Flashing problems

[ducttape83]

I installed an X2.6 into my v1.1 xbox today without much problem. When I go to flash the bios, it always gives me the "Unknown Flash! Halting" error. the flashbios guide on teamxecuter's site says "This is what happens if your X3 has its flash protection enabled." Well I got news, it's not enabled. I definitely have the right bios (X2.5035). I tried switching the bank switch from 1 to 2, but it makes no difference. I tried flashing via http and via dvd, and every time, I get "Unknown Flash! Halting." I don't know what else to try

 

[Big_Whoopin]

I believe FlashBIOS reports if it thinks your chip is flash protected or not on the initial screen... the one where it also shows details on your DVD and HDD. Look and see if it mentions anything about your chip there.

Did you do anything to the BIOS file before attempting to flash it? What is the size of the file on your computer? It should be 512KB. (524,288 bytes)

-Whoopin'

 

[ducttape83]

Yeah, it says something about 'Read Only', right? That's always there... I've determined that the problem is that the chip believes the flash protect to always be on, even when the switch is in the 'off' position, and the LED is red. I'm not sure what this means, or how I could go about fixing it. it looks right now like the plug on the switch isn't sitting flush. and I don't want to put too much force into it. maybe using a friend's switch, or switch cable when I flash would help the situation. As far as the bios, I made so many different things. most of the time the bios was 512kb, but sometimes I tried putting flashbios in front of the bios, to see if that was the problem. but that didn't work either. Also, could this be a problem with any of the soldering? Any of the pins not making a good connection with the chip?

 

[Big_Whoopin]

Soldering is not likely the problem. You would either get a FRAG (LPC issue) or you wouldn't boot off the chip (D0 issue).

I think that "Read Only" is your key... like you said it sounds like the box thinks the chip is still protected. The odd thing here is that if your flash protect was being buggy it would likely not make the connection. When the switch is in the unprotected position it is not making a complete circuit, it's open. When it is in the protected position it should be making a circuit. So if for some reason your switch was acting up on you 99% of the time it would be leaving your chip in an unprotected state. Same thing if the pins were in a position where they were not connecting. This makes me wonder if one of your wires from the chip to the switch may be cut and is grounding out on the metal frame of your Xbox. Check this out and make sure those cables are OK.

Test the other switches. We know the enable switch works (you're booting the mod) but make sure it disables as well. Try booting with both banks 1 and 2. On bank 1 you should see the FlashBIOS 3.0.1 screen, on bank 2 you should see FlashBIOS 3.0.3. If you can see both that is... there is a compatibility issue with some box versions. If you can boot both of them it looks good.

If those two switches check out I would say to just borrow your friend's switches and cable for now, hook it up to your chip and see if it gets you to flashing. You should then only need to flash the proper version of the 5035 BIOS to your chip. Reboot and boot off of bank 1 (FlashBIOS always starts writing with bank 1. If you only flash a 512KB file you will only overwrite bank 1.) and you should get the Xecuter rox my box logo. You're then good until you need to flash your BIOS again. Given that we're so close to the launch of the 360 I think Xbox gen 1 development will slow down... 5035 may be the last BIOS you'll ever need.

-Whoopin'