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

[titchgamer]

Blue bios:

bios (blue).bin

Edited July 15, 2020 by titchgamer

[KaosEngineer]

Thank you. 

I've been wonder which BIOS they edited to change the text under the big X to ALX2+.

I'll flash them to my X3 and find out.

That's a horrible skin.  It is limited in the useful information it provides.  BIOS name but needs to have the Kernel version number as well.

Guess it's not all that bad - has more than others but....

 

[titchgamer]

1 minute ago, KaosEngineer said:

Thank you. 

I've been wonder which BIOS they edited to change the text under the big X to ALX2+.

I'll flash them to my X3 and find out.

That's a horrible skin.  It is limited in the useful information it provides.  BIOS name but needs to have the Kernel version number as well.

Guess it's not all that bad - has more than others but....

 

No prob, Glad I could give a little back, I have a feeling I will have many more questions in the coming weeks as I navigate my way through this haha 
Yes I agree, It tells me a load of info but I have little control over any of it

[KaosEngineer]

The blue version reports kernel version 1.00.5101.01.  I haven't tried the Red version yet but I'm ASS_u_ME_ing it's the same kernel version with different color settings applied.

[KaosEngineer]

There's another line your evox.ini file is missing well there are lots of lines commented out pertaining to flashing a BIOS to the chip. However, this one is really all you need so leave those others commented out for now.

• Item "Flash BIOS",ID_Flash_Bios

Add it to your System Management section of the menu.

Upload the BIOSes' dot bin files to C:\BIOS if evoxdash.xbe is installed in the root folder of the C drive.

[KaosEngineer]

Looks like the largest hard drive the ALX2+ BIOS supports is 137GBs.  Just like the stock MS 5101 Xbox BIOS.  It doesn't have LBA48 extensions well not the latest required by XBPartitioner v1.3 to support reading a partition table from the hard drive to override the BIOS's default configuration or possibly 32KB and 64KB cluster sizes for larger than 256GB extended partition sizes.

edit: Can't read the top lines on my old CRT TV using composite video to know what version if any of the LBA48 patches are included.  This old TV has caught vertical rollover from a couple of BAD capacitors that no longer charge up to kick the scan line back to the top of the screen.

Edit 2: The first sentence of this post is not correct.  Seems the ALX2+ BIOS may be a modified Evox M7 version with partition 6 and 7 support. 

LBA48 setting:  Partition 6 Takes up to 137GB  / Partition 7 Takes Rest.

The Evox M7 BIOS does not have the latest LBA48 patch so XBPartitioner v1.3 complains that it does not find LBA48 support.  Bad error message really, the BIOS does have LBA48 support just not the latest version.  I'm not exactly sure what the difference between the various LBA48 patch versions is that it needs to complain about it.

[titchgamer]

5 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

There's another line your evox.ini file is missing well there are lots of lines commented out pertaining to flashing a BIOS to the chip. However, this one is really all you need so leave those others commented out for now.

• Item "Flash BIOS",ID_Flash_Bios

Add it to your System Management section of the menu.

Upload the BIOSes' dot bin files to C:\BIOS if evoxdash.xbe is installed in the root folder of the C drive.

Sorry I dont understand, Is that to do with the files you need or me changing the HDD?

or something else completely? Lol 

[titchgamer]

Just now, KaosEngineer said:

Looks like the largest hard drive the ALX2+ BIOS supports is 137GBs.  Just like the stock MS 5101 Xbox BIOS.  It doesn't have LBA48 extensions well not the latest required by XBPartitioner v1.3 to support reading a partition table from the hard drive to override the BIOS's default configuration or possibly 32KB and 64KB cluster sizes for larger than 256GB extended partition sizes.

So is that bios upgradeable somehow or is it defined by the mod chip?

[KaosEngineer]

You can reflash a different modified Xbox BIOS to the USER writeable 256KB bank (currently the ALX2+ Blue BIOS).  The ALX2+ RED BIOS cannot be overwritten. It is stored in a write-protected section of the flash memory on the modchip.

If you want to install a larger than 137GB hard drive in this Xbox, I'd suggest you Flash another BIOS to the USER flashable (currently blue) bank.

iND-BiOS 5003.67 or M8plus with the latest LBA48 patch applied set for F and G (partitions 6 and 7).

There's an unofficial update for the iND-BiOS 5003.67 release that fixes a couple of HUGE bugs in that release.

Attached are the evox M8plus BIOS, the unofficial patched ind-bios and additional tools by Rocky5 along with the official ind-bios 5003.67 and 5004.67 BIOSes and their ind-bios.cfg file that goes in the root folder of the C drive.

evox.m8plus.fc.137.bin IND-BIOS 5003 Shutdown+Ram Patched+XBL Enabled.zip iND-BiOS.5003.67.bin iND-BiOS.5004.67.binind-bios.cfg

Edit: With the imminent release of Insignia (Xbox Live replacement) - well no telling how long before it's really released but one can hope for sooner than later use the ind-bios 5003 in the attached zip archive.  There's a readme.txt file to assist with how to install the dashloader application that's inlcuded with it.

[titchgamer]

6 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

You can reflash a different modified Xbox BIOS to the USER writeable 256KB bank (currently the ALX2+ Blue BIOS).  The ALX2+ RED BIOS cannot be overwritten. It is stored in a write-protected section of the flash memory on the modchip.

If you want to install a larger than 137GB hard drive in this Xbox, I'd suggest you Flash another BIOS to the USER flashable (currently blue) bank.

iND-BiOS 5003.67 or M8plus with the latest LBA48 patch applied set for F and G (partitions 6 and 7).

There's an unofficial update for the iND-BiOS 5003.67 release that fixes a couple of HUGE bugs in that release.

Attached are the evox M8plus BIOS, the unofficial patched ind-bios and additional tools by Rocky5 along with the official ind-bios 5003.67 and 5004.67 BIOSes and their ind-bios.cfg file that goes in the root folder of the C drive.

evox.m8plus.fc.137.bin 256 kB · 0 downloads IND-BIOS 5003 Shutdown+Ram Patched+XBL Enabled.zip 748.66 kB · 0 downloads iND-BiOS.5003.67.bin 256 kB · 0 downloads iND-BiOS.5004.67.bin 256 kB · 0 downloads ind-bios.cfg 536 B · 0 downloads

Thanks Kaos,

 

do you have a guide to a noob friendly guide for doing that?

I have a 256gb SATA drive here I was thinking of using if I can get it to work.

[KaosEngineer]

There's no one guide to cover everyone's exact needs.  You have a 256GB drive which will work with only an F partition (ind-bios or m8plus set to use only partition 6 - F drive)  Other's install 2TB HDDs and need the .67 option.  They need F and G because the maximum partition size available with a 64KB cluster size is 1TB.  They generally split the formatted capacity of the 2TB HDD into 2 partitions of 927.78GBs each using XBPartitioner v1.3 as it's one of the tools that properly formats the extended (xbox-scene added) F (6) and G (7) partition access to the Xbox.

You can use the iND-BiOS.5003.06.bin file found in the attached zip file to reflash your modchip to have larger hard drive support.  The current ALX2+ BIOS does not (at least I don't believe it does) support hard drives larger than 137GBs. If you do install one larger than that, only the first 137GBs can be accessed.

I need to move my 32" HDTV set to the living room to be able to see the top of XBPartitioner's display.  I can't make out the rolled over upside down stretched image of the top 1/8th or less of my screen.  I really need to open up the TV and replace the two capacitors that I think are the cause of the problem.

[titchgamer]

16 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

 

You can use the iND-BiOS.5003.06.bin file found in the attached zip file to reflash your modchip to have larger hard drive support.  The current ALX2+ BIOS does not (at least I don't believe it does) support hard drives larger than 137GBs. If you do install one larger than that, only the first 137GBs can be accessed.

Ok cool, Cheers.

how do I reflash the bios exactly?

do I just copy it somewhere or do I have to use a program?

[KaosEngineer]

Evoxdash should do it.  Add the menu item, Flash BIOS, that I mentioned earlier to your evox.ini's System Management menu section.

Upload the iND-BiOS.5003.06.bin file from the zip file to the C:\BIOS folder

There does seem to be one more thing that needs to be changed.  I need to check something before you proceed. brb

[KaosEngineer]

I see.  To work with the unofficial patched iND-BiOS 5003.06 version.  Extract the files from the previously attached zip archive.

Upload the iND-BiOS.5003.06.bin file to C:\BIOS and ind-bios.cfg to C:\. Edit: Already did that step in the previous post.

Download then upload a copy of the current C:\evoxdash.xbe and C:\evox.ini files to E:\.

If you have a BIOS and Skin folder in C:\ move them to E:\. (oops, evoxdash doesn't have a built-in file explorer/manager - you'll have to download these folders to your PC then upload them to the E drive.

Next, upload the content of the extracted zip archive's folder - Dashloader Place on C - to the root of the C drive.  The content inside the folder, not the Dashloader Place on C folder itself to the root of the C drive.  Overwrite evoxdash.xbe when asked by your FTP client.

Edit: Oh, Reboot.

 

Edit 2: If all went well, you should see the evox dashboard the same as it was before. However, it is now being loaded by the dashloader application, also named evoxdash.xbe but a different size, from E:\evoxdash.xbe instead of directly by the BIOS from C:\evoxdash.xbe.

 

[KaosEngineer]

I did check the ALX2+ BIOS by booting it on my X3 modchip.  It knows nothing about the extended partitions, F and/or G drive, on my system.  Only the stock MS BIOS partitions C, E, X, Y and Z.

 

Edit: My F and G drives, partitions 6 and 7, are not configured using the default LBA48 configuration so they don't show up anyway.  They are using the XBPartitioner v1.3 partition table.  The BIOS has to have the latest LBA48 patch to read it - v3 I believe.

 

Edit 2: Once I boot a BIOS that supports LBA48 v2 or higher, I believe mine's v3, with the correct LBA48 configuration, the F and G drives appear as they were before booting the console with the ALX2+ BIOS.

[KaosEngineer]

Lots of times, you have to go back and read the Edits I add to my previous posts.  I think of something I forgot to mention and add it to them as it is more relevant to that post than adding a new one.

[KaosEngineer]

If evoxdash is running as before these file moves and additions, we are ready to proceed with the flashing of the new BIOS to the modchip.

[KaosEngineer]

The ind-bios.cfg file uploaded to the root folder of the C drive should be the one found in the extracted content of the above attached zip file not the separately attached 536 byte one.

[KaosEngineer]

Hmm, had a bit of a problem (all better now). When I ran XBPartitioner v1.3 to look at my hard drive configuration I noticed it say that I wrote a partition table to the hard drive when I thought I was only exiting the application.  This new partition table had no F and G drive settings. When I once again returned to booting the X3 BIOS instead of the ALX2+ blue BIOS, my Xbox no longer had an F and G drive partition accessible.  

I had to run XBPartitioner v1.3 again and select the command Write partition table after pressing the White button, edit not A, to cycle through list of available Start button operations.  Also had to press A to cycle though the various F and G allocations available.  Then, press the Start button to write the partition table to the HDD (only the partition table write), not the format and write table command.  Whee!

 

Edit: Messed up which button White and A  was used for the various operations of using XBPartitioner v1.3

A - cycle through the various extended partition configurations available.

White - cycle through the Start button operations available. (Select start button function)

[KaosEngineer]

Okay, this is strange.  I'm booting the ALX2+ Blue BIOS and the F and G drives show up AS THEY DID BEFORE MY partition table snafu.  I can run games stored on F and G. (well I haven't verified that the games I tried are on the two drive partitions).  However, when I run XBPartitioner v1.3 it says that no LBA48 information was found.  I press Y to continue and there's no size listed for the extended partitions.  I really need to get up and disconnect my HDTV and move it to my Xbox so I can see the version of the LBA48 patch shown in the top left box of XBPartitioner's main display screen.

The XBP error that pops up states that it needs to be at least version 2.

[DobaMuffin]

Hi KaosEngineer. Are there any limitations on this bios in terms of only specific modchips will boot it, or does it work with any modchip?

 

[KaosEngineer]

It boots properly on my X3 modchip.  I don't have a different modchip installed in another Xbox to try it on something else.

There's no startup flubber animation, goes directly to the big X logo screen and after a short delay, ALX2+ is printed below it.  It loads C:\evoxdash.xbe. I'm not sure if there are other dot XBE files it looks for to start a replacement dashboard.  I suspect it will load C:\xboxdash.xbe if no other replacement dashboard's XBE file is found on the hard drive and first try to load D:\default.xbe from a disc in the DVD drive.

Kernel version 1.00.5101.01.  I haven't done much more to see if it is a modified X2 or Evox BIOS.  The latest EVTool doesn't like it so it's not M8 or M8plus.  Those two Evox BIOSes are based upon the latest MS kernel v1.00.5838.01.  

 

Edit: ALX2+ and ALX2+ R2 web page: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20040414055140/http://alxmod.0catch.com:80/

This Xbox's modchip has Rev 4 etched on it though.  I've never found any information on a Rev 4 version of the ALX2+ modchip.

 

[DobaMuffin]

I only have an x2.6 installed on a 1.6 motherboard, and I highly doubt it would boot up on it, so I'll have to wait until my tsop socket and spare tsop flash chips come in to test it myself. Thanks for the information you've figured out so far. Hopefully, you figure out everything else you want to.

[KaosEngineer]

It is only 256KBs in size.  The dump that Evoxdash makes of a bios with it's Backup operation is a full 1MB (4x the 256KB BIOS).

You can split it with X2BM (Xecuter 2 BIOS Manager v2.3) or a hex editor.

[titchgamer]

7 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

I see.  To work with the unofficial patched iND-BiOS 5003.06 version.  Extract the files from the previously attached zip archive.

Upload the iND-BiOS.5003.06.bin file to C:\BIOS and ind-bios.cfg to C:\. Edit: Already did that step in the previous post.

Download then upload a copy of the current C:\evoxdash.xbe and C:\evox.ini files to E:\.

If you have a BIOS and Skin folder in C:\ move them to E:\. (oops, evoxdash doesn't have a built-in file explorer/manager - you'll have to download these folders to your PC then upload them to the E drive.

Next, upload the content of the extracted zip archive's folder - Dashloader Place on C - to the root of the C drive.  The content inside the folder, not the Dashloader Place on C folder itself to the root of the C drive.  Overwrite evoxdash.xbe when asked by your FTP client.

Edit: Oh, Reboot.

 

Edit 2: If all went well, you should see the evox dashboard the same as it was before. However, it is now being loaded by the dashloader application, also named evoxdash.xbe but a different size, from E:\evoxdash.xbe instead of directly by the BIOS from C:\evoxdash.xbe.

 

Bloody hell what have I started? LOL

Right so just to confirm before I break anything is this ^ What I need to do?

I have just woke up and I got totally lost somewhere in all those posts lol