Hey guys, any advice on which one of these chips is most noob-friendly? http://www.modchipsource.com/ My main interest is to be able to use my Xbox as a media center, mainly for video. I'm thinking I'd get one of the solderless ones, the simpler the install the better. Anybody here into this stuff?
If you are looking for an easy install, I would recommend the Xenium ICE w/ solderless adapter. Although the Xecuter 3 is the top dog when it comes to xbox modchips, I've known ppl who have used the Xenium adapter with the x3 because it is so solid and easy to install.
Don't know much about Xbox Modchips, but a friend of mine has one called Alladin Advance or something. (i know, pretty stupid name). He uses the normal and a hacked dashboard, load games directly from HDD and also uses XBMC.
The one I installed on my xbox is a soderless one, just scews in pace, and it is flashable. They are fairly cheep and does the job perfect. From the odd times that system is on. Also going when I use to go on LIVE, I never had a problem
How about running Emulators? Do you need a mod chip to do that? I was thinking of getting an XBOX too to shove behind the PC and use it as an emulation box for Retro Core. It would be much easier than getting out the real hardware all the time. Yakumo
Yakumo, you'll need a mod chip to play with emulators. Generally i recomend softmodding (it's a mod without a chip, you use bugs in certain games to get ftp access to your xbox and set it up that way). I'm not sure if you can softmod a japanese console though.
I think you are able to do softmod/Hard drive swap, but it is risky to do. It is more or less of a hotswap.
Use UDE/UDE2 (or whatever the new version is) - it's very easy with an installer and you can do pretty much everything you can with a chip. The only difficulty I ever had when using my softmod was upgrading the hard drive, and that's pretty easy after you do it the first time. The only thing you really need is an Action Replay device (or something similar that transfers saved game files).
Few things to note. If your going to go on live you need a Chip you can turn off(all of them should have this feature, but you never know). If you've been on Xbox live in the last two years or so, your HD is locked to your MB and if you upgrade the HD and go on live you will get banned. If you have "married" your stock HD to the MB then you will need a way to swap between the stock HD and an upgraded one like a HD IDE caddy. Ideally what you would want to do is log onto live with an Xbox that has never once been connected to live after you have modded it(with the chip off) and the upgraded HD in. That way it gets "married" to the large HD.
Oh if your not going to softmod, solderless= teh gay. I've heard they are better now but I still wouldnt doubt its easy to shift them a little and bam chip is no longer on the contacts.
MechAssault is region-free so it should work. Not necessarily. The safe way is to get a modified linux toolkit called Xbox HDM (Hardisk maker). All you need is the EEPROM from your console and the HD you want to lock. The locking tool will calculate the locking code from the EEPROM and the serial # of the HD so no risky hotswap required. And Hawanja, if you can solder or know someone who can, forget the solderless. Not all but many have problems with the solderless chips albeit the newer solderless chips/adapters (the xenium solderless adapter for instance) are better in the stability department.
ok.. its not on the page... but what about... http://www.dms3.com/cgi-bin/xbit/site.pl?page=home easy install, yet all the options you might miss later, using a soft mod [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2MB flash which can store a single 2MB flash or a mix of 256k,512k or 1MB BIOS files (Possible total of six combinations).[/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Completely solder free design, using spring loaded pins and a screw, providing fast, reliable and idiot proof installation.[/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Compatible with V1.0, V1.1, V1.2, V1.3, V1.4, V1.5 (V1.6 needs a small adapter-plate) [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Built in programmer, for sending flash files from PC to MOD.[/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Flashable before installation.[/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Disable and Enable Switch, MOD status LED indicator and a Mini USB connector (for flash file transfer) on an external “control panelâ€.[/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Compatible with all third party flash files. Multi-Bios support.[/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Optional Eject switch reset, requires soldering only 1 wire.[/font]
I don't think he'll need any space for different BIOSes or anything, since all he said he needed to do was watch videos. That's why I recommended a softmod - cheaper than a modchip, less risk than a modchip/TSOP, and you'll be able to mod any other Xboxes that you may happen to acquire. Once again, the only difficulty I had was upgrading to a bigger hard drive, but you can always check the Xbox-Scene forums or ask me if you have any problems.
Thats true most of the time, except how my box seems to be an exception. Was online quite a bit with my stock HDD, upgraded HDD and a new modchip (old one didnt have a switch), went online and has been working fine for years
You must have not been online when they started "marrying" the HD with the EEPROM. If you were online oh say a year/year and a half ago and have stopped using live during that time period you MIGHT be safe. I got lucky, I had been on live in the very beginning and never again untill the bannings started. For shits and giggles I decided to toss my 250 gig in log on with a 2 month free card that came with H2. I figured I could at least somewhat prove/disprove the marriage theory. To this day I can still use live. EEPROM got "married" to the 250 gig. Also that way I could help people decipher if MS was scanning HDs. It apears they were not(perhaps if you had been flagged as logging in with a modchip before). If you were logging in right before the bannings, I am at a complete loss to explain unless your stock HD and upgraded had the same electronic serial # or whatever they use to identify the HD(is that even possible?)
Can someone expand on the bannings? Does it prevent you from doing anything with the XBOX, or just stop you using Live?
Just prevents you from using LIVE. The console itself is banned and not your account. If you try logging on with your account in another xbox, it will still work. A banned console can be brought back on LIVE by replacing its EEPROM data with the one from an xbox that has never been on LIVE once. There's a lot more detail in the matter but those are the basics.
Wow, thanks for all the responses guys. Well, all I want to do is watch video, and maybe run some emulators (I do have the entire nes romset, just taking up space on my hard drive.) So I'd like to replace the hard drive too. Thanks for the advice, I'll read up on softmodding before getting a chip. Just thought I'd ask before too long, seeing how Xbox 1 is problably going to be discontinued within the year and intrest in modding old xboxes might fade.
