Tsop Fragging Options

[Remedy]

Hi all, I Think I just made a huge mistake. I'll give you guys the breakdown.

I successfully hacked the xbox using the B+E font hacks. Everything worked, but I didn't enjoy the DVD reset bug that kept occuring. So I decided to flash the TSOP.

Well I set my XBOX back to defaults. I started it up and it worked fine, loaded right into the dash. So then I went and soldered the points together. I booted the XBOX up and it flashed green and beeped 2 times. Then it started flashing red/green. Now from what I've read that means the box is fragging.

I haven't flashed the BIOS yet, and from what I'm told the XBOX should boot up normally, even with the bridges soldered. What should I do? I hope I haven't botched things up.

[Xboxman20]

Well when you solder your 2 points your xbox should boot normal yes.
You might have spilled solder somewhere. Make sur eyou didnt.

[lordvader129]

its also possible you have a SHarp TSOP chip (is your xbox a v1.1? look at the rectangualr chip on the top of the mobo near the LPC, does it say Sharp on it?)

if you have the sharp chip (ouch) youll need to solder wires to the top points and twist them together after it boots, the Sharp chip also need a 3rd set of points jumpered, check tutorials for those

[Remedy]

Well I'm doing this on a v.1.0 xbox, and I didn't see anything that said sharp. I saw a chip that says WM on it, if that means anything. From looking at the board it doesn't seem like I spilled any solder on any other points.

You know when you solder though, and theres almos a black corosian? Well some of that is on the board but I cleaned most of it up. Also, I'm just wondering, how easily is it to destroy a trace with a 15 watt pen?

EDIT:

I made sure that no other traces had solder on them, and then I repack everything up. Nothin looked damged, everything looked just fine. So I booted the machine up and CRAPPP!!! Still frags. What is up with this thing?

This post has been edited by Remedy: Dec 16 2003, 02:14 AM

[Remedy]

bump

sorry for bumping, but I'd really like to solve this problem.

[Remedy]

Sweet bitches I got it. Turns out I had desoldered a small portion of R7D2, thats why it was fragging. I've got advice for newbie solderers, and its been said a million times, but its the truth. If you do a solder job and it doesn't work, break out a magnifying glass and resolder. And if that doesn't work, break out an even larger magnifying glass and resolder.

[Intelligoth]

Excellent!

Now install a switch so you can select 2 banks of 512K then you can flash one bank with Executer and flash the other bank with the M$ stock BIOS. This way you can flip to Executer, install a large HDD and lock it. Then boot with M$ BIOS and you can still play on Live.

[Remedy]

mmmmmm... that sounds decadent

I was looking at a the newb giude to flashing TSOP with raincoat by Sharpie00. He used the Xecuter2_4976.02_MultiVer_1024k BIOS, should I be using that, or Evox ? Maybe I'll just go hunting around.

EDIT: I guess to answer that question you woulld need to know my TSOP. I think its a Hyundai, it's the rectangular chip right near the top solder points, right?

EDIT again : I read the tutorial on how to make a switch, and was confused by this section for TSOP flashed XBOXes.

CODE

For the pair of contacts shown in the first picture, wire one of the contacts to switch pin 1, and the other to switch pin 2. For the pair of contacts shown in the second picture, wire one of the contacts to switch pin 4, and the other to switch pin 5.

What pairs? There are probably four or five contacts circled. What contacts are used to hook up the switch?

This post has been edited by Remedy: Dec 16 2003, 05:44 PM

[Intelligoth]

There are 2 pairs of write enable points on the Xbox mobo. One pair is on the top side, the other pair on the bottom side.

With a DPDT switch, rig it up as follows:

1 & 2 represent each solder pad on a pair of enable points.

1 - 2 Top points
o - o - o Switch Left Poles
----------
o - o - o Switch Right Poles
1 - 2 Bottom points

As you can see, the third pole on the DPDT switch (on both sides) is unused. You could use a DPST switch instead, which may save you 10 cents.

Then rig up a DPDT switch as per the instructions Here to bank-select the TSOP and allow you to flash 2 different BIOSes.

THIS tutorial shows the locations of the write enable points, both top and bottom for the TSOP.

EDIT: 4976 is a very old BIOS. Use 4979 instead.

This post has been edited by Intelligoth: Dec 16 2003, 06:29 PM

[Remedy]

Thanks alot Intelligoth.

I have one more exam, but once I'm done it I'm going to get to work on this. I'll let you know how things go.

[Remedy]

hmmmm...ok.

The Dudes tutorial on how how to make a switch kind of contradicts what is said in the other tut. The dudes tut says the only specific point to solder is A19, and that the other two points have to be ground and 3.33 VCC.

Now soldering wise I'd rather not solder wires onto my read/write enable points, but rather on other points. Am I understanding this correctly?

Another question is do I install the switch first, then flash a x2 497x.xx onto the last two blocks? This would leave the first 2 blocks with the original bios, and the back 2 with the modded bios.

retail + retail + x2 + x2

or

Do I flash the entire bios with a 1024 x2 497x.xx ( taking note what my orig bios is) then going and getting my orig bios and installing it into the first 2 banks. ( This way seems a little redundant though).

Also last question. Do I have to use raincoat and telnet process, or can I just use the 007 AUF gamesave w/ Evox and use Evox to flash the bios.

I'm asking these questions mainly because I've read about 40 pages of forum chit chat, and there have been some conflicting ideas. I'm really just looking for some confirmation.

Many thanks for any response.

[Intelligoth]

You're doing 2 things:

1 switch will control the write enable/disable points. This is basically like a write protect tab on a floppy. You must do this in order to be able to flash the TSOP.

The other tutorial, VCC-A19-GND is to split your TSOP into 2 selectable banks of 512. You don't HAVE to do this, it's just a really cool feature to have. This tut allows you to switch between BIOS versions.

If you decide to implement the second tutorial, keep in mind your BIOS images will have to be 512K each. If you just want to enable TSOP flashing, a 1024K BIOS image is all you will need.

And I recommend Evox if you're comfortable with the 007 hacks.

Tip:

Flash the first bank of 512 with an Executer BIOS, and the SECOND bank with Xbox Retail BIOS (that matches your Kernel) after you've verified that the first bank flashed properly. If you fuck this up, your only way out is by getting a Modchip.

Good luck!

This post has been edited by Intelligoth: Dec 17 2003, 06:04 AM

[Remedy]

I may sound dumb here, but is it necessary to do the write enable/disable? Can't I just split the TSOP and be done with it?

I mean, whats the likelihood of accidently flashing the TSOP? And if the TSOP did get flashed only one half would get flash and I could redo it.

I'm just not confident in my soldering skills(I'm a shaky bastard ), so I'd like to leave my write enable bridges the way they are, done.

So basically, I have the write enable bridges soldered, I then install the switch to GND <-- A19 --> VCC which breaks the TSOP in 2. I then Run the 007 AUF hack(which I've used a couple a times), move the switch so it'll write to the rear banks, and voila, right?

Sorry for repeating stuff, but I want to do this right, and I don't want to hose my XBOX.

[Intelligoth]

If you want to be able to load an Executer BIOS on your TSOP and not be stuck with the stock M$ BIOS, then you have to install a switch on enable/disable points.

There's not much point to splitting the TSOP banks if you can't write to them. If you're that shakey, try to find someone who's good at soldering to do it for you. Electronics repair shop maybe?

This post has been edited by Intelligoth: Dec 17 2003, 04:31 PM

[Remedy]

Yeah but I don't get why I have to install a switch on the write enable/disable. I have already bridged the write enable points. I just wanna keep it permanently bridged and have a switch so I can have 2 bioses.

retail + retail + x2 + x2.



This post has been edited by Remedy: Dec 17 2003, 06:11 PM