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Modchip Hotswapping


GoTeamScotch
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I could use some guidance here as I'm feeling rather dumb. I see plenty of forum posts about how you can simply boot up an Xbox with a modchip (D0 grounded), swap modchips, and flash the 2nd modchip as a means of fixing a bad flash. I'm trying to do this with a Duo X2 Lite chip that has a bad bios flash on it and every time I go to flash it, the app I'm using says "flash write protected" or something similar. Basically, the end result is that it can't flash the Duo modchip that I swap in. I've tried several times using different timings and different flashing apps (chimp vs evolutionx). Is there some obvious step I'm missing here? Should I be booting from a disc (hexen)? Loading into a special/BFM bios first?

D0 is grounded to a screw mount. I'm sure it's booting from LPC.

I'm booting with an OpenXenium, then swapping in an X2 Duo Lite (bad bios flash). I flashed a debug BIOS onto it first to use on my DVT4 kit, then later I flashed Yoshihiro's debug bios (which I found out is not actually not meant for debug/dvt consoles). I then used the 5849_Recovery disc to try and flash the modchip back to the official debug bios, but that bios is 1MB in size (2 copies of the identical 512KB debug BIOS), whereas the Duo X2 Lite can only hold a 512KB BIOS. So I guess it failed part way through? I have other modchips, but they either aren't compatible with the MCPX2 found in dev/debug Xboxes or aren't big enough to hold the 512KB debug BIOS.

I'm basically booting with OpenXenium, then getting to my dashboard (XBMC), then loading Chimp. If I swap the chips prior to Chimp starting, Chimp just fails to start. The Xbox just freezes on a black screen. If I swap the chips after Chimp loads, it says "flash not writable" (or similar message). Same experience with evolutionx. The BT point is soldered on the Duo X2 if that matters (to enable always-on mode).

Any tips on what I'm doing wrong or steps to try? Is my X2 Duo just screwed? Should I be using a different modchip other than OpenXenium on first-boot for some reason?

By the way, the whole reason I want to flash this Duo X2 is to get my DVT4 kit back up and running. It has a bad TSOP flash (came to me like that). I might skip all this and focus on figuring out how to fix the TSOP, since using the Duo is just a bandaid fix anyways. I've already tried splitting the TSOP and that didn't help so I'm not sure what to do next other than desolder the tsop and program is externally... and I don't have a hot-air rework station anymore, nor a programmer.

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Update- I used a different Xbox and a different modchip during boot (an Aladdin instead of OpenXenium) and was able to hotswap and fix the flash on my Duo X2 chip. Problem resolved.

I also suspect that the Xbox I was using was being problematic because it apparently has a corrupt eeprom, probably from running 5849_Recovery on a retail console. I know it tries to flash the debug BIOS but I didn't know it also altered the eeprom. So I'll come back to fix that one later.

Anyways, DVT4 is back up and running.

Mods- feel free to delete my thread. Or keep it in case someone in the future stumbles upon it.

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