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[frittfall]

Hi!

I've flashed about 20 TSOP's with the 007/raincoat and fitted some xecuter2 chips.
Now, after working perfectly for about one month, one of the 007/raincoat boxes suddenly stopped booting.
(Flashed the TSOP with Xecuter2.Build.4977, and the box is V1.0).
When I push the power button the green light comes on for a short time and the HD makes a beep, then it shuts down. This happens to times and the third time it stays on and the HD sounds like it's booting. There is no picture at all and therefore no error messages to give me a clue to what is wrong.

I've gone over the soldier points again and checked them vith a multimeter to make sure they are ok. I've switched the DVD and the HD with another box, and even fittet the mainboard in a different case to eliminate the power supply as a possible reason. I saw somewhere in this forum about the resistor at point R7R10 gone bad. So I checked this olso and it's 50 ohms witch should be right.

I fittet a xecuter2lite chip on the board, but I still get exactly the same problem. Anyone out there that have any idea what the problem could be??  

[Exobex]

Did you desolder the jumpers after flashing, or did you leave them there (allowing the end-user to fuck their BIOS then blame you for it)?

This post has been edited by Exobex: Sep 30 2003, 03:08 PM

[Pizza Pizz]

well even if they nuked the tsop a working x2 lite should of got it going again providing it had a decent bios there and was fitted correctly......

failing that - it could died a natural death - unlikely but could of happened maybe even if it wasn't flashed

the only thing to try if you was absolute desperate is maybe a homebrew

ok the lpc should of worked but incase the lpc is iffy - if the homebrew fails to revive tsop or even just boot from homebrew mod itself then the mobo has developed more serious problems

[lordvader129]

the error is a bios error (no bootable bios present) but it should work fine with the LPC mod, try it again, maybe with a different chip, and make sure everything is lined up right

[frittfall]

Thanks a lot for your input! Just knowing that the problem is a bios issue narrows it down a great deal. I know that the xecuter-chip I tried is working since it's the one I use in my own xbox, but I guess I'll have to give it one more try now that I know that this is the best way to tell if it's any chance of fixing it.

I left the points soldiered, but removed the flash-bios option in the menu. The owner of the box is a complete noobe, so I'm ruling out the possibility of it being re-flashed. Can a flashed TSOP suddenly stop working?

Now I find myself hoping that I did a lousy job fitting the X2 lite..  

[Large Dopant white]

I think I may know what happened with the flashed TSOPs- since you left the points bridged, the flash memory wasn't protected from a write, correct? Now, what happens when a flash chip is erased? Yes, a small amount of voltage is sent to it. Now, maybe a small, itsie bitsie surge occured and supplied just the right amount of voltage to flash the TSOP?
However bad your situation is, I'm learning from it. I'm going out to buy some switches tomarrow so I can leave those points nice and unbridged.

[frittfall]

Yes I suppose that's the only possible explanation, and yes I’m also learning from it. (always look on the bright side..)
I’m just hoping that I can fix it with a correctly fitted X2 lite. Since it’s not a common problem, rather than installing switches I’ll ask the owners if they want the xbox flash-enabled or not, and if yes at their own risk. Hehe..  
After all, if it should happen in 1 out of 100 cases it’s not really that big of a problem (as long as it’s possible to fix it with a Xecuter).

[frittfall]

I guess one post of the message is enough..

This post has been edited by frittfall: Oct 1 2003, 09:35 AM

[Large Dopant white]

Eh, you may as well fit switches on there and just tell 'em not to touch 'em, or you could put the switch inside of the XBox (say, mounted in that gap between the DVD drive and the back of the XBox). Then, if they need a reflash (updated BIOS with a new copy protection defeater), you can tell 'em how to do it or charge a small fee for reflashing it for 'em (say, 5-10 bucks).
Good luck with saving that one XBox.

[PsiDOC]

Leaving the Write enable points connected is ok to do. The WE Point on the Flash rom runs at standard TTL level - AKA 5 volts - just like the one(s) inside your PC. Do you disable the WE point (If you can)  in that???
I suspect this box has given up the ghost for another reason. Nay infact I am 99.99% certain.
If it don't boot on a properly fitted X2 Lite then it ain't gonna boot at all. Sadly she's a scrapper.
It's over. End of story.
And it is NOT the TSOP flash that has done the damage.
Sorry to be the harbinger of doom.
Regards,
Psi

[frittfall]

Ok, over the week-end I got a little bit smarter, but at the same time a whole lot dumber.
With a properly fitted x2 lite the box booted again. When I removed the jumper to disable the chip it still bootet, but now woth the TSOP bios (I could tell by the color on the logo). So the TSOP-flash is still working perfectly. But when I removed the x2 lite, it went back to the same black screen and the no-boot problem.

As I understand it, it means that there are a short-circut or something somwhere, that the chip bypasses. I had no luck figuring out exactly where the problem was, and I had to return the box with the x2 lite fitted last night.

So if anyone out there has a simular problem, at least you know a few things about it.  :rolleyes:

Thanks for all your help and input guys!