What Modchip Should I Choose ? Options

[JoeyELP]

Most of the questions on here are technical, and all that's really not as complicated as they're making it. Now, I'm going to mod my xbox, and I'm going to make some extra cash modding for my friends. Obviously, I'd like mine to be just awesome, both for it's own sake and to impress the "customers". I'm one of those guys who learns by doing, however, so some of the details aren't going to make sense until I'm sitting there playing around with the options, and once I've got the chip it's too late to make a decision on which one to buy, right? So, if I want mine to do cool stuff, for lack of a better word, I just want to confirm that there's nothing the newer generation will be able to do vs the older one. Any new hacks or graphics or animations or whatever, will work on an older chip as long as the bios is big enough to support it, right? I don't care about how many LEDs it can connect, but sheer features. I know about the LCD screen support in the 4G chips, but is that it? Could I, say, put a short family guy clip as my startup animation (I know, I'm assuming it would fit on the bios)? This is the direction that all of us newbies are going to be asking with the release of these 4G chips, just "Does it do cool stuff" rather than technical questions, so if someone could get this out of the way now, it'll save the mods a bunch of grief. Thanks

[drshabazz]

hi, this is a very simple question that i'm hoping someone with more experience can help me out on. basically i'm getting into this whole xbox mod scene late as most of my friends have already done this on their older xboxes. my buddy had done this many times and i enlisted his services to install a modchip on my new xbox. my xbox is 1.6, just purchased on august 2nd, and he already had an unused xbit chip sitting around. my question is this...is it true that this chip can work with the v1.6 xbox, but that it is not a solderless option? i got this information from the page "http://www.xbox-scene.com/modchips3b_table.htm", however, on different sites including some mod chip resellers online they list that the chip is not compatible with 1.6. i don't know if this is due to older information or what, and that is the purpose of this clarification. he installed this in my machine without soldering and we kept getting an error and the system would not work.

also, i'm even more unclear on bioses. my friend basically told me to figure out all this and let him know what i find. he's done this with no problems on older xboxes but hasn't really read up on things recently since his has been modded fine and he hasn't had to worry about it. do i need to get the M8 bios ? that's what he told me to find, but also I've read that the M8_16.bin is what I need for 1.6, not M8. maybe someone can give me some clarification. thanks!

[snoopfighter]

hey guys i am really new to the scene and have a xbox that i bought in jan 2002. I am guessing its a 1.0 and am really interested in a solderless mod chip and making my xbox into as many things as i can make it like a media center. I want to put a 160gb hdd in it and was just wondering if you guys can recomend me a mod chip. The x-chip looks pretty cool to me but it being one of the newer ones im wondering about its credibility. Basically i want to be abel to watch all kinds of movies in all the formats (mpeg, avi... etc) and to install xbox media center as well as have a formatted space in the hard drive for games (disclaimer if thats against the rules: not illegal ones!). Any advice would help me greatly because I read the comparison of the mod chips on the site and I really dont know what half the feautres are past the first quarter of the page.

[wessels]

I wasn’t sure where I was suppose to ask this but, I have an X-BIT mod chip can I use an X-Ecuter2 bios on it, specifically the X-Ecuter2 4978. If I cant what bios would I have to use on the X-BIT

[MrMonkey]

For the "casual user" who just wants to play backups, run EvoX or other dashboards and run programs such as emulators or XBMC, ALL chips currently on the market will suffice. Some have more features than others, but unless you can see yourself actually using those extra features, theres no reason to pay out more money for them.

There isn't really a "best" chip as regards the average users needs, LCD displays, onboard OS's, USB programmers, 3mb flashes and the like are nifty features, but if all you want to do is boot EvoX or something, they're unneeded. I mean even as far as BIOSes go, your average user is only really gonna need to flash one bios once, and then theres no need to touch it again. If the BIOS lets you do what you want to do, theres no need to reflash unless you need the new features. My advice to the "casual users" in this thread is to just get the chip that suits your budget. Get a solderless one if you dont want to/can't solder, really, they're perfectly fine. A solderless chip will function exactly as a soldered one will. This is assuming of course, that you'll be satisfied with the "basic" functions. If you see yourself getting deeper into the modding scene, you of course might want to invest in a more advanced chip, but for all the people out there whose only wish is to play backups, put in a bigger harddrive or install a dashboard, whatever you choose will be just fine.

As far as solderless chips go:
I have an Xecuter 2.3 Lite+ and I've never had a problem with misalignment. I have no idea what you people must do to dislodge your chips so easily (from stories I've heard), you must put them under piledrivers or something, or throw them off cliffs on a regular basis, cos thats the only thing I can see dislodging my chip at least. I've had my Xbox apart numerous times, taken it on train journeys, car journeys, turned it upside down, shook it, nudged it and actually dropped it once, and the chip is still stuck as solid as the day I put it in.

[truSteh]

Well going to ask this question just like a lot of people did before me, I need to know which modchip I should take. First off, I'm really new to this modchip and modding thing for the xbox. Xbox is even my first console (loyal PC user ) so my experiences are 0,0. I just need a decent modchip that can do the basic stuff, who can handel another harddisk (120gig) and who supports to read files from the harddisk (I guess basicly every chip can but not sure) and that I dont need a DVD kit to play DVD's (I have a Philips drive).. So the standard stuff I guess, there's no need for LCD display support or special things cuz I'm not really a person who is going to cut in his xbox Another thing, I cant sold. First because I don't even have the stuff to sold and second I have also 0,0 solding experience So that's basicly what I want Price doesn't really matter since I just need a good chip.

Another question, what does EvoX (or something like that) exactly? Just like a new BIOS or somethin'? Yeah I know need to read the tutorials, but so much of them

[dixieman]

Question for Brahm2:

I just installed a X-2+ in my Xbox. I couldn't get the LED for the dO to light up like the instruction guide I was using said it needed to. I noticed you saying something about rubbing the dO with alcohol, or cleaning the motherboard with alcohol. Might that get my dO to properly connect with the motherboard??

[T_relll]

I would say X-CHIP (easybuy2000) quick fast easy install...just dont ever call them for tech support...very quick and rude, but i love the product..What can you do!

[nam722rm]

I'm new to the modding scene, but i've been looking around at the modchips and different places on this site and i'm still confused. i've been trying to decide which modchip would be best for me but i'm still not sure. I can't decide because i really don't know what the different specifications on the chips mean. What is the BIOS?? What's it do?? What does the flash size mean? I know these are probably pretty basic questions but i couldn't find the answer.

I'm wondering also what the recommended BIOS is. I think i somewhat understand what a dashboard is and i'll probably go with Evox for that.

Do all modchips allow you to bring things from the computer to your xbox? I really want to just back up my xbox games and run an emulator and stuff like that. will i need to upgrade my hard drive to back up games? and if i do get a bigger hard drive how will i move my saved games to it?

Sorry i have so many questions. If they've been answered before maybe you could just give me a link. Any help would be appreciated.

[Geemoney713]

I have an Xbit modchip and it works great. I just got my roommate to buy an xbox so I could do the same for his. Now I'm realizing that the xbit doesn't support the new 1.6 xbox which I have already 'installed' the mod chip to. Don't get the xbit with a new xbox. If anyone has tips(other than telling me to buy another chip) that would be grand.

[turkish]

Is it correct that currently there is no solderless chip for an xbox version 1.6?

[cykolink]

I am a newbie to xbox modding, but i've read all the tutorials, faq's etc. I'm thinking of getting an Xecutor 3 (as soon as it comes out) and then getting EvoX as soon as i can find it. I can get a product designer to do the soldering for me, so have i made the right decision?

[cykolink]

also I have a version 1.0 if that changes anything. does having a 1.0 mean I can't back up dvd's etc?
Cheers for any help

[brahm2]

cykolink - It's been repeated in the thread many times, but ANY chip you can flash a BIOS to will get the job done. If your product designer friend can solder well, he should have no troubles installing the chip - installation of the X3 will be almost the same as installing any other Xbox modchip.

There's nothing you CAN'T do with a 1.0 that you can do with any other version of the Xbox, in terms of modchips and functionality once it's modded.

[Chris_NEPA]

I've installed a Matrix chip on my old Xbox over a year ago, and no longer have that system. I've just got a new system (v1.4 I believe) and I'm looking at getting the Xenium Ice Solderless chip. Now When I nstalled the Matrix chip it took me all of 5 minutes and it ran fine for me. But now I've been looking over the xenium install instructions and I'm more confused than ever. I've seen people here say this chip is totally basic to install, but from the look of the instructions it appears you need a degree in electrical engineering to install it. How hard really is it to install?
Also, I'm not planning on connecting my xbox to my PC. I've got a 6yo PC with only one USB port, and no ethernet ports at all. How will I be able to install a bios? Atleast with the old Matrix I could just plug it into the parallel port and flash it that way.
I'd really like to talk to someone who's had a Xenium installed themselves, and had it running for a bit to find out some of the other things I'll need to track down once I get my chip. If anyone's willing to answer a noob's questions in private please PM me.