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Advice for upgrading HDD with an Xecuter 2 chip, is HeXen 2018 all I need?


alcatraz68
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I have an old Xbox that has an Xecuter 2 chip installed, it still has the stock HDD so i'd like to upgrade it to a 500GB SATA. Weirdly I cannot physically see any chip soldered to the board, I can see some yellow wires going out the front of the console so i'm not sure if this is where the chip is located? (see pic).

In any case I have downloaded the HeXen 2018 installation disc, and I have the necessary parts required to convert from IDE to SATA. Is this disc capable of setting up a HDD with this chip? I took a couple of pics showing my kernel and the fact my current HDD is locked:

 

IMG_20211130_135035.jpg

IMG_20211130_132644.jpg

IMG_20211130_132528.jpg

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Hi Alcatraz,

the first picture is taken in the wrong place. The chip should be on the left. You should definitely clean your XBOX :D. I'm definitely not an electrical expert by any means but it looks like one of the caps is bulging (the middle one in the row of 3 on the left). This is a sign that it ready break. Maybe good to take a look at all your caps first.

 

I recently upgraded my XBOX. I used the OGXBOX installer 2021. It comes with a few handy tool, not sure if it is better or worse.

First thing is that you need to arrange the HW

- SATA HDD

- IDE to SATA adapter (startech works, but there are probably a few others out there)

- 80 wire IDE cable

First make sure your modchip has the latest bios that supports bigger HDD. There are bioses available that have features like bigger HDD, no DVD and forced 480P enabled. 

I would first connect the HDD to a computer to format it using FATXplorer. OGXBOX installer has the tool bundelled with the how to install. For me this was needed because I couldn't format it directly on the XBOX.

Then install HDD in XBOX and boot the Hexen or XBOX installer DVD. You can choose to reformat it once more, not sure if it is really needed. Anyway use the installer to install your dashboard.

 

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OGXBox Installer 2021 - v1.5.4. DVD Version : https://1fichier.com/?cmclnzvvd4gufvt90j4d
OGXBox Installer 2021 - v1.5.3 beta 2 For FatXplorer + XBoxHDM PC Version https://1fichier.com/?kinvner9q3c4dy7yiobz

In case you have a working DVD drive I would go with the DVD version as it offers more options but the choice is yours.

And if you don't see a chip on the other side of the mainboard, your xbox is maybe TSOP flashed (If it's 100% not a softmod).

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coldasijs Thanks for the heads up on the cap, I never noticed it before so i'll replace it and any others that are bulging.

I have no visible modchip on my board anywhere so i'm a little confused, however it is definitely chipped as the start up screen has been replaced and when I run bios checker it says there's a hard mod installed.

I'll definitely grab FATXplorer and format the drive prior to installation. My mod was done a very long time ago (around 2004 or 05) so I think the bios will definitely need upgrading. Do the different bioses files come on the HeXen/OGXBOX installer discs?

@sweetdarkdestiny Thank you for the links. My disc drive is really struggling to read discs, I was going to swap in another drive to load my boot disc although if it's possible to do the install without I might try that. I definitely don't see a chip anywhere on my board, i've just looked up what TSOP flashing is so I think you might be right.

Edited by alcatraz68
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41 minutes ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:

Here is a tutorial about TSOP flashing (Before you start you should ensure that you have a TSOP flash so see if you can spot these solder bridges like you see in the topic)

I've had a look and the points shown in the tutorial definitely look like they've been modified (my console is a 1.2 or a 1.3).

Baring this in mind will I be able to proceed with HeXen and flash a new bios with it?

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58 minutes ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:

Yes you can flash a new bios using HeXEn. Even though you could FTP it and use XBlast OS to flash it. ;)

HeXEN has that bad behavior to delete dashboards when flashing a bios so I would recomend to flash it with it with XBLastOS.

Ahh ok no worries, so if i'm going to flash a new bios with XBlastOS instead where would I get the bios file from? And once i've flashed the bios would I then use HeXen to setup the new hard drive?

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You can unpack the XBox ISO using XDVDMulleter Beta 10.2 OR you can put the DVD in the drive and copy it to your XBox HDD.

Forgot to say. When you flash the bios and right after that you set up a new HDD and the old one doesn't matter, you could also flash right of the DVD. The info about the fact that HeXEn deletes your UnleashX Dashboard just because you flash a bios was just to make you aware of it. ;)

Edited by sweetdarkdestiny
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17 hours ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:

You can unpack the XBox ISO using XDVDMulleter Beta 10.2 OR you can put the DVD in the drive and copy it to your XBox HDD.

Forgot to say. When you flash the bios and right after that you set up a new HDD and the old one doesn't matter, you could also flash right of the DVD. The info about the fact that HeXEn deletes your UnleashX Dashboard just because you flash a bios was just to make you aware of it. ;)

Ok great I think i'm starting to understand it all (maybe..)
So am I right in saying that I can:

1) FTP a Bios + XBlastOS to my Xbox and flash 
2) Install the new HDD, then use a burned HeXen DVD to format the drive and setup a new dashboard, install apps, etc

Is it as simple as that or am I missing more things I need to do?

Also, would Evox m8+ be a good BIOS choice?

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That's right. Place your bios in C:\Bios name it bios.bin and flash it.

But like I wrote, when you remove your HDD after the flash anyway, you can also flash right of the DVD.

The EvoX is fine. You could also think about to use the iND 5003 XISO (If you plan to use iso files of your HDD (Needed for a hand full of games because of to long file names)).

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3 hours ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:

That's right. Place your bios in C:\Bios name it bios.bin and flash it.

But like I wrote, when you remove your HDD after the flash anyway, you can also flash right of the DVD.

The EvoX is fine. You could also think about to use the iND 5003 XISO (If you plan to use iso files of your HDD (Needed for a hand full of games because of to long file names)).

I had no idea it was possible to run isos off the HDD, I'll have to look into that one, cheers.

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