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Unusual new Aladdin XT Plus 2 revision


Mu.
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I purchased an XT+2 from AliExpress with the purpose of reprogramming it for XBlast purposes (RAM upgrades n such), but I found that this chip I purchased included an NPN transistor on the D0 line to properly drive it (rather than using the pin on the Lattice CPLD directly).The Jafar chip uses this same method albeit using a MOSFET of some description but the effect is the same.

This seems like a new development, I haven't seen anyone else have a chip like this and I imagine most of the new ones produced going forwards will be this way. But it shows that the producers are taking steps to bring the modchips forward into the modern day.

Here is a closeup of the board, you can see the added transistor.

IMG_0276[1].JPG

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It should also be noted that there is a space for a solder jumper in the space of R3 (just under the pin socket), which either connects the LPC headers RST pin to ground on the CPLD or to the Reset pin on the 49LF0X0 chip. I'm not well versed enough in this to know why this would be something you'd want, but having the option on this board seems very unusual.

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interesting.  This design looks more like the xenofx chip of old.  It too had the transistor to drive D0 and an r3/r4 bridge for operation with either an SST49LF020A or SST49LF002A flash memory chip.

Does the labeling on the resistor read:  0?  (Edit: It looks like it; however, it is a bit fuzzy when the image is blown up.)

What does Evoxdash's Flash BIOS menu option display for the Manufacturer ID and Product ID of the SST49LF020A flash memory chip that's installed in this modchip? 

If it is an actual SST49LF020A as labeled, the values should be 0xBF and 0x52, respectively.

Edit: I forgot to include the picture from the old eurasia.nu web site of the xenofx modchip - Aladdin XT plus 2 they sold. 

Added below:

spacer.png

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The chip it comes with has an ID of 0xBF and 0x57, I'd assume its an 002A based on that and the jumper position (it's a 0 ohm link in the photo).

I've attached a copy of the dumped bios to this post, MD5 checksum is 9C1D5305B8F284609A9E15AC66B2C49F

And here's the listing I purchased it from specifically:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003135763443.html

002Dump.BIN

Edited by Mu.
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On 9/14/2022 at 1:00 PM, KaosEngineer said:

Now that you've dumped the pre-flashed BIOS data, have you tried to flash it with a different BIOS?

 

 

I ordered a 15 pack and I too have this revision.  Havent had time to see if flashable yet.

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256802949448691.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.3b591802CDEhrd

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21 minutes ago, Scorpius said:

I can confirm that reprogramming the CPLD for use with xblast does not work with this new revision. I didn't think it would make a difference, but changing the jumper (0 ohm resistor location) made no difference as well.

Did you change the jumper location from R3 to Center then Center to R4 with this new revision to try to flash a BIOS with Evoxdash or XBlastOS to the modchip before trying to reprogram the LC4032V CPLD on it?

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11 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

Did you change the jumper location from R3 to Center then Center to R4 with this new revision to try to flash a BIOS with Evoxdash or XBlastOS to the modchip before trying to reprogram the LC4032V CPLD on it?

I just got around to this now. I was able to flash a 256kb xblast file to it via evox dash without changing the resistor jumper. However, xblast does not support the chip, so no further flashing is possible without an update to xblast and ofc in this situation a hardware flasher, but that's easy.

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1 hour ago, Scorpius said:

I just got around to this now. I was able to flash a 256kb xblast file to it via evox dash without changing the resistor jumper. However, xblast does not support the chip, so no further flashing is possible without an update to xblast and ofc in this situation a hardware flasher, but that's easy.

Ignore XBlastOS's warning.  It gives that for all non-XBlast modchips.  Flashing still works just not all of the enhanced features available when using an XBlast modchip.  The Aladdin only has one 256KB BIOS bank so can only hold 1 BIOS at a time.  When you flash a different BIOS to the modchip, XBlastOS will be replaced by the BIOS you flash.  An XBlast modchip has a 1MB flash that allows it to hold 3 BIOSes - XBlastOS (256KBs), 1 user programmable 256KB BIOS and another user programmable 512KB BIOS.

 

Edit: Most modified Xbox BIOSes are 256KBs in size; thus, to fill the 512KB Bank a 256KB BIOS is written 2 times one after the other to fill all 512KBs.  X2 5035 is, I believe, one of the only modified Xbox BIOSes that is 512KBs in size.  There was an older proof-of-concept X2 BIOS release with a built-in FTP server that was also 512KBs; however, it should not be used.

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12 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

Ignore XBlastOS's warning.  It gives that for all non-XBlast modchips.  Flashing still works just not all of the enhanced features available when using an XBlast modchip.  The Aladdin only has one 256KB BIOS bank so can only hold 1 BIOS at a time.  When you flash a different BIOS to the modchip, XBlastOS will be replaced by the BIOS you flash.  An XBlast modchip has a 1MB flash that allows it to hold 3 BIOSes - XBlastOS (256KBs), 1 user programmable 256KB BIOS and another user programmable 512KB BIOS.

 

Edit: Most modified Xbox BIOSes are 256KBs in size; thus, to fill the 512KB Bank a 256KB BIOS is written 2 times one after the other to fill all 512KBs.  X2 5035 is, I believe, one of the only modified Xbox BIOSes that is 512KBs in size.  There was an older proof-of-concept X2 BIOS release with a built-in FTP server that was also 512KBs; however, it should not be used.

That worked i was able to get evox back up and running without an external progammer.

Trying to flash a known good 49LF080A with this new variant does not work with or without the jumper changed. I guess the CPLD code will need an update to support it and to use the full xblast os features?

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  • 1 month later...
On 9/22/2022 at 4:02 PM, Scorpius said:

That worked i was able to get evox back up and running without an external progammer.

Trying to flash a known good 49LF080A with this new variant does not work with or without the jumper changed. I guess the CPLD code will need an update to support it and to use the full xblast os features?

Did you make a backup of the original CPLD code? I attempted to do that in ispVM and it returned all 0s.

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9 hours ago, Mu. said:

Did you make a backup of the original CPLD code? I attempted to do that in ispVM and it returned all 0s.

When first programmed, the data written to the Lattice LC4032V CPLD most likely enables the security feature that prevents you from ever being able to read the code stored to it. This security setting cannot be disabled once enabled. 

You can reprogram the CPLD with a new set of code (dot SVF file) using a JTAG programmer but you can never read back what you wrote to it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 11 months later...

I too ordered 10 of these POS’

Ive never worked with a more horrible chip since 1996!

yes, you can get them to work. However, without expanding the 256 memory by replacing the bios chip and flashing a newer bios, you’re pretty much screwed. Unless you’re willing to deal with such an outdated design and it’s limitations.

 I wouldn’t even buy another Aladdin if they upgraded it.

 

GARBAGE! TOO MUCH WORK, need a programmer and ANOTHER updated larger capacity chip to obtain what most of us are looking for at this point!

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20 hours ago, JohnWick said:

I too ordered 10 of these POS’

Ive never worked with a more horrible chip since 1996!

yes, you can get them to work. However, without expanding the 256 memory by replacing the bios chip and flashing a newer bios, you’re pretty much screwed. Unless you’re willing to deal with such an outdated design and it’s limitations.

 I wouldn’t even buy another Aladdin if they upgraded it.

 

GARBAGE! TOO MUCH WORK, need a programmer and ANOTHER updated larger capacity chip to obtain what most of us are looking for at this point!

Yeah, Ali Aladdins are crappy and I never want to have an experience with them. Hell no.

I'll sell you some XBlasts if you want them. I have the programmer and SST flasher. :) 1MB SST with a 512 and 256 bank. XBlast will resize a 256 to fit on the 512 bank!

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On 10/24/2023 at 7:39 PM, Bowlsnapper said:

Yeah, Ali Aladdins are crappy and I never want to have an experience with them. Hell no.

I'll sell you some XBlasts if you want them. I have the programmer and SST flasher. :) 1MB SST with a 512 and 256 bank. XBlast will resize a 256 to fit on the 512 bank!

How much….. I’m always trying new chips. I haven’t used these yet. 

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