Xecuter 2 stopped working

[Tracer Round]

Let me start off by stating that I am deployed overseas and one of my buddies bought a modded xbox off of him when the guy left and now he is gone and we have a problem. The place we are in is complely boring and any entertainment is a must. I have barely even used an Xbox but I am a computer/electronic guy and the guy who owns it is the player. I am just tring to help a friend out.

Unfortunatly I havent determinded what xbox version is it nor what type of mod chip is in it. It boots up with Xecuter2 under the Xbox logo but before it would go to the modded software automaticaly. Now it only goes to the reg. xbox software and I cant figure out what went wrong.

I have taken the xbox apart and looked at the boards and still cant seem to figure anything out. I have been searching the forums and I saw topics about switches I cant find any switches and I am not sure if every version of the xecuter2 has switches... unless the guy never put them on (possible?).

I have also saw that maybe I need to reflash the bios but the guy never left any CDs with it (he actually bought the xbox in the states and then brought it with him over here and now sold it to my friend).

My time online is limited (30 mis at a time to be exact) and I have to wait in line to get my 30. I would greatly apreciate some timely help on this problem. Like I said, this place is very boring...

If you want photos of it, I can do that but I need some help of what you want photos of. As in what part of the boards. Thanks for any help.

Tracer

 

[Tracer Round]

Ok a slight update:

The Xbox version is 1.0 according to a version finder I found on these forums. I know that is not much help but I am learning about it as I go.

Tracer

 

[matt77303]

first of we need to determine what chip you have, post a couple of pics mate.

Matt

 

[Big_Whoopin]

Is it still showing Xecuter on screen when booting? If not you are likely booting off of the stock MS BIOS and won't have any access to mod software installed. If it is still showing Xecuter when booting then it seems that the dashboard has been replaced, possilble if a retail game was run from disk that had a dashboard update included I believe.

Unfortunately just because the Xbox boots with Xecuter on the screen doesn't mean that is the chip inside. That just shows that it is an Xecuter BIOS. Check out the first 2 links under "Latest Generation Xbox Modchips" at xbox-scenes.com. One of these hopefully will have a picture of the chip in your buddy's box, and that will be of great help in figuring out what is going on and if you should have switches.
http://www.xbox-scene.com/modchips.php

And where ever you guys are, keep safe man. Knowing what is going on in some areas of the world, being in a boring place might not be such a bad thing.

-Whoopin'

 

[Tracer Round]

Update: The dashboard that was on there when it was working was Avalaunch.

Yes, it does say Xecuter2 on the startup. There are five links below of the pics of the boards. They are the full size (1600x1200) so most of them are about 1MB. Hopefully you can tell me what mod chip is in there but if not, please let me know if you need a better shot of one of the parts by circling the exact part with a photo program and I will take is as soon as possible.

Processor and Heatsink
Top Left
Bottom Left
Top Right
Bottom Right

My friend just bought two new games and he says that one of them (Juiced he believes) had an update with it of some kind. So maybe what you said about updating the MS software made the Avalaunch dashboard stop running. If that is the case, how do we get it back?

Thanks again for all your help guys.

Tracer

 

[digthebox]

the reason you could not find the modchip is because there is no modchip in that XBOX mate.

He must have done what is called a TSOP flash. Basically where you flash a bios to the existing hardware you have got.

I would suggest you do some reading on TSOP flashing - I have to be honest with you I know nothing about TSOP flashing as I have only used chips!!!!

here is a link that should get you going!!!

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=165336

 

[Tracer Round]

Ok thanks for the steer in the right direction. I know what kind of TSOP chip I have and what size it is from that link you gave me (Hynix 1MB) and it says to use Evolution or Raincoat. Are the existing games still on the hard drive or are they gone? How do I get the Avalaunch dashboard back without losing anything?

Tracer

 

[Big_Whoopin]

Everything should still be on the HDD. And thinking about it, your box is still modified. The update wouldn't replace your BIOS and you say it still boots with Xecuter2 on the screen anyway. What appears to have been replaced was only your dash, which is good news. This means you should still be able to boot unlicenced code from the DVD drive. You can then run an app that provides an FTP server (most if not all dashboards do) and gain access to the HDD. You can search around for Avalaunch but my hunch is that you will not find the avalaunch.xbe program, probably will find the avalaunch.xml config file though. The reason for this guess is that since the dash update replaced the mod dash with the new MS one, the mod dash was probably in place of the original Microsoft one, xboxdash.xbe. Early BIOSes would allow unlicenced code to run but they still pointed to xboxdash.xbe to boot. Users had to rename this dash (could delete it, but probably bad idea) and put the dash of choice in its place with the same name. When this was replaced with the update from Juiced, poof, new dashboard. This did not change the BIOS at all. If you can replace that xboxdash.xbe with a new version of Avalauch you should be back in business. Keep in mind that your existing avalaunch.xml file should be replaced with the one designed for the version of Avalaunch you install. You will probably want to do a side by side compare and update the new xml with the lines modified in the existing one.

Since your internet access is limited, I don't know how easily you can get to xbins in order to download the files needed to build the boot disc or for the latest version of Avalaunch. If you are able to get in and grab the software you should be able to get up and running without much difficulty. Once that is done, then you may want to look into flashing a new BIOS. Newer BIOSes will allow you to specify a different xbe file as the dashboard, so if an MS update runs you don't lose the dash. Still, I think you can get back to your gaming without the flash.

-Whoopin'

 

[Tracer Round]

Thank you very much. I do have some time right now so I followed the tutorial on how to use xbins and I am getting the Avalaunch files right now. I do hope this works and I thank you very very much for helping a clueless guy. You put it in terms that I could understand and I thank you for that. I will let you know what happens.

Tracer

 

[Tracer Round]

I havent tried it yet because I have to get offline and walk to my tent to use the Xbox but will I have a problem trying to FTP to the XBox with the dashboard not working?

From what I understand, I need to FTP to the XBOX and find the file mentioned above and replace it with what it should be, correct? I have downloaded the newest Avalaunch version and I am currectly getting all of the older versions (dont see another way to tell what version I have) from Xbins. Am I missing a step.. do I need to have a CD/DVD with something on it or am I correct in my steps? If I do need it, what do I need exactly?

Tracer

 

[Tracer Round]

Big_Whoopin, I sent you a PM.. I hope you notice it soon.

Tracer

 

[Big_Whoopin]

Sorry Tracer, I wasn't actually online when you sent the PM. Not sure how the system keeps track of online/offline status.

What you'll need to do is burn a disc that the Xbox can boot off of. If you're lucky you'll have one of the more forgiving DVD drives in there and get it going first shot. Check the X-S tutorials link in my sig, there are directions there. Don't know how available media will be for you, but hopefully there will be something of good quality.

When you create this boot disc one key thing will be that you have avalaunch.xbe named default.xbe, and that it is located (with supporting files, don't remember if there are any for Ava) in the root of the disc. Probably just want to copy avalaunch.xbe to default.xbe so that you still have a "normal" Ava install if desired. Be sure to check the FTP settings in avalaunch.xml file so that you will know the user ID and password once you boot off of the disc. Hmm... actually if you can create yourself a bootable Avalaunch disc you could probably rename and copy files right through the included file manager. Problem would be making sure the xml files match up. Unless you were already familiar with Avalaunch, know about installing it and working with the file manager I would recommend you just get booted and use FTP.

Once you can access the box with FTP through the boot disc, find and download the avalaunch.xml file. For safekeeping rename the one on the xbox to something else. Next, rename xboxdash.xbe to something else, like .bak or something. Then FTP over the files necessary for Avalaunch (including the current version's xml) to C, once there rename avalaunch.xbe to xboxdash.xbe.

Now comes the test. Remove your boot disc and fire up the Xbox with no disc in the drive. You should get Avalaunch. (don't toss that disc, give it to the guy who owns the box incase recovery is needed again.) If you are lucky enough that the person who modded the box used standard install locations you will probably again see the missing games within the Avalaunch menu. If not you're going to need to sort through the original xml you copied off the box and compare it to the version that came with Avalaunch. You'll likely find that the locations the menus are set to search in (E:\Games, F:\Games, etc.) don't match. Update the new xml with settings to match the old one and FTP it over to the xbox, replacing the one you put on there earlier. Reboot and look again. If the update contained the correct locations you should *now* see the games.

Summary-
*Create boot disc w/Avalaunch at root, have a copy of avalaunch.xbe named default.xbe included.
*Boot from disc, should now be able to access xbox via FTP.
*Find avalaunch.xml on xbox. Download a copy to PC and rename file on the xbox.
*Rename xboxdash.xbe to something else. Copy over Avalaunch files, rename avalaunch.xbe to xboxdash.xbe.
*Reboot. (moment of truth)
*Check for games in Avalaunch menus. If not found update xml based on original file, then reboot again.
*Have a cold one, play some games.

Good luck!

-Whoopin'

 

[Tracer Round]

Mission Accomplished! That worked great. I was able to make a boot disk of the newest Avalaunch and boot into Avalaunch and then I was able to FTP and change the files and copy them over and poof. All done. Now we are back to playing all the games that take up the very boring free time we have here.

Thanks to all of you who helped us out and especially to Whoopin for taking the time on AIM and helping me understand it all more clearly. Thank you!

Tracer