tlon Posted September 13, 2020 Report Share Posted September 13, 2020 Dusted off my Xbox for the kids today - powered it up, it defaulted to MS dash and prompted me for the date and time (good thing, I recall the nightmare of endless loops last time) Set the date, time, played a little Dance Dance Revolution on the native bios with the DVD-Rom (original media) Expected to power the Xbox off, hit the eject button, and boot into Xenium/EvolutionX or whatever I last had installed on the dash... but only get the stock MS dash, and no signs the modchip is functioning. Pulled the torx screws (had to find my screwdrivers) and opened it up. Modchip is installed on LPC header with single wire soldered to the topside of the board. Re-seated the modchip since I was in there, closed it all back up, hooked it back to the TV... still nothing but stock. Most likely cause of no-mod-signs-of-life? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted September 13, 2020 Report Share Posted September 13, 2020 It sound like the D0 wire may not be connected to the motherboard correctly. Can you post a pic of the chip and the wire in question? Also inspect the clock cap for leakage because when it leaks the acid in the capacitor eats the copper traces,in particular the ones from the switch PCB Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlon Posted September 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2020 Thanks SS Dave - I'll haul it over to my shop (my bench is in my garage across the street) and check the D0 wire and snap a few photos while I'm there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlon Posted September 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2020 Re-flowed the solder on the LPC pins and resoldered d0 to the bottom of the board (it was soldered to the via on the top - there's not much to solder to there); removed the clock capacitor while i had the board out - no leaks, but no reason to leave it in there. boots right up - Xenium 2.3 and EvoX M8 FC . not sure how old that is or whether there is any reason to tweak/update/adjust further, but all is good. I modded this box 19 years ago. I've totally forgotten everything i learned when building it, but hey, it still runs - and that's the point. Kids get to play Halo tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted September 13, 2020 Report Share Posted September 13, 2020 Good news I suspect the D0 wire was the problem as soldering to the via point on the top of the board can be tricky. The Xenium can have several BIOS files and the 3 I use are the X2-5035.67, iND 5004.67, EvoxM8plus.67 all of those will support 2 tb or a 3tb(2.2tb useable) hard drive But if you are not planing to upgrade the HDD then there is no need to change the BIOS files. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlon Posted September 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 Thanks SS Dave - no intent to update the HDD right now, but Lord knows the 120GB in there is pretty tiny and may have a finite shelf life, so maybe i'll do taht just in case. I grabbed the Hexen2020 disc image a few days ago - is that the best place to get those bios files? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clueless Posted August 31, 2022 Report Share Posted August 31, 2022 So, I had the same issue with my Xbox a while back, and had gone trough similar steps, and wasnt able to resurrect it. I did put a duo X2 chip on the same headers, and connected the d0, and up the thing went, so I dont think it is a connectivity issue. Has anyone heard of these chips just going bad? I'd like to try and fix this one, as it would be handy to have, as I am struggling to find anything locally for sale, and I would rather not wait 4+ weeks for an Aladdin clone (which I probably cant easily flash) to arrive.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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