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[steveo1978]

As the topic states what are the benefites of the X2 5035 bios over the Ind-Bios 5003? It seems to me that Ind_bios has more features and can be used on a 256kb tsop. So why is the X2 512kb and has less features. Was I missing something?

[Heimdall]

X2.5035 seems to have fewer bugs. I've been trying out both for a while now as part of a project to work out which bios to use in TSOP flashes. Ideally I'd use the same (256k) BIOS regardless of the flash size, with the ability to change the config (especially the boot order) using a config file instead of reflashing, so iND-BIOS would be ideal. However, it has some bugs - the ones I'm aware of so far are:

1. power off only requires back+white, not back+white+Ltrigger+Rtrigger, so it's easier to hit accidentally.
2. Avalaunch - Settings - Main Options causes the Xbox to freeze.
3. Won't cold boot AID.
4. Won't load e:xboxrom.bin, nomatter which ROM I use.

1. has only caused me a problem once during a game.
As I don't really use Avalaunch, 2. is probably not an issue - but my worry is that it might indicate a fundamental bug.
3. is not a huge worry (it will cold boot Slayers and Frosty's, so there is a "backdoor" if something goes wrong), but like 2. it might indicate a fundamental bug. I haven't had time to properly investigate this yet.
4. isn't a problem (the xbox doesn't hang, it just ignores the ROM file).

So, at the moment I've almost concluded that I'll probably use iND-BIOS.5003 for 256k TSOP, but will continue to use X2.5035 for 1M TSOP, because it is more stable, and I can live without the extra iND-BIOS features. This doesn't allow me to make all boxes identical, but it gets me close enough. I'll probably keep on testing for another month or so before I make a final decision.

My fallback is that if iND-BIOS does prove to have a major bug, I can always change the config to use PBL to load X2.5035 - I'm testing that at the moment, and so far it is rock solid. That way I can still reconfigure the boot sequence and the eye candy from config files without reflashing, but get the stability of X2.5035 to support programs and games.

[steveo1978]

ind-bios boots Aid its just slow takes a while. try letting it sit for a little while
My real question now is whats the justification of the X2 being 512kb i could understand it if it still had the ftp built in but that was taken out

[run088]

I just really see the ind as the 256 size 5035 myself.Both handle all major funtions the other bios dont.I never have any problem with them but the ability to launch to linux if the xdk is running.Some of the debug extras however dont work with these bios such as "nodebug" to be able to reboot a debug bios in normal state with the xdk inactive.You can however get around the issue by turning off the debug features option in the ini.Other than that performance wise it is to close to call and really is on the individual users needs to decide which is best.As long as you use one of them your doing good and not selling yourself short in the long run.

[steveo1978]

Ok Thanks so i guess there is no reason for me to switch away from Ind-Bios

[Nextelhalo]

Hey i was just reading this post and i was wondering if the X2 5035 had to be 512k? Can you use XBTool to reduce to 256k?

[ldotsfan]

QUOTE(Nextelhalo @ Oct 5 2008, 02:48 PM)

Hey i was just reading this post and i was wondering if the X2 5035 had to be 512k? Can you use XBTool to reduce to 256k?

The bios can be resized to 1 Mb but not to 256k

[Nextelhalo]

So i'm stuck with x2 4983.  I'm doing this on a 1.2/1.3 TSOP, i can just use 007 EVOX to flash without RAINCOAT correct?

[run088]

Use ind it is pretty much the same as 5035 but in a 256 package.And you dont have to use raincoat unless the tsop is a winbond or sharp.

This post has been edited by run088: Oct 5 2008, 09:58 PM

[Heimdall]

I'd agree - use iND-BIOS.5003 - apart from the minor gripes I noted above it's excellent, and very stable.

... and you don't need the 007 Evox package - just run the Evox dash as an application on your Xbox and flash from there.

But make sure you put ind-bios.cfg on your C drive BEFORE you flash!!

[run088]

QUOTE(Heimdall @ Sep 27 2008, 04:40 PM)

X2.5035 seems to have fewer bugs. I've been trying out both for a while now as part of a project to work out which bios to use in TSOP flashes. Ideally I'd use the same (256k) BIOS regardless of the flash size, with the ability to change the config (especially the boot order) using a config file instead of reflashing, so iND-BIOS would be ideal. However, it has some bugs - the ones I'm aware of so far are:

1. power off only requires back+white, not back+white+Ltrigger+Rtrigger, so it's easier to hit accidentally.
2. Avalaunch - Settings - Main Options causes the Xbox to freeze.
3. Won't cold boot AID.
4. Won't load e:xboxrom.bin, nomatter which ROM I use.

1. has only caused me a problem once during a game.
As I don't really use Avalaunch, 2. is probably not an issue - but my worry is that it might indicate a fundamental bug.
3. is not a huge worry (it will cold boot Slayers and Frosty's, so there is a "backdoor" if something goes wrong), but like 2. it might indicate a fundamental bug. I haven't had time to properly investigate this yet.
4. isn't a problem (the xbox doesn't hang, it just ignores the ROM file).

So, at the moment I've almost concluded that I'll probably use iND-BIOS.5003 for 256k TSOP, but will continue to use X2.5035 for 1M TSOP, because it is more stable, and I can live without the extra iND-BIOS features. This doesn't allow me to make all boxes identical, but it gets me close enough. I'll probably keep on testing for another month or so before I make a final decision.

My fallback is that if iND-BIOS does prove to have a major bug, I can always change the config to use PBL to load X2.5035 - I'm testing that at the moment, and so far it is rock solid. That way I can still reconfigure the boot sequence and the eye candy from config files without reflashing, but get the stability of X2.5035 to support programs and games.

All problems mentioned have never happened to me.

#1 could be possible but is the 1st I have heard of it.
#2 I can verify that 100% is wrong. I am staring at an xbox right now running avalaunch with ind bios.My guess is fresh install avalaunch and check your network settings.
#3 It takes forever and a day to get aids to load you might not have waited long enough for it to get going.
#4 I can tell you if you have the pbl setup right you can launch any bios.It is complicated to get right the directions are vague and the author seems to have spoke another language as his first langauge so it is difficult to follow what he says on the read me.It will however not launch linux "xromwell" if the debug features are on.5035 has the same issue.The work around is turning debug off in the cfg then launching.

[steveo1978]

i had lost track of my own post

to me it seems that the 512k size of 5035 is a complete waste when Ind can get the same features into 256k

[Heimdall]

QUOTE(run088 @ Oct 6 2008, 05:17 AM)

All problems mentioned have never happened to me.

#1 could be possible but is the 1st I have heard of it.
#2 I can verify that 100% is wrong. I am staring at an xbox right now running avalaunch with ind bios.My guess is fresh install avalaunch and check your network settings.
#3 It takes forever and a day to get aids to load you might not have waited long enough for it to get going.
#4 I can tell you if you have the pbl setup right you can launch any bios.It is complicated to get right the directions are vague and the author seems to have spoke another language as his first langauge so it is difficult to follow what he says on the read me.It will however not launch linux "xromwell" if the debug features are on.5035 has the same issue.The work around is turning debug off in the cfg then launching.

Hi run088

Thanks for confirming this. I was surprised when I first found these, because other than #1 I could find no mention of any problems with iND-BIOS. So, I've done some more testing, and my results now mirror yours - almost!

#1 is documented elsewhere here, I was just confirming that it was there for completeness.
#2 Avalaunch works fine for me as well ..... except when I go into Settings - Main Options. HOWEVER - I've been doing some more playing with this, and it only seems to happen on the Executer 3, which was where I did my initial testing - on a TSOP flash it works fine.
#3 Yes, I spent ages when I first started with Xboxes reburning AID DVDs thinking I was getting the burning wrong or using the wrong brand of DVD, when all I had to do was wait a couple of minutes . On the X3 box with iND-BIOS I waited 20 minutes...... still didn't work. Again, this seems to be an X3 related problem - it works fine on the TSOP flashed box.
#4 I have PBL working fine (I agree entirely about the cryptic documentation, especially the deliberate vagueness about RC4 keys....!), but that's not what I was meaning. In the iND-BIOS documentation it says:

QUOTE

Will boot some BFM bioses from e:\xboxrom.bin (make sure you can recover
if you try this)

I have tried all the BFM Bioses I can find, and it does nothing, not even an error message - just boots straight past xboxrom.bin and loads normally. It's not a bug as such, it looks more like a planned feature (essentially internal PBL within the BIOS) that was never implemented but was left in the documentation. Alternatively, it could be another X3 issue - I haven't tried it on the TSOP box yet.

So, I'm going to do some more playing around on the X3 to see if #2 and #3 are a configuration problem on the X3. I'll also try it on the X2, to see what happens. Once I get my PC rebuilt I'll also try e:\xboxrom.bin on the TSOP box to see if that was also an interaction with the X3.