Just Got a Og Box and the Dvd Drive Is Knackered.

[titchgamer]

Howdy all!

So first tech Q.

As some of you may know I recently have got a XBOX sent to me from a friend so I have been purchasing the extras controllers, cables etc.
Anyways I brought a bundle of controllers that came with a xbox FOC! Now it was listed as working which it is but the DVD drive wont read disc's and it rattles!
The seller packaged i very poorly so I suspect it was damaged in transit.

Now other than that and the leaking clock cap (which I have pulled off and cleaned up) it seems to be fine, and looks like it has a mod chip installed?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IB92couhg9q7x4Nfi5Hkt9lNWHT_ATwL/view?usp=sharing

 

So what I am wondering is do I have any options with this thing? I know I could replace the drive but I was wondering if there was a way I could use my other TSOP'd box to sort of build a HDD for it and put it in this one or some other way of transfering stuff to the HDD?

It seems to have a stock dashboard on it and I obv cant use a hexen disc.

 

Any thoughts appreciated as it seems a shame to side line it for the sakes of a dvd drive.

Cheers.

[Ging3rguy]

Do you have a working dvd drive in your other Xbox?

[titchgamer]

4 minutes ago, Ging3rguy said:

Do you have a working dvd drive in your other Xbox?

Has not arrived yet so not sure but I hope so LOL

 

I opened up the drive to see if it was anything obvious, I found this in the bottom rattling around:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19yQcy_Pn72BOfH0PHGRZghtD7vU3_80Z/view?usp=drivesdk
 

Dont know what it is or where it came from but I presume its part of the laser assembley?

[Ging3rguy]

Focus isn’t great but it looks like it may be the laser mirror.

If you will have a working disk drive you can just swap it between the 2 xboxs.

The new Xbox is just retail at the moment?

[titchgamer]

4 minutes ago, Ging3rguy said:

Focus isn’t great but it looks like it may be the laser mirror.

If you will have a working disk drive you can just swap it between the 2 xboxs.

The new Xbox is just retail at the moment?

Yeah its a sort of semi transparent mirrored plastic, I thought I may be able to stick it back in somewhere but I cant work out where its from.

The one that I have on route is already TSOP flashed, this one seems to have a stock dash and I think a larger HDD (but I cant see the actual capacity on it!).
But I think it has been mod chipped as it has some soldered wires going to a little pcb attached to the board under the DVD drive (see pic in first post).
Not really sure what it is or does though.

Edited July 14, 2020 by titchgamer

[Ging3rguy]

Is a Thomson drive, it goes on the underside if you are looking down on the laser lens.

It’s chipped, is it booting up okay? Try booting power button or the eject to see if one is ms and other something like unleashx.

[titchgamer]

1 minute ago, Ging3rguy said:

Is a Thomson drive, it goes on the underside if you are looking down on the laser lens.

It’s chipped, is it booting up okay? Try booting power button or the eject to see if one is ms and other something like unleashx.

Its a Phillips drive, Seems to be booting ok in to the normal dash.
What do you mean about booting power or eject buttons though?

[Ging3rguy]

Do a quick press on the eject button to power on to see if it loads modded dash, if not try the same on the power button.

[KaosEngineer]

ALX2+ Rev 2 (never found info on Rev 4) but I'd say it's similar if not exactly the same method to activate the modchip.

See the following installation / usage guide: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20040422050302/http://alxmod.0catch.com/diagramr2.html

Edit: Added the main image from that web page but there's a bit more info shown there than in this one image.

[KaosEngineer]

When you power on the console by holding the power button for 1-2 seconds, does ALX2+ appear below the big X at the end of the startup animation?

If so, I'd like to obtain a copy of the BIOS.BIN file from an Evoxdash Backup.

[titchgamer]

Ahh thank you guys!

so there is a hacked dash on here after all!

so I should be able to FTP to it as normal with that shouldn't I? 
 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X0Fn31t2KmlkS2TGOnQVylYNJP8LUV9Z/view?usp=drivesdk
 

as a side note I completely stripped the DVD and you were right its meant to be mounted under the lens but theres 0 chance of me being able to glue it back in place as its on fine legs.

So yeah thats scrap unfortunatly!

[KaosEngineer]

Evoxdash with the Slayer's Evox Installer Disc v2.6 skin in use.

[titchgamer]

13 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

When you power on the console by holding the power button for 1-2 seconds, does ALX2+ appear below the big X at the end of the startup animation?

If so, I'd like to obtain a copy of the BIOS.BIN file from an Evoxdash Backup.

Yes it does!

If you tell me how to get it for you I will happily do so

I am new to all of this....

[titchgamer]

Just got halo on the HDD and working
Turns out the HDD is standard size so not getting much else on it but that can be worked around at a later date

[KaosEngineer]

On 7/14/2020 at 10:53 AM, titchgamer said:

Yes it does!

If you tell me how to get it for you I will happily do so

I am new to all of this....

It may already be saved on the hard drive.  

Is your Xbox connected to your home network?

If so, FTP to the console and look for a C:\Backup folder.  Inside there should be several files:

• bios.bin  (backup copy of the BIOS that booted from the modchip)
• eeprom.bin (important file to save to your PC and a couple other spots for safe keeping in case the HDD drive dies - well not so much so for a hard modded console.  The HDD doesn't have to be locked.
• disk.bin (backup copy of the first 1024 sectors of the hard drive - configuration area)
• hddinfo.txt
• hddkey.bin

It's the bios.bin file that I'm looking to obtain.  Download the file then do another Evoxdash Backup operation to obtain a copy of the RED Boot Backup BIOS after powering on with Power+Eject held for 1-2 seconds.

Boot Backup BIOS

- preprogrammed with RED BIOS
- this BIOS is write protected and always available

Press & hold POWER+EJECT buttons for 1-2 seconds

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20040422050302/http://alxmod.0catch.com/diagramr2.html

[titchgamer]

48 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

It may already be saved on the hard drive.  

Is your Xbox connected to your home network?

If so, FTP to the console and look for a C:\Backup folder.  Inside there should be several files:

• bios.bin  (backup copy of the BIOS that booted from the modchip)
• eeprom.bin (important file to save to your PC and a couple other spots for safe keeping in case the HDD drive dies - well not so much so for a hard modded console.  The HDD doesn't have to be locked.
• disk.bin (backup copy of the first 1024 sectors of the hard drive - configuration area)
• hddinfo.txt
• hddkey.bin

It's the bios.bin file that I'm looking to obtain.  Download the file then do another Evoxdash Backup operation to obtain a copy of the RED Boot Backup BIOS after powering on with Power+Eject held for 1-2 seconds.

Boot Backup BIOS

- preprogrammed with RED BIOS
- this BIOS is write protected and always available

Press & hold POWER+EJECT buttons for 1-2 seconds

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20040422050302/http://alxmod.0catch.com/diagramr2.html

I will give that a shot tomorrow for you

[titchgamer]

14 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

It may already be saved on the hard drive.  

Is your Xbox connected to your home network?

If so, FTP to the console and look for a C:\Backup folder.  Inside there should be several files:

• bios.bin  (backup copy of the BIOS that booted from the modchip)
• eeprom.bin (important file to save to your PC and a couple other spots for safe keeping in case the HDD drive dies - well not so much so for a hard modded console.  The HDD doesn't have to be locked.
• disk.bin (backup copy of the first 1024 sectors of the hard drive - configuration area)
• hddinfo.txt
• hddkey.bin

It's the bios.bin file that I'm looking to obtain.  Download the file then do another Evoxdash Backup operation to obtain a copy of the RED Boot Backup BIOS after powering on with Power+Eject held for 1-2 seconds.

Boot Backup BIOS

- preprogrammed with RED BIOS
- this BIOS is write protected and always available

Press & hold POWER+EJECT buttons for 1-2 seconds

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20040422050302/http://alxmod.0catch.com/diagramr2.html

Ok I have had a look today but I have no c:\backup folder when I FTP in.
Also I can not seem to see any backup options in any of the Dash menus.

 

 

[Ging3rguy]

3 hours ago, titchgamer said:

Ok I have had a look today but I have no c:\backup folder when I FTP in.
Also I can not seem to see any backup options in any of the Dash menus.

 

 

Did you check the E partition?

[titchgamer]

44 minutes ago, Ging3rguy said:

Did you check the E partition?

Yeah I checked all of them, No backup folder on any of them.

[KaosEngineer]

I'd need to see all of the menu options available for your installation of the Evoxdash.  The evox.ini file will have them all since they don't all fit on the screen at one time to see them in a screen capture.

Attach a copy of evox.ini to a message via the choose files option (or Drag files here paperclip) below the new message entry box or upload it to pastebin.com and add the link to it in another post.

[KaosEngineer]

The Backup menu item is generally found at System Utils >> Backup.  However, the previous owner may have removed that option.  Not sure why, I find it an important menu item to have.

 

 

[titchgamer]

17 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

I'd need to see all of the menu options available for your installation of the Evoxdash.  The evox.ini file will have them all since they don't all fit on the screen at one time to see them in a screen capture.

Attach a copy of evox.ini to a message via the choose files option (or Drag files here paperclip) below the new message entry box or upload it to pastebin.com and add the link to it in another post.

Here you go, I get the feeling this dash is locked down to some degree as there seems to be lots I can not do.
I was going to ask if its a really old version and if I need to update it somehow as I would like to stick a bigger HDD in it.

But as I dont have a DVD drive atm I know its not going to happen atm LOL

evox.ini

[KaosEngineer]

Either use a text editor to add a line in the System Management section of the menu

 

Item "Backup",ID_Backup

or upload the attached evox.ini and reboot the console for the new menu item to appear.

evox.ini

[titchgamer]

1 minute ago, KaosEngineer said:

Either use a text editor to add a line in the System Management section of the menu

 

Item "Backup",ID_Backup

or upload the attached evox.ini and reboot the console for the new menu item to appear.

evox.ini 33.23 kB · 0 downloads

I will try that thanks

[titchgamer]

12 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

 

Here you go mate, Hope they help!

As a side note, When I get a working DVD for this thing, Will I be able to upgrade the HDD like you do with a TSOP'd machine?
i.e. remove old, plug in new with hexen disk in drive and reinstall everything?

Or will it be more complicated than that?

I was intending on modding this one myself to learn but have been a little surprised and scuppered by the DVD being broken in transit and the mod chip being in it.
I dont think the previous owner knew it was there!!

bios (red).bin

Edited July 15, 2020 by titchgamer