Repair a Modchip

Discussion about Modding the XBOX, including hardware and software hacks.
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blighty
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Repair a Modchip

Post by blighty »

I have what i think is an earlyish cheapmod modchip with a SST 49LF020 flash chip with a bad flash ( this came with my first ever modded xbox ) and i noticed the other day that i have a old PC motherboard with the same flash chip.

so i started thinking is there a way to kamikaze flash the PC with a xbox bios to revive my little old modchip?

I have never ever thought of flashing a pc bios before so have no clue where to start reading to find out if this might work.

I'm guessing I need a 1mb bios on it, cant remember how i killed it, but i think it was when X3 bios came out I flashed before I read up on the bios, big mistake!
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Re: Repair a Modchip

Post by Nextelhalo »

What about using the hotswap method? I've done this on a few DuoX2's with a bad flash. I just had the D0 point hooked up to both chips, booted the good chip and loaded up Evox, before flashing just slide the good one off the pinheader and slide the new one on, flash away. If i remember right :|
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blighty
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Re: Repair a Modchip

Post by blighty »

I could try it, where is my soldering iron....
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blighty
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Re: Repair a Modchip

Post by blighty »

Photo0063.jpg
Photo0065.jpg
Photo0063.jpg
genuinely no clue where D0 is on this chip :shock:

or am i being thick?

Not good with mod chips XD
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Nextelhalo
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Re: Repair a Modchip

Post by Nextelhalo »

Well hell :lol: Dont know what to say on that one. Maybe it will work without the D0 on that chip.
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Re: Repair a Modchip

Post by professor_jonny »

you can in some cases use the bioses built in flash program there are various tools to do this it depends on if it is a pheonix or award bios.

some manufactures ie dell will do a check sum and id to see if the file is valid and not let you flash.

best to do a hot swap as stated above but be aware this wont work on newer motherboards above 1.3 i think? because of security measures added by ms to stop cheapmods like this.

With chips like this you just ground d0 and the chip allways runs. I do all my 1.6 boards like that as there is no need for it to be disabled once installed.
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blighty
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Re: Repair a Modchip

Post by blighty »

Thanks PJ, I plan on using this on my first xbox v1.0 board but had no idea they wouldn't work on anything newer than 1.3's
(sounds like something i need to read up on )

Will i have to hotswap with another cheapmod though? only other chip i have is an x2 i think ( got little wired board with 3 switches at front and another hidden behind furthest right )
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Re: Repair a Modchip

Post by psyko_chewbacca »

You need to short D0 to GND with these Cheapmods.

So basically, if your cheapmod was already installed on a motherboard, it means it's D0 point is already shorted to GND. Putting any modchip without soldering it's D0 point will enable the modchip by default on this specific motherboard.

So all you need to do is find a modchip with a working bios on it, stick it in your Xbox (with the D0 shorted mobo), boot it and swap the modchips when your Xbox is fully booted. No need to solder D0 on both chips.

EDIT: You're right about the cheapmod not working on 1.3 Xboxes. LFRAME signal was removed from the LPC in 1.2+. If you want your cheapmod to work on it, you'll need to scrape the soldermask (green paint) off your MCPX chip and solder a wire on a very tiny via.
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Re: Repair a Modchip

Post by blighty »

Worked like a charm, Thank You!
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