Nuked my main banks, and baffled by Backup bank

[CoHPhasor]

I have a v1.6 Halo Edition XB, and it's my baby. I have the X3, FLashBIOS 3.0.1 (ONLY in the backup) and now ALL banks boot with a black screen, some even show a FRAG!


Hi, I just finished getting everything on the hardware end all fixed, and a few hrs ago it was time for the flashing.

So, I made one of the bigger mistakes ever, and was in the middle of an HTTP flashing, when it happened, stupidity struck!
The flash finshed, then said it was bad. At that point I was like wtf? And like an idiot I SHUTOFF my Box, and figured I could redo it.

After that I started sweating, and turn my switches to off off on on off,
and checked to see if it would let me get to that bank and select HTTP again. Well, it told me that it was hooked to DHCP, I DID NOT start the flashing, then I shutoff my box, and bam, here I am, screwed!

When I hold both buttons it NEVER gets pass USB init, and if I press Eject it puts out the drawer and resets to a mode where it does not say that Flash is read only.

I have been scavenging to figure out if I just need to have a pro reprogram the chip, or if I can somehow pull this off, any ideas?

 

[Martin C]

Your two main flash banks for X3 BIOS are

ON ON OFF OFF OFF
and
OFF ON OFF OFF OFF

Where did you get OFF OFF ON ON OFF from???

Boot the backup BIOS - press the power and eject buttons at the same time. Set the switches to ON ON OFF OFF OFF and try to reflash.

 

[CoHPhasor]

Sry, caught u in the other thread under "Install"

I saw off off on on off on a diff thread, apparently that was for 1.6b, or CE, or some goofy thing. (tired an desperate= fall for anything)

In any case, as I explained in the other thread, when I boot to the backup, it doesn't move passed "USB init", so it never gets to any flash modes.
Also, if I press Eject, it puts out the tray, and moves from the backup screen "Flash: Read Only???" to a normal screen where the display LED is only BLUE, but never passes that darn USB init portion



Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[CoHPhasor]

Hi Martin,
Well, after much anger, I simply booted the backup over and over, and when it would go black, I would unplug the power cord and let it rest and of that I got a few chances to http in. This last time, even though after it loaded the (NEW) Bios, it said Error: Failed, but I waited like 5 mins, then shut it down. Now, it DOES boot with the new Bios, AND it even says Xecuter ROx my box. THe only prob I have now is that holding the white button, etc, does not matter, it simply doesn't give me any options other than normal.

I might be missing something, I'll look around I guess.
I prolly SHOULD setup a Bios on the other bank (currently Rox is on the "on on off off off" bank)
But I don't think I'll mess with it til I know it's right!

 

[im2kool4u17]

im a noob but i think i know this. if it boots to ms dash then press both triggers+back+bLack and it should go to the bios menu.

 

[adam.giles]

If the bios failed, then chances are you are trying to boot a corrupt bios (which is why it doesn't work properly). Was your back-up bios working before you started trying to flash?

 

[CoHPhasor]

UPDATE:

First thing's first, I DID finally get the Bios flashed, I thought the backup was possibly functional b/c it would start the process, but it's janky. See, the backup would start loading, but not finish, stopped at the "Start USB init" portion of the boot process. I actually had to press eject to kick it over to the part where it would give me flashing options.
I repeated the backup boot process many times just to get to the flashing selection screen, and more than half the time my M$ controller would NOT move through the selections. After a whil I got it to work, then flash.

Here's the puzzler though, I used the X3 3029 v16plus, and even from THREE different sources, and not one of them finished the flash "successfully" it displayed the "Error: Failed" every time after completing the green bar. I found that shutting it down after I got the error, it would black screen me, and one time I waited 2-3 mins before I shutdown, and now "X rox my box" showed, and would function, BUT either I can't access the BIOS, or I dunno how. (tried the above)
The other kicker? when I flashed again, but this time let it sit for 30 mins after the error, it would get to "rox my box" then not progress lol!

I used the one that "worked" and then Slayers 2.6 an BANG! but still frustrating. (Especially since I want to use "stealth mode" but I can't find the way to enable it, and instead it just loads the MS dash, am therefore forced to use "non-staelth" mode. (EvoX on C: instead of F

I DID put the EvoX M8 Bios in on bank 8 of my X3, just to see the result, and the result is, flash went smooth as silk. Is there a problem with FLASHBIOS 3.0.1 that I need to know about? (I have a v1.6 (Samsung RAM) so I know I'm sposed to use 3.0.1)

 

[adam.giles]

Have you tried FTPing your bios in?

 

[CoHPhasor]

No, I haven't tried FTPing the BIOS in, but I tried HTTP and DVD-R.

All ends up the same.

 

[CoHPhasor]

Alright Martin, here I am again.

I was completely dissatisfied by my box's inability to get to XCL, so I decided to reflash it.
(I know, if it works to some degree why fix it right? :-\ )

So anyway, the flash that "worked" before had the same "Programming Failed:" message that I have had every other time, and it made no sense that it worked anyway. I have tried the X3 3029 v16plus.bin from Euras, x-b-o-x, AND xbins, same file, 3 different sources, and none of them work properly. (remember the last never could get to XCL)

I have been able to get EvoX M8 on there, but as we all know the disabled features make it useless!

I need to know if there is a way I can check these bios (bioschecker doesn't include 3029) OR if I can simply try an older version of the bios, and which ver that would be.

I have; HTTP'd the flash, Disc'd the flash, and even used the EvoxM8 bios to FTP into a "BIOS" folder and used 3029 v16 from there! The ONLY thing I haven't tried is FTP to the chip.
(Which that would be nice, but I don't know EXACTLY how to do it, do I have to get FlashBIOS to "Network Flashing" then do it? If so what is tha FTP username + PW??)

Thanks in advance for the help!

ps, the best Flash I can get after re-flashing the janky one has me freezing @ "Rox my Box", but the EvoXM8 gets to the dash.

 

[Martin C]

You can only FTP directly to the chip via X3CL.

I would check your soldering on pins 13 14 and 15 (check them all though, just to be sure). Evox M8 doesn't address these areas and so would work regardless of their connection state. X3 BIOS however relies on these for X3CL.

Martin

 

[CoHPhasor]

ok Martin, will do. (I have a NICE magnifying glass this time!)


It's funny tho, coz the first time I did M8, it flashed correctly, but since then it did not.
But the wierd thing to me is that until I decided a retry of the 3029, 3029 was running just fine. :-\

I'll really look hard. (As a general thought, I've soldered alot b4, and know I COULD have messed up, but from what I saw it was DECENT work. (Only one way to find out!)



Thanks big guy!

 

[CoHPhasor]

Update:

Hi Martin,

I saw the new release, and had the box apart and decided to try it.
I tried once, total failure, then I got 3029 to work like b4 on bank1,
AND I got 3108 to work like I mentioned before in bank 2.

Both allow me to get to the Evox dash, and do my thing, but holding the white button from before I press power doesn't get me to the XCL, kinda a pain in the butt.

I HATE to do it, but I think I'm going to have to mess with the solder, I really want to ba able to lock my HD. (My wife really likes the MS DVD player, and ease of using the remote.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

[Martin C]

ok - if you want to try resetting the X3 EEPROM first, it may save you having to check the solder.

run the X3_erase.xbe file which accompanies the BIOS.

Martin

 

[CoHPhasor]

Alright Martin, that sounds like something I could TOTALLY be down for, BUT.

I have seen things posted about this, but seriously, I have NO idea where that file is at.

You say it accompanies the bios, but where? In the RAR, I see the 3108, the 3108 v16, 3 TXT files, 1 INI, and a skins folder. So where does this Erase.XBE file reside exactly?
(Hell, it might be some mystical screwup of mine!)

Basically, I DL the RAR, then extract it, then flash the 3108 v16plus file via http, or FTP it to the HD, (used the Evox M8 for that) and then just boot, did I skip something and that's why I don't know about this file?

 

[Martin C]

I'm not at home right now, so can't check the RAR. If it's not in there, download X3 1959 as it's DEFINITELY in there. It's called X3_erase.xbe (or something like that - there's only one .xbe file and it's that!).

Martin

 

[CoHPhasor]

Alright, went to the bins, and grabbed 2914, 2913, and 1959. 1959 I have discovered has the "default.xbe" which is meant to erase the EEPROM. So I imagine I simply ftp to my HD, slap that into my C:, and on the next reboot it'll just clean it's clock? (since it is lablled "default" Or should I name it something else, so it doesn't get me stuck in an erasing loop?

(Never saw the prog, or pics, and I never hear dets on how it works.)

Well, I'm off tomorrow, so I'll get to work on it, can't wait!

Thanks MC

 

[Martin C]

You just run it from BoXPlorer (or whatever file manager you use). It'll reset the EEPROM on the X3 and reboot the Xbox.

Let me know how you get on.

Martin

 

[CoHPhasor]

Well that was definitely something I needed to do in any case.
When I started my Box I noticed Slayers said my CPU was like 147 degrees, and since I just turned it on, I didn't think it would be that high. (Without melting lol!)

When I used the Xbox File Explorer built into Slayers it did the reboot, my CPU read as 42 Degrees, but I still don't get to the XCL. I hold the white button even before I start the Xbox and nothing.

I really want to have everything the Bios has to offer, and I'd love to be able to go into stealth mode and play Live, but maybe Ican just try out ConfigMagic or something like that to lock my HD.
The sad fact is that unless I wanna watch a region-free DVD, it's much more convenient to let the M$ Dash handle the video.

 

[Martin C]

So you ran the xbe that you got from the X3 bios rar file?

It should have reset the X3 EEPROM and at least booted to X3 Rox my Box -> X3 Config Live without pressing anything.

If this still isn't happening, then soldering is the place to go next..

Martin