XBox TSOP flash and other info

I have 3 XBox consoles, two v1.0 and one v1.6


I have decided that I will be doing a TSOP flash on one of my v1.0. What I am wondering is, now that XBox live is dead, is there a point to splitting the TSOP into 4 and having 4 BIOS'?
Also, I know there will be a lot of biased opinions on this, but which BIOS would be best? I am looking at Evox M8+ and Ind v5002.

Basically what I am looking to do is set up my v1.0 with a large HDD, probably a 1-2tb drive. This will be used to backup my games and DVDs and other backup roms.

I already made a XBox to USB adapter today, and transferred all needed files for the softmod to my USB drive. My 007 Agent Under Fire disk has been ruined... one of the kids must have gotten a hold of it when they were younger.

My next question is what dashboard to use? I know, this one will be full of more biased opinions.. But I will mostly be using this for gaming. I have lots of roms backed up that I would like to use on it, and lots of original games waiting to be backed up. I will also be baking up my DVD collection for occasional use, but not exclusively used for DVDs.
XBMC is one of my first choices from looking around, but not sure that would be optimal for me, since I am mostly looking for a gaming enviroment. But, I may be wrong. It seems like XBMC is most peoples first choice...


I have about 4 days before a new copy of Agent Under Fire arrives to me to make up my mind, so any and all help would be appreciated.



And on to the next one. My second v1.0 will be saved for spare parts/back up to the one that I flash the TSOP to.... What should I do with my v1,6 model? I have been playing around with it and experimenting. The DVD drive is junk, there was no saving it. I have taken it apart and stripped out all of the RF shielding to see how easy it was to remove and how it affected the console. It was fairly easy, and did not seem to affect anything in my scenario.
This one was given to me in pieces. Would it be worth tracking down a new drive, getting a mod chip and HDD to make it good, or should I just part it out, sell the motherboard and HDD combo, and PSU? I personally do not think this console is worth holding on to, but there may be a feature I am missing that makes it desirable... though I dont think I am wrong on that one


Thanks to all that help in advance... much appreciated

 

You have 1MB TSOP on the v1.0, my BIOS of choice is the X2 5035 it's rather easy to configure.


For the v1.6 modchip is the only possible way, unless you have a way to lock hard disks for a softmod. I wouldn't worry about going for another DVD-ROM drive, you'll barely use it.

Dashboards; I always use UnleashX it's more easier to navigate and so on. XBMC is a dash I personally hate using. It's probably the most prettiest to look at but that's it.

 

How about splitting the TSOP? Only thing I can think of to make it useful now is if you want to dual boot into Linux, as Live is dead... and I have no interest in booting Linux on it. I cant imagine the BIOS are that different that I would need 4 of them, but I may be wrong...

 

I doubt you could, it's a single bank TSOP chip. If you want multiple BIOS use a modchip.

 

sure you can. You can split a single chip into equal banks, its how parallel chips work.

 

But how would you select them? Install a switch?

 

yep.

Wouldnt bother, but its certainly possible

 

Ah, that's what had me doubting it was possible.

 

Two switches to select one of the 4 BIOS. But I didnt think it would be useful unless I wanted Linux or Live...
My new copy of AUF should be here Monday, so got to wait for the fun to begin.

Will I want to remove the jumpers that enable the TSOP flash after I am done, or is it OK to leave them?

 

I would leave the jumpers intact in case you want to flash it again. There is no real point to using multiple bioses. I would just flash the x2_5035. That is the last xecuter bios that was made and it is a 512mb. For what you are doing you will not need to have one than 1 bios. You can do it with the switches but really pointless unless you needed a debug bios in one of the banks.

 

Yep, just leave them. There's no real issue leaving them as they are.

 

OK, so I got my copy of Agent Under Fire, its an original not a platinum or anything like that. I also have SID and the SID AUF save states on my thumb drive. I have no option to transfer it to the HDD, and if I try to load it off the thumb drive I get an error 21. I used explorer 360 to transfer the files to the thumb drive. The XBox is reading the thumb drive as a memory card also...

Anyone know whats going on?

 

Can't you go into Memory on the xbox dashboard, select the thumb drive (as it sees it as a memory card) and then copy over to the hard drive?

 

You should be able to, but it only gives me the option to delete files.

edit: OK I feel like a numbskull. I was just pressing down to highlight the game save and pressing A. I needed to press down to highlight the game, and then press right to select the save and copy it to hard drive

 

Lol yeah, that's happened to me before too.

 

I would use the ind-bios, specifically the 5004 beta (or what would have been 5004, it was released on February 11/05) this fixed the IGR issues that 5003 has. (The IGR issue was shutting down using back + white) it has more features than the x2-5035 bios, that are handy.

like shutting down using the pad, anytime.
opening/closing the DVD drawer with the pad, anytime.
+ everything the x2-5035 bios does.

also splitting the banks on the 1mb flash, is handy for testing stuff. If you arse one up you can boot from 3 more

 

Well, I tried to solder the traces on my motherboard to flash the TSOP... The top side was real dusty and dirty, I was worried it would not solder well... I wiped away the dirt with my finger, applied a little flux and the solder bridged the gap easily.
The bottom side was clean, so I just applied a little solder and both pads would not accept solder. I ended up burning away a trace and the system will not boot any more

Next try I will tin a small strand of copper, and use that to bridge the connection, or maybe a 0 ohm surface mount resistor. I only have one other v1.0 box and no money to buy another so I want to make sure I do it right

But, I was able to take the drive out of the one that I killed the motherboard, and make my v1.6 fully functional. I softmodded it, and tried a few different dashboards, ended up sticking with XBMC because it was the least cheesy of the bunch

 

You just need to dab the write points. It just sounds like your iron was there for too long or too hot.

 

I did something similar when doing my first TSOP - top side went fine but then on the underside I burned off the solder point. Luckily the console still worked and I managed to find a diagram of alternate solder points and ran a wire to manage the flash after all. My tip is always use flux and be patient.

 

I may have got a small ball of solder on something thats shorting. I will have to take a look and see if that's the issue. I don't see just burning a solder pad off a trace would kill in.
My daughter was hovering and I was trying to keep her away and get it done. My fiance don't understand that flux and solder fumes aren't good for you