Print

[PhantomX]

[adam8281]

Thanks for that tip, I will try it.  However, I am not getting error 13.  I konw what error 13 looks like because earlier while I was setting up my mod and HDD I got that error a few times.  This error I'm getting now though is a completely different screen than then the error screen that shows numbers.  This error screen has no numbers, only the message that i listed in my first post.  I will do what you suggested though.  Right now my MS dashboard is called "MSxboxdash" and the evox dash is called "xboxdash," and in the .ini file it points correctly to the "MSxboxdash" file.  When I'm in Evox and select the option to go to MSdash it works fine.  The thing is, when I disable the Matrix chip and start the xbox, it just goes straight to the error message.  So somehow the xbox is only going to MSxboxdash.xbe when the evox.ini file points it there, but not when it has to load that file up automatically.

[adam8281]

OK, I did as you suggested, but still the same problem:
-when mod chip is enabled, evox dashboard starts up fine
-when I'm in evox, I can choose "switch to msdashboard" and that works fine, but remember, this is STILL WITH MY MOD CHIP ENABLED
-when I DISABLE the mod chip and turn on the xbox, I get that error message I mentioned in my first post.  It gives me no error number, IT ISN'T ERROR 13, it just says that there's a problem, and the light is flashing red and green.  

Thank you for your suggestion though, anything else I should try?  It seems to me that the when the mod chip is DISabled, the Xbox can't find the dashboard to start.  But there are 2 dashboards in my root of C://.  There's msdashboard.xbe (the MS dashboard), and there's xboxdash.xbe (the evox dashboard).  

Am I possibly missing some other files in the root of C:// that could cause this problem?  I am frustrated very much by this, b/c it means that I can't disable the chip to play on XboxLive, and it means that if there's ever a problem with my chip, I can't just use the Xbox normally.  Please, someone help me!  Maybe someone could send me a screenshot of their C:// drive?  my e-mail is [email protected] if someone would like to send me a screenshot of their drive.  Thank you very very much, whoever is reading this.

Adam

[-Silverhawk-]

[adam8281]

I locked the HDD, that didn't help.  I'm going to try and flash my Matrix to a newer bios, but I don't have the little adapter to flash it.  Is there any way I can flash the Matrix while it's in my Xbox?  Thanks

[XDeNNiZX]

XDeNNiZX

[PhantomX]

[adam8281]

[PhantomX]

QUOTE

When I started up my Xbox w/ the Matrix enabled, it went straight to the MS dashboard, that is, it started up the file "xboxdash.xbe." It DID NOT automatically start "evoxdash.xbe." When I disabled the Matrix chip, the Xbox went right back to that numberless error page.

It appears that your ms bios is, excuse me for saying, hosed, not difinitive on that, but based on your description, the system bios is the issue; however, you can recover with the method you mentioned. A suggestion would be to make sure the system is stable with the chip installed and functioning and then start to think about correcting the systems bios, if you care to. A lot of people seem to have luck with the 007 trick, not sure how effective this will be, but it's a thought.


PX

[Scan-C]

the bios is ok otherwise it would frag but not give an error.
i have no idea why it is doing this right now

[adam8281]

OK, question, and maybe it's a dumb one at this point, but I need some clarification at this point to figure out if my original MS bios is "hosed" or if it's something else:

When the Xbox starts up w/ the Matrix DISabled, what dashboard file is the MS Bios looking for?  Is it looking for msxboxdash.xbe, since that's the name of my MSdashboard?  Or, is it looking for xboxdash.xbe?  Or is it looking for something else?  To me it seems that either my MS bios must be looking for some other file, or else my MS bios IS hosed.  Because I have tried booting the Xbox w/ msdash=xboxdash.xbe and with msdash=msxboxdash.xbe, and both get me that error screen.  So, to my simpleton understanding of these mysterious things, it appears that my MS bios is not finding, or looking for, the right dashboard file.  

The last person to post, however, says that if the MS bios were screwed up I woulnd't even get that error screen?  Is this definitely correct?  Or could my bios just be messed up in such a way that it can't find the dashboard, but it can play this puny little error message.  

I was also wondering if it is possible that there's some scratch on my motherboard that is bypassed when the Matrix is enabled, but causes a problem when it's disabled.  I have no idea if this is possible, but it seemed like a cool thought.  The guy I bought the XBox from this week said he never had this problem, but he could by lying since he lives 3000 miles away.  Anyway, it's a problem I can definitely live with since I don't play Xbox live, but if I ever get a hankering to, I will want to get this straightened out.  

What is this 007 MS bios flashing technique you mention?  Is it possible to flash the MS bios w/o a mod chip with multiple memory banks?  

Finally, the last question, when I'm in evox and I go to system utilities and look at what it registers for my Bios and it says "unknown," does this mean it doesn't know the bios of the matrix chip, or it doesn't know the bios of my MS xbox?  I presume it means the mod chip, and that is why I want to reflash the chip.  

Thanks for the help, if anyone else knows why I can't load a dashboard w/ the matrix disabled, please give input.
adam

[PhantomX]

QUOTE

When the Xbox starts up w/ the Matrix DISabled, what dashboard file is the MS Bios looking for? Is it looking for msxboxdash.xbe, since that's the name of my MSdashboard? Or, is it looking for xboxdash.xbe? Or is it looking for something else?

Default bios will be looking for the xboxdash.xbe
In your case, the Evox dashboard will look for the evoxdash.xbe first and if not found then it will look for the xboxdash.xbe.  Hopefully your xboxdash.xbe is actually the ms default and not just a copy of the evox as this will give you an error 13 when the chip is disabled. Make sure to check your spelling on yor file names.

QUOTE

What is this 007 MS bios flashing technique you mention? Is it possible to flash the MS bios w/o a mod chip with multiple memory banks?

In the non-mod forum section there is talks on flashing the TSOP with the James Bond 007 saved game hack, you will need to discuss that process in there and find out if it even in fact will be beneficial to try that suggestion. Don't mess with your TSOP unless you have concluded fully that your ms bios is damaged, too many variable left to rule out regarding the dash and the chip itself.

QUOTE

Finally, the last question, when I'm in evox and I go to system utilities and look at what it registers for my Bios and it says "unknown," does this mean it doesn't know the bios of the matrix chip, or it doesn't know the bios of my MS xbox? I presume it means the mod chip, and that is why I want to reflash the chip

.

The evox.ini has a BIOS section and under that it says Current, that string value will match to the descrition of that hash's listed above. If your Current does not match then the dash does not know what to display. For example, I had the X2 4977 noami dark blue the day it came out, flashed it and it was unknown. All I did was take the current string and manually create my own bios description. To understand more, visit the software forum for BIOS and in the pinned section there is a tutorial which explains this discussion in detail. Don't worry about BIOS unknown, it's not part of your current error.

A suggestion would be to back it all up, C and E drive. Then recreate a NEW Evox boot disc from scratch, follow the steps exactly. Make sure the xboxdash.xbe is in fact the original MS dash. Then load up the evox disc, copy over the dashboard and rename the default.ebe form the Evox disc as evoxdash.xbe. Review your evox.ini and make sure it's all looking good, especaily the section in [MISC] that talks about MSDASHBOARD = "c:/xboxdash.xbe" (slash is forward because this forum filters out backslashes)

Hope this helps somewhat and good luck friend.

PX

[adam8281]

PhantomX, thank you very much for that extensive reply.  I will try all you're suggesting.  After reading what you said, I think it's a possibility that I DO NOT HAVE the original MS dashboard file, but only the one created by EvoX.  Because I bought the Xbox used, and I had this problem from the very beginning, I wonder if the guy I bought it from didn't have the original MS dash on his HDD.  If this is the case, is there a way I can get another original MS dashboard?

Also, is it a problem that my evox won't start up when it's named evoxdash.xbe, but only when it's called xboxdash.xbe?  It seems that PhantomX is saying that the bios should first be looking for evoxdash.xbe, and then xboxdash.xbe as a backup, but when I tried naming the evox dashboard=evoxdash.xbe and msdash=xboxdash.xbe, the msdash booted up instead of the evoxdash.xbe.  But, I will do as suggested and reinstall evox.  Thanks for the help