get also a error even when you have an Original MS Dash installed

Edited July 16, 2020 by sweetdarkdestiny

[HDShadow]

Thanks for the sugestions.

It tries to boot with original BIOS yes but with new empty HDD there's nothing to boot.

However with the BT point on the chip grounded, as it is, I thought that meant it always boots from the chip.

The fact is the chip was working yesterday and earlier today. Pin 2 is now, for whatever reason, not grounded that is the problem.

As SS_Dave said earlier his guess for why it was fragging last time was pin 2 problem. I think that is most likely the culprit still. I just have to solder it better or do what is recommended for the mythical v1.5 and ground it somewhere else. I suppose that could even be the same place as the D0 is grounded too.

[SS_Dave]

Can you add 2 links like this pic.

One is the 3.3 volt and the other is the ground

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[SS_Dave]

On the mod chip link the BT to pin 2 (ground)

This tells the mod chip to be always active.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[HDShadow]

^ That is how I have done it and although not as neat I'm confident that connection is good.

Its definitely pin 2 with the issue; I just can't understand how I could have successfully soldered that BT connection, the D0 point, and 9 out of the 11 LPC pins first time but messed up two others. I eventually get pin 9 done correctly and, apparently pin 2 and the chip works but at some point, for unexplained reasons, pin 2's grounding fails again.

Its my soldering obviously but it actually looks quite good on that pin after redoing it.

In the other pic ^^ the pin 9 connection to pin 15 I assume is unnecessary. Pin 9 is working fine now, reporting 3.3v.

It is just pin 2 not being grounded that appears to be the problem. That pad on the right of pin 2 as an alternative ground point. Good to know.

If I can't get the soldering to work on the actual pin I was thinking of either running a wire to the same case screw as used for the D0 or, neater, toying with idea of linking pin 2 to pin 12 (GRND). Either would work wouldn't it? But that pad looks like a much easier solution.   

 

[Ging3rguy]

9 minutes ago, HDShadow said:

^ That is how I have done it and although not as neat I'm confident that connection is good.

Its definitely pin 2 with the issue; I just can't understand how I could have successfully soldered that BT connection, the D0 point, and 9 out of the 11 LPC pins first time but messed up two others. I eventually get pin 9 done correctly and, apparently pin 2 and the chip works but at some point, for unexplained reasons, pin 2's grounding fails again.

Its my soldering obviously but it actually looks quite good on that pin after redoing it.

In the other pic ^^ the pin 9 connection to pin 15 I assume is unnecessary. Pin 9 is working fine now, reporting 3.3v.

It is just pin 2 not being grounded that appears to be the problem. That pad on the right of pin 2 as an alternative ground point. Good to know.

If I can't get the soldering to work on the actual pin I was thinking of either running a wire to the same case screw as used for the D0 or, neater, toying with idea of linking pin 2 to pin 12 (GRND). Either would work wouldn't it? But that pad looks like a much easier solution.   

 

Have you done a resistance test between ground and pin 2?

 

[HDShadow]

Yep, I used the metal shielding and, if I've understood your previous advice either here or in another thread as regards multi-meter use, it doesn't show continuity at least not now.

My voltage testing on pin 12 (also GRND) to any of the powered pins shows that is OK and if I was not already sure pin 2 had a problem the fact it behaves differently from pin 12 confirms that surely.

I'm also been a little concerned about the pin 1 LCLK and pin 5 RST voltages. SS_Dave's Xenium chipped pic showed particular voltages:-

1). What does LCLK mean? Purpose?

2). What does RST mean? Purpose?

3). What does LAD0 mean? Purpose?

3). Does any one have voltage reading from those 1 and 5 pins without a chip? 

[Ging3rguy]

Here you go https://xboxdevwiki.net/LPC_Debug_Port

i would do as Dave suggest and run a wire from ground for pin 2.

[SS_Dave]

With the modchip disconnected you should have 

pin 1 = 1.5

pin 2 = 0 volt

pin 3 = 3.3 volt

pin 4 = N/C  (no connection)

pin 5 = 3.3 volt

pin 6 = 5 volt

pin 7 = 3.3 volt

pin 8 = 3.3 volt

pin 9 = 3.3 volt

pin 10 = 3.3 volt

pin 11 = 3.3 volt

pin 12 = 0 volt (ground)

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

 

[HDShadow]

OK, thanks. That means unless there is a difference with those LPC outputs for a v1.1 Xbox then it looks like I have problems with pin 1 (no voltage) and pin 5 (0.17v) too. So I'll have to redo those as well.

The chip was working - that's what I do not understand. It booted an AID disc which apparently installed an UnleashX dash to the empty HDD I'm using. Could not have done that if it wasn't. 

[Ging3rguy]

46 minutes ago, HDShadow said:

OK, thanks. That means unless there is a difference with those LPC outputs for a v1.1 Xbox then it looks like I have problems with pin 1 (no voltage) and pin 5 (0.17v) too. So I'll have to redo those as well.

The chip was working - that's what I do not understand. It booted an AID disc which apparently installed an UnleashX dash to the empty HDD I'm using. Could not have done that if it wasn't. 

Why don’t you just tsop it?

[HDShadow]

I've done a TSOP on a v1.4 and although the soldering was equally ugly it still worked first time.

The whole point of this project was to fit a chip myself - not done one before and after this hassle probably won't do one again. I had in mind to do a v1.6 but as my soldering skills seem to be inconsistent I think I'll put that on the back burner for now.

[SS_Dave]

The best thing you could do is to get some old circuit boards (car radios and computer main board) and practice soldering on them 1st

as a bare minimum I would suggest something like this or better yet a Weller or Hakko with some different size and shape tips.

You should also have some flux paste and leaded solder(The lead free is harder to work with) and solder wick.

 

When it come to the Version 1.6 it's 5 wires that need to be soldered to the bottom of the board to rebuild the LPC.

 

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[sweetdarkdestiny]

Lead free solder is a pain in the ....

As flux i would recomend Amtech or ChipQuik. Not the cheapes but they will pay of.  As solder i would suggest some S-Sn60Pb40 (0,5/0,7mm) (I use some from Stannol (not sure if they sell worldwide)).

About the 5 wires for the 1.6. You can also get an" LPC rebuild board" for 1 or 2 bucks.

And hell yeah, the next topic we will (wan't) read from you is "I finaly modded my 1.6 and it works!".

Edited July 18, 2020 by sweetdarkdestiny

[Ging3rguy]

4 hours ago, HDShadow said:

I've done a TSOP on a v1.4 and although the soldering was equally ugly it still worked first time.

The whole point of this project was to fit a chip myself - not done one before and after this hassle probably won't do one again. I had in mind to do a v1.6 but as my soldering skills seem to be inconsistent I think I'll put that on the back burner for now.

Practice on a piece of junk 1st and then practice some more and don’t drink coffee immediately before giving it a go, it always gives me the shakes.

[HDShadow]

It my eyesight that is the main problem. I've rigged up a system with sufficient magnification but it makes the introduction of the solder and the angle of the soldering iron very awkward for some pins. If I could afford it I'd get some wearable magnification or something with an equally strong lens which gave me more room and some light too.

I'm using roisin flux paste (Chinese) I bought a couple of months ago principally as a result of the trouble I had with the TSOP I mentioned. Wish I'd had it for that.

I'm not new to soldering electronics, I've put together a few simple circuit boards but principally used my soldering iron for repairing TVs. That has been largely reflow or replacement of cracked and dried out solder. This much finer work than anything I've done before.