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Mods Chip?


The InSoMnIc UK
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It's an EPROM connected to the Xbox to load a modified Xbox BIOS from it instead of the stock BIOS from the TSOP flash memory chip on the motherboard.

See: http://web.archive.org/web/20040813231753/http://www.xbox-scene.com/modchips/ownmod_diagrams.html

To program a different BIOS to the chip, you need a UV EPROM Eraser to clear/erase the current content of the chip and an external EPROM programmer to write a new BIOS to it.

 

Edit: I suggest you remove/desolder it and install the Aladdin XT. However, several of the current Aladdin XT modchips are not reprogrammable by the Xbox either.  The flash memory chip in them is a relabeled part that is not reflashable by normal means. :(

 

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1 hour ago, The InSoMnIc UK said:

Thanks for your input to date much appreciated. Ok that’s a step closer and two back! So what if I remove/desolder could I then go straight to a soft mod from Rocky5? Forgetting the Aladdin as it’s straight from AliExpress. 

That's absolutely an option you can take in the meantime. A softmod will do just about everything you need to. I'd prefer it over keeping the current chip installed.

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Yes TSOP is super easy to do and does everything needed by most except for some more advanced stuff.

unless it’s a 1.6 then you  have to mod chip

I make a point of TSOPing all mine even if they end up with a chip installed, just because the factory bios has no real use these days.

Edited by big F
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2 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Wait, Iˋm confused. Does this chip contain a bios or an EEPROM? ...and why does it look like an Intel 8086? Itˋs fuckinˋ long and huge.

Dude is that SST a couple posts up mounted and wired directly to the LPC port?

It's a UV erasable rom chip (an EPROM) containing a custom bios. To call it an EEPROM would be wrong in both its function and its contents.

And it looks like that because those things came in large DIP packages just like the 8086 did.

Edited by Mu.
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8 minutes ago, Mu. said:

It's a UV erasable rom chip (an EPROM) containing a custom bios. To call it an EEPROM would be wrong in both its function and its contents.

And it looks like that because those things came in large DIP packages just like the 8086 did.

Those erasable chips are old but installed in so many things. The bios image on it won’t last long with the Xbox lid off as UV erases them. It’s cap is off, to be fair we used to just stick a label on it with what was programmed on or a bit of black tape.

Edited by big F
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2 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

interesting... What is the purpose though? Youˋre saying that this holds a BIOS thatˋs normally loaded out of the TSOP or the LPC, and uses other methods to patch the boot rom than what we all use now? Was this just the first real way to do it?

I believe it's worked the same way as it always has: With the D0 pin of the TSOP chip connected to ground (or the TSOP removed entirely), the console will attempt to boot from a bios via the LPC header. Andrew Huang's write-up of hacking the Xbox goes into better detail than I ever could.

It's always been a case of "tell the console to boot from the LPC header, provide it with code from a ROM chip of some kind", this is just an example of the very early, very crude way that it was done (and still totally could be).

Edited by Mu.
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Just now, Mu. said:

I believe it's worked the same way as it always has: With the D0 pin of the TSOP chip connected to ground (or the TSOP removed entirely), the console will attempt to boot from a bios via the LPC header. Andrew Huang's write-up of hacking the Xbox goes into better detail than I ever could.

Ah, itˋs an LPC flash. Got it.Thought maybe it was something a lot more crude and insane.

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11 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

interesting... What is the purpose though? Youˋre saying that this holds a BIOS thatˋs normally loaded out of the TSOP or the LPC, and uses other methods to patch the boot rom than what we all use now? Was this just the first real way to do it?

Back in the early days IIRC TSOP was widely known about  and anyway with boxes needing to be Live enabled TSOP was only for those who got banned from live.    MS didn’t ban that much in the early days. Then started the mass ban days where whole continents got banned in one go.   It’s after that that TSOP became a serious option.  The as many will know M$ upped their game and started HD inspection on log in to live, banning your box just on spare space if it was more than would be on your average 8 or 10g drive.

Edited by big F
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Interesting how threads go I bought it on EBay  back in Feb I was the only bidder it was listed as spares or repair as it was not fully booting i opens it after confirming the no boot in April partly removed the insulation tape photo graphed it and slipped a shrink rap sleeve on it and tried researching I also have a 1.6 with a DUO GS X2 AMD chip that boots from both the eject and power but that needs an upgrade to it’s not set up correctly.  I think a previous owner tried to wipe it it tells me the batch process failed on the XBMc needs HeXEn but it seems plays original disks ok and after an hour both the cpu and M/B are stable at 47C.  Back to the eprom what if I just disconnected power to it would the OG boot seems a shame to remove it if it’s part of history of modding 

sorry for not replying earlier to all who have posted the system said I had reached my quota of posts for the day 

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8 hours ago, big F said:

There used to be a computer fair regularly near me and a guy would do this for you while you waited.

I have seen that as well many years ago at computer fairs there was always someone mod-chipping the OG Xbox and PS1's along as people doing PC repairs.

 

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 hours ago, The InSoMnIc UK said:

Interesting how threads go I bought it on EBay  back in Feb I was the only bidder it was listed as spares or repair as it was not fully booting i opens it after confirming the no boot in April partly removed the insulation tape photo graphed it and slipped a shrink rap sleeve on it and tried researching I also have a 1.6 with a DUO GS X2 AMD chip that boots from both the eject and power but that needs an upgrade to it’s not set up correctly.  I think a previous owner tried to wipe it it tells me the batch process failed on the XBMc needs HeXEn but it seems plays original disks ok and after an hour both the cpu and M/B are stable at 47C.  Back to the eprom what if I just disconnected power to it would the OG boot seems a shame to remove it if it’s part of history of modding 

sorry for not replying earlier to all who have posted the system said I had reached my quota of posts for the day 

Should be fine as long as all the coper coated wires are insulated its not going to do anything bad.

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3 hours ago, Mu. said:

I believe it's worked the same way as it always has: With the D0 pin of the TSOP chip connected to ground (or the TSOP removed entirely), the console will attempt to boot from a bios via the LPC header. Andrew Huang's write-up of hacking the Xbox goes into better detail than I ever could.

It's always been a case of "tell the console to boot from the LPC header, provide it with code from a ROM chip of some kind", this is just an example of the very early, very crude way that it was done (and still totally could be).

It is not an LPC mod. D0 is not grounded.  This EPROM connects directly to the parallel data and address bus just like the Flash memory chip that holds the stock BIOS.  It replaces it.  Power to the TSOP has been cut so the content in this EPROM is accessed instead.  It holds a modified Xbox BIOS.  Which one ???.  You need to check the kernel version in the replacment dashboard or at the end of the stock MS dashboard's Settings > System Info scroller - the K: 1.00.KKKK.NN value.

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3 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Ah, itˋs an LPC flash. Got it.Thought maybe it was something a lot more crude and insane.

It is not an LPC flash; it is an EPROM.  Precursor to flash memory chips, EEPROMs, that can be electrically erased in circuit. 

 

To update the content stored in them, an EPROM is removed from the board, usually socketed for easy removal and installation, then put under a strong UV light for 20-30 minutes to be erased. After being erased, it is then programmed (data written to it) with an external programmer.

EPROM  - erasable programmable read-only memory

EEPROM - electrically erasable programmable read-only memory

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25 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

It is not an LPC flash; it is an EPROM.  Precursor to flash memory chips, EEPROMs, that can be electrically erased in circuit.  An EPROM is removed from the board, socketed for easy removal and installation, then put under a strong UV light for 20-30 minutes to be erased. After being erased, it is then programmed (data written to it) with an external programmer.

EPROM  - erasable programmable read-only memory

EEPROM - electrically erasable programmable read-only memory

So people were using them as detachable TSOPs?

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15 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

detachable TSOPs

A detachable Thin Small Outline Package?

The bios chip is just a eeprom and it happens to be a Thin Small Outline Package size.

 

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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7 minutes ago, SS_Dave said:

A detachable Thin Small Outline Package?

The bios chip is just a eeprom and it happens to be a Thin Small Outline Package size.

Does anybody feel like the name "Thin Small Outline Package" doesnˋt really do the job of describing what it does? Kinda like Low Pin Count? I understand after reading about it why LPC is named the way it is, but it still seems odd to me.

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