On, Off, On, Off, On, FRAG!!

[SpellBound]

Just for the record, I have read EVERYTHING there is to read on this subject from this site and the sites liking to it. I may even decide to start printing T-Shirts saying "Check The Solder Connection, Again!!" to recoup some of the money I have tossed away trying to get this mod to become reality.

Here is my story. I hope it helps some poor sole out there. Oh, and those of you that can’t wait to see the ending – I never got the thing to work - (Edit: I did get this thing working and life is good!!! Read on....).

I have killed 2 Xbox mother boards (1.6 and 1.3) so far, and have decided to buy a new box already modded rather than show my kids yet another failed attempt. It's sad to see the little guys wake up in the morning asking "is it done, did it work", and I have to say "well, we had some issues guys, I owe you another Xbox".

I am using the X3 chip and the latest bios as of last night. I re-downloaded it again just to be sure I had the latest and greatest.

After following the instructions to the T, I had the same exact problem happen with both boards. First, after all the soldering was done, the system would boot up in X3 and in MS exactly as is advertised. No problems there. All the lights were right and I was feeling pretty good.

Then, I flashed the bios to the chip. I used a DVD and had my switch settings set to on, on, off, off, off. The Flash was fine and then the system turned off.

When I turned it back on, it tried to start, and then shut off, tried to start again, and then shut off again, and then started, but FRAG'd. I could still, however, boot to the ms dash by holding the switch longer.

So, just like my new t-shirt says, I checked all my solder joints and touched up any that I thought needed touching up. I put the board back in and now the system does the same thing as before (start, stop, start, stop, start, FRAG). Except this time, it won’t even boot into the ms dash. I unsoldered everything to see if I could get it working the way MS intended it to, but no, it was too late. The board was dead.

I have no doubt it was something I did, so don’t bother posting the one liner I have seen so many times Team X, I already know. The interesting thing is that the exact same thing happened to me 2 different times on two different Xbox versions?!?

I just want to share my experience with those that seem to be having the same problem I am. I am out 2 Xboxes and 2 mod kits so far, but I have learned a valuable lesson – Don’t try this at home!!!!!

I am now going to buy one already modded, but here is my dilemma. If I buy a modded Xbox , it will come with the chip installed and ready to be flashed. I got that far on my own. What happens if I flash the chip when I get it and it does the same thing?

I’m off to go drink now. Maybe I should have started before the mod attempt????

-SpellBound

 

[cokebottles]

Most pre-mod xbox's dont come preflashed - but it depends where u buy it from. FRAG errors are either from a)bad solder b)bad flash. You must have a bad flash. In my opinion and experience its much easier to fix a bad flash, so if i were you dload the latest bios (again) and maybe this time try another Flash method, FTP or HTTP method for example. The X3 noobs guide has realy good advice and screen shots of flashing, so chek them out, well worth it. The chip seems to be installed ok, so youve done the hard bit. Just needs a good flash.

http://home.comcast.net/~x3guide/BIOSFlashing.htm

hope that helps man
GOOD LUCK

 

[AEgawd]

did you try and flash it to banks 5-8 (off/on/off/off/off)? what BIOS did you use? is it corrupt? while soldering did you heat solder points too long?

 

[Virtual_Sniper]

You might wanna dbl check the bios file. When I downloaded the BIOS either HTTP or FTP it sometimes leaves out a couple of bytes. To ie. in FTP you just re-download it and resume it. I had to do this a couble of times and everything works fine.

My solder job looks like there was an explosion in my xbox (FIRST TIME SOLDERING) and everything works out fine. Just make sure about those files you download it, and also try flashing from the xbox. (FTP the BIOS to your C:/) I don't trust CD/DVD's or HTTP. I would recommend getting it direct like the C:/.

Hope that helps

V.S.

 

[SpellBound]

Thanks for all the advice. I will give it another shot and see what happens.

If I am understanding you correctly, if my chip is functioning fine (boots to the X3 and ms dash) prior to flashing the chip, then my solder connections are good??? If I FRAG after flashing the chip it is a bad flash??

If this is the case then I will try some other flashing methods and some of the suggestions you guys talked about.

Also, once the chip is flashed (good or bad), I don't get the option to flash again when booting. Is this what the backup chip is for? If I boot to the backup chip, will I be able to reflash the same bank on the chip as the first time?

As for overheating the board. Yes, I think I did over heat the board, but I think this occered when checking all the connections and making sure I had good solder joints.

I will be starting over once again.

-SpellBound

 

[TEaPaZ]

you are right, that is what the backup bios is for. When you flash from the backup bios it flashes the banks selected not the backup so you can replace a bad flash with a good one. If you are doing a V1.6 just make sure you use 1959_16 and rename it "bios" as in the noob guide. Hope this helps.

 

[SpellBound]

I just realized that I downloaded the bios using ascii instead of binary with my ftp client. Although the archive opened, there IS a few extra chars at the end of the bios file I am using.

I have redownloaded it and made sure it is exactly the right size. I will try this again tomorrow night and let you know how it works out.

Thanks for the suggestions. I (my kids included) can't wait to get this thing going.

-SpellBound

 

[greencavern]

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem with mine.

Different console version though...

Everything going well by following the tutorial for newbie about X3.
MS Dashboard with a long press and flash 3.0.0 with a short one.

I tried to flash the bios via HTTP with these bios but none were working :
M8, M7, evox.

I've got frag after the restart of the console when i manage to flash the bios.

BTW how could i reset my X3 ?

The bad flashed bios are really a problem !!

Thanks and CYA

 

[thekid]

Not understanding how to reflash bad bios.

I let some fool use my xbox and he messed up ever bank of my bios execpt for the back up. How do i re flash thoes bios. Nothing will run on off on off on frag.

 

[Bigshoguns]

ok same is happening to me. EVERYTHING regardign sodlering if fine.
but once i flashed the chip it starts fragging.

now if i hold the power button down longer the chip does not go into ms dash.
and i think I messed up b/c I had all the dip sticks set on off.

any help would be appreciated.

PM EMAIL or reply

IGNORE.. GOT IT FLASHED. I WAS USING 1.0 TO 1.5 BIOS. ME = DUMBASS

 

[SpellBound]

I finally got this thing working!!!

Here are a couple of things that might help someone else out. I know these are the things that really hosed me up.

1. I worked on 3 Xboxes before I got this thing to work correctly. It is VERY EASY to say all of the soldering is correct without going back and checking it. Take my advice, go back and check it. I was getting FRAG issues after my PERFECT solder job and eventually found that I had soldered D0 to where LAD0 should have gone and LAD0 to where D0 should have gone. It looked good, but it wasn’t.

2. Make sure you flashing the BIOS with the correct version and size. I downloaded the BIOS with my FTP Client with ASCII transfer option on. You need to make sure you have the transfer mode set to BIN (Binary). Otherwise the size of the bios will be incorrect as was discussed prior in this thread. When the size of the bios is wrong and you try to flash, you will FRAG for sure!!!

3. Don’t flash by CD or DVD. I had nothing but issues with this method. I used HTTP and it worked like a champ!

4. Read the tutorial on EvoX menu editing. I can’t find the link at the moment, so if someone else has it, please post it.

The only utility I have installed so far is Dvd2xbox. So far this has been working great, but if you know of any other good utilities, please let me know.

If I think of any other pitfalls, I will post them. I would like to say thank you to cokebottles, AEgawd, Virtual_Sniper and TEaPaZ for all the help and suggestions.

-SpellBound

 

[SpellBound]

Thekid, you will need to press the power and eject buttons at the (almost) same time. This will boot you from the backup bios. Once here, you can set you switch setting and flash the bank of your choice.

Hope this helps.

-SpellBound

 

[AEgawd]

other apps you might want.

dvdX = dongle free DVD player
MAMoX = old game rom emulator/player

CONGRATULATIONS on finishing!!! i knew itd be some sort of wiring solder problem. sometimes you have to just step back and look very meticulously over what you think is flawless. ive done things like that at work, but after taking a break or having someone else look at it, found a mistake.

 

[drsomewhat]

yeah, i think i will try reflashing after redownloading bios in binary and renaming it to bios...

im using a xapt3r and i soldered my hdd and lan leds to the right spots... my lan led doesnt light up, and so im considering taking both wires out (the hdd led is too bright for my taste)

 

[RO13]

one red light - bad flash

i have my dummy.bin and i saved the firmware. but i did a bad flash. it will not recover the info to write. i am using the same port. and i have the key. should i use DOSflash?

 

[tableman]

Re: one red light - bad flash

yes