Xecutor 2.3 Lite switch bank faulty

[bacus]

Hi.

Found my old v1.1 Xbox which I modded 20years ago with an Xecutor 2.3 Lite (see pics). Wanted to get it going again now that Insignia is running, so before even powering on, I've removed the clock cap and replaced the 5 CPU caps which were leaking. Powered on today, and it starts in microsoft dash. Hooray! Soldering successful, but no X2 bios. The 'X2 Lite Ext' board with the 3 switches on doesn't seem to work (switches are bad - checked with meter). Also the 5 black wires leading to the Ext board were frail and snapped off from the connector while testing . Luckily I caught it and labelled each so I know which wire does what.

Question is, what to do? I doubt I can find another X2 Lite Ext switch board and cable. Does anyone know if any other switch bank works with my chip? I could just bridge the wires to force modchip enable and bank 1, or try to build my own new switch bank. Any suggestions if you've done this before?

Thanks

[KaosEngineer]

Take a look at this forum thread:

 

[OGXbox Admin]

get a pin extractor and new pins. Strip the wires and crimp on the pins and slide them into the connector. I don't know what the pins are called, but some googling should render good results. 

[bacus]

1 hour ago, KaosEngineer said:

Take a look at this forum thread:

Thanks. The first diagram diagram for the 2.3b is the same pinouts as mine. 

Reading that thread, it suggests grounding D0 on the board and not using the switchbank. Then the chip will be unprotected, and on bank 2 permanently.

Now, from memory (and it was a long time ago), I thought when flashing this chip, I had to have it set to bank 1 and then flash a 1MB file containing two consecutive 512KB bios'. Is this right, or is the bank select only relevant during boot and so I can infact flash the same 1MB (2 bios) file with the switch in bank 2 position (where then the first 512KB would be irrelevant since I couldn't select it)?

[bacus]

1 hour ago, OGXbox Admin said:

get a pin extractor and new pins. Strip the wires and crimp on the pins and slide them into the connector. I don't know what the pins are called, but some googling should render good results. 

I've had a brief look and cant find what the pins are called either. Anybody know?

If I could do this, it would fix the connector, but I'd still have the broken switches to replace. I'll have to think about this. Thanks for your help.

[MadMartigan]

You can create your bios.bin to flash each bank with a specific bios. You can be on either bank to flash(while chip protection is off) and the bios.bin file will dictate which bank gets which type of bios. I hope that makes sense. 
 

For instance, you can flash bank 1 with Flashbios, and bank two with Cerbios, or vice versa. 
X2 Bios Manager has a great tutorial that comes in the file with the download. 

Edited January 18 by MadMartigan

[AlaskaCC]

I have a spare 2.3B Lite that I can part with. It has the switch bank. I see some differences but don't know if the wiring is the same.

[prtscn]

You can de solder, disassemble and clean the switch

Or you can spray something like WD40 and jerk it violently, it may clean up contacts.

[prtscn]

11 hours ago, OGXbox Admin said:

get a pin extractor and new pins. Strip the wires and crimp on the pins and slide them into the connector. I don't know what the pins are called, but some googling should render good results. 

pins are easy to remove, simply lift the flap above the pin with thin flat screwdriver and then pull the wire. Problem is to find proper female crimp connector.

[KaosEngineer]

5 hours ago, prtscn said:

You can de solder, disassemble and clean the switch

Or you can spray something like WD40 and jerk it violently, it may clean up contacts.

NOT WD40 - use an electrical contact cleaner.  WD40 will only gum up the works as it dries out.

[KaosEngineer]

18 hours ago, bacus said:

Thanks. The first diagram diagram for the 2.3b is the same pinouts as mine. 

Reading that thread, it suggests grounding D0 on the board and not using the switchbank. Then the chip will be unprotected, and on bank 2 permanently.

Now, from memory (and it was a long time ago), I thought when flashing this chip, I had to have it set to bank 1 and then flash a 1MB file containing two consecutive 512KB bios'. Is this right, or is the bank select only relevant during boot and so I can infact flash the same 1MB (2 bios) file with the switch in bank 2 position (where then the first 512KB would be irrelevant since I couldn't select it)?

I never had a X2.3b, but my X2 pro modchip bank selection switch allowed for programming each bank individually.

 

I believe flashing the X2.6/X2.6CE modchip, not sure that the same held true with an X2.3b too, required creating a 1MB file and setting the bank to 1 to flash it -- at least when you were using the pre-installed FlashBIOS to update to a modified Xbox BIOS.

[bacus]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll just do the one reply to all.

21 hours ago, MadMartigan said:

You can create your bios.bin to flash each bank with a specific bios. You can be on either bank to flash(while chip protection is off) and the bios.bin file will dictate which bank gets which type of bios. I hope that makes sense. 
 

For instance, you can flash bank 1 with Flashbios, and bank two with Cerbios, or vice versa. 
X2 Bios Manager has a great tutorial that comes in the file with the download. 

I found my old copy of X2 Bios Manager v2.3 and read the readme. I understand how you create the 1MB file with the various BIOS' in whatever order, its the flashing that confused me. I think you're saying it doesn't matter what bank the chip is set to during the flash, as it just fills the whole 1MB from zero. So then the bank switch is only used when actually booting from either of the 512KB banks. Correct?

 

20 hours ago, AlaskaCC said:

I have a spare 2.3B Lite that I can part with. It has the switch bank. I see some differences but don't know if the wiring is the same.

Thanks. Wiring is the same (for the switch bank) from the pinouts I've looked at and the switch bank has the same number L33-11678 as mine, just a different colour. I might try and fix mine, but if that fails, what would you want for it including shipping to the UK?

 

12 hours ago, prtscn said:

You can de solder, disassemble and clean the switch

Or you can spray something like WD40 and jerk it violently, it may clean up contacts.

Might try that. Got nothing to loose. I have a can of switch cleaner somewhere.

 

12 hours ago, prtscn said:

pins are easy to remove, simply lift the flap above the pin with thin flat screwdriver and then pull the wire. Problem is to find proper female crimp connector.

Looks really fiddly. My eyes aren't what they used to be . Thanks for the suggestion.

 

5 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

I never had a X2.3b, but my X2 pro modchip bank selection switch allowed for programming each bank individually.

I believe flashing the X2.6/X2.6CE modchip, not sure that the same held true with an X2.3b too, required creating a 1MB file and setting the bank to 1 to flash it -- at least when you were using the pre-installed FlashBIOS to update to a modified Xbox BIOS.

Yes, you remember the same as me, that you had to set the bank to 1.

I think I've got an X2 bios on bank 1 and Cromwell on bank 2. Might join some wires together to check, while I decide what to do. Still got the console in bits though as the CD drive belt has gone brittle and egg shaped, so awaiting replacement...

 

[AlaskaCC]

  23 hours ago, AlaskaCC said:

I have a spare 2.3B Lite that I can part with. It has the switch bank. I see some differences but don't know if the wiring is the same.

Thanks. Wiring is the same (for the switch bank) from the pinouts I've looked at and the switch bank has the same number L33-11678 as mine, just a different colour. I might try and fix mine, but if that fails, what would you want for it including shipping to the UK?

 

To get you back in the game, I'll do $10 plus shipping. First Class International would probably be best. I do not know how much that would be.

[MadMartigan]

3 hours ago, bacus said:

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll just do the one reply to all.

I found my old copy of X2 Bios Manager v2.3 and read the readme. I understand how you create the 1MB file with the various BIOS' in whatever order, its the flashing that confused me. I think you're saying it doesn't matter what bank the chip is set to during the flash, as it just fills the whole 1MB from zero. So then the bank switch is only used when actually booting from either of the 512KB banks. Correct?

That is correct and from my experiences, the same applies to chips with more than two banks. 

[bacus]

16 hours ago, AlaskaCC said:

  23 hours ago, AlaskaCC said:

To get you back in the game, I'll do $10 plus shipping. First Class International would probably be best. I do not know how much that would be.

Thanks. I'll bear that in mind if my repair fails. If you find out what the postage is to the UK, let me know. 

[bacus]

Just a quick note to say a massive thank you to @AlaskaCC for shipping me a replacement Xecuter 2. I've used your switch bank and cable with my modchip and all worked fine. Had to replace drive belt in DVD too, but all good. Here's how I left the Xbox all those years ago:

The MS Dashboard seems a bit blocky, as does the big 'X' and 'Xecuter2' text after flubber(?). Slayers screen looks good, as do the couple of games I briefly tried.  I am using an Kaico HDMI adapter with 480p and 720p (only) enabled.

So, I'm thinking new BIOS first so I can play on Insignia. Then upgrade to a 1TB drive, 80wire and StarTech, which I've already got.

I'm sure I'll be back for advice shortly.

Cheers for now.

[AlaskaCC]

Glad to see you back on the scene.

I love that EvolutionX menu!