Possible Bios Problem?

[nimitz1669]

I have a 1.6b xbox and I bought a chip with all the bios preloaded on it, including 3.0.3. I talked to the people that sold me the chip and they told me that the 3.0.3 bios was located on the 5678 bank. I have tried that bank and every other bank on the chip and I still get the blank screen and amber light error, this only occurs when the chip is enabled, if disabled the xbox runs fine. As far as I have been able to tell from the forum, and I am sorry if I have missed something, that particular problem means that you do not have the correct bios installed on your chip. My question is if I have been told the bios are on the chip is it possible that the bios are corrupted or is there a possibility that a solder point is loose or something else. I have checked all points and have not noticed any bad connections. If it might be a solder point is there any one in particular that I should check on or should I just redo all the points?

Thanks for any help you can give,

Nimitz1669

 

[Martin C]

I have a 1.6b xbox and I bought a chip with all the bios preloaded on it, including 3.0.3. I talked to the people that sold me the chip and they told me that the 3.0.3 bios was located on the 5678 bank. I have tried that bank and every other bank on the chip and I still get the blank screen and amber light error, this only occurs when the chip is enabled, if disabled the xbox runs fine. As far as I have been able to tell from the forum, and I am sorry if I have missed something, that particular problem means that you do not have the correct bios installed on your chip. My question is if I have been told the bios are on the chip is it possible that the bios are corrupted or is there a possibility that a solder point is loose or something else. I have checked all points and have not noticed any bad connections. If it might be a solder point is there any one in particular that I should check on or should I just redo all the points?

Thanks for any help you can give,

Nimitz1669

Bank 1MB 5678 is booted from switches off on off off off.

You should get the FlashBIOS screen from there.

Martin

 

[ShuMai]

I had the same sort of problem only I think I may have flashed the wrong bios onto bank 5678 and now I can't get to FlashBios anymore. Is there another bank that has 3.03 on it so I can flash the proper bios?

 

[Martin C]

I had the same sort of problem only I think I may have flashed the wrong bios onto bank 5678 and now I can't get to FlashBios anymore. Is there another bank that has 3.03 on it so I can flash the proper bios?

Was 3.0.3 on banks 5678?

If so, then why did you flash over 5678 when you should have selected banks 1234?

If they're gone, they're gone. 1 MB BIOS would have overwritten banks 5678. However, if it didn't flash all of them, you may be lucky and be able to boot 256k Bank 8. If not, then you need it reflashed.

Martin

 

[ShuMai]

Thanks for taking the time to respond Martin.

Yes 3.0.3 was on banks 5678 but it was the only bank that had it. If I tried to boot the x-box with any other bank I would get a blank screen and an orange light, so I'm assuming the other banks had 3.0.1.

I ordered from modchip.ca and selected "I don't know" for the date because at the time I didn't have the x-box to check the date. But wouldn't they have put 3.0.3 on the backup at least? The same thing happens when I boot with the power and eject though, no video and an orange light.

Was I supposed to boot with 5678 then switch to 1234 to flash?

 

[Martin C]

Was I supposed to boot with 5678 then switch to 1234 to flash?

Yes - because you needed to preserve the 3.0.3 BIOS, flashing X3 1959 to Banks 1234 would have done this.

The Backup BIOS isn't usually updated to 3.0.3 as Banks 5678 is usually enough.

Did you try booting to bank 8 256k?

Martin

 

[ShuMai]

Sorry if I should know this, but what position do the switches have to be in to boot from bank 8?

 

[TECbox]

Bank Switch positions:
http://www.teamxecuter.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=16102

 

[ShuMai]

Well, everything is working now! I ended up having to hotswap it to flash it properly. Thanks to everyone for their help here. I appreciate the quick responses!

 

[Martin C]

Well, everything is working now! I ended up having to hotswap it to flash it properly. Thanks to everyone for their help here. I appreciate the quick responses!

Glad you got a solution!

Just remember what Banks have 3.0.3 on them and don't flash over them. Once you have X3 1959 working, you can flash the backup BIOS via X3CL.

Martin

 

[asguk1]

Hi I,m new to this forum so please be gentle...

I have a similar problem - bought a X3 with switch bank, installed it, all straightforward except....

I get both lights on the chip, and can get the Xbox to boot without chip fine, yet when I try to boot from chip I get the bright blue light on the switch bank but no video and eventually after about 5-6seconds I get a solid orange from the front LED's

From what I can gather I should at least see something to enable me to flash bios.... I understood that all chips where shipped with Cromwell Bios, I have not touched switch bank from shipped positions....

Have I missed something?? - is this a cabling/soldering problem....?? I wanted to buy this pre-built but Christmas deliveries where scarce, so took the plunge myself....

Hope you can enlighten me..... thank you..

 

[Martin C]

Hi I,m new to this forum so please be gentle...

I have a similar problem - bought a X3 with switch bank, installed it, all straightforward except....

I get both lights on the chip, and can get the Xbox to boot without chip fine, yet when I try to boot from chip I get the bright blue light on the switch bank but no video and eventually after about 5-6seconds I get a solid orange from the front LED's

From what I can gather I should at least see something to enable me to flash bios.... I understood that all chips where shipped with Cromwell Bios, I have not touched switch bank from shipped positions....

Have I missed something?? - is this a cabling/soldering problem....?? I wanted to buy this pre-built but Christmas deliveries where scarce, so took the plunge myself....

Hope you can enlighten me..... thank you..

Try booting from two main switch positions:

Bank 1234 1MB - on on off off off
Bank 5678 1MB - off on off off off

Hopefully one of these should show video.

If neither do, then if you're using a different AV lead make sure you use the standard AV pack.

Martin

 

[nimitz1669]

Hi, Sorry I had to visit my parents for the holidays so I coould not reply. I have checked the bank and just rechecked it with off on off off off but it still gives me the same problem. It acts like there is not the correct bios. Since this is the case could it be anything else? if so what?

 

[Martin C]

Hi, Sorry I had to visit my parents for the holidays so I coould not reply. I have checked the bank and just rechecked it with off on off off off but it still gives me the same problem. It acts like there is not the correct bios. Since this is the case could it be anything else? if so what?

What Xbox version do you have? 1.6 or 1.6b?

Martin

 

[nimitz1669]

What Xbox version do you have? 1.6 or 1.6b?

All of the information is in the first post but I have a 1.6b xbox. Thanks for any help.

 

[Martin C]

What Xbox version do you have? 1.6 or 1.6b?

All of the information is in the first post but I have a 1.6b xbox. Thanks for any help.

Have you tried all the 256k banks too ??

Martin

 

[nimitz1669]

Yes I have tried every bank on the chip. Could the problem be anything else?

 

[Martin C]

Yes I have tried every bank on the chip. Could the problem be anything else?

The most likely problem is that you have an incompatible FlashBIOS on your chip. Is there anyone else you know with an X3 which you can hotswap with?

Martin

 

[Relinq]

Hi All,

I'm feeling similar pain. My first install was flawless on a 1.6b and X3, at least that's what I've been told. I could select on on off off and get a 3.0.3 screen. Since I missed the fine print about flashing, I ended up ripping out the chip and then having to find a damaged trace to get M$ dashboard running again and playing games.

On the second install, on on off off produced a blank screen and orange light when I attempt to enable the chip. With on on off off buttons selected (Pro Switch) if I try to boot from the backup, sometimes I get the 3.0.1 screen, like when the box is just plugged in. From there on, it's black screen if I power it off and on again. Here is my bank listing. I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this.

This chip was supposed to be 3.0.3 flashed for a post Oct 2004 XBOX from the supplier.

Can I perhaps split the BIOS into four and flash individual 256k banks or is there a way since I can get to 3.0.3???

256k Bank
Bank 1: on on on on 3.0.1
Bank 2: off on on on 3.0.1
Bank 3: on off on on 3.0.1
Bank 4: off off on on 3.0.1
Bank 5: on on off on 3.0.1
Bank 6: off on off on 3.0.1
Bank 7: on off off on 3.0.3
Bank 8: off off off on 3.0.3

512k Bank
Bank 12: on on on off 3.0.1
Bank 34: off on on off 3.0.1
Bank 56: on off on off 3.0.1
Bank 78: off off on off 3.0.1

1MB Bank
Bank 1234: on on off off (Set to this when flashing first time with FlashBIOS) blank screen, orange light
Bank 5678: off on off off blank screen, green light (sometimes orange)

2MB Bank
Bank 12345678: off off off off blank screen, orange light

 

[Martin C]

Do you see both flashbios 3.0.1 / 3.0.3 when booting from the specified 256k banks?

Do you understand the concept of flashbios? It's just there so you can flash the X3 BIOS (or any other BIOS you so wish) to your chip.

Example:

booting Bank 56: on off on off brings up FlashBIOS 3.0.1, yes?

once you're at FlashBIOS, set your switches to on on off off (as you want to flash banks 1234 (1MB) with X3 1959plus16.

Once Flashed, on on off off will boot your X3 BIOS and on off on off will boot your FlashBIOS.

Job done.

Remember - if you boot flashBIOS and want to keep that bank intact, make sure you set the switches accordingly prior to flashing.

Martin