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Hello guys 👋

I have two Xbox consoles - a 1.6 PAL unit and a 1.4 NTSC-J unit, and both of them are chipped but have stopped working.

The 1.6 PAL unit can no longer power on. It was working fine for two weeks, before it suddenly stopped working one day. I suspect the PSU's the problem.

The 1.4 NTSC-J was working fine, but I think I killed the Winbond modchip after flashing it with the wrong BIOS image fro, the Hexen disc. The EvoX badge no longer appears when I power it on, and I am always getting error 05 from my unlocked hard drive.

I just ordered this item (https://www.ebay.com.my/itm/193680862468), it's a 1.1 motherboard with XeniumICE modchip and 128MB RAM upgrade.

The seller assured me I can transplant this to either one of my Xbox case.

I read somewhere (I forgot where) that 1.6 Xbox cases are different, and will short circuit motherboards from earlier revisions, but I was unable to find concrete evidence of this.

Can anyone confirm this?

Also, what else can I do to try to revive my NTSC-J 1.4 console? I don't have soldering skills.

 

 

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You cant put a 1.6 board into a 1.0-1.5 case or it will cause damages to the bottom of the board. 
 

I think you can put a 1-1.5 board in 1.6 case though you’ll just have one screw hole with no place for the screw.

With the 1.4 you could just use a modchip instead of the onboard flash that should fix the problem

Edited by dirtykash
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Yes you can fit a version 1.0-14 motherboard in any version case but you need to modify the 1.0-1.4 case to fit a 1.6 motherboard.

Also just i case you are not aware the PSU from the 1.6 is not compatible with the 1.2-1.4 and the same the other way a 1.2-1.4 won't work on a 1.6 board.

4 hours ago, RetroEmulationNation said:

Also, what else can I do to try to revive my NTSC-J 1.4 console? I don't have soldering skills.

It sound like it may have a modchip already, maybe post a pic of the board

The easiest way is to fit a new modchip.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

 

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6 hours ago, dirtykash said:

You cant put a 1.6 board into a 1.0-1.5 case or it will cause damages to the bottom of the board. 
 

I think you can put a 1-1.5 board in 1.6 case though you’ll just have one screw hole with no place for the screw.

With the 1.4 you could just use a modchip instead of the onboard flash that should fix the problem

Yeah my 1.6 almost die by that, I put my motherboard in a 1. Something case bough in Mercadolibre and blout out a transitor, for my lucky was easy to fix, just put another npn transistor there and done, the next stuff is cut the metal from the screw hole and reassemble the console

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4 hours ago, SS_Dave said:

Yes you can fit a version 1.0-14 motherboard in any version case but you need to modify the 1.0-1.4 case to fit a 1.6 motherboard.

Also just i case you are not aware the PSU from the 1.6 is not compatible with the 1.2-1.4 and the same the other way a 1.2-1.4 won't work on a 1.6 board.

It sound like it may have a modchip already, maybe post a pic of the board

The easiest way is to fit a new modchip.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

 

This is the modchip installed on my 1.4 motherboard, which has been soldered on.

kNzN9kG.jpg

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This is the modchip installed on my 1.6 motherboard. Whoever did the mod did a better job, because it has the headers allowing the modchip to be easily removed and replaced.

spacer.png

In the case of this particular console, I believe the chip is fine. I believe the problem is either with the power supply, or the five capacitors on the motherboard.

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The BIOS being flashed was most likely not the problem just the method used to flash it to the modchip erased it but never wrote the new BIOS to the modchip.  The Winbond flash chip on the modchip is most likely blank now.  Not being socketed makes it a bit hard to remove it from the socket, like most Aladdin XT's have, and use an external programmer to reflash then resocket it.

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2 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

The BIOS being flashed was most likely not the problem just the method used to flash it to the modchip erased it but never wrote the new BIOS to the modchip.  The Winbond flash chip on the modchip is most likely blank now.  Not being socketed makes it a bit hard to remove it from the socket, like most Aladdin XT's have, and use an external programmer to reflash then resocket it.

I got in touch with a local guy here... he usually works with PlayStations, but he is willing to give my Xboxes a look
I figure there's two solutions

1. Remove the modchip from the PAL console and install it on the NTSC console

2. Rewire the 1.4 power supply to work with the 1.6 motherboard

I know the odds of me walking away with two working Xbox consoles is slim to none (which was why I ordered the 1.1 motherboard from Australia), but I do hope I can get one working Xbox out of this.

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40 minutes ago, RetroEmulationNation said:

Rewire the 1.4 power supply to work with the 1.6 motherboard

It's not just a simple rewire the 1.6 needs a 5 volt standby and the other versions have 3.3 volt standby.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

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5 hours ago, SS_Dave said:

It's not just a simple rewire the 1.6 needs a 5 volt standby and the other versions have 3.3 volt standby.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

dammit 😪

sold the only real solution left is to transplant the modchip from the 1.6 PAL to the 1.4 NTSC?

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6 hours ago, RetroEmulationNation said:

dammit 😪

sold the only real solution left is to transplant the modchip from the 1.6 PAL to the 1.4 NTSC?

Or get a new PSU.

Even if you fitted it to just lock a HDD to the main board the you could TSOP flash it.

on the version 1.6 board there is a transistor that fails that will stop it from powering on, you should be getting close to the voltages on these 2 transistors

IMG_20200302_142807.thumb.jpg.7a61bfeb8e605d1b0f772c1e7b410e10.jpg

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

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18 hours ago, SS_Dave said:

Or get a new PSU.

Even if you fitted it to just lock a HDD to the main board the you could TSOP flash it.

on the version 1.6 board there is a transistor that fails that will stop it from powering on, you should be getting close to the voltages on these 2 transistors

IMG_20200302_142807.thumb.jpg.7a61bfeb8e605d1b0f772c1e7b410e10.jpg

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

I'm sending both Xboxes to a guy tomoorrow... I am hoping he can bring them back to life.

At least if the 1.6 motherboard is confirmed to be working, i can order a replacement 1.6 PSU from eBay

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On 9/29/2020 at 2:29 PM, SS_Dave said:

Or get a new PSU.

Even if you fitted it to just lock a HDD to the main board the you could TSOP flash it.

on the version 1.6 board there is a transistor that fails that will stop it from powering on, you should be getting close to the voltages on these 2 transistors

IMG_20200302_142807.thumb.jpg.7a61bfeb8e605d1b0f772c1e7b410e10.jpg

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

Yup those transistor blout out if you put the mobo in the wrong case, and yes is pnp not npn, I don't know what I thinking when write my first comment

 

Here go a trick if you damage some of those transistor and the local store don't have surface mount, put a 2n3904 in replacement, is the same transitor the difference is the pin out and package, but is easy do it just compare the datasheet and check what pin is colector, what is emissor and base, them solder in the place of the pads, that's how I fix my console on the cheap 🤣 I guess the trick works too for the mmbt4403 reemplacing by 2n4403 vertion

Edited by dertio
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