SUPERXBOX: 1+TB custom crystal slim-box - LOTS of pics

nice work mate

 

A few detailed pictures would be much appreciated

 

Nice!!!! If ya need to you could toss out the chip and just make use out of the TSOP, If you also need another board as I see you may have fried yours from that other post, I can kick ya one for just shipping costs! ;-)

 

thanks for the info on the 750gb ide hdd! i just bought one for $100 exactly. its about 400gb more than i need but for that price i had to get it haha. if you end up figuring out how to trick the dvd drove let me know. because ill need to make a slimbox for my car here pretty soon

 

Well I'm hoping someone will help out on the schematics! I only need to "trick" the Xbox into thinking it has a DVD because it will be running a debug bios which requires a DVD to boot.

If your case a modchip or TSOP flash might be the way to go! Either way, ill keep ya posted

Glad you found a hard drive! Post some pictures if you start your project sometime.

Made some progress tonight.

Filled and sanded the left side of the front panel. Still needs a wet-sand since i used some pretty abrasive stuff. I also think I'm going to install a 2.6 inch LCD screen in the center of the front panel like the pictures below, or may just use the empty space on the left of the front panel.






Finally I managed to rip apart my old PC and unlock my 750GB hard drive, which was filled with valuable data.



So here is the TO DO list:

Purchase a "hip pad screen" to hardwire and mount...Can't seem to find one!
Cut area in front panel for LCD
Final sand on front panel
Repair current motherboard (if possible)
OR
Use existing 1.1 motherboard, install modchip and solder in GPU fan connector
No DVD hardware hack...Still need info

So it feels like backwards progress. But I've accomplished alot over the weekend!

Bondo'd the DVD tray, to achieve a flat tray rather than hollow. Needs sanding




Got a multimedia on the DVD connector, and I found that i followed the schematics upside down. The wires are now fixed, and Xbox boots with the new motherboard, however it still throws code 11 - NO DVD drive detected... WTF! I'm beginning to think that this no DVD mod is bogus. Blue taped wires are actually 5v and 12v.




Salvaged my 128MB Ram Motherboard and removed the GPU fan connector & the pin-header which was soldered onto my 1.1 - They both work! Notice in the pictures the new motherboard only has 64MB's of RAM I also lost a pin from the modchip pin header and used a pin from the fan connector on the old motherboard :excitement: Yes it looks like shit, i know! I will clean up the job a little better next weekend.





Ordered a hip pad LCD screen to install in the front panel

Added another switch to the rear, it will toggle video to the front LCD & TV, also cleaned up metal and wires w/ electrical tape to prevent fires!





To be done:
Install LCD
Mount LCD
Cram all the LCD boards inside
Wire up LCD switch
Move power / eject assembly to left of front panel
final wet sand
polish
Get the damn No-DVD hack to work...

 

I still have a DVD-free bios installed on my old Xbox, worked fine as far as I can remember. Xecuter 2 chip of some sort.

 

Your suggestion would work when I use the X3 BIOS, as it has no DVD support. But if I use a debug BIOS I need the actual hardware to be spoofed, since all debug BIOS's require a DVD drive (to my knowledge)

 

Honestly, there aren't many reasons to actually use a debug bios, unless you plan on taking screenshots or making something. I would look into documentation on the BIOS itself if you feel up to actually modifying the debug bios.

 

The X3 bios has switchable debug feature. Check the Config Live menu to enable it. Make sure you have all the devkit files on your Xbox HDD or it might hang during boot.

 

I just wanted to be able to use the XDK dash and have full dev capabilities. Honestly I'm not smart enough to alter the bios to my needs. But I'm open to any documentation about altering BIOS's if you have any. I would be altering the debug BIOS for no DVD support and 32k cluster support. But my work around is using a 2nd smaller hard drive on a switch, a debug bios, and a hardware no DVD hack. It seems the easiest route.

I have actually tried this, however it wont work in conjunction with my 750GB hdd since its formatted using 32k clusters. Some kind of weird incompatibility. It acts like the rest of the debug bios's; it won't even work with that hard drive anymore because of unique cluster size.

 

I didn't knew that! I tought that only F and G were affected by the variable cluster sizes. I was under the impression that C:, E:, X:, Y:, and Z: all had the standard fatx cluster size (16k I presume).

Well it's kind of a bummer. I wanted to have the debug features on my Xbox to use the XDK network neirborhood. I find it to be a much faster way to transfer files than FTP.

 

Getting bored waiting for the LCD screen. So I added USB support, I've included the latest pictures. I tested the USB ports in my blue xbox, but you will see that i made a some special cuts in the red case (which is the one i will be using w/ black faceplate). I need to buy some files to enlarge the USB holes and keep it nice, clean, and square.

Stripped all the wires:


USB Hub that i used:


Spliced in the USB port wires:

My Crappy soldering:



Testing everything very carefully! Lots of exposed and unsheilded wiring!

 

This is really cool. Keep up the good work man! :excitement:

 

Pretty sure you can have 64k clusters and use the F-drive set as "ALL" if you format with Xboxpartitioner 1.1.
Didn't have time to look for my pics yet, I'll get around to that this weeken.
It surely works... (so you actually managed to use the schematics upside down, as I thought, and fried the mobo?)

I have to tell you that I did it on an Xbox with X3 installed, but never seen any BIOS settings for disabling the DVD drive and I'm using a normal BIOS at it.


EDIT
here's the source: http://forums.modretro.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=589
As you can see, there's not much to it. Strange it doesn't work for you.
Maybe fix up your connections first, as static electricity may be the culprit?

 

Looking very good so far, hope you don't fry yourself

Can't wait to see it in action.

 

Meh, I'm done messing around with XB partitioner. It would take forever to re-partition the whole hard drive and then transfer 720GB of data. The 750GB HDD wont even boot to the stock bios anymore. Infact, it wont even get to the flubber screen, it does this with most debug and the retail bios. Does the same on both motherboards. So my best guess is that the file allocation table is too large for the stock bios and it wont even boot.

But you had me thinking on the no DVD hack...I'll use some thinner wire. I did confirm ~3.25V to the 'tray in' wire. Wires are connected 100% properly and soldered well.

Thanks! I'm hoping the same! :subdued:The most nerve racking electrical is next. I plan on using the DVD 12V to power the LCD, instead of the molex which is already split up and tappeed into. I will also need to solder to small pins on the motherboard, and finally need to fix this no DVD hack!


Here is the update folks!

-Got my LCD screen in the mail today. Currently I'm still chopping the front panel. It needs lots of bodywork! If your curious on the LCD installation procedure or you are just wondering what the hell I'm doing then check this link: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/lofiversion/index.php/t589678.html. I Also ran into another snag, I need to find which pin the video ground (brown) wire is supposed to be soldered to on the video controller board. I opened up the screen and it was detached! WTF!!!




(below)The Brown video ground wire has to be soldered on one of these pins...Now it's likely a guessing game. We all know what happened last time when i took an educated guess on wiring!





-USB is all wired up. Both USB ports are finished and ready to be mounted inside the case. Still need to do more body work and cutting prior to mounting. But consider it done.

Stock versus my spliced USB setup:



What I hope to accomplish in the next week:

-Bodywork... Should take up half a day; More Bondo on the front panel and attempt to mount the LCD screen.

-Mount USB

-Install LCD screen

-Paint front panel

-Install Controller ports...Might be difficult to alight the ports with the holes in the front panel.

 

I will say, it is fun watching this thread, reminds me of all the fun days of modding years ago.

 

Thanks Borman, I do appreciate the help and support that you and others have provided What's stopping you from chopping up one of your Xbox's? Wouldn't it be sweet to have a slim debug and media center all contained in one Xbox?

Get inspired: XS 'Design catalog' : http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=103427&st=4290

 

Sad to see you cut up that XCM case, it might not be super-rare but they dont grow on trees.

 

Haha I knew someone would bust my balls for cutting a crystal colored case. But honestly, it's just an aftermarket case. It only costs 25$..... Llamma.com still has in excess of 10-20 of them. It's either that, or cut into my halo 2 LE case :biggrin-new:. I do realize the cuts look like shit, but when it's all sanded, polished, and the front panel is painted you wont be so harsh!

EDIT: As per this link: http://secure.llamma.com/catalog/xbox-cases-c-64_50.html i have purchased the last one...muwhahaha :highly_amused:. That's good for me though. How many people own a red XCM case, and then have a slim one?