Hey, Is it possible to get proper debug unit out of retail console? I cannot really find anyone selling debut right now and I wanted to try few debug discs that I have, but they do not run on retail console. So I was thinking if it is possible to turn retail unit into debug somehow and wanted to know if anyone here tried it before. I assume I'd need to do 128MB RAM mod first, but what's next? Just flash the debug BIOS (and how?)?
I don't believe any of the "debug" bios' that I know of work properly with a tsop flash, they need to be ran off of a modchip. You don't need the 128mb mod necessarily but it would help things a bit. But to answer your question, yes in a fashion you can make a retail xbox function as a debug unit. I've done in the past a mod for someone where I installed x2 5035 along side a "debug" bios on a Xecuter 2.6 chip and it functioned fine as both a debug and a retail modded system running unleashx.
Or just use Phoenix Bios Loader to run a "Boot From Media" debug bios. It will give you everything a debug Xbox can do minus the extra RAM. Plus its temporary so just reboot the system to go back to retail.
Well.... I made simple files to move over to a 1.0-1.5 console after it's been soft modded that will run the debug bios without chips.... I can link if you want a simple process without a bunch of flashing and stuff...
I was wondering this same thing....if u can make a retail unit a debug/devkit unit myself as I have 2 v1.0 boxes I was thinking about trying it....how ever all the debug download files I find say be careful how I use the files as it will blank my eeprom an brick my box if I do not know what I am doing http://www.theisozone.com/downloads/xbox/tools/xbox-developers-kit-5849/ The same type of thing is said in the nfo file for the other xdk set of utilities I located also. Code: . . : : ____|_ __ ______________________|_____ _ ___ _____\ / / /\___ / \ / /_____ _ _ _____/ // __ \ \___ _____ _ ______\___________________________/____\____\______ \ | | / ) : | ( _/ ' ' \_ __ __\ /__ __ _\/__ XBOX.XDK.5933.UNOFFICIAL-WAM _\/_ \/\ /______________ ___ _ _ ___ ________________\ /\/ \/ \/ Company........:Microsoft File Count.:40X15MB Released..:March,22 2005 Media Type.....:N/A Origin..............:N/A Media Type.....:N/A Language.:En/De/Fr/It/Sp Genre.......:Development _________ __ _________ / / __ ___\/_ ________________\________\/________/________________ _\/___ \ /\/ R E L E A S E I N F O \/\ / \/____________________________________________________________\/ / /\________\ /_________/ WAM is proud to present XBOX XDK 5933. Digital signatures removed to protect the guilty. This release is for all the great xbox homebrew developers out there. WAM loves you all !! Notes: ~~~~~~ So Whats this? a new xdk? but microsoft said 5849 was the last one.. Well they straight out lied. This xdk was produced for Microsoft's in house developers (Think Halo 2). What they tweaked is unknown but rest assured it must be good. -We've included the remote recovery exe for those who have an official debug kit. WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING If you have a retail modded xbox do not use the remote recovery executable. it can and will flash your bios, overwrite your harddrive, and blank your eeprom. Unless of course you know what your doing. do not blame us if you hose your xbox! WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING!WARNING Greets to the individuals who made this release possible. _________ __ _________ / / __ ___\/_ ________________\________\/________/________________ _\/___ \ /\/ G R O U P I N F O \/\ / \/____________________________________________________________\/ / /\________\ /_________/ Dont find us, we'll find you. _________ __ _________ / / __ ___\/_ ________________\________\/________/________________ _\/___ \ /\/ G R E E T Z \/\ / \/____________________________________________________________\/ / /\________\ /_________/ BAM - WpR - WjR ________________________________ \ updated 01/06/02 /_______________________________ /_____________________________// / /_______________________________\ .__________________________.-..__.-...-..___.-..________________________\///. |.:.MisterX & MisterY.:.:.. \ \\/ // | ||\/\| ||::.::.:::.Site Scripts V1.2:| `--\_______________/---------\___//--|_||\//|_||---------\_________________/' Can anyone explain from a more technical standpoint why these xdk files act this way or why we can't simply tsop them to a retail box?
It's simple really: The BIOS/FLASH on a Debug kit is upgradable, on a retail it is not. The Debug and Retail bios use a different type of 'encryption' on the EEPROM settings The Debug bios does not require a valid EEPROM or a locked HDD, the Retail bios requires both of these. The Debug Xbox does not have the MCPX boot rom, making an unmodified bios incompatible with retail hardware. The XDK recovery erases the HDD, installs the Debug dashboard, upgrades the FLASH and wipes out the EEPROM to default settings. On a retail xbox, the HDD will be erased, the EEPROM will be reset, the Dashboard will be installed, but the upgrade to the FLASH ROM will fail. This will leave the Xbox in an unworkable state. In theory, it would be possible to recover the Xbox, but that would require an EEPROM backup, a hardware way to flash the EEPROM, a way to relock the HDD with the original key and a method to reinstall the correct retail files. Even if you use a boot from media BIOS with Phoenix Bios Loader, the above makes it impossible to actually run an XDK recovery image safely.
Softmodders are SOL, but if you have a chip, can't you just boot a debug bios (not the stock one from that recovery disk, but modded w mcpx rom) and take it from there? Well at least as long as you have an eeprom backup to get into your (now freshly-erased but still locked) hdd. Or of you do know the password but don't have an eeprom backup for some weird reason you could rebuild the eeprom from scratch.
So reading the above the upgradable flash rom is what will cause the whole thing to fail rather u try a conversion with an unlocked tsop xbox or not. So how about replacing the flash rom on a tsop xbox making both the flash rom upgradable and the tsop xbox hard drive will not have to have a locked hard drive? These are just what if questions I by no means know all the technical standpoints of this whole scenario at all what so ever but one would think once you disable the need for a locked hard drive and enable write access to the flash rom you are talking about it should make this possible. EDIT: As another thought.....a modchip such as an X3 is capable of backing up the whole eeprom on the chip it's self as well as flash it back......would running the debug software in a normal "fresh install" manner with the correct bios still brick a system? Im not sure I understand why for example one can not flash a TSOP system (bios write is enabled on these) that does not require a locked HDD and thus shouldn't need the eeprom with an xdk bios and then run the setup software. Reading above you talk about an MCPX chip being the main reason why this can not be completed.....can someone elaborate on what exactly the MCPX chip is or does? I would assume it is not the same as the BIOS flash chip as a modchip replaces this and a TSOP gives us wrote access to the BIOS chip....perhaps this is where my confusion is coming in at understanding this
Did some reading here: http://web.archive.org/web/20100617...nux.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Boot_Code_of_the_Xbox All way over my head but I do understand that the MCPX chip is MS propiatory as well as part of the consoles chain of command for booting.....sounds kinda like the hypervisor on the 360 and ps3 (I think 360 used part of HV if I'm not mistaken)
Just use PBL plus a BFM Debug Bios guys, Works fine with softmod even. I got this pack years ago from a Halo modding site iirc but I don't recall the name or who posted it, I added the Windows Shell Extension to it in case anyone needs it or wants it without the rest of the SDK. Code: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ascq2DTMUlASgoZiGR18hEhKA_XZBg BTW a none modded debug bios will never work on a retail since its missing boot code that real debugs don't use while retails do. You guys sure love over complicating things.
Interesting I'm guessing this can be flashed to a modchip bios bank? Is there some sort of documentation with it? What PBL and BFM mean, scene releases or something? This is another thing I was very curious about actually modifying a BIOS, I'm guessing it's done in a he editor or something? Is there documentation somewhere to help with something like this? I'm more or less curious why exactly it is that a retail unit can not be turned into a debug if it's all the same hardware which apparently even tho it is the MCPX chip is coded differently on the debug systems than on retail systems. I know there is cex <-->dex conversions for ps3 and just wasent sure about the original xbox
Phoenix Bios Loader - Boot From Media. PBL loads bios files that have been flagged as BFM, this way you can run things like the debug bios without having to flash anything. IDK the specifics on these so can't really help you on how its modified to work on retails. As for the PS3 thing the reason there is that both retail and debug units use exactly the same hardware while afaik only the firmware is different, this is not the case with he Xbox but I don't remember exactly why its different beside the MCPX thing. https://www.assemblergames.com/thre...ence-between-the-mcpx-chips-big-images.41069/ https://github.com/JayFoxRox/xqemu-jfr/wiki/MCPX-and-bootloader
