X3 Recover bad flash

[G16aByT3]

I was helping a friend out trying to repair his XBOX and found out his bank 1 is foobar. So I tried to access his bank 2 and got it working on a really old BIOS that was there. I called him up and asked him what version it was so I can give him the latest X3 BIOS and he told me it was pre-1.6 eventhough my instincts told me it was 1.6 or later. So I go about flashing the X3 and boom, the XBOX frags with the usual BIOS not found issue. So I tried to see if I could access the first bank and no luck, tried to access the second bank and no luck. Tried to access the backup bank and no luck.

I tried to see if there was a way to get to that FLASHBIOS like it was brand new and no luck. So now I am wondering if I can do an X3 hotswap with another box and get the banks flashed properly.

Your help would be appreciated.

G16aByT3

 

[Martin C]

Your first mistake was to flash over the working BIOS!

Yes, if you can get to FlashBIOS on another Xbox/X3, you can hot-swap it.

Boot to any X3 to FlashBIOS and once you're at the menu, remove and insert chip to be flashed. Without a bank select switch, it'll automatically flash banks 1234 1MB. Remember that if you're flashing in a 1.6 you will need to connect the 5v line too!

Martin

 

[G16aByT3]

I don't think I can get to the FlashBios on my working one since it has a BIOS already?? I think I also flashed the 256K bank with an X2 BIOS, but I can reflash that with FlashBios 3.03 can I?? I am thinking of taking my working X3 and putting it on my friends machine and then doing the swap because his is a 1.6. I think that should work or not. My box is a 1.3

Thanks

G16aByT3

 

[Martin C]

Yes - if you reflash the backup ROM with FlashBIOS (either 3.0.1 if you are going to use it on a 1.6, or 3.0.3 if it's on a 1.6b).

You can then boot from the backup bank and flash over banks 1234 with the correct BIOS.

Martin