Got an original xbox for free. How to I get it working, and how do I mod?

Armadillo

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codezer0

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If you just want to test and have a standard atx supply laying around, you can bodge that to work on the 1.0-1.1 boxes fairly easy with only a few components.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?/topic/536915-pico-psu-to-xbox-v10-quick-tut/

Cleaner version of the same diagram is 2nd post down here

http://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=101
Oh, wow. I didn't even know that was possible. I guess looking at these, I would need that tool I remember using back in community college that would let me pull the individual wires to do this; usually used to be able to extract each for individual sleeving jobs, but this is cool stuff.
 

codezer0

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Okay, an update on my end.

Did some checking, and while I do have a spare ATX PSU lying around, trying to find the tool I would need to bodge the wires in order to use it in the meantime was proving difficult, and at least from what I saw, ordering it online, I wouldn't have saved any money versus simply buying a replacement v1.0 PSU off ebay. So, I went with the latter. Still waiting for it as I type this.

In the meantime, one of my friends had a spare Xbox they weren't using anymore, since they claimed it was having a hard time reading discs... and sent it my way.

At least from opening it up to check things out, and using that xbox-scene process to identify it, it is a v 1.6 model; not 1.6b. Newer kernel and the desirable dash for that softmod process. The mindblowing part to this reveal, is that this one is the famed Samsung DVD drive that was supposed to be the best model for the original xbox. So I'm also wondering if it's something repairable to get it fully operational again, if it is indeed having trouble with discs?

While I try to formulate a gameplan to do the hotswap mod with this unit that doesn't result in a repeat of what happened to the original 1.0 unit I started with, I'm just wondering what I could do with this unit, and if it's possible to TSOP it at all, for instance, if not more...?
 

codezer0

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Okay, I get that. So... with the 1.6, what are the things I can do once it's soft-modded? Is giving it a larger hard drive possible? I know with the 1.0 system, I was even entertaining getting one of those Seagate Hybrid hard drives since they seem to go for about ~$110 USD at Fry's Electronics for a 2TB model, plus the cost of an appropriate PATA<->SATA adapter. Would that be possible with the 1.6 unit?

At least this one seemed to successfully hotswap mod. Redoing it as I type this though, since I think I accidentally set it to enable VGA mode, because when I booted up afterward, the LED on the front of the console started flashing from green and red and the output of the dashboard was very, primarily green. Whoops :blush: that said, it was responding, and implied successful soft-modding.
 

Armadillo

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Okay, I get that. So... with the 1.6, what are the things I can do once it's soft-modded? Is giving it a larger hard drive possible? I know with the 1.0 system, I was even entertaining getting one of those Seagate Hybrid hard drives since they seem to go for about ~$110 USD at Fry's Electronics for a 2TB model, plus the cost of an appropriate PATA<->SATA adapter.

Once modded you can do the same as any other version.

Only differences the 1.6 have are the lack of being able to tsop them and at one point the xcalibur video encoder having issues with 480p on a couple of games and homebrew, I think that's been sorted out now though.
 

codezer0

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So, if I wanted to, I can actually give this thing a larger hard drive? If so, sweet!

I guess now the question is, this unit was given to me because its prior owner was having difficulty with getting it to load their games.

Provided that is still the case with me and my collection of (at least) retail games, what are my options? This 1.6 has a Samsung drive in it. I still haven't yet tested to see what exactly is the issue with it.
 

Armadillo

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Provided that is still the case with me and my collection of (at least) retail games, what are my options? This 1.6 has a Samsung drive in it. I still haven't yet tested to see what exactly is the issue with it.

Clean it, if that doesn't work, pot tweak. Other than that, then it's replacement drive/laser time. Drives aren't locked to consoles, so you can put any xbox drive in, but to read retail discs you need a working xbox drive, no way around it.
 

codezer0

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Okay, now that I actually got to sit down with it a little bit... it's weird. I pop open the tray, drop in a disc and it's like it goes in a constant cycle of eject->load->eject->load...

Only game out of my collection it didn't do this with right away, was Sonic Mega Collection Plus. With anything else I have on hand, it does this. What would be the cause of this? Considering it is a vaunted Samsung drive, I would think there would be some kind of repair, right?
 

Armadillo

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Okay, now that I actually got to sit down with it a little bit... it's weird. I pop open the tray, drop in a disc and it's like it goes in a constant cycle of eject->load->eject->load...

Only game out of my collection it didn't do this with right away, was Sonic Mega Collection Plus. With anything else I have on hand, it does this. What would be the cause of this? Considering it is a vaunted Samsung drive, I would think there would be some kind of repair, right?

Never seen one do that. Samsung drives do have a habit of open/close issues. Normally it's just they are dirty and the belt is stretched and slipping. Try give it a little nudge once it shuts. If it stays in, it's problably just not closing fully, then not opening fully so you get the open->close stuff and a clean and new belt should sort it.
 

codezer0

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Never seen one do that. Samsung drives do have a habit of open/close issues. Normally it's just they are dirty and the belt is stretched and slipping. Try give it a little nudge once it shuts. If it stays in, it's problably just not closing fully, then not opening fully so you get the open->close stuff and a clean and new belt should sort it.
Hmm. Tried that with a couple of games. When I inserted NFL 2k5 it tried to kick it back once, but keeping my finger on it, it eventually started loading.

Chaos theory, again, proved to be the most difficult game to get running. It tried kicking it out several times before it would finally load.
 

codezer0

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Another update. New power supply arrived, and the 1.0 system works again.

Did the hotswap installer softmod with it, and everything seemed to be working fine. Put it back together, fired it up fresh, and now it's showing me Error 21. What?
 

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I prefer the action replay driver route. You can get a controller to usb adapter, plug it in to your PC, load the drivers, and transfer the save file. Note that Action Replay came out for Windows XP and was only released under 32-Bit drivers, so it will only work with x86 version of Windows. There are no x64 drivers that I could ever find. I keep a cheap Lenovo Windows tablet running x86 Windows 10 just so I can use it with my controller to transfer save files, if ever needed.
 

codezer0

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Okay, weirder still.

Turned it off, rebooted, and it boots up now.

So, now, both are on UnleashX. From what I could tell, plugging in the ethernet died fix the clock portion now, which is good. However, at least on the system with the Thompson drive, it refuses to copy the game to the drive or even load it. Using the dash's inbuilt auto-update, it will sometimes throw an error, and just as often say there is an update available, but fail to get the data needed.

I also recall something about a soft-reset possible, that so far I haven't been able to see or do. With the original MS dash, the thing would simply soft-reset back to the dashboard if I eject the disk. Now it just tries to keep running then throw a dirty disc error. And I then have to power off and back on. I read before it was like L+R+back+black buttons, but that doesn't seem to do anything on any game I've tried so far.

Now that 1.0 is soft-modded, I recall being told to backup the EEPROM; how would I do that on this UnleashX dash? I currently see no apps or games installed, either. Or tools, for that matter.

I suppose up next is replacing the thermal compound on the 1.6 unit (for reference, 1.0 idles at 44C GPU, 49C CPU, while 1.6 was notably higher). As well as cleaning and seeing if I could fix or replace the drive belt on its DVD drive. Are the dvd drive belts a standard size, or do they need to be specific to the Original Xbox DVD drive? I'm half tempted to yank one out of a DVD burner I have found that had a failing laser to sacrifice for repair duty.

**UPDATE**

Okay, took apart the samsung drive in the 1.6 and used some canned air to clear out the built up dust and stuff in it.

After reassembly, the 1.6 system is running markedly cooler as well. However, it's exhibiting an aggravating habit where it refuses to keep its dvd drive closed. It keeps just eject->close->eject for several cycles, then forcing itself to stay open. Needless to say, I can't work with it like this.
 
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codezer0

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oh boy...

Okay, was getting ready to do what I needed in terms of soldering for the TSOP flash on the 1.0 system.

Just when I think I got everything, and then try to put it together to turn it on and stuff, I then get it basically power on, immediate off, power on, cycles off, then power on and flashing red and green at me.

I could use some help to figure out how to fix it.

Top Side Soldering
5795aa256e8bb.jpg


Underside Soldering
5795aac021fbe.jpg

I'm wagering that I did well enough for the under-side portion. But something just wasn't going right to try to join the top side one. So, can someone help me out? what do I need to clean this up and save this system?
 

codezer0

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Okay, an update.

While doing some pokemon go, headed to where I found the 1.0 and found another Original Xbox in the parts bin, and decided to pick it up. if for no other reason than to see if maybe at some point I can part out where I need to. Or, as a form of insurance policy, if I am simply unable to get the 1.0 unit to work again at all.

This one also seems to be a 1.6 unit. Having never been opened before, I decided to open it up for some hardcore cleaning. Unlike the first, this one was just caked with dust bunnies, everywhere. If I have to resort to this one, it will be in dire need of cleaning.

Anyways. As stated, it still had its warranty stickers intact. But when I boot it up to see what was wrong, I get an error 16. At present, the only other working console, is the soft-modded 1.6, so I'm not sure how to proceed.

So, to help avoid confusion, it'd probably be better if we could refer to them as follows:

"1.0" the first one in the OP. Attempted TSOP unlock soldering, but it currently doesn't want to boot at all, just goes cycle-cycle-frag, as I heard it described in some youtube videos.

"1.6-1", meaning the first 1.6 unit, currently seems to have a frustrating problem where it keeps ejecting its DVD-ROM drive even when I don't want it to.

"1.6-2" is the most recent acquisition. Its warranty stickers were intact, implying that it'd never been physically modded or repaired. But it's throwing up an error 16.
 

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On the tsop pic, it looks like r7 d2 is damaged. Should be like r7d1, but looks to have been knocked and rotated 90 degrees. Picture is a liltte blurry though, so hard to make out.

Error 16 is because it can't find the dash file to set the clock. If it's not been modded, then it could be the hdd is dieing and the file is corrupt. It could also be someone failed at softmodding (hacked gamesave method as that would leave no trace) or messed around with their dash files. You can attempt to deal with it in three ways:

Hotswap it and rebuild a clean retail C using xboxhdm. Timing can be tricky when it's throwing that error
Chip it and use a bios that will ignore the error and boot the box anyway.
Build an eeprom reader, dump it and pull the hddkey, then build a new drive with xboxhdm and lock it with the key you now have.

If the drive in the new 1.6 works, I'd swap it into the one that keeps ejecting. At least you'll have one working box while you deal with the others.
 
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codezer0

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Well, unfortunately, it looks like 1.0 is dead. Tried to clean it up, and the solder points at both ends are now visibly damaged. where's that head smacking against the wall gif when I need it? :gun:

So guess that leaves me with 1.6 #1, and 1.6 #2.

Both have Samsung DVD drives, and the same WD hard drives. So similar, it was hard to tell them apart when trying to do the DVD drive swap.

At least in the working 1.6, with the second unit's DVD drive, it kind of has the inverse problem. DVD drive not wanting to eject out. But when I stick a game in, it does load readily. At least once I get the tray open, I can load a game.

Gave the first attempt at trying to copy a game disc with Chaos theory, and then with XIII. Chaos Theory seems to give an error 112 in the dash almost immediately. But XIII copied and loaded fine.

I guess now I need to know what I have to do if say, I want to use a 2TB hard drive in either of these. And would a hybrid hard drive, or even an SSD work in one of these systems, I wonder?

I also remember reading something about backing up the EEPROM. How would I do that in one of these systems?

Since I basically could scavenge from the 1.0 system, would I be able to use the soft-modded hard drive from the 1.0 system (since it had 10GB instead of 8) on 1.6-2 to get it to boot properly?
 
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