Any Advice Would Help:- Console Not Booting [red & Green Lights]

[Sherlock]

I purchased a second hand XBox from eBay. The console came with an Aladdin Advance mod-chip already installed.

This chip looks different to other "Aladdin" chips in that it doesn't have the 12-pin female header. Where that socket is on other chips of this kind there is a unpolluted area labelled "FLASH".

I don't think this console was ever used for anything else other than playing copied games, as it was running on the stock Dashboard, and still had the 8GB HDD installed.
Even when the EvoX mode was initialised by holding the power button to turn on the chip, the console still booted to the stock Dashboard.

To cut a long story short, I opened the console up to remove the clock capacitor, and give the console a general clean, and I accidental knocked off the wire going from L2 to the IDE socket, at the socket side. To be honest, the soldering was extremely bad, and looked like it had been done in a rush by someone who had very little idea of what they were doing. I promptly repaired the loosens wire, and as the soldering attaching the chip to the motherboard was a very bad job also, I decided to add some solder to the points to reinforce them a little. I personally don't like the 'quick-solder' pads much, but that's how this chip had been installed. And as I mentioned there is no header socket at all.

However, on reassembling the console, it won't boot.
Neither into EvoX mode or 'stock'.

The way this chip was set up was to hold the power button to activate it. But that isn't working either.
All that happens is the console powers on, then off, on again, and off a second time and when it powers on for the third time (all of this is automatically on it's own) the console doesn't display anything on screen (although I do hear a normal 'click' of the speakers when the power comes on) and the consoles LEDs are alternating red and green.
Which, from what I read is a bad BIOS read.

I don't understand why though, as I haven't done anything to the BIOS.
I did load up Hexen 2018, and went into the flashing options, but I didn't actually do a flash, because I didn't know what the chip was at the time, I thought it best to see what I was going to flash to first.
This also installed the EvolutonX Dashboard automatically, which did work okay at first.

I really don't know what has happened, but I have now done some damage to the chip itself in trying to find some way of getting the console to boot.
There is a surface mounted capacitor right next to the LPC labelled "C7D2", which I must have accidentally touched with the tip of my iron, as there is a little 'spike' of fresh solder on it.
Is it plausible that I have damaged this capacitor, and that is what's causing the console to fail to boot?
If so, can I bypass this capacitor, or replace it?

As I said, with all of the soldering and desolating I have ruined most of the 'quick-solder' pads on the chip now.
As such I have ordered an Aladdin XT PLUS2 from eBay, but it's coming from China, so it's not going to be here for a few weeks.
But as the console doesn't boot at all, with or without the chip installed, I am wondering if a new chip would actually make a difference.

Because I haven't mentioned it above; it's a 1.0 XBox.

I have even tried completely removing the chip altogether, which is how the console is right now.
Yet, it still refuses to do anything other than what I described above.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I really don't like the idea that I've killed the console.
I could obtain another, sure, but I would like to try and repair this one if I can. I dislike giving up on things if there is still a chance I can fix it.

[SS_Dave]

It would be better if you posted some pics but the L2 wire is to flash the eject led when the HDD is working just remove it altogether.

I fit it booted to a Hexen disk it was working and the chip you have ordered is not going to be any better than the one you have now.

If it's having problems booting now I would check the D0 wire.

When I fit the aladdin chip's I link the BT to pin 2 (ground ) and don't bother with L1 or L2, by linking BT to ground is makes the chip always active.

 

As  you have a version 1.0 I would suggest you soft mod the Xbox then flash the TSOP with either a X2-5035.67 or a IND 5004.67 bios and remove the chip altogether .

Both the BIOS's I mentioned support a 2tb hard drive.

Do Not reflash the BIOS on the chip you have YET!!!

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

 

 

 

 

[Sherlock]

I can't do anything with the console at all right now.

The console simply will not boot.

The exact process is this:

1. Press power button (or eject).
2. LED comes on (Green) and fans spin up.
3. After a second console turns itself off.
4. Another second later the console turns back on again, on it's own.
5. After another second the console turns off again.
6. And finally after yet another second the console turns back on, but the LEDs are now alternating between red and green. And this is how the console stays until it's turned off manually.

During that entire time there is absolutely no picture or sound going to the TV.
Also worth mentioning is that the disc drive isn't active during this time either.
The console is completely unresponsive.

So, although I appreciate your suggestion of 'soft-modding', but if I can't get the console to boot, that's completely out of the question.
I'm not a newcomer to the modding scene, I've been tinkering with my consoles since the mid 90's. And I know my way round a soldering iron too.

I assumed as much about the L2 wire, as I did an activity LED mod to an old console some time ago. But, just to be sure I put it back, as I didn't know if the chip was listening for something on that line.
I also already tried linking the BT to ground, as I thought forcing the chip to be 'always-on' could maybe bypass anything the stock BIOS was trying to do.

The reason I ordered a new chip is because I have burned off most of the quick-solder pads of this one, and I don't have a precision tip for my iron to solder wires to traces or chip legs.
That's something on my shopping list, as I don't know what happened to my old one.

I'm more concerned that the console is completely unresponsive, and goes through that deliberate process.
It must mean something is happening, or not happening as it should or in the right order.

I'll try and see about taking some pictures of the motherboard, but I need to find my good camera first.

[samspin]

Trying to boot 3 times then blinking error lights is a pretty standard outcome in this situation as the SMC will attempt to boot 3 times before giving up if it encounters an error. Such an error can be any number of things. Flashing Red And Green errors include: bad EEPROM configuration, bad BIOS, no BIOS (or cannot find one due to grounded D0 but no chip connected properly to the LPC!), GPU not connected properly, or CPU not connected properly. The last two are extremely unlikely in this situation and fixing those is something very few people can do. Meanwhile a 3 times boot attempt then FRAO (Red and Orange) indicates a problem with the RAM, either it is faulty or not connected properly (not the case here!).
It is possible that somebody put a bad BIOS on the onboard TSOP and then resorted to fitting a modchip to make the board work again rather than go to the trouble of unsoldering the TSOP to flash it externally. Which would explain why it cannot boot normally. It is also possible that the Aladdin chip has shorted due to the bad soldering it had to begin with (maybe some of the bad solder went between the pads underneath while you were cleaning up the view from the top. Not that I'm knocking your own soldering skills, but I've had this happen to some Aladdins too! The pesky hole shape makes it so awkward!).
If the said Aladdin chip had a proper LPC connector on it, I'd say try it in another Xbox, but it probably isn't a good idea to try soldering it into another Xbox at this point.
All I can suggest at this point while waiting for your new Aladdin to arrive is removing the D0 wire and then try the so-called 3 wire trick to see if one of the other BIOS banks on the TSOP works (SS_Dave has put up a tutorial on this here).
Sorry I can't really think of anything else at the moment! 

 

[Sherlock]

You beat me to my next idea:
I was thinking that the reason this 1.0 console had a chip in the first place could possibly be the result of someone before me messing up when trying to flash the BIOS. As from what I know 1.0 consoles are the fan favourite, because they have the largest space for flashing.
Also, I've gone over the board with a magnifying glass looking for anything that I may have damaged, and other than a little bit of extra solder on a few points, I can't see anything.

My theory in that is why this console had a chip in it is further supported by the manner in which the chip was installed.
It was clearly a rushed job, and no care or consideration was taken during the installation.
I think someone who didn't fully know what they were doing broke the console with a bad BIOS flash, then bought a cheap chip and hastily threw it in the console as quick as they could.
To be frank about it, there are a few little indications that this console, although heavily used, and probably loved, wasn't treated with respect when it comes to the modifications. The term 'quick and dirty' comes to mind.
That isn't to say it's in any kind of bad condition, just that it feels like the mods were done by people who didn't really understand what it was they were doing, and all they cared about was the result.

I have a bit of a wait until the new chip arrives, and I intend to install it the 'proper' way with the header.
Although that does mean clearing the solder that has flowed into the LPC through-holes. I may have to pull the legs of the male header out of the plastic frame and solder each one individually. As I don't have a solder sucker. I could try braid, but I don't have any luck with that stuff, especially as I'm out of flux as well.
I have a few weeks to gather supplies for the job.

In the meantime, I may try the 3-wire trick.
I did read about it earlier today when I was trying to research this problem originally.
But, it's very late here, I'll take a look tomorrow.

Thank you for the suggestions, and also adding weight to my suspicion of the bad flash theory.
I literally had that idea as I got the email telling me someone had added to this post.

[KaosEngineer]

The three-wire trick for a v1.0 or v1.1 consoles is only for the situation where the eject ring is solid green after power on yet there's no video or audio from the console.

The condition the old Xbox modding site llamma.com coined  as a "Coma console".

[SS_Dave]

If you remove the D0 wire from the chip it should boot from the stock BIOS.

Is there any signs that the TSOP write links have been soldered?

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

 

[Sherlock]

1 minute ago, KaosEngineer said:

The three-wire trick for a v1.0 or v1.1 consoles is only for the situation where the eject ring is solid green after power on yet there's no video or audio from the console.

It may not work for me then, as I am getting alternating red and green.

Could I possible make anything worse by trying it?

[SS_Dave]

You can't really make it any worse 

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

 

[samspin]

 

21 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

The three-wire trick for a v1.0 or v1.1 consoles is only for the situation where the eject ring is solid green after power on yet there's no video or audio from the console.

The condition the old Xbox modding site llamma.com coined "Coma console".

It can also work if someone flashed a 256KB BIOS image to a 1MB TSOP, without bothering to copy it four times to make a 1MB file first. This results in the TSOP having only 256KB at the bottom, and then the rest blank. The Xbox  reads from the top of flash and if there is nothing there, will fail to boot. The 3 wire trick works by forcing the board to start from a different bank in the TSOP. I have done this myself when I accidently did this with Eurasia Flash Disc.
It is worth noting that Evox checks and automatically copies a 256KB BIOS image four times if you attempt to flash to a 1MB chip, which is why people can make mistakes when using other flashing utilities.

Edited June 2, 2020 by samspin

[KaosEngineer]

Your modchip looks like the one pictured below? 

Ignore the way it's mounted and the PCB below it - the LCD-MODv1.

Source: https://falz.net/wiki/File:Dsc02070.jpg

[Sherlock]

Just now, KaosEngineer said:

Your modchip looks like the one pictured below?

So

Source: https://falz.net/wiki/File:Dsc02070.jpg

Very close, although the BIOS chip on mine is removable.
And mine is a little toasted and missing a few pads around the LPC connection now. The chip was soldered directly to the motherboard that way, and I had some trouble removing it.
At least the damage is to the chips board, and I managed to preserve the motherboard.
I could try soldering wires to the traces or even the "Lattice" chip legs, but the tip on my iron is not fine enough for that kind of work.

[KaosEngineer]

12 minutes ago, samspin said:

 

It can also work if someone flashed a 256KB BIOS image to a 1MB TSOP, without bothering to copy it four times to make a 1MB file first. This results in the TSOP having only 256KB at the bottom, and then the rest blank. The Xbox  reads from the top of flash and if there is nothing there, will fail to boot. The 3 wire trick works by forcing the board to start from a different bank in the TSOP. I have done this myself when I accidently did this with Eurasia Flash Disc.
It is worth noting that Evox checks and automatically copies a 256KB BIOS image four times if you attempt to flash to a 1MB chip, which is why people can make mistakes when using other flashing utilities.

True.  Can't hurt for @Sherlock to try the three-pad trick (max of 2-wires connecting to 3 solder points on the motherboard - ground and two TSOP address lines)  Coma console fix.  The three wire's is for a TSOP flash recovery.

Wayback Machine capture of llamma.com's Coma console fix  tutorial.

[SS_Dave]

I think you really need to post a pic of your main board..

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[Sherlock]

I have tried a few things today... with no change in circumstances.

First, because it was the easiest, I tried the 3-wire trick, but that didn't change anything at all.
The console still does the triple restart and then rests on the alternating green and red lights.

I also tried to see if I could solder wires to the chip, and re-install it that way.
However, because of the original solder points being pretty much destroyed at this point, I had to spend a lot of time to expose traces and very carefully connect wires. This was extremely time consuming, as I mentioned I don't have a precision tip for my iron.
Again, nothing changed at all.

But something occurred to me, while I was cleaning up after today's failed experiments:
I don't think it is a bad flash.
When the console was working it had the chip set up to only activate when the power button was pressed for longer. Doing this showed the EvoX logo in the corner of the screen while booting.
When you pressed the power button quickly, it booted with the chip disabled, as in the EvoX logo wasn't on the screen while booting.
This makes me think that the original on-board BIOS was untouched.
Also, I can't see any bridged points on the motherboard to allow the BIOS to be rewritten. That is unless they were removed afterwards, but I can't see any evidence of that.

I've removed all of the wires and cleaned up the soldering points.
I have even tried re-flowing some points that I think I may have accidentally touched with my iron.
Basically, other than the clock capacitor being missing, at this point the board's state is like it was never modded to begin with.
The clock capacitors pads are damaged, but only the pads, and as far as I can see those tracks terminate there. So, the damage to the pads isn't interrupting any other components.

At this point I am a little un-hopeful in that the new chip I have coming is going to change anything.

I've uploaded some photos of the board; full images of the top, bottom and a close up of the LPC area.
I don't have any decent sources of indirect, so I had trouble getting the exposure to show any detail without having bright spots that yo wouldn't see properly. My camera is pretty good for macro, but the flash is too bright for such a shiny surface of this kind.

I have been searching for a 1.0 motherboard for sale, because I'm doubting the possibility of this one working now. But, the only one I have found is from an American seller. And I'm sure the shipping would make the transaction rather pricey.
In other words, if anyone knows of someone willing to sell me a 1.0 motherboard, and they are in the UK, or a relatively low cost shipping distance away, I'd be extremely appreciative.
If I can't get this one working I can always try and salvage the working parts for future repairs. Such as using the RAM for upgrading another board.

I'm going to reassemble the console for now, as until the replacement chip arrives there really is nothing I can do to try and get it running.
Even when that chip does arrive, I'm starting to doubt it's ability to get the console to actually boot up. I think it's something more than just a BIOS problem. But, I can't figure it out.
As a last ditch effort, if the new chip doesn't help; I am considering replacing all of the capacitors. It's a relatively low cost procedure, and the only thing I can think of that I can do myself to try and fix this console.

[SS_Dave]

The board look pretty good and the only thing I could see is in the red circles 

 

 

I would not touch the caps as they all look good

The stock BIOS and the Chip was working before based on the last post and it should be booting to the stock BIOS now so all you can do now is install the new chip and see if it works.

What happens if you boot the Xbox with the 2 drives (dvd and hard drive) disconnected ?

 

 

Where are you located?

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

 

[Sherlock]

@SS_Dave

The legs of the TSOP are fine. I think what you can see is just some shine from when I tried pressing a pin against those pins for the 3-wire trick. I also tried it via the soldering method as well, just to be sure.

As for the other spots; I think they're just shadows. The patch by the LCP was just some rosin left over from the soldering. I noticed that myself when I took the picture and cleaned it off.
The patch on the left, I'm not sure about. I'm just about to take the console apart again to investigate. It's likely just a shadow, as I mentioned, as I didn't have any reason to have any tools that could cause damage near that area.

As for my location I live in the West Midlands, UK.
Staffordshire, to be as accurate as I care to be on an open forum.
I am presuming you wanted that info for some reason. Any more specific than the county I live in, I'd prefer to PM.

I can confirm that they are just shadows, there marks in those areas. It must have been dust or something, because it's clean now.

Also, I forgot to mention, the console doesn't behave any better with the drives attached.
And as a further point, it still has the stock 8GB drive, and it is still 'locked' to my knowledge.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Sherlock
Additional information

[SS_Dave]

I was asking because if you where close enough I would have a look at for you but sending to me in Australia is not really cost efective.

The spot on the right could be just some dirt.

I would also have a good look at this trace as well

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[Sherlock]

@SS_Dave

I agree; sending it half way around the world would be somewhat false economy.

The trace you pointed out is fine, the distortion in the picture much have been some more rosin, which I cleaned off after I took the picture.

I did think I had found something:
Near where the clock capacitor was there are several little blue components, I'm not sure exactly what they are as they aren't marked or have labels on them.
There are two right nest to each other just to the side of the three large capacitors at the front of the board.
I noticed one of them was at a skew, and That seemed visually 'out-of-place' to me as everything else on the board seems to be laid out in a grid.
I noticed it because I saw there was still some residue from the clock capacitor around there, and I spotted it as I was cleaning the area.
Anyway, it had moved of of it's pad, although I'm not sure how.
It was a pain to sit it back down, as the surface of the pad was corroded, as are the solder points of the component. But, I think I managed to get it soldered down again, after using a diamond file to take off some of the corrosion.
However, weather this component was causing any problems at all, I don't know because the console still hasn't changed it's behaviour.

I'm unsure if it's relevant, but there are a lot of components with tarnished solder joints in that area, probably from the fluid the clock capacitor let out, but I don't think it's casing any problems, as the console did originally boot after I removed the capacitor.
I decided to remove the capacitors legs with my iron (I originally just broke it off, as it was raised off the board enough for me to do so without force), this is also when I tried cleaning up the soldering of the original chip and it was this point that the console stopped working.

[SS_Dave]

I have a several boards with some or most of the components missing in this section still working I would not be to concerned ..

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[Sherlock]

I had to take a few days doing something else, because I was getting increasingly more frustrated while trying to understand this problem.

I happened across a random post on reddit.
In this post, although the poster admits that he caused the fault, they describe the exact same behaviour as my console.
They did this by flashing the wrong BIOS to the TSOP.
This actually brings back a little hope to me, in that I could rescue this console with a new chip.

But, they went on to ask about recovering the BIOS using a mod-chip.
I have read a few posts of people theorising about this, and even mention of certain chips that allow TSOP writing as a feature.
However, although some people claim that you can flash a mod-chip with a specific BIOS, and do a timed trick with grounding wires, I can't find any solid evidence of anyone actually re-flashing the TSOP with a mod-chip. Not even any clear results using the chips that are supposed to allow this to happen.
Has anyone managed to succeed in flashing their TSOP with a mod-chip?
And would it be possible to re-flash an Aladin TX PLus2 to be able to do this.
Also, is it possible to insert the SST flash from the old chip into the new chip I have coming? The incoming chip is the aforementioned Aladdin TX PLUS2.
The pictures on eBay show it with a SST 49LF020A installed. Will the chip work if I install the SST 49LF020 from the damaged chip I have here? Or does the "A" at the end of the new chips model actually make a difference?

I should also mention, I have actually purchased another console from eBay, which is sold as faulty.
It was kisted as it's disc drive is dead, and also, this is a quote from the seller; "The unit makes a lout whirring noise."
As this is also supposedly a 1.0 console, I was hoping I could use the motherboard from it and the working disc drive from this console to make a fully working machine.
The listing for the second console also states "It may have other faults.", but fails to elaborate. Chances are it's just the disc drive and worn out fans.
The seller states that the console has been opened before as well, but without explaining why.
I'm not sure what I'm going to be getting myself into with this second console, but it was a very low price, and at the very least I can use it for parts.

However, I am curious about the possibility of recovering the BIOS of the console I have here, if at all possible.
Supposedly there's a mod-chip called XBlast with the ability to flash the consoles TSOP.
But, I can't seem to find any for purchase.
People claim to have them installed in consoles, but I can't find anywhere trusted to get one from. Or even if they are still being made.

I'm a little more optimistic about the console being able to boot with a working chip installed, as that's how the person on reddit fixed his problem.
But, I won't know until the new chip arrives.
Ideally I'd like to try and get my hands on the so called XBlast, and try recovering the BIOS, if that is actually what is causing the console to fail to boot.

[SS_Dave]

The fact that you Xbox was booting to the MS dash tells me the onboard BIOS is good and it's something that has happened when you removed the  modchip.

 

But if you want to try and recover the BIOS download this and flash the BIOS thats in the ZIP file to a modchip

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bdcn690k7pztq17/TSOP recover.rar?dl=0

 

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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