Getting a new xbox from ebay

[pythonjosh]

I just got an xbox which the cd drive doesn't read games.
My plan is to swap the dvd drive from another of my xbox's in order to run the Splinter Cell exploit (same as I always do).
So after I have Ulx and XBMC on it, I'm thinking about making it a slim and maybe putting it in my car or something.
What would you guys do with it?

[RoyalX]

Well I am planning to make me a slim too.

[whufclee]

Me too

Although to be honest I've been planning on doing a slim, TSOP and a constantly powered USB port mod for a while now. Think I might just go for it and combine the lot of them in one unit. Just waiting on my geeky magnifying lens headset with light to arrive and I'll be all good to go.

[Nextelhalo]

That's a perfect opportunity to do a slim, DO IT!!!!!!!!!!
Check to see if you can TSOP it first.

[pythonjosh]

Yea I haven't even found the instructions for TSOP yet, but I can say I'm quite comfortable with soldering n stuff.
The USB port mod would be good for having it in the car too, and I can just transfer files to it by bringing the drive inside to another xbox.
And using a SSD in the xbox would be awesome too. Still need to find the right sata/pata adapter

[pythonjosh]

I'm gonna need some help with this TSOP. I just tried to look it up on xbox-scene and it looks like it's flashing a new BIOS over the original?
My extent of xbox modding is the Splinter Cell exploit, which I was told to put some files on an ARMax mem card, copy them to the hard drive, play the Splinter Cell game and load the Linux installer.
Everything after that is all ULx and XBMC which I'm pretty good with.

If anyone can give me a summary of what TSOP does on a technical level I'd appreciate it.
And/or a link to a good tutorial of the whole process. There's a good lot of em on xbox-scene, but they are all comparing to other ppl's processes.
Just want a good easy to follow one.

[pythonjosh]

Oh yea and I've done a good few hard drive swaps with XboxHDM.

[Nextelhalo]

There are plenty of good tutorials out there but some can be alittle confusing. The first thing you need to do is find out what version of the xbox you have. This is very important, 1.0-1.1 have a TSOP size of 1MB, 1.2-1.5 have 256K sized bios and the 1.6's dont have a TSOP chip so you cannot do this mod on a 1.6 (ever). From there it's pretty easy since you have soldering experience, even though its very simple and not a challenge at all. You'll need to get a hold of the proper sized bios for whatever version xbox it ends up being, I recommend X2_5035 for 1.0-1.1 xbox's and X2_4981 for 1.2-1.5 xbox's. Find out the version of the xbox first and go from there. post back, here are some pictures of the points you'll be soldering............

1.0-1.1 MOBO



1.2-1.5 MOBO (no need to remove the board for these, both points are on top)

[bigkidoz]

Me too

Although to be honest I've been planning on doing a slim, TSOP and a constantly powered USB port mod for a while now. Think I might just go for it and combine the lot of them in one unit. Just waiting on my geeky magnifying lens headset with light to arrive and I'll be all good to go.

No need for geeky headgear the solder points arent that bad - unless you wear coke bottle bottom glasses that is.

[whufclee]

No I don't wear glasses but I think I probably should! Think I'll play the waiting game and get the headgear before starting.

[psychotron]

If you are putting the xbox in the car I can tell you an ide interface laptop hd works well in my experience. I have been running mine in the car for about 5 months now with no ill effects. Another mod that helps in the car is to put rca video/audio output jacks right on the back of the xbox as this will eliminate the need for the large XBOX composite/audio cable on the back. You can also use right angle rca adapters to give yourself extra room if mounting under a passanger seat as I did. Soldering the two points on a TSOP flash is not reallty bad if you have soldering experience. Use slayers boot disk to flash the TSOP after a standard softmod. At least this is the method I used.

Good luck on the project.

[spicemuseum]

Use slayers boot disk to flash the TSOP after a standard softmod. At least this is the method I used.

And I used HeXEn. Wrote a few articles inc. pics on the old forum - which is now lost
I've flashed both WinBond and STMicro TSOPs with HeXEn, on v1.2 to v1.5. I've luckily never had to do a V1.0 or v1.1 (hence not needed to fully remove the mainboard). Heimdall was very helpful, confirming/re-assuring the right thing to do before I pressed the 'go' button.

[psychotron]

@Spicemuseum... Come to think of it I think I did use Hexen for the initial flash. I think I used slayers afterwards to tinker around with some other BIOS. Thanks for pointing that out

[pythonjosh]

Thanks for the info guys. With all the tutorials I've found, not one has a link to the BIOS files. Can anybody help me out with that?
And my only way of installing is with Splinter Cell. I know it's not a problem for the exploit, I do see it mentioned with TSOP, but I still don't quite know what is going to be different that what I'm already doing.

[AZImmortal]

After you softmod, just load up the HeXEn disc and it can walk you through flashing the TSOP.

[pythonjosh]

I dunno who's as nerdy as me, but all this "HeXen" disc talk made me think it was the HeXen game, not an acronym for Heimdall's yada yada.....
Yea I just now found that out. Downloading it now from theisozone

[AZImmortal]

I guess you can call me nerdy. I never played Hexen but I did play Heretic.