Get It Running Efficiently!, Solution to running Windows! Options

[h8raid]

In one of my previous threads it was brought to my attention that the reason Windows will not run on the Xbox is because of the checks that are run by Windows. Thank you Scan-C for bringing this to my attention. I had suggested that a bios hack would be a solution, but this brings it's own problems because of the complexity of the code which would be required to get this going. We obviously cannot alter Windows to run because we do not have the source, so we must get the checks to pass and we should be home free, or at least past a major obstacle standing in our way. The problems as addressed by Scan-C in the previous thread are:

"There's no source code for Windows. It has to not address some areas of the ram because this locks up the Xbox, and it has to not scan the pci bus otherwise, lockup. These are the major problems with Windows. Another thing are the drivers, there are none. The people who have Windows running use it through Bochs or Linux with VMWare. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it will be hard and without source code you will need a way to readdress the ramparts and stop the pci buxs scan. It's exactly the part where I am with my FreeDOS port. I'm just lacking the programming skills, but I'm learning right now at least FreeDOS is open source so I can rewrite it. A bios would be pretty complicated, but maybe load a program into memory that does this [forces the checks to pass] before the actual Windows bootloader kicks in. What I mean is some kind of a layer between hardware and Windows. I'm not experienced enough to write such code, but I think it should be possible."

To sum things up, I am proposing that if the proper code were loaded into memory to force the ram checks and pci bus scan to pass, as well as support the NTFS file structure, we should be at least one GIANT step forward in running Windows on our Xbox EFFICIENTLY. GreenGiant is working on a project for me that will allow remote HDD switching, you will be able to reconfigure settings such as button 1 will boot hard drive 1, bios bank 2, dvd drive 2, etc. through a program run on the Xbox. This will work by storing the settings to memory on either a SmartXX or Xenium chip. I do not know why it will work on those chips, but those were the examples he gave me when explaining how it works, but I do know it will require a modchip. This is relevant because it proves that it is possible to establish the "layer between hardware and Windows" explained by Scan-C. Further, this also proves that it will boot the information stored to memory before the Windows bootloader. That said, I am trying to gather other useful information that may either support, or prove this idea impossible, or to not be a feasible solution. ANY insight on this idea will help. We need to know things such as:

Do you think this will work? Why?/Why not?
Do you think this is a good idea? Why?/Why not?
Are there any conflicts you know of which will cause problems getting this to work?
Do you have the skills to get a start/help on this project?
Do you know anyone that has the necessary skills to get a start/help with this project?
Do you have any information that will help with the project?

Regards,
-H8raid

[h8raid]

Nice work Scan-C! I did a little googling and the very first page I saw seems like it has at least the information you are looking for about an award bios based on the nforce chipset. What exactly are your thoughts here? I am assuming you are going to see if you can extract pieces of the bios and fit them into the Cromwell, but doesn't Cromwell already have this? I honestly don't know myself, but it would seem like it would already be there, unless you want to modify what's already there so it will pass the checks? I am a little lost on this one, but I get the general idea of what you are trying to accomplish. Anyway, here is the link to the site, close to the end it says the bios is based on Award 6.00 or something like that.

Hope this is what you need!

Regards,
-H8raid

EDIT: Here is an excerpt from that site that is actually quite interesting for our purposes and seems that it would prove very useful if we can obtain the source.

The BIOS is based on the v6.00 from Award and includes a great deal of possibilities for adjusting memory timings, AGP and PCI buses operation and a possibility to distribute manually interrupts among PCI slots. The FSB frequency can be changed from 100 to 200 MHz in 1 MHz steps. The core voltage can be changed +/- 0.1V in 0.025V steps and the memory voltage can be lifted by 0.7V from the rated value in 0.1V increments.

This post has been edited by h8raid: Oct 7 2004, 01:49 AM