X2.6 turns on the off and flashes red and green

[Papa_Smurfster]

Hi fellas,

Im a little stuck with a 1.6 install. Just wondering if any1 can help me out.

The Problem is, I have 3 spare x2.6 chips. Ive had them since b4 christmas.
Ive never modiefied a 1.6 b4, and I read that the 2.6 will work aslong as the FlashBIOS is v3.0.3. Now I was quite sure I had these mods b4 that version was available but I tried them anyway. I was correct as none of them displayed anything on screen. As i have an original x2 lite programmer and a l8r version i tried to flash 1 chip, all went well and the xbox worked.

So I thought i may aswell flash the other 2 chips as I have a 2nd xbox to mod. I flashed Bank1+2 with flashbios 3.0.1 and bank 3+4 with v3.0.3. The problem is, these 2 chips wont flash. they fail stating it be the parallel cable. The Programmer is directly plugged into the port. Ive read all the programmer guides i could find, including the sticky in this forurm. Now the strange thing is, every 10th attempt it will flash, but the chip doesnt work in the xbox.
The xbox symptoms are:
1. turns on then off several times
2. then the eject flash's red and green.

Ive read the details on wot the flashing means. it states bad chip or image.
Ive checked all the solder points and they are perfectly fine including the LPC rebuild. I can post pictures for proof if u want?

Basically am I just wasting my time with these 2 remaining chips, because im starting to wonder if they r duff.

Ive even tried all the x2 and Evo M8 bios's for all versions of the xbox.
Ive made sure its a 1.6 by using the guide at xbox-scene.

Ive read a few articles in this forum regarding the same problem, but with no decisive answers.

Cheers all

 

[Martin C]

Why not hotflash the other chips in the working 1.6/X2.6 Xbox?

Boot to FlashBIOS, swap chips (remembering the alt 5v wire) and choose your flash method. You don't need to reattach the d0/hdd/lan wire when hotflashing, just the alt 5v wire and the switch unit.

As long as you're careful, this should work.

Once you're 100% sure you have a working BIOS on the new chip, try it again on another Xbox.

Martin

 

[Papa_Smurfster]

Tnx 4 the replyMartin C,

I was thinking about doing a hot flash, but the problem is, i have given the working 1.6 xbox back to the owner.

My xbox is an old 1.1 with a x2 Pro and i wasnt sure if it would work. plus im scared to death of screwing up my own xbox. it hasnt been opened for years lol

 

[Martin C]

If you did a pinheader install then it's possible.

Remember the old X2s had a 6x2 pinheader, whereas the X2.6/X3 has an 8x2. Align it correctly and you'll be fine.

Martin

 

[Papa_Smurfster]

thnx m8 i'll give it a go

 

[Papa_Smurfster]

I flashed the chip using the hot swap method and my 1.6 xbox still doenst work. so im back to soldering again.

 

[da84tona]

Not to be a steal your thread, but instead of posting a new one I will just say:

I too am having this same problem of programming my 2.6ce on a v1.6 xbox, as well as another 2.6ce install on a v1.0 xbox. Ive tried programming them on 3 different systems, 2 with XP and 1 with 98se, each time trying with and without the parellel cable. None of them work. Both banks on both chips are giving me a frag.

When I try to program it per the given tutorial, IT always gives me the bad parellel cable error.
Is something wrong this programmer...? Or maybe it is a bad chip? If someone could direct us in the right direction, it would be greatly appriciated.



Papa, as for your particular problem, I dont think your soldering is at fault. These programmers smell fishy

 

[Martin C]

The problem isn't with the programmer - the parallel interface differs from PC to PC. I believe it comes down to the chipset and timing of data.

Try holding the chip firmly onto the programmer when trying it..

Martin

 

[da84tona]

Oh yes, I have tried that as well. There is really nothing I can do now, is there? Except keep trying to flash through programmer....Arg!

Cross your fingerS!

 

[Martin C]

Try another computer - I found my little Compaq laptop did a better job

Martin

 

[Papa_Smurfster]

Success fellas,

I resoldered the LPC and it started to work. strange thing is, i only resoldered the wires on the pinheader side (the easy bit). oh well its working and thats 1 counts.

thnx 4 the help Martin C

p.s. da84tona, I used my bro's PC and the flashed works perfect on it. I then tried it again on my pc and it failed all the time. Dont know if that helps u. good luck

 

[da84tona]

Ive tried programming them on 3 different systems, 2 with XP and 1 with 98se, each time trying with and without the parellel cable. None of them work.

Tried it

 

[da84tona]

Papa, what OS is your brothers comp?
I still cannot flash this sucker!

 

[nhansen1]

would the pin header be the only solder joints that would cause this problem? I have gone over the solder joints with a meter and they all have continuity. It was all working good until i flashed the chip with a 1mg bios from xbins. 3.03 bios i believe. I tried a hot swap with a x2.0 lite and that chip does the same thing. any suggestions would be appriciated before i scrap this thing. I have working on it for two weeks.

Thanks

 

[Martin C]

would the pin header be the only solder joints that would cause this problem? I have gone over the solder joints with a meter and they all have continuity. It was all working good until i flashed the chip with a 1mg bios from xbins. 3.03 bios i believe. I tried a hot swap with a x2.0 lite and that chip does the same thing. any suggestions would be appriciated before i scrap this thing. I have working on it for two weeks.

Thanks

Can you get the backup BIOS working on the X3?

If not, it's a connection issue.

Martin

 

[ironopolis]

Had the problem of bad parallel cable error, just now, even though I have flashed a few chips this way before.
Making sure the chip is sat correctly on the programmer (2.3 lite) and with some gentle (but firmly) pressure got a good flash and verified OK.

ironopolis

 

[Tha187um]

Similar problem here (I have programmed about 4 chips with the same computer, same programmer, nothing has changed...) however, this last one I keep getting the parallel error code and I have it connected directly though... funny thing is that I tried 3 different bios versions (same as I used before) and all failed, for the hell of it I tried the 3.03 bios and it flashed fine without any errors... does that make sense?

 

[vincentn2k2]

Hope it's not too late for this post but this is what I've done with my Programmer:

1. There was NO need for a parallel cable since the programmer I got plugged directly into the parallel port on my laptop.
2. Play around with the parallel settings in your PC/laptop a little bit. Do this via the BIOS setup onyour laptop/PC
3. Make sure that you have the selector switch connected to your 2.6CE chip. This is the same switch that's used to connect your chip to the external switch selector AND of course, you MUST connect the switch to the switch selector for things to work. Also make sure that you have the bank selector set to Flash Enabled. Without Flash Enabled, you will NOT be able to flash your chip and the system will continually comes back to you with bad cable.
4. Also be aware that you might not be able to Flash your chip the first time. I remembered doing mine twice before a successful attempt.
5. There is a "Sticky" post right at the beginning of the forum to show you how to do things with a Prgrammer. I'd suggest that you followed the instruction carefully.

Good luck and I don't think that there are anything "fishy" with the Programmer. I thougth the same thing as you but it turned out to be me who was not doing the right thing. BTW, I found out about my programming/flashing problem just from noting down the error message and punched it into Google.