Xbox modding questions

g5hn710m4xpdwy

Iv heard that halo 2 is cracking down lots of modded xboxs.Im not sure if it is true but im not sure i want to mod my xbox since i only got it for xmas. thanks elmer

Giblet

Here is a great guide.

http://dwl.xbox-scene.net/~xbox/xbox-scene/tutorials/modanxbox.zip

Giblet

Yay, I did it

After nearly crying, I got it all done. Had to get all McGuyver!

trippertds

I want a to get a modded x-box.

Option 1 - buy an xbox and buy a chip myself. It'll probably be a new version so I wont be able to use a solderless one. I have no real soldering skills but have a cousin who done a eletrical-something or other degree who may help me. I'd like to avoid doing that though as I would be pissing him off.

My other option is modchipireland. Im pretty confident I could get the software end sorted - 1. Dash, 2. BIOS, 3 . Appz etc. (could someone tell me if that's right?!). I'm leaning towards this at the moment.

Last one is to buy a xbox and pay one of ye to do it. I'm in Kildare, so Elmer seems like the nearest option, unless there is someone else. Im worried about the cost of this though...

Also - is the xbox's normal HD actually big enough for a few backups etc or should I really upgrade?

Giblet

I wouldn't recommend soldering on the chip to anyone who hasn't soldered before, it's very hard.

225 for a premodded crystal Xbox sounds good though.

trippertds

But that has no extra HD and I'd really want to back up a good few games on it. Would buying the €225 pre-modded xbox and a dvd burner (I have none) be an ok idea?

I could copy my games on my PC to a DVD disc and play 'em

elmer

225 for a premod isn't too bad at all. you could replace the harddrive yourself. you'll need 2 torx screwdrivers and a prep disk and of course the ide hard drive. but they'll probably install a harddrive for you for a reasonable cost - it wouldn't take much longer to do.

A word of warning about a premod though - if they aren't offering a guarantee - you're probably better off buying the console and using it for a few weeks before you mod it. I had a new crystal board die on me for no reason recently. It's unlikely that they would replace the board for you in this situation. whereas if the box dies before modding, it can easily be returned to the shop it was bought in

original xbox games have to be copied via the xbox drive itself. this is because the drive reads the disc from outside in rather than inside out. so you'd be ftping the files off the xbox dvd drive or hard drive

Nige

elmer

Giblet wrote:

Yay, I did it

After nearly crying, I got it all done. Had to get all McGuyver!

I nearly missed that - congrats - what did you have to mcguyverise?

Giblet

The pins on the header started to get loose because my soldering iron is a bit overpowered. So they slipped down. I couldn't get the solder to attach, so I put a drop of solder on the pin, and pushed it down so it's nearly flush with the pad, and the solder made a nice connection. Some of the pins are sticking through the other side though, so it does have some support.

Buying a new 160 gig hdd for it now.

Do you have to use an EVO disk to format the drive in the XBOX, or can you use anything else?

I have an xecuter 3.

savemejebus

I found Slayers to be the easiest for formatting the disc

Giblet

So basically, install the HDD, boot the disk. FTP in, copy back the backed up C & E drives, and party?

trippertds

I wish I was able to install a chip by myself . I hate paying more for something I could just learn

savemejebus

Giblet wrote:

So basically, install the HDD, boot the disk. FTP in, copy back the backed up C & E drives, and party?

thats about it, to save time, if you only have game save files on the hdd you only need to transfer them, not the entire C & E drives as slayers does a fresh build of them

savemejebus

trippertds wrote:

I wish I was able to install a chip by myself . I hate paying more for something I could just learn

You should do what I did, grab a 2nd hand xbox from game or gamestop (if you're lucky you'll get a v1.4) then get a solderless chip and xaptor and away you go or if you like soldering go that route. If you've any experience with the inside of a pc the xaptor is a simple enough process. And there is a wealth of info in this post and lots of people that are willing to give advice.

And in the unfortunate event that your 2nd hand xbox was a new version you could use the money you've saved on it to get it chipped by a pro

trippertds

savemejebus wrote:

You should do what I did, grab a 2nd hand xbox from game or gamestop (if you're lucky you'll get a v1.4) then get a solderless chip and xaptor and away you go or if you like soldering go that route. If you've any experience with the inside of a pc the xaptor is a simple enough process. And there is a wealth of info in this post and lots of people that are willing to give advice.

And in the unfortunate event that your 2nd hand xbox was a new version you could use the money you've saved on it to get it chipped by a pro

God damn it, I'm gonna try! :cool:

It'll be a while before a second hand Xbox turns up though, with the low-stock levels and all

g5hn710m4xpdwy

If i mod my xbox with the X 3 chip, should i be able to borrow my friends games slot them into the pc put a blank cd-r disk in and copy it and hope it plays or will it have to be done on a dvd disk (i hope not cause i dont have a dvd burner unless someone hear is going to post me one for free. please. ) . will i need any spiecil software to do this or can i do it wit the average software?

Flunked

Tivoli

no that wont work

you need....

1 to own the game you want to backup

2 to have a network set up to the xbox

3 ftp program to copy the game speil over

4 xiso to make an iso for nero

5 nero and a dvd burner

6 burn to a blank dvd-r

Tivoli

best bet would be to fit a bigger hard drive and backup your games to that, its very easy to do

g5hn710m4xpdwy

ok ill ask my brother wat u wer talking about on ur 2nd last post but thanks anyway. can u copy them on to a dvd disk and use it like dat or do i av to get more memery cause im running low on cash. can you get net acsess through the network on the pc. relplys would be great. thaks .

Flunked

elmer

I think you need to take a look at www.xbox-scene.com - there are numerous guides/tutorials answering all your questions about backing up the games.

you can run the games off dvd provided the dvd drive in your xbox can read the media. it's really a case of trying a few discs and seeing which work

saying that nearly all drives play dvd-r, dvd+r works on a good few where as dvd-rw and dvd+rw don't work too well unless you've a samsung drive

Nige

[nicK]

considering giving this a crack myself... it's looking like the solderless option.
xecuter3 seems to be the best selling chip atm... is there a solderless one?

where's the best place to buy? chipshop was mentioned.. any others that are reliable and provide quick delivery?

and about upgrading the hard drive, does it need to be a specific make/model or will any one do?

also, is it possible to connect an external tv tuner to an xbox?
i'm looking to get rid of everything under my tv (dvd player, vcr, hi fi etc) and just have the modded xbox being able do everything.. so a tv tuner would be icing..

Giblet

Chipshop got mine there in three days. Also they were very quick replying to emails.

Shipping was 6 euro or something.

[nicK]

great! i've ordered xecuter3 from them so i should get it by the end of the week.

if my xbox is v1.6, an alternative method of installing it is needed, is that correct? or does xecuter3 chips bypass this?

also, applications and software..
i'm aware of media center and a few ripping utilities and also had a brief look at xbox-scene but what are the essential xbox applications to have?

savemejebus

if you're xbox is v1.6 then i think the LPC port needs to be rebuilt.

Regarding applications, once you have the bios and dash sorted then you would probably need

DvDx v2.0 (to play your dvds outside of media centre)
HDloader (to backup games to the hdd)
DVD2Xbox (transfer files from dvd to xbox)
Emulators (snes, megadrive, n64 etc)
boXplorer (file management tool)

Flash Fxp (not actually on xbox but on pc and very good for ftping between pc and xbox)

Thats pretty much all i can remember using often from my xbox, and a fairly easy way to get all these apps (and a dashboard) is the slayers evo-x install disc, tis a very handy thing to have

elmer

i'd recommend the pin header install - if you bought the lpc rebuild pcb then make sure to install it after the pin header. it's not a big thing but for a first time it could make things messy as the pcbs melt pretty easily. if it'll be a rebuild of the lpc using wires then make sure to get thw smallest wire you can find - i use 30 awg which is very fine - it makes life alot easier as the points are pretty small

don't be too liberal with teh auld solder either and get a solder sucker or solder braid just in case

if you've got broadband have a look on bit torrent for either slayers of firefcukers xdisk it's a good basis to get you started

if you're stick i can send you a bit of wire

Nige

Giblet

You get alot of extra wires with the xecuter to do the 1.6 install. My advice? Get the smallest soldering iron you can with the finest tip on it. Probably 25-30w will be ok. Also, use very fine solder, and a solder sucker.

For the 1.6 you will have to remove a pin from the pin header. Not that complicated to do, it's all on the instructions.

I then made a flash disk with the X3 bios on it (use slayers if you are adding a harddrive though. Make sure you ftp into your xbox and backup the dash, eeprom C and E drives and (was about half a gig for me)).

I recommend using avalaunch as your dash as it picks up everything you add without problems, and you can update it from the dash. Using slayers will install alot of stuff on the F drive anyway (if you are using a new harddrive) but you will have to install avalaunch seperatly (and edit the .xml file to get paths)

If you need any help pm me, or one of the other lads will probably be glad to help.

Oh and check what drive you have. Samsung are the best, haven't had any problem reading any media so far, even cheapo cd-rs.

[nicK]

thanks for all the advice so far..modchip should be here any day now
any idea where i'd buythe soldering iron and accessories.. (mine's pretty old and worn) i know peats do them but im in belfast, would currys/dixons do them?

and what about the backed up games.. is it possible to connect to xbox live loading a game from the hard drive? or is the disc needed?

Ciaran500

Is there a Maplins near you? They do them. I would advise you get a soldering iron less than 30W. I put my chip in using a 30W on and it made it very hard.

Giblet

[nicK] wrote:

thanks for all the advice so far..modchip should be here any day now
any idea where i'd buythe soldering iron and accessories.. (mine's pretty old and worn) i know peats do them but im in belfast, would currys/dixons do them?

and what about the backed up games.. is it possible to connect to xbox live loading a game from the hard drive? or is the disc needed?

You could probably connect to live, but you would get banned if you do so.

Best using a program like xlink-kai.

elmer

if you can wait a few days get it direct from antex http://www.antex.co.uk - i've ordered from them before they're quick and atleast you can get the 0.12 solder bit from the too

I think it took about 3 days to get teh stuff