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Xbox v1.1 FRAGs intermittently


gears_fan
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Hello guys,

This post will be somewhat long because I want to include as much relevant information as possible. 

I have a v1.1 NTSC-U Xbox console, which I purchased brand new back in 2003. I modded it with a Xecuter 2.0 Pro mod chip sometime around 2004. It worked great for 2-3 years with no issues whatsoever. Then, out of nowhere, it started to intermittently FRAG. Sometimes it would boot just fine, but other times the Xbox would flash red and green and require me to reboot it 10 times in a row before it would boot to dashboard. Also, sometimes the Xbox would boot just fine and work for 2-3 hours straight and then, for no apparent reason, lose the video output. Interestingly enough, it would lose the video output only, but not audio. 

I tried different BIOS versions as well as different banks on the Xecuter 2.0 mod chip, but to no avail. After all that, I decided that it was too much trouble and just stopped using this FRAGging Xbox. 

Fast forward to 2020, and I decided to connect this old v1.1 Xbox to my TV and test it out. It worked great for the first two weeks, but then started FRAGging just like 14 years ago. It behaves exactly the same way as it used to – it might boot just fine 10 times in a row, or it might FRAG 20 times in a row. I reflashed the BIOS again, but to no avail. 

I also noticed a few more things. First, the removal of the DVD drive and/or hard drive does not seem to affect the FRAGging at all. The console can still FRAG with both drives completely disconnected. 

Also, if the Xbox boots to dashboard with no issues, I can easily make it lose the video output by knocking on the table on which the Xbox is sitting or by touching the AV cable. If I reboot the console immediately after that, the Xbox would usually FRAG. Bad AV cable, right? Nope. I tried four different AV cables/adapters and this is happening with all of them. All said cables work perfectly with my v1.0 Xbox and no amount of knocking on the table or touching the cables can make this second Xbox lose the video output. 

Here is the list of AV cables that I tried with the same result (i.e. intermittent FRAGging on my v1.1 Xbox and no issues on my v1.0 Xbox):
1. OEM Microsoft Composite cable
2. OEM Microsoft AV pack
3. OEM Microsoft HD AV pack
4. Third party HD AV pack

Here are a few more things that I did:
* Sprayed the AV connector in the Xbox with DeoxIT D5 and inspected it for damage
* Reflowed all solder joints on the AV connector, twice
* Inspected the traces on the motherboard near the AV connector

Here is a list of things that I could still do (but would rather not):
* Stop relying on the AV connector. Instead, solder the wires to it and add component video and coaxial audio jacks to the back of the Xbox console. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that this will solve the FRAG issue. 

This Xbox was used by an adult and was never dropped or abused.

At this point, I am not sure what else I can do besides soldering wires to the AV port and adding audio and video output jacks to the back of the Xbox. Does anyone have any idea of what might be happening? 

P.S. The pictures of the motherboard are attached to this post.  

motherboard.jpg

LPC debug port.jpg

AV port.jpg

Edited by gears_fan
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Intermittent problems can be a pain it the backside to sort out.

I am not sure it's one issue 

1st I would refit the stock HDD if you have it or make a stock drive and lock it to the main board and boot with the chip disconnected(not just disabled)so it boots to the MS dash.

If it all works 100% then look hard at the modchip and the installation of it.

If you reconnect it and run a link from the D0 direct to ground(gray wire)

Or you could TSOP flash it and not use a modchip.

 

As for the video issue it sounds like a bad solder joint around the video encoder chip or it might be a fault with 1 or more caps next to the CPU heatsink (even though they look ok) and that could even be the FRAGing cause as well.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

 

  • Thanks 1
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Thank you for the suggestions. 

I tried all my external hard drive enclosures, but, unfortunately, none of them appear to be compatible with xboxhdm/smartmontools (yes, I also tried adding “-d sat” to the smartctl command). I have also been trying to locate the original hard drive, but, so far, I have had no luck. Consequently, I cannot boot this console from the stock drive at this moment. This will have to wait until I receive a SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 adapter compatible with smartmontools. I will post an update when this happens. 

As far as bad solder joints around the video encoder chip go, everything appears to be in good shape. Please see the attached close-up picture of the Conexant video encoder.

Also, I am fairly certain that it is not the fault of the electrolytic capacitors next to the CPU heatsink since this particular Xbox started having all these issues when it was still only 2-3 years old. Still, I desoldered one capacitor to test it out and its ESR was well within the norm. 

Conexant Video Encoder.jpg

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Do you have aa component AV lead you can try instead of the composite?

The linductor L4A1 is the composite video filter check it for bad solder joins or possibly it's faulty.

 

7 hours ago, gears_fan said:

Also, I am fairly certain that it is not the fault of the electrolytic capacitors next to the CPU heatsink since this particular Xbox started having all these issues when it was still only 2-3 years old.

Anything is possible, I had my 1st leaking clock cap and trace damage 15 years ago on a 2.5 year old Xbox.

 

 

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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I tried composite, S-Video, and component video leads, but to no avail.

The inductor L4A1 seems to be fine. Please see the attached close-up picture.

I am still waiting to receive the compatible SATA/IDE to USB adapter to create a stock drive for this misbehaving Xbox. 

 

On 11/24/2020 at 6:41 AM, SS_Dave said:

Anything is possible, I had my 1st leaking clock cap and trace damage 15 years ago on a 2.5 year old Xbox.

It is disappointing when that happens. Luckily, the only leaking capacitor in this Xbox was the clock capacitor. 

L4A1 inductor.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/28/2020 at 1:08 AM, SS_Dave said:

What happen if you power on with the modchip disconnected?

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

So I finally received the SATA/IDE to USB adapter and built a new stock drive for this Xbox. I then proceeded to disconnect the modchip and booted the Xbox. Unfortunately, the behavior of the Xbox did not change at all – it either boots straight to MS dashboard (i.e. no issues), FRAGs or loses video connection.

My next step was to connect an RCA socket to pins 21 and 23 (composite video) and bridge pins 9 and 10 on the AV port and see if it changed anything. Surprisingly, there was no change at all. The FRAGging was still there and I could still make the Xbox lose the video output by knocking on the table or touching the AV connector.

Any thoughts? Could the FRAGging issue be caused by a bad power supply? Could the video issues be caused by a cracked trace on the motherboard? If so, then which pin(s) on the AV port should I look closely at?

Thanks.

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The silver bits next to the hole looks like it has had solder on it and 2 X version 1.0 boards I have here that have never had a chip fitted there is no silver marks

832001879_LPCport.thumb.jpg.d518260874a9f13be2b88ac586dde067.jpg.8a49bd69bbb113c36b8075f068ef49f7.jpg

 

Can you post a pic of the bottom of the LPC.

 

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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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm have the same issues with a 1.0 Xbox with an Xexcuter 3 modchip. First issue was a dead HDD. I replaced it with the correct OS files. Started working. Then I proceeded to add a custom dash and other software, copied some games into the HDD and everything was going fine. Games ran OK. I let it run for a whole day to test stability. Everything OK. Then out of nowhere I got a garbled screen and the Xbox froze up. After that I've been getting intermittent FRAGs. Every so often it'll boot normally and play for a few minutes before hanging and FRAGing again.
I bought a CAP replacement kit from Console5.com and replaced ALL the CAPs, but it didn't change anything. I suspect the video chip has lifted off the motherboard. This is common on older video boards and the Xbox360.

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11 hours ago, ea2000 said:

I'm have the same issues with a 1.0 Xbox with an Xexcuter 3 modchip. First issue was a dead HDD. I replaced it with the correct OS files. Started working. Then I proceeded to add a custom dash and other software, copied some games into the HDD and everything was going fine. Games ran OK. I let it run for a whole day to test stability. Everything OK. Then out of nowhere I got a garbled screen and the Xbox froze up. After that I've been getting intermittent FRAGs. Every so often it'll boot normally and play for a few minutes before hanging and FRAGing again.
I bought a CAP replacement kit from Console5.com and replaced ALL the CAPs, but it didn't change anything. I suspect the video chip has lifted off the motherboard. This is common on older video boards and the Xbox360.

it's not common on the og xbox because they don't get that hot.

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On 1/3/2021 at 5:42 PM, ea2000 said:

I'm have the same issues with a 1.0 Xbox with an Xexcuter 3 modchip. First issue was a dead HDD. I replaced it with the correct OS files. Started working. Then I proceeded to add a custom dash and other software, copied some games into the HDD and everything was going fine. Games ran OK. I let it run for a whole day to test stability. Everything OK. Then out of nowhere I got a garbled screen and the Xbox froze up. After that I've been getting intermittent FRAGs. Every so often it'll boot normally and play for a few minutes before hanging and FRAGing again.
I bought a CAP replacement kit from Console5.com and replaced ALL the CAPs, but it didn't change anything. I suspect the video chip has lifted off the motherboard. This is common on older video boards and the Xbox360.

Thanks for chiming in. I will take another good look at the video chip.

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On 11/21/2020 at 5:55 PM, gears_fan said:

I modded it with a Xecuter 2.0 Pro mod chip sometime around 2004. It worked great for 2-3 years with no issues whatsoever. Then, out of nowhere, it started to intermittently FRAG.

The problem I had with my Xecuter 2.0 Pro was the FCC cable making a poor connection to the external switch board.  After a while, it no longer worked and I tried to repair the FCC cable but instead damaged it in the process.  Without the cable making proper connection between the internally mounted modchip and the externally mounted bank select board the console may FRAG.

 

Edit: I moved on from using the X2pro to either TSOP flashing or installing a different modchip - Aladdin XT plus 2, OpenXenium or XBlast Lite.

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  • 8 months later...
On 1/10/2021 at 7:29 AM, ea2000 said:

I just noticed a few SMT caps missing from the underside of the motherboard. They are C6V1, C6V2 & C6T6 (circled in red in the image attached). Could anyone give me the values for these caps? This is a  1.0 Xbox.

microsoft-xbox-pal-ver-1-1-rev-k-019.jfif 441.26 kB · 5 downloads

Hi, I checked C6V1 and C6v2 on a 1.1 Xbox.

I measured 63 picofarads for each using my LCR-T4 component tester. The C6T6 I couldn't get any measurement for some reason. I'll go back and post here if I manage to sort it.
I tested in circuit, chances are that testing in circuit will affect the outcome compared with testing components individually.

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  • 1 month later...

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