Some Newbie Questions. Options

[nonameatall]

Hey I have got a very old xbox and just started to give it some attention again but now I have some problems and some questions regarding it,

1. Back in 2003 paid a xbox chipping service to chip my xbox, but when I got it back it still only booted to the original xbox dash and couldn't run backups, about 1 year later a friend of mine softmodded it for me so my question is, is there anyway for me to check if my xbox is chipped?

2. if it is chipped is there anyway to like activate it or get it working.

3. my xbox is running EvolutionX V+3935 on an XBOX_V1.4 with the BIOS: EvoX D.6 on the Kernel: 1.00.4817.01 should I update anything?

4. my xbox starts automaticly when I plug in the power cord and I read this, so before I open it up could it be a software fault? I would hate to have opened it up if that wasn't the problem.

5. Is unleashx better then evox?

Thanks,

[Heimdall]

1.

.... with the BIOS: EvoX D.6 on the Kernel: 1.00.4817.01

. Looks like your Xbox has a chip or a TSOP flash, but your friend (who "softmodded" it) might have installed PBL to load Evox D6 - but he might just have installed a hacked dash for you. The only way to find out for sure is to open it and have a look, but you'll be doing that anyway.... see later. Use the tables linked from this page to identify the chip - there are pictures at the bottom of each column of the tables.

2. It sounds as though it already is. If it isn't then you need to know which chip it is to work out how to enable it.

3. Yes, but you need to know which chip you have (or how the Xbox is modded) to work out the best upgrade.

4. No, it's not a software fault. You need to open the Xbox.

5. Yes, as a general purpose dash UnleashX is better IMHO, but you still need Evox for flashing (and taking eeprom backups).

In the meantime, load and run BIOSchecker, and report what it says. The chip type might help narrow down what's going on.

[nonameatall]

1. . Looks like your Xbox has a chip or a TSOP flash, but your friend (who "softmodded" it) might have installed PBL to load Evox D6 - but he might just have installed a hacked dash for you. The only way to find out for sure is to open it and have a look, but you'll be doing that anyway.... see later. Use the tables linked from this page to identify the chip - there are pictures at the bottom of each column of the tables.

2. It sounds as though it already is. If it isn't then you need to know which chip it is to work out how to enable it.

3. Yes, but you need to know which chip you have (or how the Xbox is modded) to work out the best upgrade.

4. No, it's not a software fault. You need to open the Xbox.

5. Yes, as a general purpose dash UnleashX is better IMHO, but you still need Evox for flashing (and taking eeprom backups).

In the meantime, load and run BIOSchecker, and report what it says. The chip type might help narrow down what's going on.

Thanks a lot for the quick answer, really appreciated, btw, i've read your name on a lot of useful posts around the forum and every time I see it I wonder if you're the same Heimdall as the very active user on ps2dev.org (psp section atleast) so I thought I should ask

[Heimdall]

Not me - I've never owned a PS2 or a PSP.

[Bomb Bloke]

A quick check to see whether you have an active hardmod (chip or TSOP flash) is to compare your startup sequence to this. If it differs in any way, then you're running a hardmod. If it doesn't, then you might just have an inactive modchip, but I'd consider that unlikely...

Another easy check is to take a look at the underside of the system, if the stickers aren't busted (they cover the screws) then likely it was never opened (hence never chipped).

4. my xbox starts automaticly when I plug in the power cord and I read this, so before I open it up could it be a software fault? I would hate to have opened it up if that wasn't the problem.

http://forums.llamma.com/viewtopic.php?t=12329

5. Is unleashx better then evox?

Every dash has it's pros and cons. For general use I'd recommend XBMC over anything else.

[nonameatall]

1. . Looks like your Xbox has a chip or a TSOP flash, but your friend (who "softmodded" it) might have installed PBL to load Evox D6 - but he might just have installed a hacked dash for you. The only way to find out for sure is to open it and have a look, but you'll be doing that anyway.... see later. Use the tables linked from this page to identify the chip - there are pictures at the bottom of each column of the tables.

2. It sounds as though it already is. If it isn't then you need to know which chip it is to work out how to enable it.

3. Yes, but you need to know which chip you have (or how the Xbox is modded) to work out the best upgrade.

4. No, it's not a software fault. You need to open the Xbox.

5. Yes, as a general purpose dash UnleashX is better IMHO, but you still need Evox for flashing (and taking eeprom backups).

In the meantime, load and run BIOSchecker, and report what it says. The chip type might help narrow down what's going on.

Sorry for the absence i've been quite busy latly, I opened it up and found a modchip (well I think), but it didn't look like any of the the one's I found there... I took some pics incase someone would be able to identify it:





And I couldn't find a recent version of BIOSchecker anywhere, maybe you could point me in the right direction.

A quick check to see whether you have an active hardmod (chip or TSOP flash) is to compare your startup sequence to this. If it differs in any way, then you're running a hardmod. If it doesn't, then you might just have an inactive modchip, but I'd consider that unlikely...

Another easy check is to take a look at the underside of the system, if the stickers aren't busted (they cover the screws) then likely it was never opened (hence never chipped).
http://forums.llamma.com/viewtopic.php?t=12329
Every dash has it's pros and cons. For general use I'd recommend XBMC over anything else.

okay all though I did find what i think is a modchip, I still had that exact same startup animation. This means that it's unactivated? And if so, is it possible to activate it?

This post has been edited by nonameatall: May 26 2009, 05:35 PM

[nonameatall]

Sorry for the double post but I couldn't edit my first post, even though I did it like an hour ago, but I think I found out what chip it is by googling every chip that didn't have images on the list until i found it, and it seems to be a Modchip GeNeRaTioN.3a (non-flashable LPC mods) Xtrmod 1.3 beta, which according to the table doesn't even support xbox v 1.4... =(

[xman954]

was the screw at the edge of the mod chip always missing

it's needed to ground the D0 to enable the chip (to boot from the LPC)

if it's not compatible it will lock up or crash...

[nonameatall]

was the screw at the edge of the mod chip always missing

it's needed to ground the D0 to enable the chip (to boot from the LPC)

if it's not compatible it will lock up or crash...

As it's the first time I personally open it up, I think that it has always been missing. Do I need to get a new screw from somewhere and if so which kind of screw?

This post has been edited by nonameatall: May 30 2009, 01:45 PM