Yellow (Amber) light = wrong chip placement

[donalbane]

I had a problem with my xbox involving a blinking amber that I couldn't find a solution to on these forums, so I thought I'd post my successful results here to the benefit of anyone that had a similar problem. I searched for "blinking yellow light" and found only technophiles commanding the innocent poster to 'plug in your fan, n00b... it's a heat issue', or other useless conversations regarding the difference between yellow and amber. Well I'm here to say that Amber light errors can also indicate that you have your chip turned around, which is easily remedied.

In a nutshell, if you have just modded your xbox, turn it on, and get a blinking yellow light without any audio or video output, consider your chip placement. Mine was reversed. I opened it up again, flipped the chip 180 degrees, and it worked like a charm.

Now, I know many of you are well aware that the chip has to be connected correctly to the board in order for it to work, but the incredibly obvious nature of this particular problem might not be so obvious to some, and hasn't been discussed in other posts to my knowlege. If you get a yellow blinking error light, try flipping the chip around before pursuing other means.

I hope this helps. Flame on, Trolls!

 

[Pantless]

Um, I hate to say it, but if your chip is reversed, you have a problem. If you correctly read the tutorials, then you should have no problem. Also, if you have a flashing orange light (yes, it is orange), it usually is overheating. I have never had a box that when the orange light was flashing, it wasn't a heat issue. Maybe the fact that your chip was reversed shorted out something, thereby confusing the xbox, it thinking it overheated.

I am by no means trolling, or flaming. Its just that your problem is, well, interesting....and your solution, somewhat obvious.

 

[donalbane]

Yes... so obvious it might be overlooked by some. Other posts state that this particular error is due to heat issue, and nothing else. This is simply not the case. Keep in mind everyone one this forum isn't a pro at the whole mod scene. Regardless of weather or not 'something shorted out', this problem still produces a yellow/amber/orange light error that was the result of chip misplacement. As this particular solution wasn't previously addressed in this forum, I though perhaps someone might find it helpful. I realize most perusers of this board won't, though... hence the defensive tone of my origninal post. It seems that everyone here is so very fond of stating "I knew that already" or "read the manual, n00b", which is unfortunate. With regard to the installation walkthroughs... depending on what chip/mobo combo you're dealing with, they are in many cases outdated, regardless of how up to date they were at the time of your modding. My primary concern was for people who might get the yellow/amber/orange light error and feel confused at the insistence of previous posts which claim the error is solely due to heat issues. In my case, it was a misplaced chip, and this information might help someone solve a seemingly insurmountable problem which, for practical purposes, is unrelated to overheating.

 

[Pantless]

Nicely put. I agree with most of what you are saying, but I still don't understand how someone can mess up the orientation of the chip....still don't know...

And as for the general noob comments, they are somewhat justified. Usually these problems arise when someone just comes in and asks a question. 99.875% of the time, the problem can be looked up, and it could be fixed. If in fact the orientation of the chip was the source of the problem, and this wasn't a one of a kind situation, I would (and most would too) have no problem saying "read the tutorials". I was once a noob too, but at some point I said to myself that I need to do some work for myself. Hell, I probably messed up my first chip too. I hope you can see my standpoint.