Updating a used Xbox

[tommyttone]

Hi!

I recently bought a used xbox, and am wondering if i should update it, and if so, how? I have no information about how old it is or how long ago it was chipped, but when i run BIOS CHECKER 4.0b i get this:

CHIP TYPE - HOMEBREW (bf52)
Using genuine BIOS - Xecuter2 4983.06
BIOS MD5 Hash - CDD618F786CE0C880BC651D50B999E2E

Also I think I am running slayer's evo-x. Would an update improve performance? I've been FTP'ing the xbox alot, but that's about all I'm confident in when it comes to messing with it!

[tommyttone]

Can also add that I've just transferred Coinops 5 plus Visionary 3 which took ages, so if possible, i would like to avoid to format the harddrive!

[spicemuseum]

I recently bought a used xbox, and am wondering if i should update it, and if so, how?

What do you want to achieve? Do you want to run XBMC4XBOX?
Or something else?

[tommyttone]

If it's at all possible, i would like to achieve more compatibility with emulators and/or improved performance overall. I don't know if this is something that an update does, but if it does i would like to optimize my xbox as much as possible!

Basically I started looking into this when i looked for the best dashboard to use, that also has an option for me to decide which dashboard to boot to at startup, so i guess that also is something i would like to achieve.

[spicemuseum]

If it's at all possible, i would like to achieve more compatibility with emulators and/or improved performance overall. I don't know if this is something that an update does, but if it does i would like to optimize my xbox as much as possible!

Basically I started looking into this when i looked for the best dashboard to use, that also has an option for me to decide which dashboard to boot to at startup, so i guess that also is something i would like to achieve.

Okay. I can't help with with specific choices, but I use XBMX4XBOX as a defeault dash, and launch coinops from within it, when I fancy a trip back to my youth - Bombjack et al.

As for performance, I'm not sure what aspect you thinks need improvement....

[Nextelhalo]

Sounds to me like you can accomplish your goal very easily. You might just need to upload the latest build of XBMC to your Apps folder and then create/make the XBMC shortcut file to make your xbox boot to XBMC. Would you happen to know how big your hard drive is? I"m assuming it's a pretty good size if you've upload Coin Ops to it. See here about the XBMC short cut file and info about how to use it.

http://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/wiki/Installing_XBMC

You will not have to format your hard drive but tell us what the hard drive size is, never know you might have to format it no matter what.

[bigkidoz]

You wont get any better performance or compatibility with an update as the hardware is the same, you will get a better user experience with a current build of xbmc though for media playing.

[xman]

As with any Hard drive equipped machine a clean format and reload will make it all run quicker mainly because when you delete and add data it will put the new data in anywhere it can fit be it in one block or what is normally the case, in multiple blocks spread all over the HDD and for this reason time is then spent by the HDD when retrieving the data from different locations all over the HDD. A format and reload has all the data going on to a clean HDD and all the associated data is all in one location so the HDD isn't wasting time looking and retrieving it and faster performance is the result as well as a much cooler HDD. My advice, clean format and reload an Xbox HDD every year if your always deleting and adding new data.

[tommyttone]

Thanks for all the help! I've been trying to get XMBC on it now and succeeded with some minor problems which was solved by a recovery disc. The thing I'm stuck at right now is that I can't seem to get the XMBC shortcut to work. I think i've checked everything, from path to filename. Could it be something with BIOS or anyhting else i've overlooked? The harddisk is 120 GB by the way!

The other option would be to skip the shortcut to XMBC and boot directly to Visionary 3, but this requires XBE Shortcutmaker, which unfortunately doesn't work on a macbook. Does anybody here have it? if so, i would greatly appreciate it if that person could make an .xbe-shortcut to visionary for me!

[Nextelhalo]

The problem very well could be the bios, you might need to change the path of the shortcut file to match whatever dashboard is loading.

[tommyttone]

I've tried Hexens "create XMBX shortcut for F" in all ways possible, placing the XMBC-map on other drives to see if that works, but no luck yet. From what I read, it seems risky to change things in the BIOS, or am I wrong? As I've run in to some unexplainable problems when trying to move maps and rename files while FTP'ing, i'm also wondering if it could be something wrong with harddisksettings? the problem i get when trying to change dashboard/create shortcut with Hexen is: failure: batch process failed, action:rename.

Right now I've been trying to fix this for hours and hours, so if someone would recommend to format the whole thing and install everything again I'd be inclined to do so. This does seem to be risky from what I read?

[asbo]

maps

what is maps, precious?

[mrmajikbus45]

I would recommend using slayer's 2.98. Slap it on a DVD-R and profit. Have it point to F:\XBMC. XBMX is not the same thing. See my borked it thread in the help section above. Mine was due to a simple naming error. That could be all that it is. Your machine may be looking for F:\XBMX\default.xbe when your dash is in F:\XBMC\default.xbe. A screenshot of your dash install would help, as well as a pic of your directory tree if you FTP in. With those, we could point you correctly. Sorry if this is all over the place, I'm not very awake, and have flu-like symptoms.

Oh, and asbo, your avatar reminds me of a Louis C.K. comedy special where he talks about that murder should be legal. I remember laughing hard enough that I can still feel the fizz from a coke going through my nose.

*EDIT* Screenshots can of course be from a phone or camera since the screenshot feature in the XBMC will not be supported unless you're in it.

[xman]

Just a few points you may need to know, all chips by default boot to either EvoXdash .xbe / Avalaunch .xbe or Unleashed .xbe , not XBMC .xbe. What the shortcut does is extend the bios address from one of these default locations "TO" XBMC .xbe. Doing this means the default bios addresses never needed changing on the chip because it could just be diverted to your location of choice, in your situation, XBMC .xbe. by using a simple "shortcut" placed at the location the bios was going to rather than a working app as it was originally intended when the chips were designed. You could, (although this isn't recommended), change the name of the folder that contains XBMC to one of the default apps the bios is looking for and that will boot XBMC quite happily after all, the name will match the folder name the bios is looking for and boot the .xbe inside that folder.

Here's my shortcut selection if you need one although I personally just load a Slayer's disc and use one of it's ones that suits my needs.

_tools.7z

(50.88 KiB) Downloaded 373 times

[tommyttone]

hehe, "maps" was a bad translation of the swedish word for folders. I guess my frustration got the best of my grammar! anyways, I burned slayers evox to a disc now, and successfully installed both XMBC, and got it to be the booting dashboard! now all I got left is update XMBC, and then I hopefully won't have to mess around with the inside of my XBOX again. as if.

thanks a lot for all the help! appreciate all the time you took to help me, and hope you have a good weekend!

[asbo]

hehe, "maps" was a bad translation of the swedish word for folders.

ah I see
I'm glad you got it sorted