My Xbox plays backups with no modchip

My Xbox plays my leaglly owned backups with no modchip installed.

I recently purchased a brand new Xbox and took it straight to a local shop. There were two points that needed soldered together and then the original BIOS chip was flashed with the Executer 2 BIOS and Evox was installed. This was all done via boot disc I believe. This is a very good way to go since there is no chip to ever come lose.

I also had them put in a 120 GB hard drive. The hard drive has a bunch of other BIOS's I could load if I need to, like the original MS BIOS. The guy that done the install has a 300 GB in his box.

I can insert a game into the Xbox DVD drive (luckily I got a Samsung) and copy it directly to the hard drive and then play from the hard drive. So far I put ten games on the hard drive. It also plays my Sega CDs and PS1 games, but PS1 has to be played from the hard drive. Sega CD runs perfectly from the DVD drive.

The Xbox acts as an FTP server on my home network and I can transfer disc images (such as a PS1 bin image) to and from my PC with ease.

Many other emulation programs run beautifully. So load up your leagal ROMs and have add it.

Needless to say I'm very happy with the Xbox. Unfortunately, my kids are giving it to me for Xmas so the wife has stashed it. I did get to take it for a test drive a couple nights between 12AM and 3AM.

So there are modchipless options, but a "modification" was necessary.

Total cost for the Xbox, hard drive, installation and flashing was $439 US.
 

ps2king

New member
Interesting. So after the installer soldered the points together you did what? What do you mean by flashing though?
 
This is one of the options, to solder the couple of points & flash the on-board BIOS.

I will see if I can dig up some more info about "modding" this way :)
 
Just remembered, by flashing the onboard BIOS, once you connect to Xbox Live you will be permantly banned.

Decent Xbox modchips have some kind of disable switch to allow you to turn off the chip if you wish to connect to Xbox Live.

:)
 
For $30 more they could have put a switch on my Xbox (still with no modchip or so I was told) so I could play online. Also, now there is software that I can put on my box that will let me play online (recently released-name escapes me) without needing a switch (i.e. leaving my system as is). BUT I have no desire to play console games online or any Xbox games anyways. I'll leave online playing to my PC. I'm into the emulation side of it. BTW I've been told that one can play legally owned multiplayer MAME games over the Internet on your Xbox if one wanted to.

I wanted a modchip, but none of the guys at the shop have one and they say this is the way to go. After they demo'd their boxes for me I was convinced. Maybe for once I'm on the bleeding edge?

I forgot to mention that PC game emulation is coming along nicely too. Quake 2 looks perfect as well as the entire Doom series. I've been told I can put my Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition wad files on their and run them too, but won't get to try until after Xmas.

The Xbox is very cool. I debated between getting an Xbox and just building my own Media Center PC to connect to my HDTV. I went for the Xbox as a quick fix. It does most of what I want and is cheaper than an ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO video card. So far the only down sides are the inability to act as a DVR and the measly 64 MB of RAM. What was Bill thinking?
 
IF you know what yer doing with an X-BOX u can run windows on it or virtually any O.S. lol after all its based on P.C. hardware :) there are already X-BOX's sporting LINUX and versions of windows :)

zdnet news reports ...

The Xbox has been made to run Microsoft's own operating system, turning it into an ordinary desktop workstation, courtesy of some Linux trickery. The accomplishment is a comment on the insecurity of secure hardware


A group of Linux enthusiasts have managed to gain such control over the innards of Microsoft's Xbox video game console that they can now boot Windows 2000 on the machine. This accomplishment, announced last week, effectively turns Microsoft's heavily-subsidised console into an inexpensive desktop workstation.





The Xbox Linux Project, as the group of volunteers calls itself, is attempting to circumvent the security built into the gaming console to allow it to be used as a normal PC. In the process, it is demonstrating the limitations of today's secure hardware -- a version of which Microsoft, Intel and others are planning to eventually build into ordinary PCs.

The programmers said that they used Mandrake Linux 9.0 as a host operating system and ran Windows 2000 within a virtual PC environment within Linux. The project first managed to get various flavours of Linux running on the Xbox weeks ago.

Germany-based Michael Steil, who acts as project leader, said the programmers decided to boot Windows 2000 as a way of making sure that an Xbox running Linux was fully PC-compatible.

"On a PC, it's easy to run Windows 2000 inside Linux using PC virtualisation software, and so it is on an Xbox (as well)," he said.

The box supports full networking capabilities and can use any standard USB peripherals, such as a keyboard and mouse. The performance appears to have improved somewhat since SuSE Linux was first booted on the machine: at that time, the game TuxRacer could only display 1 frame per second, but the project said that Windows running within Linux is now fast enough to play MPEG-4 movies in full-screen mode.

It is possible to run Linux directly on the Xbox because Linux's licence terms allow users to modify the underlying programming code, or source code. Linux is based on an open-source licence, which allows modification and redistribution of the software, as long as the modifications are returned to the community. Users aren't allowed to modify Windows 2000's source code.

The Xbox is built on standard PC hardware, including an Intel processor and USB and Ethernet connectors, but there are slight modifications that must be tracked down before that hardware can be exploited, Steil said: "The Xbox is 99 percent PC-compatible.. but it takes quite some time to find that 1 percent."

Steil said that besides showing that secure hardware can be defeated, the project also aims to give users access to a cheap introductory PC. The project ultimately aims to produce a CD-ROM that will load the Linux operating system onto an unmodified Xbox.

The developers want "to simplify the start into the world of computers and into the world of Linux, for people who only have a gaming console," Steil said.

Microsoft's "Palladium" project will create a specially secured area on a PC for storing files that need extra security, such as copy-protected media.

Microsoft recently introduced an Xbox with a slightly different hardware configuration, which is not compatible with the hacks currently used by the Xbox Linux Project. The project claims its activities are legal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
 
That was my original desire, to have a modchip that could handle multiple BIOS's so I could run Linux and Win98/ME. They would have put a chip in for me, but after seeing what they were doing without the chip I decided to go this route for now. I can always add the Executer 3 later when it comes out.

I have a lot to learn about the Xbox. So far I haven't read any FAQs or tutorials. For example I was trying to upload some files to my Xbox via FTP and some of them would transfer and many would fail. I figured out that there must be a file name size limit since the ones that didn't go were the ones with the longer names. I still haven't figured out the exact allowbale length though.

So much to learn, so little time...
 
@markbot have you checked out the X-BOX tutes in the gaming section that PSX_PAUL's friend put together !? :)

lots of interesting info there :)
 

FrightfoO

New member
There a few systems that allow you to play online. These systems are however, limited. They allow you to set up a virtual Lan, using tunneling software, allowing Xbox to Xbox links. This system can cope with a few Xboxes connecting into one gamer's host Xbox as such.

Xbox-Live works on a different system and allows many more people access to a single online multiplayer game. They all require using the PC as a gateway, to connect to the net.

The free services, that use tunneling software, include:
XBConnect.
XLink and other variations, like Bo-XLink.
GameSpy's also got a service too.

I've tried them all and XBConnect turned out to be the best, but I like how Bo-XLink's coming along. Their goal's to make it so the extra PC-gateway connection isn't needed. So you'd be able to control everything using the Xbox only.

Regarding modifying, there are also ways to flash the BIOs without opening the console at all. A lot of people like this option because their warranty will be kept intact (if they still have that warranty, mind you :))

Some software I've found to be pretty good is DVD2Xbox, Xbox Media Player (XBMP) & Xbox Media Center (XBMC), Phoenix HDD Loader (Px-HDD Loader) and there's the region-free software that can be used. I've also used the N64 emulator (played Mario64 and stuff).
 

Quall

New member
I just have to comment on that switch thing. That guy would charge you $30 more to pop on a switch in your xbox to play XBL? Almost the cost of a modchip itself. I just have to ask. Are those 2 points he soldered still soldered? If they are not, then that is good because you can upgrade your box still.
 
@Quall

I tried my best to come up with something wrong with going modchipless and try as I did, I came up dry just like the content of your post. There is nothing I can't do if I want to. Since I don't really want to play any Xbox games at all let alone online, I'm setting pretty. Online gaming is for PC if you are serious about what you are doing anyways. I'll bet there are more people playing Conterstrike right now than are palying all games total on Xbox Live and thats just one PC game.

So the only upgrade for me is a 300 GB hard drive over the cheezey 120 GB I had installed.

The reason I made the original post wasn't to start a "no modchip is better than having a modchip" debate. I just posted another option for the folks out there. Time after time it has been posted in this forum that you "need a modchip to play Xbox back-ups" which is no longer the case. This is a very solid option with many "pros" and no "cons" for me.
 

new2this

New member
PCW magazine in the UK had an article about how to mod your x-box to act as a home entertainment box. They actually installed a version of linux. It's very detailed about what's needed. I think it was the November or December issue.

new2this ;)
 

AndyMc

New member
TSOP gone POP?

Hiya, to all thinking of rushing to flash their TSOP on their Xbox be very carefull as this can kill your Xbox, for £30 they should have put in a cheapmod too, they are about £12 to £15 on the net or u can make your own for cheap! :) but using atleast a chip allows u to not have to alter the onboard TSOP, never know what the future holds for XBOX, first way they would maybe protect against it is to simply check TSOP and halt xbox from running, with a chip u'd simply unplug or with most now u disable the chip. Also not sure on this but is the onboard TSOP protected? even simple cheapmod has a protect jumper on it to stop it getting flashed by some unwanted source. Sounds liek the guys found a way to make the money without paying out in a chip, well they didnt find out just did what most wouldnt and make more for it, for £0.50 u coudl have got a CDRW and downloaded Slayers 2.4, 2.5 or any one of them used that which they did then selected the option to flash onboard TSOP, and putting in a HD is childs play, if ya not intending on playing online games on it then not even need to lock new hd with hd serial but then this can be done from EVOX too for FREE! I recommend u look on net for cheapmod, buy one and well they normally come with a header (plastic bit with pins) which on most xboxes is real easy to install, or get solderless one, they already souldered 0 by the sounds of it. Anyway too all else, buy a solderless chip with twin bios cos newer the game normally means newer the bios needs to be flashed and well I don't relish that guy paying £30 everytime he needs his onboard bios flashing and if he mucks up the flashing himself then door stop he gets not updated Xbox. So anyway theirs some reasons not to flash onboard TSOP! BTW, did they backup ya orig HD Serial and Bios and put it on cd for ya? cos if ya ever wanted to play an orig they could later unflash ya tsop when they see serial aint right on HD. This is just a friendly warning to others.
 
Interesting warning, but there is no problem with my set up. Plus I get a warranty on the work and my modchip never comes lose. LOL! Besides money is not the issue. Lots of people are going this route and no one has had a problem yet. A bunch of "what ifs" but no problems so far.

This is still an excellent option.

Again this post was not to start an argument about the necessity of a modchip. I'm merely pointing out that one is not necessary.
 
Interesting option, but so far you haven't given any info on how it was done ie: link to diagrams of which points were soldered and links to bios for flashing.
 
Top