Possible To Softmod Board With Wrongly Flashed Tsop? Options

[competes2win]

Hey guys, so I have this xbox that was previously TSOP flashed. I accidently screwed up the TSOP by trying to change the bios to a wrong sized one. I then installed a mod chip to get the box working again. My question is whether it is possible to soft mod this xbox even though the tsop doesn't work. I'm thinking not, but if so my end goal would be to softmod then re-flash the tsop.

Thanks for any clarification.

[Heimdall]

No. Softmods require a working stock MS BIOS in the TSOP in order to boot.

Your only options to fix the TSOP are 3-wire trick (if it's a 1.0/1.1 with a 1MB TSOP, but even then not guaranteed to work), hotswap with an Evox tsop_D6 BIOS on the chip (apparently only works for 1.3 Xboxes and below), 29 wire modchip, or remove the TSOP and flash in an external programmer.

[competes2win]

Thanks Heimdall for the clarification. I've never done any softmods or TSOP flashing so was not aware of the ins/outs of those processes. The motherboard is a 1.1 and the 1mb tsop has actually been split, but no switch was ever installed. Would I be able to install a switch in order to softmod the other half of the tsop? although I suppose a split tsop isn't exactly "stock."

To be honest, at this point I just wanted to know my options... It's working fine with the chip so I probably would not go through the trouble anyways. Although if it was an easy fix, I figured I'd do it, as I feel the chips would eventually fail while the flashed tsop/softmod probably wouldn't.

thx again.

This post has been edited by competes2win: Apr 25 2012, 10:09 PM

[Heimdall]

If you have a 1MB TSOP and you've flashed a 256kB BIOS then you are in luck. Just install the 3 wire trick and you should be able to get the Xbox to boot from one of the resulting 256kB banks.

[lordvader129]

depending how the bios was split you might just have to install the switch and thats all (if, for example, a 1mb TSOP was flashed with 512+512k bios)

[competes2win]

I believe it was split in two, with ind-bios on one and the original xbox bios on the other. I think installing the switch would probably work. dunno if i want to do it though at this point... Thanks for all the info guys.

[Movax]

Those are both 256kb bioses. Three wire trick will work and is easy if you have any soldering experience.

This post has been edited by Movax: Apr 28 2012, 03:54 AM

[competes2win]

For what it's worth this is my Mobo, the original modder implied the tsop was split in half. http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=624309

only soldering experience is soldering in modchips. if the three wire trick or the switch requires soldering of that difficulty than I should be able to do it.

[shambles1980]

hi,
should have stuck with the ind bios as it works well withextra ram upgrades. but you can 3 or 6 wire trick it to boot.

technically all the wire trick does is select a bank to boot from. so as an example. your xbox has a 1mb tsop and you wanted to use a 256kb bios. this fillied up one bank. It should have also been used on the 3 remaining banks but did not so it fails to boot.
with a 3 or 6 wire trick, you will select the 1st 256k portion and then it will boot.
you can then dissable the switch (disconnect the wires) and re flash.

its also possible to just leave the wires connected and simply run from the 1st 256k.

if you do manage to get it to boot i would boot with hexen and reflash the tsop with the ind bios. as mentioend the ind bios works prety well with extra ram, other bios's may not actualy be able to use it.
but some of the x2 bioses work ok, and the x3, But id just go for the IND bios on hexen as if you chose 256k on hexen it will correctly expand to populate the entire tsop.


EDIT..

some interesting reading right here ...
this is from the therad you linked to for "your motherboard"

"A19 is grounded so half the TSOP still has the original bios on it, you can unground A19 and hook it to a toggle switch to dualboot. Write enable lines are still connected so you can easily reflash the bios if you like. I have also installed a pinheader and D0 wire for easy installation of a modchip, though not necessary."

have you tried to unground a19?
could let you boot to a situation where you can flash. or to a point where you can Soft mod then flash..
all depends on the flash configuration on the chip though

This post has been edited by shambles1980: Apr 28 2012, 02:18 PM

[Heimdall]

but some of the x2 bioses work ok, and the x3

Nearly...

You can't run X3 BIOSes on a TSOP, or an any chip that isn't an X3. If you flash an X3 BIOS to a TSOP you need to fit a chip, or use a 29-wire mod, or remove the TSOP and flash it externally.

its also possible to just leave the wires connected and simply run from the 1st 256k.

...

have you tried to unground a19?
could let you boot to a situation where you can flash. or to a point where you can Soft mod then flash..
all depends on the flash configuration on the chip though

The 3-wire trick doesn't quite work like that. All wires floating (i.e. disconnected) means that all banks on the TSOP have to contain the same BIOS, because the boot code checks that, so disconnecting A19 doesn't work if the TSOP contains different BIOSes.

You have to have A18 and A19 either grounded or connected to +3.3V in order to select a specific 256k or 512k bank:

- If A19 is connected to ground then the xbox only sees half of the 1MB tsop chip which is 512kB in size
- If A19 is connected to 3.3v then the xbox only sees the other half of the 1MB chip which is 512kB in size

The example above will get you going if 2 banks is enough and would require only one switch. If you want to have 4 banks then while you have A19 connected to either ground or 3.3v and it only sees one half of the chip you have to also connect A18:

- If you connect A18 to ground the xbox will only see half of that 512kB bank which is 256kB in size
- If you connect A18 to 3.3v the xbox will only see the other half of that 512kB bank which is 256kB in size

So:

CODE

            A18 Float    A18 Gnd     A18 3.3v
A19 Gnd     0-512        0-256       256-512
A19 3.3V    512-1024     512-768     768-1024

This post has been edited by Heimdall: Apr 28 2012, 04:12 PM

[competes2win]

Thank you Shambles and Heimdall that is some good information. I am currently running the X2-5035 bios on my xecuter 2 chip which seems to recognize the extra ram fine.

As for repairing this TSOP... the info Heimdall has given, combined w/ the original modders post about splitting the tsop in half, suggests that if I were to unground A19 and instead connect it to 3.3V then the other half of the tsop would be read which currently contains the original bios. This should allow me to then softmod and flash this half of the tsop.

Sound correct? Also one further question, if i were to softmod and then use Heimdall's disk to flash the tsop, I should be able to use either a X2-5035 bios as it's a 512kb file or the indbios which is 256 which should be automatically expanded to fit the 512 bank correct?

Cheers!

[Movax]

As soon a you boot successfully, you can remove any wires (untwist the the wires) and flash the entire TSOP. This is probably a better idea, since connecting traces directly ground or + is basically shorting the electrical signal, and might cause problems longer term.

This post has been edited by Movax: Apr 28 2012, 06:00 PM

[Heimdall]

Your method is correct, and Movax is absolutely right about not leaving lines grounded or tied to 3.3V.

Here's what I'd do. Disconnect A19 from ground, connect a second wire to 3.3V, twist the two wires together, boot, softmod.

Boot with HeXEn, untwist the two wires, flash with X2.5035.

[shambles1980]

lol isnt that what i said??
"checks"
hmm ok so i didnt say squat about powering it lol. just un grounding.

This post has been edited by shambles1980: Apr 29 2012, 01:15 AM

[competes2win]

When I use the hexen disc to softmod, will it erase my f and/or g partition?