Aladdin Advance 32, What Bios? Options

[Difio]

I've recently bought an used Xbox with a Aladdin Advance 32. The seller said that probably the chip was flashed with an evox bios (the xbox has not arrived, yet...so i can't check), but I think that is an old one. My question was: what is the best bios that I can flash? I'm completely new to the world of xbox 1 so I really don't know.

I want to install on the Xbox XBMC as dashboard...I don't know if this is important in the choice of bios.

This post has been edited by Difio: Aug 21 2011, 02:21 PM

[xboxmods2977]

Why do you think you need to update the bios on the chip? You haven't even got the xbox yet and you're already thinking about ways to break it?

To simply run XBMC as a dash, it isn't necessary, and also not recommended.

For one, if you flash the wrong bios, you will kill your mod chip. For two, unless you are looking to upgrade to a gianormous hard drive, or want to run your xbox without a DVD Rom drive, there isn't a reason worth the risky procedure.


This post has been edited by xboxmods2977: Aug 23 2011, 03:46 AM

[Difio]

Why do you think you need to update the bios on the chip? You haven't even got the xbox yet and you're already thinking about ways to break it?

To simply run XBMC as a dash, it isn't necessary, and also not recommended.

For one, if you flash the wrong bios, you will kill your mod chip. For two, unless you are looking to upgrade to a gianormous hard drive, or want to run your xbox without a DVD Rom drive, there isn't a reason worth the risky procedure.

No, but the seller said that the chip surely has a old bios flashed on it. Now I will go to explain everything: I've bought 2 xbox, one si completely broken (the "Focus" chip is burned in a corner) and one has an hard drive broken (that i will change with the one of the broken xbox, fixing the key).

The seller said that he has taken the modchip from another old xbox that has never had a bios flashing upgrade, so he advised me that probably there was the need of upgrading the bios flashed on the modchip with a new one.

Now, I want to mod this xbox as a mediacenter...I'm planning to buy on ebay the LG GDR 8163b (I have found a seller that has a stock of 10 new dvd drive), because the Xbox has a Thompson drive. I probably replace the HDD in the near future (>137GB, so I need the LBA fix to 48bit)...then I will remove from the dead motherboard the Samsung ram and I will solder it to the other (the xbox that i will fix is a v1.1, so it is possibile)...so, for that reason I think that a new bios is necessary, because is not compatible with the mod that I will do with xbox. I'm getting wrong?

[xboxmods2977]

Yep. You pretty much got everything sorted well. The first thing you will need to do is find out what size bank your modchip has. Once you know this, you can determine available options in the way of bioses. Maybe your seller would be kind enough to share this with you. He seems to be knowledgeable.

If the bank size is 256k, go with the iND 5003 bios.
If the bank size is 512k, go with the X2 5035 bios.
These are just my personal bios recommendations of course, but these 2 bios' are the best available anyway.

Then determine what version the Xbox is. This too is important to know before you flash your chip with a new bios.

This post has been edited by xboxmods2977: Aug 23 2011, 09:43 PM

[Heimdall]

It's a single 256kB chip, so you need to be really careful that you flash the right BIOS, because there is no backup bank you can use. Because of that you need to be absolutely certain that you identify the motherboard 100% correctly (which is trivial), and then pick the right BIOS.

Your options are:
1.0-1.5 Xbox - iND-BIOS.5003, X2.4981, Evox M8+
1.6 Xbox - Evox M8+ 1.6

Note that there are two different versions of Evox M8+, and if you use the wrong one you'll need another chipped Xbox or another chip to recover.

Your seller should be able to give you all the details about the Xbox version and the BIOS, assuming that he/she modded it themselves, but even so you should double check before doing anything.

[Difio]

Thanks for the answer, however the xbox is v 1.1.

What are the differences between the two bios? (iND-BIOS.5003 and X2.4981, Evox M8+)

I've another question to ask (i know, it's not referred to modchip), the others xbox that is arrived, has a focus chip fried, but has the samsung ram (v1.4-1.5). Can I take that module from the moderboard and put it in the one of the v 1.1? There are some problem due to different version?

[Heimdall]

That's three BIOSes, not two. The main difference is that iND-BIOS.5003 is configured from a text file on the Xbox hard drive, so you don't need to reflash it to change its configuration. The other two have to be modified on your PC, then reflashed.

[shambles1980]

I like the ind bios.
Im 99% sure the ram would be compatable. i think hyinx ram is the only one with any issues. and they only come on the v1.6 (correct me if im wrong some 1)

[Difio]

Yes, I think that the RAM are compatible, but looking to the chip I had seen that the last letters in the ID was different, so some doubt were born.

[Difio]

New problem, that i think is related to the modchip:

When the Xbox is arrived, i realise that the modchip was not installed in the xbox, but i had to solder it (there have been a misunderstanding between me and the seller)

However, when i took the modchip, I've seen that the part that have to be sold to the LPC was completely gone (probably the pads got damaged when the chip was desoldered)

However, the chip was a "gift" by the seller, so i didn't get angry so much...however, I thought that this problem might be solved soldering every point of the LPC (looking to the scheme, obviously) and using the pad along the circuit of every point. I've done it, but when i turned on the xbox, the chip didn't start...I've tried to turn on and off the xbox many times, pressing the power button and the eject button for 1 second and so on, but nothing happened.

However the xbox loaded the ms dashboard without problem (it ask me to set the date). (I tried also to sold D0 to ground, to make modchip always on, but nothing happen..the situation was the same)

After some minutes, however, the problem: when i turned on the xbox, it turned on and turned off for three times, then it showed me the frag (flashing red and green light) and black screen.

So I immediatly turned off the xbox. The problem was present every time I turned on the xbox. So i think that could be the modchip the problem (even if I checked every soldering). I desoldered the modchip and, indeed, the xbox started correctly again. So i tried to turn on and off many times, and it worked.

Then, I leave it on for some minute (to see if something was ok), but after, i think, 10-15 minute, the xbox got the black screen with the yellow flashing light. I've read that this could be a problem of overheating (and probably it was, because i hadn't close the case)....however after some times, i tried to turn on the xbox again...but here the bad surprise: Frag. The xbox, as before, turn on and off for three times and then show the red/green led flashing... What is happened?

(Before installing the modchip, I've changed the EEPROM phisically from the motherboard, because the original hard drive was broken, so I've taken a drive from another xbox and to resolve the problem of the key i swapped the EEPROM...however, after this operation the Xbox turn on without problem so i don't think that this can be the reason).

Any suggestion?

EDIT: Another think: when i soldered the D0 point to ground, I've not soldered the one on the modchip to ground, but the on the motherboard...I don't think if it could be the reason (sincerely i remembered that the point to sold to the ground was the one on the motherboard), but however after i remove it (alongside with the modchip) the xbox worked, as i said before, so i don't think that this is the problem.

This post has been edited by Difio: Aug 25 2011, 03:21 AM

[Difio]

Now i've swapped again the eeprom, putting in the xbox the one that has in origin...misteriously the xbox started, loaded the microsoft dash...so i reboot it, but then again the problem..seriously, i don't have any more idea...

[Heimdall]

You don't solder all of the connections. Identify the chip, download the instructions (bottom of the page, or use Google), then follow the instructions.

However, if the chip was from a different Xbox version and has the wrong BIOS, or it is broken, then you are out of luck, and should just softmod the Xbox.

[Difio]

ok, but i have removed the modchip, and still the console give me the frag after i reboot...At the first time, it loads the ms dashboard correctly, then if i reboot it, give me the FRAG...now i will going to check the LPC

This post has been edited by Difio: Aug 25 2011, 11:23 AM

[xboxmods2977]

That could have been caused by I few things.

When the box overheated (flashing yellow), you could have killed something on the board.
You could have sent an ESD into the board from your iron and killed something (this has happened to me) on the board.
You could have a solder splash/bridge somewhere on the board.

Inspect the board carefully.

This post has been edited by xboxmods2977: Aug 25 2011, 11:18 PM

[Difio]

I've resolved, i hope, all problems.

For the FRAG, looking at the motherboard I hadn't seen anything, so i went to check the LPC...I use the guide on xbox scene and i discovered that a pad of the LPC didn't make contact with the trace...so i found an alternative point and made a bridge to bypass the trace destroyed (this was not caused by me, but from the original owner of these xbox...that had desoldered an LPC modchip in a bad way (i think he used a 220v solder) and he destroyed one or two pads leaving the LPC in a ugly situation).

Then I resold the modchip and everything works, i can load the original dashboard and the bios on modchip using the normal combination of the power button.

Then another bad suprise...i discovered that the bios on modchip was so old that it can't load the dashboard if is connected a locked hard drive with a different key...so i had to take the broken motherboard, desoldered the eeprom with the correct key, and solder it to the working motherboard...(removing the eeprom i've destroied a pad, but fortunately i found an alternate point.

Now it's all ok, even if the mod is not so esthetic-friendly: due to the LPC's pad on the modchip destroyed, i've to build a PCB on which i could solder every single wire and for space reasons I had to put the modchip in vertical...but however doesn't matter, it worked.

Then, for the yellow led, i think there was a problem of thermal conducting...after i removed the CPU heatsink, infact, i seen that the original pad thermal conductor was in a very poor state, so i lapped the heatink and used some thermal conducting paste...I haven't made this operation to the GPU because its heatsink seems to be glued to the processors, so i think that it wouldn't be necessary...

However, i've to test it to assure that all is ok.

This post has been edited by Difio: Aug 26 2011, 04:08 AM