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XBOX can't boot into MSDash or reboot without going to No Signal


phrunt
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I've got 2 XBOX's and one works perfectly and that's the one with a Xenium Ice chip in it, the other has an Aladdin chip I think, I can't recall as it was done about 15 years ago :) The chip requires that you hold down the power button for about 2 seconds to turn the mod chip on and boot the Xbox to UnleashX.  If you don't hold the power button down the screen just goes to no signal and the Xbox doesn't work, it powers on obviously just no signal.  If you do hold it down and enable the mod chip the Xbox boots up fine and works well, the only problem is if you do the two trigger / 2 button reboot trick with the M8 bios it does start the reboot process but just goes to a no signal screen.   If I go to the option in UnleashX to boot to MSDash it just goes to this same black no signal screen.

I tried reinstalling MSDash in case it was a problem with the dashboard, but that made no difference.

Does anyone know a solution to this? it's not a big deal but I'd like to resolve it if possible.  Thanks in advance.

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There is a wire connected to the BT point on the mod chip that's going to the front of the Xbox. Remove it from the front of the Xbox and connect to ground (pin 2) or put it under one of the screws that hold the main board down.

This will force the mod chip to be always active.

 

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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8 hours ago, phrunt said:

I tried reinstalling MSDash in case it was a problem with the dashboard, but that made no difference.

Does anyone know a solution to this? it's not a big deal but I'd like to resolve it if possible.  Thanks in advance.

How did you go about installing the stock MS dashboard to the console?

There's more than one file needed to install it.  There are hundreds of files that go on the C drive.

Clean_C_and_E_Files_for_Xbox (mediafire.com) [Don't worry about the E drive content in this archive. There are two folders that should already be present on the Xbox hard drive.]

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8 hours ago, phrunt said:

If you do hold it down and enable the mod chip the Xbox boots up fine and works well, the only problem is if you do the two trigger / 2 button reboot trick with the M8 bios it does start the reboot process but just goes to a no signal screen. 

Using IGR resets the Xbox which will again require a long power button press to enable the modchip.  The modchip is not getting a long button press so it is disabled and booting the stock BIOS which is trying to load the MS dashboard which is failing. 

Is the front panel eject ring solid green when it does this?

Which version of Xbox is it?

P.S. The fix - @SS_Dave gave the solution to permanently enable the modchip in a previous post.

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Almost any installer disc (chip/TSOP options) would have installed the C:\ stock MS dash contents as part of the main dash installation.

It does sound as though all the OP must have on C:\ is either just the main UnleashX XBE or.............................like a lot of users, it was originally a softmod and the "C:\xboxdash.xbe", what in the stock Xbox is the MS dash, was reassigned to launch the now redundant Xbox Live or Online Updater.

The latter typically causes a blank screen and likewise if a default UnleashX dash was installed as that also uses the same C:\xboxdash.xbe as the MS dash path in the C:\config.xml.

I'd bet as the Xbox is 15 years old this was done with AID and may have originally been a SID softmod.

Rather than suggest using an AID disc which relies on a working MS dash in E:\Backup\MS clean stock files, as KE recommends, does seems like the most sensible solution. But if the UnleashX dash XBE isn't preserved or re-added (wherever it is) he will find afterwards his main dash is now missing when he enables the chip.

Seeing some screen shots of the C:\ and E:\ content first would likely help avoid any such problems.  

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Thanks everyone, I used OGXBox Installer 2021 and went to "Install MS Dashboard" and it come up with an error, so I went into another menu and went to "Repair MS Dashboard" and that had success.  It didn't solve the problem though.  I'll try FTP over the files in that archive provided and see what happens.

I intend to pull the xbox apart and move that wire from the front to under a motherboard screw and see if that solves it, I'm not so good with electronics but that sounds possible for me to do but if I found a software solution I'd prefer that.

It's a 1.4 XBox I believe.

I will fire it up soon and post screenshots of the contents of C and E

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Okeydokey.

Some more information.

If I just press the power button to turn the Xbox on, the light goes orange for about 20 seconds, then green.  No signal on the screen.

If I do the button combination to reboot the same thing happens, instantly I get no signal on the TV and the light goes orange for about 20 seconds then green with no signal.

If I try turn the Xbox on with the eject button the light cycles between red and orange and no signal on the screen.

The only way to turn it on is to hold the power for 2 seconds and it works fine into UnleashX

Here is the contents of my C:, I've also copied the Xbox C contents from the supplied archive over the top of C and it made no difference to the problem.

1863070835_contentsofXbox.jpg.a68b11e1a03af1722935ad03d2163312.jpg

So does it sound like my only solution is to pop the hood and remove that wire from the front of the XBox and put it under a motherboard screw so the chips always on?

Thanks for any help, I'll wait for replies before doing that hardware mod as I'm a bit scared of doing it :)

 

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I noticed the Xboxdash.xbe was 199 bytes and the one in the archive was much bigger, I tried to copy it over top but FlashFXP said it couldn't copy it so I deleted the 199 byte one and FTP'd the other one over and that worked, now I can use UnleashX to go to MS Dashboard and the MS Dashboard works, That solved me not being able to go in there and change settings.  It hasn't fixed the rebooting problem though.  The other interesting thing is if I do the reboot combination from within UnleashX it reboots fine, if I do it from in a game then it does the orange light for 20 seconds then green light and no signal.  Interesting it works fine from inside UnleashX only.

This is my drive now after deleting the 199 byte file and replacing it with the real one.

2005127769_xboxcontents2.jpg.84b21e2078c994aae4fa86f01c17a197.jpg

After replacing that file I can still boot into UnleashX fine, but the power on to MS Dash still doesn't work.  Only enabling the mod chip gives a signal on the screen.  Perhaps my TSOP is buggered up? It's never been flashed as far as I'm aware as the Xbox went from stock to mod chip, I got a guy that was doing them for lots of people from his shop in Brisbane/Australia to do it for me.

Edited by phrunt
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Ok, I popped the bonnet and what I found inside wasn't good news I don't think.  There doesn't seem to be a wire going to the front.  And I found a capacitor that looks very suspect.  I guess I would need to replace it, I don't know where to buy one from though and what I'd look for to buy it, I'm no electronics guru.  It is strange about that capacitor though as it can't be too important as the xbox works fine, I can play games all day on it with no issues.

Here are some photos, the mod chip has wires going all over the place.

IMG_20211110_094324.jpg.88049181cf9fdb5c0cad35390f724954.jpgIMG_20211110_094331.jpg.ef880b58b7c78f0383f56e299db14bd9.jpgIMG_20211110_094335.jpg.e30d8ce571d6bc262cd0a99879cd87ef.jpgIMG_20211110_094340.jpg.3c6092e87b97e456431537741fc0cb78.jpgIMG_20211110_094400.jpg.efb21d7eb89da35597bc2a178a6a24b4.jpgIMG_20211110_094411.jpg.382a16e167a5d6a2f4aae908ba1396af.jpgIMG_20211110_094442.jpg.c52bdd87a3108eb7b497433951328692.jpg

The dodgy capacitor looks the same as these ones in the photo above...

IMG_20211110_094451.jpg.8c2d9e77995a34b2433eba51fe55e300.jpg

Here is the dodgy one.

I have a bag of these capacitors in my Xbox bits and pieces collection, are they the right thing? they look very different.

IMG_20211110_100159.jpg.168e2eb742ea422d692062f47860bd91.jpg

Edited by phrunt
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With the mod chip I would remove the wires from L1 and L2 then remove the wire from BT that's connected to the front and reconnect to ground.

In this pic if you add a wire link like the black line that will make the chip always on then the Xbox will reboot correctly to the new dash board. 

https://postimg.cc/CZRfjtBV

The cap marked C4F9 can be replaced with a cap looking like the  other style on the other pic you just need to get the same value

It's a 1500uF 6.3 volt so the one you have in the last pic is the wrong value.

 

The other two are 1500uF 6.3 volt and if need be you could replace with one 3300uF 6.3 volt

 

 

 

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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Ok, Just so I'm understanding correctly, completely remove the L1 and L2 wires, just get rid of them.  The wire that's on BT I can just cut and use as a little bridging wire across to that pin you've marked in black, would I need to remove the mod chip and solder it onto the other side of the mod chip on that pin or just try solder it on the back there where the black line is.

Thanks for the help, you've been brilliant.

I'll try find somewhere to buy that capacitor.  This looks correct to me?

https://nz.element14.com/panasonic/eeufm0j152/cap-1500-f-6-3v-20/dp/1219448?st=6.3V

Edited by phrunt
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11 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Ok, Just so I'm understanding correctly, completely remove the L1 and L2 wires, just get rid of them.  The wire that's on BT I can just cut and use as a little bridging wire across to that pin you've marked in black, would I need to remove the mod chip and solder it onto the other side of the mod chip on that pin or just try solder it on the back there where the black line is.

Thanks for the help, you've been brilliant.

I'll try find somewhere to buy that capacitor.

That's correct the L1 and L2 are not needed and the wire for the BT can be soldered to the side showing.

 

The caps can be got from Digikey, Mouser and others like https://chimericsystems.com/  you are looking for a low ESR cap.

 

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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Thanks so much Dave, I did as you said and now the Xbox boots with a normal press of the power button, even pressing the eject button will fire it up now.  It's acting completely normal. 

Now all I need to do is sort out the bad capacitor and it's all good to go.  That's even scarier than doing the wires though :)

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24 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Now all I need to do is sort out the bad capacitor and it's all good to go.  That's even scarier than doing the wires though

That capacitor is slightly easier to change compared to the ones next to the heat sink/power connector. The ones next to the  heat sink take a lot more heat to remove.

26 minutes ago, phrunt said:

now the Xbox boots with a normal press of the power button, even pressing the eject button will fire it up now.  It's acting completely normal. 

The reason to wire it the way it was is because of Xbox live would block that Xbox if it detected a non original Xbox.

If and when the new version of Xbox live ( Insignia )kicks off it will be fine with modded Xbox's as long as the HDD key is not all zero's.

 

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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Thanks, everyone's been great help, now my Xbox is great, the MS Dash works again after FTPing over the dash files,my 2TB drive is working well and filled up with stuff already, I can use the button combo to reboot from anything and it goes back to UnleashX and I've got it flashed with a 480P M8 bios so my HDTV works well off the HDMI adapter, no issues there at all, everything is great.  I just have to tackle that capacitor, hopefully all goes well and I don't destroy the XBox :)

I think shipping on the capacitors will be a month or two by the looks of it.  At least it works fine without doing it, I haven't found any issue it's causing so far.

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4 hours ago, SakisTheDrifter said:

What i can tell from your situation,is that you may have a faulty/empty onboard Bios chip and whenever the xbox tries to boot from there,it makes these problems

The HDD is unlocked and when he uses the soft reset from the controller the Xbox is rebooting from the onboard bios and not the mod chip.

 

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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Yes, the HDD was unlocked, I'm not a fan of locking hard drives as I see no point now XBox live is dead.  I'd rather the drive unlocked so if the Xbox dies I can transplant it into another Xbox easily as many hours of work goes into getting my Xbox drives how I like them with all the stuff on them.

All my problems are solved now by making the chip be on all the time.

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1 hour ago, phrunt said:

Yes, the HDD was unlocked, I'm not a fan of locking hard drives as I see no point now XBox live is dead.  I'd rather the drive unlocked so if the Xbox dies I can transplant it into another Xbox easily as many hours of work goes into getting my Xbox drives how I like them with all the stuff on them.

All my problems are solved now by making the chip be on all the time.

That's how I fitted 99.5% of the modchips since version 1.0 , I always asked if the owner was using or planning on using Xbox Live and most of the time it was no I just want to play backup's and even then 50% still had the stock dash on a stock HDD.

All my builds now are with the HDD unlocked.

 

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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On 11/13/2021 at 9:46 PM, SS_Dave said:

The HDD is unlocked and when he uses the soft reset from the controller the Xbox is rebooting from the onboard bios and not the mod chip.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


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

Thats what i am saying and when the onboard bios is trying to be loaded,the xbox gives problems. That sounds like a bad onboard chip for me

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