I found an Xbox first gen on a local yard sale but it's 50hz. I'm guessing it's a PAL console? But will it work on a 220v 60hz mains? I recently tested a PAL Sega Dreamcast 220-240v 50hz/60hz on my two tv and it works.
It should work fine on 60Hz. It uses a switch mode power supply, so the net frequency isn't important. The net frequency is also unrelated to the video output refresh rate. That will be 50 or 60Hz for PAL and 60Hz on NTSC. On the early versions of those xboxes, the power connector sometimes became loose from the power supply. If your system shuts down when you wiggle the power cord, it's not because you have 60Hz. It's because the connector needs resoldering. Also check the goldcap on the mobo when your unit is not a 1.6 model. They pretty much all start to leak, and the stuff is corrosive and can damage the pcb.
I just found out that the xbox i was talking about is an Hong Kong version. Probably NTSC. Seller says its in Chinese language. Will i able to change it to english?
If it's the official HK market version then it will be NTSC:J, but with a 220V power supply. Yes, you can change it to English. Also note that if it was sold in HK there is a very good chance it has a mod chip in it - I would estimate that about 80% of the consoles sold in the HK market were modded.
What does a mod chip do on to an original Xbox? How do you know if its mod chipped. I checked the underside and the stickers are pretty intact? I tried to connect via xbox live but it wont let me. Why?
If the stickers are intact and don't look disturbed then it probably doesn't have a mod chip, although it may have been softmodded - or it could be original. Typically the only mods done to those HK consoles were to let them run pirated games, so you wouldn't necessarily see any differences. The reason you can't connect to Xbox live is that the live service for the original xbox was turned off in about 2010 - so it's got nothing to do with your xbox, it's simply that nobody can connect to it now.
