Xbox flashing red and green

Hi,
I got an old original Xbox (v1.6) here and are having some issues trying to get it to boot.
It reboots a couple of times and flashes red and green (FRAG) when I turn it on, and no video output is shown on the TV.

Here's what I've done to try to troubleshoot the issue:

• It has a modchip (Xecutor 2.3 Lite), so I tried de-soldering it to see if that was the cause of the FRAG, but it did not help.
• Checked for bad capacitors, but they all look fine.
• I've looked for broken traces.
• Checked for solder splashes/bridges.
• I've measured the collector transistor voltage OK, at 3.25 V
• I've touched the MCPX chip to see if it is getting very warm when powered - it does not
• I've reflowed the solder on the LPC points

I'm not too familiar with these consoles, so I'm wondering if anyone could tell me if removing the hard drive and/or the DVD drive would cause FRAG in an un-modded Xbox?

Also - I do not have the original hard drive - would booting with a larger hard drive cause the FRAG issue?

All suggestions appreciated,
Thanks!

 

If you just shoved a larger pc hdd in it, then that would be a problem as that's where it boots it's OS from.
And if you removed the chip and you're trying to boot it with a foreign hdd then that spells double trouble.
It will boot a foreign hdd, as long as it has the system files on it and as long as you have a modchip that allows the xbox to boot unlocked hdds.
Unless the hdd has been specifically prepared with needed system files and eeprom hdd lock password (the hdd password is unique and generated from the eeprom).
I'm not sure what removing the DVD drive would do, but I would guess is that it'd refuse to boot.

Either way you should be seeing an error message on screen with an error number.
Since you're not seeing that, you should look at the AV connector on the motherboard, check the AV cable itself.

 

If it flashes green and reboots and then flashes red green, it's the eeprom that's corrupt or has been flashes with another Xbox version.
( reason I know I done it lmao had to buy an eeprom reader to fix it )

You get no image on the screen when this happens.

 

@americandad
Unfortunately I don't know if the hard drive was prepared with system files and eeprom lock password, as it was like this when I got it.

@Rocky5
That could be something for me to try, since I don't know the history of this Xbox from the original owner. Maybe he flashed the eeprom incorrectly. Did you have to desolder the eeprom from the Xbox to reflash it?

 

The EEPROM contains the key to unlock your hdd. So you have 2 options, 1 being to get a sync between eeprom key and hdd lock, and 2 being to boot from a bios that doesn't care about the hdd lock. I'd definitely go with 2, but even now you should get some video output, so maybe there's more trouble.

 

No I purchased a reader off eBay it plugs into a serial port and into the top two via on the LPC port. You can use a USB adaptor if you don't have a serial port. ( I had to get a USB adaptor for my new PC )

You then use ponyprog to get the eeprom.

You then use liveinfo beta 3 to convert the extracted eeprom to a v1.6 eeprom and then flash it back. ( that way everything key wise will be the same )

 

@Rocky5
Thank you. I think I'll try to make my own EEPROM reader/writer by following this and this tutorial. I actually have an old desktop computer with a serial port available.

@zzattack
If the EEPROM is corrupted, do you think option 2 would work? Can you boot a modded Xbox even though the EEPROM is corrupted?

 

Flashing Red and Green (FRAG) means the BIOS isn't loading. Not sure why the EEPROM, different from the flash memory that holds the BIOS which a 1.6 doesn't have anyway as MS moved the BIOS inside the Xcalibur (video encoder) chip and cannot be reflashed/modified, would be bad as you generally don't mess with it. You add a modchip to a rebuilt LPC port on a 1.6 Xbox as MS removed some signals to prevent (just made a bit harder) adding a modchip to the 1.6/1.6b release motherboards.

 

@KaosEngineer
From what I've read on various forums I think the motivation for flashing an EEPROM was to view/change the hard drive key, machine id (to get around Xbox live bans in the past), etc. So if the previous owner of this 1.6 Xbox did flash the EEPROM incorrectly while trying to achieve this, you're saying that I shouldn't be seeing a FRAG - but rather some other error code/ lights?

If so I suppose that would contradict what @Rocky5 experienced when he was able to recover from a FRAG after his EEPROM was corrupted.

It seems that a FRAG can be one of two error codes:

I guess I'm hoping for a Error Code 02, as I could potentially recover from it by reflashing the EEPROM. However, Error Code 04 would probably be the end for this particular console.

 

no you don't.





And seeing as you have a mod chip..

 

I'm not sure what would happen if they'd modified the EEPROM and messed it up that too may cause FRAG'ing. I've not tried modifying EEPROM contents other than using Configmagic. I've used it to lock/unlock my HDD when I installed an X2 modchip years ago. Currently, using Rocky5's softmodding tool as modchips not as prevalent as they were in the past.

 

Some news regarding this; I found out that I actually do have video/sound output when turning it on. But my Onkyo receiver was set to display Component 1 instead of Component 2 (the one hooked up to the Xbox)... My bad.

The error code is get is "05", and according to this page that's related to hard drive locking. So the plan now is to wait for my EEPROM reader/writer parts to arrive, then build it, then backup/flash the EEPROM and possibly rebuild the hard drive.
I'll keep posting in this thread once I get further in this project.

Thanks for all the help so far!

 

You might try to install the modchip again now that you have an image. You can burn a rescue disk after that and see if it boots from there. The rescue disk should have the proper tools to partition and format the drive you have in your xbox now.
Without modchip, you need a locked harddisk in the xbox with the correct files on it to work. To lock the harddisk, you will need an older pc with ide connectors. Not all pc's will work as some biosses have problems with locked harddrives. Some modchips only are activated if you power with either power or eject button. Sometimes the dvd drive tray state (open or closed) makes a difference as well

 

Or you could flash a bios that ignores hard drive locking? It's a good investment.

 

Actually I'm getting the Error Code 05 regardless if the Xecuter 2 modchip is enabled or disabled. Does this indicate that either the modchip itself might need to be flashed? If so, I don't have a cable for that (assuming that is how you flash the Xecuter 2.3b Lite modchips?).
I've gone over the wiring for the modchip and re-soldered it as well. It lights up fine, with two blue LED lights on the chip itself, and a green or red light (when enabled/disabled) on the controller board with the 3 switches on.
The only thing I haven't done is to de-solder the LPC bridge connector and solder it back in place again with fresh solder.

Thanks

 

You can't flash another bios on a 1.6 (b) xbox...Even on another model, you need to get it working before you can flash another bios.
Usually, a modchip bios has another flubber animation. Either they changed the green color or they display a version or something.
It looks like your modchip isn't working and that it keeps loading it's original bios.
Most modchips can hold multiple biosses. You might try to find instructions about your modchip to see if it could have multiple biosses and how you can select them.
Another possible road you could follow is reading out the eeprom to get the harddisk password. You can lock the hardisk again with an old pc having a compatible ide connector and bios. If the xbox works like that, you can install a softmod on the harddisk and enjoy all the same stuff you have with a modchip.

 

Also make sure the d0 point is grounded or the system will always boot from the rom/tsop

 

I don't seem to have a connection between the modchip's ground (board screw) and d0. When I connect d0 directly to ground I get 3x restart and then FRAG.

When connecting d0 to the modchip's grey wire (shown in this image from this guide) I get green a few seconds, then FRAG. The same happens if I dont connect the d0 at all.

This behavior is the same regardless if I have the modchip enabled/disabled via the Xecuter2 switcher board.

I also tried switching to the d0 on the bottom (as I have been using the d0 on the top of the board) but with no change in behavior.

Could this be a modchip failure?

Thanks

 

It's kind of strange that the xbox isn't booting with the modchip disabled.
Leaving the D0 disconnected should also disable the modchip.
Connecting D0 to GND permanently is not recommended as it will heat up the xbox mcpx chip and could damage it.
Good modchips only pull D0 to GND till the modchip boot started and release it afterwards.
If your xbox boots into an error without modchip and simply frags with the modchip installed and D0 not connected, than there
is indeed an issue with your modchip. I would consider a softmod in such a case.

 

>>Leaving the D0 disconnected should also disable the modchip.
I believe it does disable the modchip, and the FRAG I am getting is the Error 05 (hard drive lock).

>>Good modchips only pull D0 to GND till the modchip boot started and release it afterwards.
This might be a stupid question, but would it be safe to measure D0 to GND with a multimeter while booting the Xbox? Or could that fry my multimeter?

>>If your xbox boots into an error without modchip and simply frags with the modchip installed and D0 not connected, than there
is indeed an issue with your modchip. I would consider a softmod in such a case.
With this being a 1.6 Xbox I guess softmod is not possible.


So to sum up:

• Issue #1
  The error 05 (hard drive lock) FRAG might be fixable once I get the EEPROM writer. Then I guess I could at least have a working non-modded Xbox.
• Issue #2
  The "3x reboot then FRAG" -issue when D0 is hard-wired to GND. I speculating that either the modchip is bad or the LPC header could use some re-soldering (I've redone all modchip solder points except the LPC).