Post by: F1FanaticGT3 on December 31, 2003, 08:17:00 AM
Post by: SBug on January 04, 2004, 11:45:00 PM
Post by: LiquidCaffeine on January 05, 2004, 12:19:00 PM
Post by: Flagg3 on January 07, 2004, 08:58:00 AM
| QUOTE (F1FanaticGT3 @ Dec 31 2003, 01:17 PM) |
| Hey guys. I just installed my Chameleon Chip and flashed the old Chormwell BIOS with Xecuter2 V. 4979. I have been reading that if you want to disable the Chameleon you are supposed to use V. 4976.02 The main reason I bought this chip was because I could disable it and play online, but I don't have the right version? Is there anyone to disable to chip using Version 4979? I have read that your supposed to boot the xbox by hitting the eject button and it will boot with the chip off, but I still get the XBOX Logo with the Xecuter2 logo on it and after that it proceeds to the Slayer's Evox Dahsboard I have. Also one thing I noticed when I installed my chip and was at the chromwell BIOS screen waiting while flashing my chip, it said that the BLUE LED was supposed to be flashing, but the only color that ever flashes on my chip is red. But the chip still flashed the BIOS and plays ripped games so I didn't think anything of it, but having never seen a blue light could this mean that my chip isn't working and for some reason I can't disable it to go online? |
You disable the Chameleon by HOLDING the EJECT button down at boot. If you only touch it for a second the Chameleon will still boot normally.
Additionally, this only works if you soldered the P/E wires on as well. If not, then it won't work.
Flagg
Post by: JoeRod on January 09, 2004, 09:02:00 AM
Post by: pontfirebird73 on February 11, 2004, 07:01:00 AM
This post has been edited by pontfirebird73: Feb 11 2004, 03:01 PM
Post by: brodkil on February 26, 2004, 06:06:00 AM
Post by: solder_man on June 28, 2004, 03:17:00 PM
Post by: caseyhalone on February 18, 2006, 10:03:00 AM
Post by: hothmu on March 30, 2006, 01:37:00 AM
2) Quick solder - This is the only install I havnt tried yet and thus all I can say about this method of install is becareful not too heat the chip or xbox board up too much. Also watch for any short circuits and make sure none of the components on the chameleon touch any other live parts of the xbox motherboard.
Nice guide.
I just wanted to let you know about my experience with the quick solder method. I have been using the chameleon chip for two years now with the solderless adapter and it has been fine most of the time (with a little adjustment here and there). In the meantime I have been working on putting the xbox hardware in a PC case so I can fit 4 HDD's in it with a dial switch to switch between them. While I was trying to mount the mobo in the case I snapped 2 of the pins on the adapter, I thought I was screwed. So the I dusted off my soldering iron, bought a new tip (fine, smallest I could find), and some solder and proceeded to flip the chip upsidedown and solder the connnections. The process went smooth and now when I move my box I don't have to re-adjust the adapter.
In my experiences with mod chips this is the most solid way to connect this chip. I also put a dab of super glue on the chip to hold it in place while I soldered it. This method is not for the amature solderer, you need a stedy hand, a very fine tip and make sure you "wet" the tip with solder, DO NOT apply the solder to the board, let it get "sucked" to the cool contacts. And most importantly make sure the connections do not touch each other. You may also want to fill the holes with solder first. I hope this adds to any doubts you may have about this style of connection. In my opinion it is the best way.
let me know what you think
Hoth
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 28, 2003, 02:00:00 AM
THIS is a the best way to do it and involves no soldering and is totally reversible
Out of the three ways to install your chameleon, there are some things that will help you in installation
1) Pin header - when installing the d0, a15, p and e wires it is often good to put a header pin onto the chip itself and then to push the wire into it - however header pins can sometimes be very sticky and thus when pulling them out it may be possible to pull the wire out of the motherboard by accident. Thus an easier way of connecting the points is to install a soldered wire with a couple of centimeters of extra wire between so it is slack. Then cut it, ideally fairly close to the chip and you can twist the wires together:it is secure enough - connects the point and much easier than mounting header pins and going to the shop to find the perfect adapter. Further to this it is a good idea to put a thin sheet of sellotape of a couple of cm's long on the bottom of the motherboard - after soldering the header pins. This way you can be sure that nomatter what gets into your xbox (for example a small drop of solder), it will never prevent the xbox from booting the chip
2) Quick solder - This is the only install I havnt tried yet and thus all I can say about this method of install is becareful not too heat the chip or xbox board up too much. Also watch for any short circuits and make sure none of the components on the chameleon touch any other live parts of the xbox motherboard.
3) Matrix Add-on - This was a bit of a pain as it required cutting lines on my matrix however I have now repaired this, a little messily for another install in future. The key thing to watch out for here is that when running the matrix on its own, before installing chameleon, check the exact positioning and try pressing parts of the chip to see where pressure needs to be applied. Once you have done this you can remove it, cut the wires, reinstall (applying pressure where you noted it and checking underneath the chip for contact positions), add on the chameleon and boot. If your lucky you should see the chameleon blue led come on, if not then just power off, wbble the matrix a bit and retry. Hopefully it wont take too much of this before it boots fine. If you are really having problems, only have one chameleon and one matrix, suspect that your chameleon may not be flashed corectly (however 4/4 worked with me), do not dispair. The last choice is the possibility that you can install the matrix normally again, and reconnect the wires which you may have already cut by using small strips of wire between the onboard components, boot, then switch and attempt to program the chameleon this way - however this is only for desperation and if you are fine with easybuy2000's return time then probably better to just do this.
Once installed, the chameleon should boot and without any flash logo should boot to chameleon cromwell bios (installed on all 4 banks out of four). From here it will automatically eject the cd tray and ask you to insert a LINUXBIO.BIN (note the caps lock!!!!) now you can follow the instructions on www.xodus-chip.com in the userguide for burning a cdrw with a blank file. If you would like to install linux you can continue from the cromwell screen and boot mandrake (or whatever takes your fancy). However, if like me you wanted Evox on your cromwell your best bet is to find a totally fresh copy of "evox d.6.bin", rename this to LINUXBIO.BIN - burn on the cd with the dummy file and when the xbox finishes loading just insert this cdrw. Now the xecuter bioses are better as they are newer and have more modifications. At the time of this edit (7th September 2003) the x2 4977 bios was best for me as it was 256k and had all the features i wanted. so you should instead rename the x2 4977 bios to LINUXBIO.BIN and put it on the cd with the dummy file. You can get nice colourmod bioses from xecuter now and they help you tell if the chameleon flashed correctly. When booting after the power off the x and xbox at the startup will be a different colour and thus that your xbox is ready to boot an evox disk or similar.
It will flash the chip in bank 0 and then power off- upon restarting it will boot evox and you can then ftp accross the new evox.ini to allow control of the flash banks (written also in chameleon userguide).
I hope this helps, it was a fairly stressful install but even so I still think the header pin is the best install, because, apart from d0, the points are not too hard. Good luck and message me with any problems/queries. Chris
Added: At the present time I am pretty sure it is impossible to flash the chameleon from pc (using matrix adapter), however it is not too complicated a program so we shall see how long it will take. Hope you enjoy your now working chameleon
Further EDIT: Dont know whether it has been said already but if you chameleon does not boot - try changing the memory location before messing around and cutting wires... etc Just a simple solution i forgot to say as the chances of all banks being bad is very low (in my opinion)
7/9/2003 EDIT: updated a little info about flashing bioses, will update further soon when i have more time
Post by: matic on May 28, 2003, 02:20:00 AM
I've since uninstalled the chameleon chip (including the A15 and P & E wiring) but I'm still having the power button and abnormal shutdown problem described above. Did you experience anything like this?
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 28, 2003, 02:30:00 AM
Post by: coolhp on May 28, 2003, 05:58:00 AM
Very educational post.
I have also posted similar information here yesterday :
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?act...=ST&f=9&t=59107
and have added pics of the D0/A15 and E/P headerpins this morning.
I still believe headerpins are a good idea and I recomend using a little bit of hot glue (from any cheap hot glue gun) on the wires near your solder points on the mobo.. That way you wont have the issue of ripping them off by pulling to hard when unplugging the wires.
I honestly dont recommend the "twisting the wires" part.... expecially if on E/P unless you want your box to take a life of its own... LOL
If you do so, isolate them properly.
Cheers.
Post by: angry pirate on May 28, 2003, 10:03:00 AM
Could you clarify a bit on booting the jury-rigged matrix and then plugging in the chameleon? Do you mean boot the repaired matrix, and then hot-install the chameleon, or do you have to boot then remove the 'repair' wires and then hot-install?
coolhp thanks for your reply, I have already tried every single dip configuration without success. I emailed the xodus people and hopefully they have an answer. Dollars to donuts I have blank chameleon
They just need to post software for programming via parallel port adapter...- Angry Pirate -
Post by: coolhp on May 28, 2003, 10:19:00 AM
There is something you can try... Have you installed the headerpins yet ?
If so, this is what you should try... but its going to be a little tricky (I just tested it and it works !!!)
1) Repair your matrix if you have already cut the tracks.
2) With a little electrical tape, attach your D0 wire to the D0 pins.
3) Attache a wire to a ground point and with a little more tape, attach it to the matrix groung point.
4) Hold the matrix on top of the headerpins so that each pogo ping makes contact with its correspond pin.
5) Boot your box. If all goes well, you should be able to boot Evox.
6) Once evox is booted, remove the matrix and install the chameleon on the header pins (you dont need to put D0 yet... its not mandatory)
7) Go to the flash bios menu in evox and flash with a 256k evox d.6. That will flash it onto your Chameleon's bank 0.
8) Once the box has shut off... Attache D0 if you haven't done so...
9) Restart your box.
If while flashing, you get a Manufacturer ID of 09 or something like that and evox says "Flash not writable" it means your chameleon is busted and you'd need to call your provider for an exchange or a refund.
Hope that helps.
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 28, 2003, 12:28:00 PM
. anyway i think that covers many of the issues that need referral. It's ready to be made sticky
About e/p using twisting wires, just so long as you put a tiny bit of sellotape around it there are no problems... trust me
but of course header pins would be ideal, this was just an alternative as i didnt have any at that point in time.Anyway on another note I just flashed the onboard tsop with chameleon and then back again just so I knew how it was possible and to tell you all: here goes. Boot into evox or cromwell, flash onto the chip the matrix_tsop_flash bios, as per normal in chameleon (ideally use a bank other than 0 (otherwise if you screw up its a hell of a lot harder to go back). The switch to this bank, boot the evox dash and you should now have the option to flash the tsop (if you attatched a15), just flash it and it will power off. Upon restarting it will boot into your chameleon bank 0 again and the chameleon needs to be removed to check to see if it is working. Hopefully
you will see the bios you just flashed into the tsop and you have just successfully flashed your tsop. You can leave it without a chip or just keep the chip to flash a friends. Hope nobody has any problems with this, if you do just add it on here and it should help cover everything in the near future.Chameleon rocks!
Post by: matic on May 28, 2003, 01:37:00 PM
Thanks.
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 28, 2003, 01:51:00 PM
. I presume you followed the few steps I gave you above. You will have to check what voltage the multimeter uses because if it went the wrong way through the circuit board you could end up messing up the whole thing. look for signes of burning, signs of molten plastic, loose connection, darkened solder, burnt motherboard, small chippings/splashes of solder. Those are justa few that come to mind, if you can see nothing wrong then I would assume it is your soldering for the header pin/d0. I can tell from the fact that it is fairly random and that the chip and xbox does still work that it is a hardware problem. Thus i guess just checking and rechecking all connections/areas where you touched, with anything that may conduct electricity for shorts. Other than that you will have to check with a more senior electrician. Chris
Post by: asgaffney on May 28, 2003, 07:14:00 PM
Thanks in Advance,
Adam
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 28, 2003, 11:46:00 PM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 29, 2003, 07:09:00 AM
EDIT: Thanks!
This post has been edited by explicitlyrics100: May 29 2003, 05:09 PM
Post by: angry pirate on May 29, 2003, 09:45:00 AM
With a digital multimeter:
Most dmm have a diode check mode. Looks like this: --|<--
Anywho select this mode, place your leads on either side of the diode. You may or may not hear a beep from the dmm. Reverse the leads. You may or may not hear a beep.
- If you hear a beep both ways, your diode has shorted out.
- If you don't hear a beep either way, your diode has opened.
- If you hear a beep one way only, your diode is fine.
With an analog multimeter:
Select the most sensitive ohmmeter mode you have. Place leads on either side of the diode. The resistance should either be next to nothing or very high. Reverse and note the resistance again.
- If the resistance is low both ways, you've got a short.
- High both ways you've got an open.
- Low one way and high the other, your diode is fine.
- Angry Pirate -
Post by: coolhp on May 29, 2003, 10:26:00 AM
With explicitlyrics100's authorisation, I'm transfering some of the information I had originally posted in another post hoping that it might help you guys a little. I've also included the pin header pics for A15/D0 and E/P for thoses who were wondering what I was talking about.
Enjoy :
After months of waiting, I finally got my hands on 2 Chameleon chips last night... and I started playing around with them. Here is a little log of what I had to go through... might help some of you :-)
Let me start by a few facts :
1) Altough the chameleon can be plugged into your matrix programmer... it is not a good idea to do so... I'm not sure if its a WinLPC issue or just the fact that the connector is only meant to be used for the Matrix Addon installation procedure. Still, WinLPC will not detect the device and you wont be able to flash it. Furthermore, you might end up erasing the content of your chip so don't bother for now.
2) You REALLY dont wand to solder your D0, A15, E an P wires to the chip itself. Solder the mobo side but install some sort of header pins (or other solution that might come through your mind) so that you can unplug them easily... you never know what might happen, you might need to swap chips at some point (like I had to do :-) )
3) Although they say the chip comes preflashed with a cromwell bios, some of them come unflashed (I had one of these).. This can proove to be a pain when you start asking yourself why your box isnt booting.
Anyhow...
I started by attempting the Matrix Addon installation... just out of curiosity.
1 st issue... you actually have to cut 3 tracks on your good'old matrix... and that really sucks... but I can understand XODUS's Team's position (read the addon instructions for more details)... the chameleon should really be used as a full blown chip... not some backpack.
Still, I followed the instructions... and ended up with a Red/Green flash....
Since the TSOP on my mobo is busted, I'm kind of used to that... so I started looking for issues around the LPC connector or around D0... but NADA... ZIP... everything is connected properly.
Alright.. Maybe its the matrix addon part that doesnt work to good... Lets try it the right way.
I installed the header pins on the bus, soldered my D0, E and P (dont really need A15 if you dont want to flash your TSOP) onto the mobo, attached the chip and connected the 3 wires.
Again... Red/Green flash....
Hmmmm.... Is the chip functionning ?
I then tried to connect the chip to the Matrix programmer... see if winLPC would see it and let me read the chips content. Nothing... Device Not Found... again and again...
I ended up installing the other chameleon I had... and at last... it booted the Cromwell bios.
Now here's something else... THE CROMWELL BIOS WILL NOT BOOT EVOX.... it is not meant to do so.
Conclusion :
Ended up copying a 256k Evox d.6 file into a CDRW (rename as LINUXBIO.BIN and burn as ISO9660) and thanks to the cool flash feature included with this version of the Cromwell bios, I was able to flash my bank 0 with that evox bios.
Once evox booted. I hotswapped the chameleons in order the flash the unprogrammed one. It worked like a charm. (Thats where all the header pins come in handy).
Installation of the PIN Headers :
Alright... I finally got to take some shots of the pins I installed.
Sorry about the quality of the pics. My digital camera is dead... I had to take them with an old crappy webcam.
Here's the chip :
and the pins :
Here is how I hold the stuff together :
Now what you have to do is this :
Then solder :
Same thing for E/P
Then solder :
Here's a pic of the headerpins on the mobo :
The chip mounted :
And the chip wired :
Hope that helps.
Side note :
I had a few other minor issues along the way that you migh encouter so if any of you have issues with installing your matrix, let me know... I might be able to assist.
I also recommend using Mode4 with the following setup :
0k->256k : Evox d.6 or any other bios 256k bios of your choice
256k->512k : Chameleon Cromwell (Keep it in case something goes bad)
512k->1024k : A 512k debug bios (TATX Dual Debug -> 1st 2 banks)
Best luck to you all...
Post by: _300zx_TT on May 29, 2003, 11:47:00 AM
| QUOTE |
| I also recommend using Mode4 with the following setup : 0k->256k : Evox d.6 or any other bios 256k bios of your choice 256k->512k : Chameleon Cromwell (Keep it in case something goes bad) 512k->1024k : A 512k debug bios (TATX Dual Debug -> 1st 2 banks) |
since i dont need the debug bios, since i have no use for it cause im not a developer or anything..
would it be safe to run these bioses?
0-256 : Evox d.6
256-512 : Xecuter2 4976.02
512-1024: Chameleon Cromwell
i guess the main question is, can i run this setup and can i use 256k bios in a 512k slot and leave 256k blank in the same slot.. would that work? or does it have to be exact. will i have to get the 1024 and cut it to 512 using some program?
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 29, 2003, 11:52:00 AM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 29, 2003, 12:19:00 PM
Post by: asgaffney on May 29, 2003, 04:08:00 PM
Thanks in advance for your expertise,
Adam
Post by: PlastiKK_ on May 29, 2003, 04:55:00 PM
| QUOTE |
| Anyway on another note I just flashed the onboard tsop with chameleon and then back again just so I knew how it was possible and to tell you all: here goes. Boot into evox or cromwell, flash onto the chip the matrix_tsop_flash bios, as per normal in chameleon (ideally use a bank other than 0 (otherwise if you screw up its a hell of a lot harder to go back). The switch to this bank, boot the evox dash and you should now have the option to flash the tsop (if you attatched a15), just flash it and it will power off. Upon restarting it will boot into your chameleon bank 0 again and the chameleon needs to be removed to check to see if it is working. Hopefully you will see the bios you just flashed into the tsop and you have just successfully flashed your tsop. You can leave it without a chip or just keep the chip to flash a friends. |
OK, before I flash the TSOP, do I have to solder any jumpers? And do I have to do anything else, like edit the evox.ini or solder anything else?
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 30, 2003, 12:33:00 AM
perhpas as a notice for the future it is a good idea to solder e/p on the back of the board - that way you should eliminate the problem of frying the diode or removing its contact points.
as for the restarting - you have desoldered a connection slightly and thus it may be worth checking your other connections as it is likely this may have happened on another point, check everything is secure, then try booting bank0, then bank 1 then bank 2 just incase there was a bad copy of cromwell. then make sure you have a good copy of evox or whatever bios you may use - you can only tell by checking with the person you are gettig it off....
finally for the bios flash this depends on which xbox verion you have and whether you intend to remove the chip again at the end.
Chris
Post by: Telemachus on May 30, 2003, 05:57:00 AM
So does the Chameleon ground itself through the LPC points, or what?
And finally, did you have to place any jumpers for the TSOP flash?
Thanks.
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 30, 2003, 06:20:00 AM
the bottom of the board for p/e is quite hard as the actual connection is to a chip not to a connection ring for a component but it might be worth taking a look any1 who has their console open.
d0 is the ground and doesnt need anything other than that.
Chris
Post by: kyleday on May 30, 2003, 08:02:00 AM
| QUOTE (explicitlyrics100 @ May 30 2003, 09:33 AM) |
| ok - if youve tried flashing a million times and it still flashes red/gree but youca n boot cromwell then try a different copy of the evox bios. there are some duds floating around and you should be fine if you try another. perhpas as a notice for the future it is a good idea to solder e/p on the back of the board - that way you should eliminate the problem of frying the diode or removing its contact points. as for the restarting - you have desoldered a connection slightly and thus it may be worth checking your other connections as it is likely this may have happened on another point, check everything is secure, then try booting bank0, then bank 1 then bank 2 just incase there was a bad copy of cromwell. then make sure you have a good copy of evox or whatever bios you may use - you can only tell by checking with the person you are gettig it off.... finally for the bios flash this depends on which xbox verion you have and whether you intend to remove the chip again at the end. Chris |
Chris, I've pretty much already done those steps. I've tried nearly 5 different evo-x bios in 256kb format, and even the Cromwell bios, nothing flashed correctly. I did fix my power button and the reset timer by resoldering the diode, and making a jumper from the back of the board to that diode- so the power button works and it doesn't auto power down. Flashing the bios is still a problem. I've booted from each bank that contains a good copy of cromwell now, cause bank 0 isn't flashing- and I still can't get it to flash. Each time it says it's flashing and not to turn off my xbox, but when it reboots and i set to boot from bank 0, it comes up red/green. I even replaced my chip w/ another chameleon. Same thing- boots fine, flashes fine (i think) and then bank 0 still sucks. Anyone got any suggestions??? Maybe someone could hook me up w/ the TATX 512kb bios and I could try that???
Kyle
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 30, 2003, 08:31:00 AM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 30, 2003, 09:27:00 AM
Post by: coolhp on May 30, 2003, 01:47:00 PM
Post by: kyleday on May 30, 2003, 01:51:00 PM
Kyle
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 30, 2003, 02:44:00 PM
and what i was saying about the banks - is boot into bank 2 and flash bank 2 (or any bank bu 0) then boot into it again so your in evox - then flash bank 0 from evox.... is that what you tried or does that not work?
Post by: Telemachus on May 30, 2003, 09:10:00 PM
I don't think XODUS ever IMAGINED that so many people would have problems with those things. It's really sad, actually. Just get the pin headers and the D0, and call it quits in my opinion.
Really, it took me maybe two drops of solder to get wires to stick to those points. Take it easy, and USE FLUX, or don't try them at all!
As far as the alternative D0 goes, I would be weary to use it. The only XBOX I have seen get fragged was my brother's who tried to solder the alternative d0 and pulled it off. The top is a little tricky, but just cut the wire down with your XACTO knife so that the wire fits into the hole, tin the wire, drop a tiny bit of flux on D0, and slap it in. The hardest part about it is holding the wire long enough for the solder to drop... fingers get kinda hot, so I just tape down, secured with an "S" similar to IV securing.
What still baffles me is the quick solder method. Having never used an X1, I found the idea quite absurd. It looks cool, but I would NOT want the Cham that close to the MB. Many people having luck with this install? Might actually be easier than headerpin if you aren't interested in upgrading in the future...
Sorry for the long one.
Peace
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 31, 2003, 01:42:00 AM
Post by: hadrian on May 31, 2003, 12:00:00 PM
IT IS NOT CURRENTLY POSSIBLE TO FLASH THE CHAMELEON WIHT A MATRIX PROGRAMMER
Is this correct?
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 31, 2003, 01:02:00 PM
Post by: GrisGris on May 31, 2003, 02:41:00 PM
It's certainly supposed to... Cromwell on all four banks...
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 31, 2003, 03:26:00 PM
Post by: Telemachus on May 31, 2003, 03:26:00 PM
I am curious to see what Xodus will do with the no solder adapter for the chameleon. I would imagine that it will omit both E and P, and possible even A15.
As I feel that A15 is totally optional, I think that this methos for inserting E and P without soldering will be quite a nice adjunct to their adapter.
I will try to post later this evening or tomorrow after I try the alternative E and P that were suggested.
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on May 31, 2003, 03:30:00 PM
Post by: dink on May 31, 2003, 08:59:00 PM
| QUOTE |
| if you can see the diode details on somebody elses or on another diode of the same type then by all means take a trip to radio shack and see what you can do |
Everyone seems to referring point E (R3G2) and point P (R3G4), as a diode. I would disagree. The first letter "R" in R3G2 indicates resistor. "3G" indicates the location of the component on the mobo. Just like a on street map when looking for a steet on a map. (e.g. Main St. = H3) The top right of the mobo is "A1" going down to "G" and from the right to left is "8". You will notice that part of row "A" is missing, because of the cooling fan. The last digit indicates component number.
Also, on the resistor its labeled as "103", which means 10k. 10 + 3 zeros = 10000.
Post by: donrogelio on May 31, 2003, 11:19:00 PM
.
Post by: yardguy00 on June 01, 2003, 12:25:00 AM
Well i seem to have a diff prob then everyone else.. i hope i can explain it well enough.
i have installed the chameleon using the header pins and i have soldered the d0 , e and p connections.
when i turn on my xbox i dont get any loading screen just black. the chameleon blinks blue consistantly. it does pop out the rom drive. ive tried to load a bios via cd but it just kicks it back out after flashing green green then red. also i cant acctually turn off my xbox.... it just keeps resseting and spitting out the rom drive.
if you guys can help please do.
Post by: yardguy00 on June 01, 2003, 01:13:00 AM
| QUOTE (dzv @ Jun 1 2003, 08:46 AM) |
| Sounds like your Eject button is permanently on. You may have damaged something while soldering the E wire. A couple of other guys had similar problems, but with the Power wire. Do what they did to fix it, but to your Eject line. |
well i did read those 2 guys fixed there diodes but i didnt really understand how... can someone give a better explanation on that... also whenever i turn off the xbox it just restarts.... is that the p point? argh!!!
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 01, 2003, 02:54:00 AM
Post by: Telemachus on June 01, 2003, 06:33:00 AM
| QUOTE (dzv @ Jun 1 2003, 09:46 AM) |
| Sounds like your Eject button is permanently on. You may have damaged something while soldering the E wire. A couple of other guys had similar problems, but with the Power wire. Do what they did to fix it, but to your Eject line. |
Wow... these stories of possessed XBOX's get better and better.
The news of all the "unflashed" chameleons is concerning... something that needs to be addressed. The problem is, though, with all of these horror stories, I think the common thread is "I really don't know how to solder and I am trying to solder without having EVER tried it before."
Ok, that may not be the actual case, but all of these resistors getting pulled off, alt D0's getting pulled off, etc. STILL makes me tend to believe that the problem is the soldering jobs, and NOT the chameleon.
My point it, there is no way to tell is your Cham is bad unless you are absolutely sure that the solder job is good.
You need to find someone with a SUCCESSFUL header pin install and try your CHAM on their machine. You DO NOT need D0 soldered/pinned to the cham for it to boot from it (although it does need to be connected if you want to turn OFF the cham), so ask them to pull off their X2, place the cham on, and ground D0. Pay them 10 bucks or so to do it for ya.
Has Xodus yet addressed the posibility that some/many of the chips are not flashed?
Post by: yardguy00 on June 01, 2003, 08:47:00 AM
but the rom drive does stay shut. my xbox is somewhat still functional with the exception of my eject button and the fact that i cant turn it off with out it turning back on again. its like my power button became a reset button.
oh and yes i was a complete soldering noob
Post by: Telemachus on June 01, 2003, 09:00:00 AM
| QUOTE (GrisGris @ Jun 1 2003, 03:58 PM) |
| Okay..but flashed or not, is it not true that if the d0 is properly grounded your Xbox will not boot up normally? Seems like I can't even assume a bad chip until I'm sure the thing is even GOING to LPC... Unlike some others, I have soldered before and my board is doing just fine, but I just can't imagine that I'm not nailing that damn d0. |
Actually, I am not sure on this. In theory, grounding the D0 should default to loading from LPC. If there is not chip there, I am not sure what it does.
The best way to tell if you have done d0 right is to test it with a voltometer. Since I don't have one, I take a more primitive approach to it. I have rigged up a watch battery with a small led light. I have a wire leading to the positive end of the battery, and from the negative end I create the circuit with the led. The other wire of the led has an extender wire soldered onto it.
I simply touch the two ends of my circuit to the alternative D0 and the wire that I have installed on the d0 on the front. When the Led lights, I know that I have completed the circuit.
Not really sure how safe this method is (I haven't try it with more than a watch battery), but it works fine for me.
I have not tried it on any other points.
Post by: dzv on June 01, 2003, 01:04:00 PM
| QUOTE (Telemachus @ Jun 1 2003, 06:00 PM) |
| Actually, I am not sure on this. In theory, grounding the D0 should default to loading from LPC. If there is not chip there, I am not sure what it does. |
If you ground D0 with no chip on the LPC, your Xbox will FRAG.
| QUOTE (GrisGris @ Jun 1 2003, 06:28 PM) |
| I touch it to the non-soldered mobo d0 point though, and I don't get a completed circuit... Am I way off here? |
If you touch one probe to the end of your D0 wire (or the point where it's soldered to your Chameleon), then attach the other probe to the non-soldered D0 point on your motherboard, you should get a completed circuit. If not, then you may have soldered the wrong D0 point.
Post by: GrisGris on June 01, 2003, 01:53:00 PM
| QUOTE (dzv @ Jun 1 2003, 10:04 PM) |
| GrisGris, if you have a digital camera, post a pic of the point your soldered the D0 wire to on the motherboard, so we can verify it's the right point and no bridges/broken traces are apparent. |
dzv...I do have a digital camera but I can't get a close up in focus shot with this thing to save my life...even in macro mode. I am 100% positive that I have the right alt d0 soldered, especially since I am now experiencing the same FRAG issue that most others are. And I got it very quickly on the first try, so I don't think I've done any damage. Also, when I unground it, I get a normal boot.
I'm curious about what someone else mentioned in another thread about there being oversolder on the Chameleon chip as shipped that was causing their FRAG problem.
Post by: ronin64 on June 01, 2003, 02:56:00 PM
Post by: GrisGris on June 01, 2003, 03:40:00 PM
Post by: yardguy00 on June 01, 2003, 03:52:00 PM
Post by: donrogelio on June 01, 2003, 04:41:00 PM
Post by: yardguy00 on June 01, 2003, 05:02:00 PM
Post by: yardguy00 on June 01, 2003, 05:10:00 PM
| QUOTE (clold @ Jun 2 2003, 01:07 AM) |
| I had a working system with a cheapmod and thought I'd try upgrading to the Chameleon. The cheapmod had a pinheader install and had been working flawlessly for some time. The Chameleon boots its Cromwell BIOS and prompts me for the disk with the new BIOS to flash. It warns me not to turn off the Xbox, as it will do so automatically when done programming... and nothing happens. I've waited upwards of half an hour. I would try a hot-swap, but I just moved and can't find my old cheapmod among dozens of boxes. I've gotten OzxFlash to load, but (of course) its version of Raincoat doesn't recognize the Chameleon flash. Anyone out there with any ideas? |
well mine acctually reads the bios then says not to turn off the system it will turn itself off... then it does turn itself off.... but when i start it up again it still shows the cromwell screen... how do you use the flashed bios?
oh and i also used a cdrw and made a 50+mb dummy.bin file.... it seemed to help cause it didnt work til i made the dummy file. hope that works for you
Post by: Telemachus on June 01, 2003, 06:15:00 PM
Let us know.
Peace
Post by: ronin64 on June 01, 2003, 06:59:00 PM
Post by: GrisGris on June 01, 2003, 07:11:00 PM
Post by: dzv on June 01, 2003, 10:42:00 PM
Post by: cgt32 on June 01, 2003, 10:57:00 PM
What I do know is that if I want eject the dvd drive, I have to hold on to it for 3 seconds and it will power up with an eject. However, I can't seem to find a way for it to eject w/o powering down. Does anyone know of a solution to this?
I'm also trying to find a software eject program... does anyone know of any?
Thanks in advance.
Post by: matic on June 01, 2003, 11:17:00 PM
| QUOTE (dzv @ Jun 2 2003, 07:42 AM) |
| If your multimeter is set to test for continuity (or resistance) then what you are trying won't ground D0. You need to ground D0 with a wire. |
Thanks dzv. I kinda realized that after a short while and grounded D0 with a wire.
Here's my problem now. After I ground D0 with a wire, I get a FRAG without the chameleon chip installed (as expected). But I also get a FRAG and no blue light WITH the chameleon chip installed (pin header method). I've tried all four memory banks using the appropriate dip switches and each time it results in a FRAG.
I also tried connecting D0 to the proper point on the chameleon chip and with all four memory banks, it just boots to the default MS dashboard.
So am I right to say it's either the chip that's defective or the pin headers are not connecting properly?
Can anyone suggest to me what I can do from here to test these two things out and further troubleshoot this problem?
Post by: GrisGris on June 02, 2003, 05:12:00 AM
Post by: matic on June 02, 2003, 08:00:00 AM
I've rechecked my pin header soldering and it looks clean.Does anyone know how I can check if the chameleon chip is defective, or if it has no cromwell bios loaded in. If there's no default bios, what can I do to get one on it?
Post by: GrisGris on June 02, 2003, 08:46:00 AM
Yeah it seems like too many experienced solderers are having the same problem as you. I was just amazed when something actually happened after I messed with the soldering.
Sounds like the only solution for an unflashed chip (and I have no idea how you'd verify that it IS unflashed) at this point is a hot swap with a good one...but unless you're an installer, why would you have more than one of these things around? I guess if you know someone.. I know that people like ExplicitLyrics and maybe others are looking into flashing the Chams via matrix programmer or otherwise.
Post by: Bboy on June 02, 2003, 04:14:00 PM
Guys,
Can one of you with experiance using the Matrix addon method tell me where I might be going wrong?
I took off the Matric and cut the lines really well. I reinstalled the chip with a nice bright green light. If I turn the system on I get the red and green flashes as the chip can no longer boot the system on its own. I add the Cham to the Matrix and the green light on the Matrix blinks and the blue light on the Cham blinks, but the system doesn't boot. It does the flashing thing, like the install is bad.
I've removed the chip abd checked my cutting job, then added it back in. I get the same results.
What should I try?
Thanks.
Post by: GrisGris on June 02, 2003, 05:45:00 PM
Alright guys...I think I have this chip working as well as I'm going to get it. To summarize some things I've learned installing this on my v1.1:
-Wiring the alternate d0 on the bottom of the mobo is much easier and (in my case) much more effective
-Starting the xbox up in Chameleon mode 1 (all switches in off mode) is what puts me into Cromwell where the DVD tray ejects and asks for a disc. I get FRAGs in other modes.
-You will get a black screen even if the chip is working depending on how your video is set up...I went back to the original A/V connector with the RCA video connector and finally got to actually SEE the damn Cromwell bios in action
Now, the reason I am not saying that I've got the thing working 100% is that the blue light isn't flashing! I have to press on the chip fairly hard and kind of twist it a bit in a certain direction for it to blink. Yet, it is clearly booting up in Cromwell. Could it just be that the connector that controls the blue light is what isn't connected 100%?? Should I be concerned about the lack of a blinking light or move on with my life and consider this thing installed?
Edit: Hmm..nevermind about only being able to boot in mode 1...I've tried mode 4 and one other mode which also worked. Maybe most of them do now...
Post by: ItsGForMe on June 03, 2003, 07:59:00 AM
What is the behavior when the HD and DVD are not connected?
Mine was FRAGging...Could it be that I should have just reconnected everything and it would have booted?
Post by: GrisGris on June 03, 2003, 08:57:00 AM
Post by: matic on June 03, 2003, 09:02:00 AM
After many many nights of troubleshooting and testing, my Chameleon seems to be fully functional and working as described. The culprit to my problems turned out to be one of the pin headers was not connecting properly to the mobo.
I can now boot up in all four modes (I've left it on mode 4 because it's the most flexible) and I've loaded x2 bios and evox dash (blue light lights up in cromwell). Man, what a great feeling it is to finally have everything working.
For those that are still working at it, don't give up, keep checking and rechecking all your connections. Here are some troubleshooting tips that I learned:
D0 connection:
You know you have a good D0 connection if you ground the wire connecting D0 without the chip installed and the xbox FRAGS.
Also, make sure you leave plenty of slack on the D0 wire so that the it doesn't tear out of the mobo from too much handling.
Pin Header connections:
Make sure the solder connects the pin to the motherboard securely. Gently push down each individual pin from the top of the mobo (with your finger if they aren't too big or a screwdriver or other small flat tool) and see if it slides down through the mobo. If it does, it's not soldered well enough on to the motherboard.
Chameleon chip:
I didn't quite know how to troubleshoot the chip other than trying to boot up using each of the 4 memory banks. If one memory bank had a bad flash, chances are one of the other three would be ok. Thankfully, after checking the other two things above, my chip worked. Hopefully this will for you too!
ItsGForMe, yes, you need to reconnect all the cables and components of your xbox for your xbox to boot properly.
Good luck!
Post by: laxton316 on June 03, 2003, 09:28:00 AM
| QUOTE (matic @ Jun 3 2003, 05:02 PM) |
| I finally got my Chameleon working! |
Good job matic.
I'm still waiting on my chip to arrive. I'm excited to give it a shot. You pointed out some good tips there. Thanks for the great post!
Post by: matic on June 03, 2003, 03:17:00 PM
Post by: kyleday on June 03, 2003, 06:59:00 PM
PROBLEM:
The cromwell boots and says it is flashing the bank, but never flashes successfully
ANSWER:
Even though it always found the LINUXBIO.BIN file on my cd-rw, and seemingly updated, I finally got it to flash by adding a file of at least 50mb size naming it SPECIFICALLY DUMMY.BIN <-- it needs to be that exact name i believe. But after adding that dummy file, it finally flashed correctly. Just like i said, it always acted like it flashed correctly, but only would if i added the DUMMY.BIN file on the cd
Best of Luck
Kyle
Post by: GrisGris on June 04, 2003, 07:07:00 AM
Post by: kyleday on June 04, 2003, 07:36:00 AM
Kyle
Post by: emka on June 04, 2003, 07:37:00 AM
Post by: GrisGris on June 04, 2003, 07:40:00 AM
By the way (emka reminded me), I have a Philips DVD and I chose not to use a dummy file to see whether the DVD could do it. Obviously I'm not completely sure, but it did recognize the bios on the CD and said it was installing it. I assume that drives that need a dummy file won't even recognize the bios on the CD.
Edit: oh, and common wisdom is that the dummy file should be at least 50 megs, emka.
Post by: kyleday on June 04, 2003, 07:57:00 AM
Hope this helps
Kyle
Post by: tracy2420 on June 04, 2003, 08:02:00 AM
xzone
Post by: Paul2428 on June 04, 2003, 08:40:00 AM
D0 and that the A15 was for advanced users? I just don't want to do more than i have to.
Post by: GrisGris on June 04, 2003, 08:42:00 AM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 04, 2003, 08:43:00 AM
Post by: GrisGris on June 04, 2003, 03:34:00 PM
Post by: _300zx_TT on June 04, 2003, 04:01:00 PM
i had lost a 103 resistor, so what i did was put tiny amount of solder on the resistor points, and solder 1 wire from point to point (they are very close..)
then i cut the wire in half (now making it two soldered wires) and checked their continuity just to be sure. after verifying it was ok, i soldered a different type of 10,000 ohm resistor (cylinder one with colored bands around it) to the two ends of the wires that i had soldered to the board. this worked perfectly, and now my eject was working nicely:)
(NOTE!: do not solder the resistor to the mobo and the yellow power connector, there is another connection that u dont see that drops the resistor down to 30,000 ohms before it reaches the power connector.
as for the problem with the chameleon.
i have everything installed.. but my chameleon wont stop flashing. i dont know how to check the lpc points and my dad is getting impatient with this thing cause he is a bastard. I was wondering if someone could tell me how to check the continuity of these points.
the d0 seems to work, and P & E do aswell.. but what the fuck is stopping this thing from working ?
Post by: kyleday on June 04, 2003, 04:31:00 PM
Post by: Telemachus on June 04, 2003, 04:32:00 PM
| QUOTE (tracy2420 @ Jun 4 2003, 05:02 PM) |
| Here are some install pics that I have done, its a rush job so please dont flame on how messy my insides are...LOL. xzone |
Nice, Tracy. SO it looks like the alternate E and P points indeed work. Do the buttons funciton correctly for you?
Post by: kyleday on June 04, 2003, 05:54:00 PM
If this doesn't quite answer your question, i'll try to phrase it a different way
Kyle
Post by: kyleday on June 04, 2003, 05:56:00 PM
Post by: _300zx_TT on June 04, 2003, 07:32:00 PM
| QUOTE (kyleday @ Jun 4 2003, 07:31 PM) |
| Your chameleon chip is supposed to flash when you boot the cromwell bios. So nothing is wrong with your chip |
you dont seem to understand the problem though
the chip led was flashing but cromwell still booted.
and it read the cdrw aswell.
which brings me to problem #4 (or 5, whos counting)
i burnt kungfu chaos onto the same cdrw (Maxell 4x 650mb CDRW [Red Lable])
and it fit, but it says that it might be a dirty disc or whatever..
i admit, it is dirty.. but why did it work for flashing
EDIT:!!!
FORGOT TO BURN AS AN IMAGE, i just burned the iso file right to disc.
its prob cause i dont use NERO to do this usually, i always used cdrwin till they stopped supporting my burner.
Post by: matic on June 04, 2003, 07:44:00 PM
I'm still getting the power up failure. Did I connect it to the wrong pin?
Post by: xboxistheshiznit on June 04, 2003, 07:44:00 PM
Post by: kyleday on June 04, 2003, 09:59:00 PM
| QUOTE (_300zx_TT @ Jun 5 2003, 04:32 AM) | ||
you dont seem to understand the problem though the chip led was flashing but cromwell still booted. and it read the cdrw aswell. which brings me to problem #4 (or 5, whos counting) i burnt kungfu chaos onto the same cdrw (Maxell 4x 650mb CDRW [Red Lable]) and it fit, but it says that it might be a dirty disc or whatever.. i admit, it is dirty.. but why did it work for flashing EDIT:!!! FORGOT TO BURN AS AN IMAGE, i just burned the iso file right to disc. its prob cause i dont use NERO to do this usually, i always used cdrwin till they stopped supporting my burner. |
Ok i believe i understand your problem. You are flashing the chip, but it still boots to cromwell. Check your DIP switches on your chip. They should all be in the off position if you flashed a 256kb bios file (this will auto boot bank 0)- Bank 0 will be where it was flashed to.
Try that
kyle
Post by: _300zx_TT on June 05, 2003, 04:08:00 PM
| QUOTE (kyleday @ Jun 5 2003, 12:59 AM) | ||||
Ok i believe i understand your problem. You are flashing the chip, but it still boots to cromwell. Check your DIP switches on your chip. They should all be in the off position if you flashed a 256kb bios file (this will auto boot bank 0)- Bank 0 will be where it was flashed to. Try that kyle |
no no no.
The >>>>>> LED <<<<<< on the chip is flashing BLUE!!..
but cromwell still boots, and i flashed it with x2 4976 or whatever. and i can play games..
but i dont know if down the road something will be wrong... cause it was flashing..
and yesterday i popped in cdrip of KungFu Chaos that i got just to try the thing.
and it worked.. it loaded for ages on the first screen, but it worked...
now i try to play again, the loading takes seconds, and after the opening video with the "kungfu fighting" song, it goes to a black screen.
i dunno if its IGR and how to disable that crap, cause i dont have EVoX or a hdd..
its just straight chip install to play cdrw for now.
any ideas?
Post by: gatrhaze on June 05, 2003, 06:13:00 PM
Post by: _300zx_TT on June 05, 2003, 07:11:00 PM
| QUOTE (gatrhaze @ Jun 5 2003, 09:13 PM) |
| Is the light of the chameleon supposed to go on when the X2 bios is on the booting bank or not? |
nope.
led only works on chromwell bios
Post by: pakis_ch on June 06, 2003, 01:32:00 AM
D0=13
A15=3
Verify it for yourself here.
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 06, 2003, 10:41:00 AM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 06, 2003, 11:17:00 AM
Post by: icantstandtoburntolong on June 07, 2003, 09:48:00 PM
I boot Matrix_tsop_flash the light on my xbox just blinks red, green
AND orange. does it matter whether A15 is connected or not or
should the bios boot evox dash even if A15 isnt connected
it is a v 1.0 box so the bios should work
Post by: hadrian on June 09, 2003, 02:10:00 PM
Check out the other thread for a pic.
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 10, 2003, 03:55:00 PM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 10, 2003, 05:23:00 PM
Post by: Neo2003 on June 10, 2003, 07:32:00 PM
Post by: dzv on June 11, 2003, 06:53:00 AM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 11, 2003, 11:10:00 AM
just like by holding e and p for different time periods it can decide which bank to boot from
Post by: dink on June 11, 2003, 11:50:00 AM
| QUOTE |
| yeh, its just like an electronic switch used by M$ presumably when they take the xbox's for checking/repair. |
I agree.
That brings up another question. How do the M$ engineering/repair folks, enable the LPC for debugging/testing?
I find it hard to believe, that they are grounding D0, the same way we are. Working in electronics repair field for years, I have always used hidden hardware/software toggles to go into special diagnostic mode.
There must be somekind of hidden way, that they use to enable the LPC interface. I think we are taking the brut force approach, by shorting D0 to ground. Without schematics or logical drawings, I think its going to be hard to find. But I am sure someone will stumble on it!
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 11, 2003, 12:10:00 PM
Post by: Neo2003 on June 13, 2003, 07:30:00 PM
Post by: Prophetz on June 13, 2003, 07:46:00 PM
Post by: solder_man on June 13, 2003, 09:54:00 PM
That's it. It does not load. I have tried two different types of CDRW media, and also used a 50+MB DUMMY.BIN file in addition to my 256KB D6 Bios file, renamed per instructions.
Thoughts???
Post by: solder_man on June 13, 2003, 10:44:00 PM
I only post this information in hopes that it will help someone else... I'm going to try several more CDRW file and burning combinations.
---Edit---
(Note: Don't bother trying to burn CDs with CDR media... it simply will not work unless you are uber l337!)
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 14, 2003, 05:42:00 AM
Post by: solder_man on June 15, 2003, 02:45:00 PM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 16, 2003, 02:11:00 AM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 17, 2003, 04:18:00 AM
five)i havnt really thought about this but the diode could have died on the chameleon and thus it is not able to switch to tsop - it disables chip but doesnt disconnect d0 (i mean transistor btw)
Post by: dink on June 17, 2003, 02:11:00 PM
Post by: sprkthead2 on June 17, 2003, 02:18:00 PM
Installed my Chameleon successfully pin header install, with all options applied, soldered d0 from the top with 30 awg wire. Get flashing blue light, boot to cromwell, Flash xecuter successfully on bank 0, then set to mode 4. Boots into xecuter fine when pressin the on button, Boots into M$ fine when pressing the eject button for 3 secs, enteresting thou is if you quickley press it, it boots to xecuter, so essentially you can just use the eject button to boot into both roms depending on how long you press it. Used Slayers's to install evox and lock my maxtor 160 8meg hard drive. Everything working fine so far. Most problems people are having seems to be due to bad soldering or not checking for continutity after soldering with a multimeter before powering on. If you take your time and double check your work with the correct equipment everything should go ok:) 
Post by: Xeero on June 17, 2003, 08:40:00 PM
| QUOTE (explicitlyrics100 @ May 30 2003, 10:20 AM) |
| no for tsop flash. the bottom of the board for p/e is quite hard as the actual connection is to a chip not to a connection ring for a component but it might be worth taking a look any1 who has their console open. d0 is the ground and doesnt need anything other than that. Chris |
A "connection ring" is actually called a via.
d0 is not ground...it is +5V or something...when you manually ground it (enable the mod), then the Xbox knows to use the LPC points as a location for the BIOS.
Post by: dink on June 23, 2003, 08:11:00 AM
If you would like one, send me a PM, so I can give reply to you, with my mailing address.
Then you can send me a SASE (self address stamp envolope) and I will tape a resistor on a piece of paper and mail it back to you.
Total cost for one resistor, (2) postage stamps and (2) envelopes! What a deal!
Post by: sharer on May 04, 2011, 01:12:00 AM
Thanks in Advance
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on June 25, 2003, 12:28:00 PM
ps im only back for a couple of days before i go off trecking for another 4or so days
Post by: dink on June 26, 2003, 07:22:00 AM
| QUOTE |
| what part of a computer was that from? |
It came from a phone system. Why do you ask?
Post by: gerzand on June 29, 2003, 12:39:00 PM
Post by: capt_peo on June 29, 2003, 03:02:00 PM
Post by: dzv on July 01, 2003, 10:59:00 AM
| QUOTE (Terrorbyte @ Jul 1 2003, 07:48 PM) |
| Has anyone soldered the "alternate" D0 point (on the back of the XBOX motherboard) to their Chameleon yet? I'm just wondering if it works 100% correctly, I know that the blue light on the Chameleon does not flash when that point is connected, but the XBOX will boot from the modchip perfectly fine. |
Why would the blue light not work? The alternate D0 is on exactly the same track as the top D0, just a different location.
Post by: Terrorbyte on July 01, 2003, 11:09:00 AM
| QUOTE |
| Why would the blue light not work? The alternate D0 is on exactly the same track as the top D0, just a different location. |
Have NO idea, obviously things were installed/soldered properly as I would get the Cromwell 1.8 BIOS screen after powering up the XBOX. I'm not an amateur at soldering, I'd at least consider myself intermediate to advanced, and I know when I have a good/bad solder joint, it's fairly obvious.
However, no matter what I did or how I burned the 256k BIOS file (evoX, executer, etc - renamed to "linuxbio.bin" as per the Cham manual), Cromwell would not boot from the CD-RW disc and would not flash the Chameleon BIOS (it would error out and say "linuxboot.cfg not found...halting"). I even waited for the "insert CD" prompt as instructed, still no luck. I burned many different CD-RW discs using different software, even burned a couple BIOSes using Mac OS X and Toast, no difference in how Cromwell would prompt "linuxboot.cfg not found...halting". I could've saved myself the extra trouble by flashing the Chameleon with an evoX or executer BIOS, but wanted to use Cromwell instead in order to follow Xodus's manual more precisely. I ordered both the Chameleon and Matrix as a package, so I do have the programmer, and decided to flash the Chameleon prior to installing it just to make sure everything was ok. I had no problems flashing from my friend's PC, but flashing from my own PC did not work, the Matrix programmer is picky with parallel ports I guess.
I did get the blue light to flash while connected to the other D0 point on the top of the board, but since the wire liked to pop out at random, I was never able to successfully solder a wire up there, and had to resort to the alternate D0 point. I do agree with you though, it doesn't make sense why the blue light doesn't flash since I'm using the same D0 point, I'm just jumping it from a different point.
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on July 02, 2003, 10:39:00 AM
| QUOTE (dink @ Jun 26 2003, 04:22 PM) |
| It came from a phone system. Why do you ask? |
because it seems insane to have that many resistors of the same value.
if you have problems with your chip it is probably from a loose connection. this could be between the xbox or perhaps even between the programmer and thus it was unable to be flashed when it was shipped and it appears blank. thats what im pretty sure it could be at least. Chris
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on July 02, 2003, 10:42:00 AM
Post by: Cherry on July 02, 2003, 02:43:00 PM
Some great info in this thread. I'm sure it's helped a LOT of people.
Post by: Eldorado on July 06, 2003, 07:37:00 PM
First tried the quick solder method, pretty easy, powered it up and blue light came on but xbox did a triple boot thing, 2 times powered up and shutdown after like 2 seconds, then 3rd was a frag..
So decided to undo that and tried the header pin install, took a bit more time but installed it nicely, put chip on, no blue light this time! And xbox does the same triple boot thing then frag.. redid the header pins about 3 times, same result! Why no blue light? I decided to fool around with the chip, slowly pulled it off the pins while box was powered on (d0 was disconnected), and the light flickers a bit as if I've hit a connection or something.. ?
Xbox boots normally when I disconnect D0..
Any ideas? I'm guessing it could possibly be a v1.3 xbox? I gave it back to him so he can play while I try to figure out what went wrong.. gotta check his serial #'s..
Post by: Eldorado on July 07, 2003, 06:29:00 AM
Just wondering, what would happen if this was a 1.3 xbox? How would the xbox behave after putting in a non-1.3 compatible chip?
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on July 07, 2003, 03:28:00 PM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on July 07, 2003, 03:29:00 PM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on July 07, 2003, 05:06:00 PM
Post by: Eldorado on July 08, 2003, 06:36:00 AM
Post by: Neo2003 on July 08, 2003, 08:42:00 AM
http://forums.xbox-s...f=9&t=72224&hl=
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on July 08, 2003, 04:07:00 PM
Post by: Lysip on July 19, 2003, 08:00:00 PM
.::Scratching head wondering what its called::.
PC Flasher DL
Programing Manual DL
Post by: Neo2003 on July 25, 2003, 11:10:00 AM
- Install A15 (definitly need this)?
- Which mode of the Chameleon need to be in (1,2,3 or 4)?
- Which Chamelon bank to select (hardware or software)?
- And other details?
Since after flashing the bank 1 with Matrix_TSOP_FIX & A15 connect, i do a software bank boot to bank 1 (default hardware boot from bank 0), it boot up as expected Orange/Green flash, but from there, don't know how to do it, since reboot will put Chameleon on mode 0 and flashing any thing in here will flash into Chameleon tsop but not the onbard tsop!
I have two xbox at home an only on chameleon, this is why i would like to got my onboard tsop flashed!
Last question: do the flashed bios need to be 1Mb of 512Kb, since is installa switch to split the onboard in two.
Thanks
Post by: Flowzarus on July 26, 2003, 07:09:00 PM
Then I wasn't putting a dummy file on my LINUXBIO.BIN CD when I was doing the upgrade...
The one thing I am having trouble figuring out, and I've been looking pretty hard...how do you disable this mod? I read the user guide before installing and thought it was just using the eject button...now I realize that's only if I've soldered P and E (which I haven't) and have the chip in mode 4.
Do I have to add a switch? If so, where?
Is there something simple I'm missing?
Thanks
Post by: FIREitUP on July 26, 2003, 07:48:00 PM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on July 28, 2003, 06:43:00 PM
i had it in the default ship mode to get the 256kb banks, put on the matrix flash in bank 0, reboot xbox, get the matrix flash bios running, flash tsop. remove chameleon or leave it, now just switch the chameleon into a different one of the 4 256kb banks and boot to there then u can put a normal bios back on the chameleon.
Chris
Post by: Xeero on August 01, 2003, 06:25:00 AM
I've done over a dozen Chameleon installs and close to a hundred Xbox mods alone, all without a hitch (this is not to mention my 50-some-odd no-swap PS2 installs). Suffice to say I am no novice. All my Chameleon installs have been pinheader installs, and none have taken me more than 15 minutes.
Yet last night I spent 5 hours working on a customer's Chameleon install, and I have yet to get it working. It will boot the mod's BIOS only half the time, and I swear to God the LPC and D0 points (as well as the A15, P, and E points) are perfect. I have some Chameleon stock that I've been playing with, and these won't work either. No idea what the problem is...
Oh well...I'll keep tinkering.
Post by: Terrorbyte on August 01, 2003, 07:31:00 AM
| QUOTE |
| ...Yet last night I spent 5 hours working on a customer's Chameleon install, and I have yet to get it working. It will boot the mod's BIOS only half the time, and I swear to God the LPC and D0 points (as well as the A15, P, and E points) are perfect. I have some Chameleon stock that I've been playing with, and these won't work either. No idea what the problem is... |
That's the drawback of modding others' XBOXes, they'll either take a few hours or a few days, Murphy's f'n law. Damn though...15 minutes, guess experience pays off. I've modded a couple dozen XBOXes (mostly X2 Lites/Pros, a few Chameleons here and there, and a couple TSOP flashes for bastards who were too cheap to buy modchips). I always allocate at least 45-60 minutes for soldering a pin header (includes testing the voltages, etc.). Plus there's always 1 or 2 pins that are a pain-in-the-ass, but overall the pin header is easy. I've certainly hit a few snags with XBOX mods, but mainly due to my own negligence.
Perhaps that XBOX you're modding has a problem or defect with the LPC bus? Gotta be a defective board/LPC bus, especially since you've done so many Chameleon installs and have discovered that other Chameleons exhibit the same behavior. My guess is you probably tested the voltages but that does not rule out that a signal is getting botched somewhere from point A to B (speaking generally), it would be a bitch to troubleshoot though (then again you're an expert).
I'm interested to hear whether or not you figure it out.
This post has been edited by Terrorbyte: Aug 1 2003, 02:39 PM
Post by: Xeero on August 01, 2003, 07:36:00 AM
Post by: Terrorbyte on August 01, 2003, 07:54:00 AM
| QUOTE |
| I even desoldered the pin header and cleaned up the holes a few times in my effort to try different pin headers. |
Dude, it's gotta be the board. That XBOX mobo was probably fubar'ed from the get-go (maybe not the whole board but at least the LPC bus). I'd write that one off as defective.
If you get things workin' let us know how you fixed the issue, others might run into similar problems in the future.
This post has been edited by Terrorbyte: Aug 1 2003, 05:39 PM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on August 01, 2003, 05:25:00 PM
btw i reflashed my chameleon with 4977 again xeero and the xecuter2 bit has magically returned! lol spooky
Post by: Xeero on August 01, 2003, 11:16:00 PM
Dumped another 5 hours into it tonight, testing as many as 10 other chips on the board and noting their behavior. Xecuter2s worked fine and loaded Cromwell. Chameleons would either frag or the MS BIOS would load. I noticed the blue LED faintly flickering, so I knew it was getting SOME voltage. The Chameleon gets its 3.3V from pin 9. I was having trouble getting a voltage reading on it, so I checked continuity between the pin in 9 and the solder in 15 (also 3.3V) and got continuity with 0 ohms. So I knew the power was fine. Checked the ground on pin 2 to the screw hole used by the Xecuter line. 0 ohms. Reassembled the Xbox and booted it up, MS BIOS. Hard-grounded the d0 to the screw hole, then it fragged. Checked pin 2 again - NO CONTINUITY to the screw hole!!! Checked again. CONTINUITY. Checked again. NO CONTINUITY. Like I said, I've soldered it many, MANY times and I know my soldering is perfect in this case. I ran a bit of 30awg from the solder at the base of pin 2 to a nearby ground point (a small silver square). Reassembled with the customer's Chameleon, still frags! However, I tested it with all my other chips. They all booted Cromwell, Chameleon Cromwell, FlashBIOS, etc. JUST the customer's chip won't work now.
So it looks like grounding the d0 isn't enough to power the chip. The chip NEEDS to grounded on pin 2 or else it will not be able to function properly and the Xbox will receive a frag. For those reading this, hard-grounding the d0, which usually works as a diagnostic procedure, is not always sufficient with the Chameleon.
With respect to this scenario, the evident problem was a faulty ground on LPC 2 and a defective Chameleon. As noted, I repaired pin 2 by manually grounding it. Also, I had a few sample Chameleons that Xodus had sent me, so I've installed one at no charge to the customer, and the Xbox is now buttoned up and perfectly modded. The only difference is the jumper wire between pin 2 and the ground.
This post has been edited by Xeero: Aug 2 2003, 06:18 AM
Post by: dzv on August 02, 2003, 01:14:00 AM
Post by: Xeero on August 02, 2003, 05:19:00 AM
| QUOTE (dzv @ Aug 2 2003, 04:38 AM) |
| You should have tried grounding the Chameleon directly to another ground (instead of wiring LPC Pin 2 to a ground). It would have just been interesting to know what the result would be then. |
Well, my intention was to repair the LPC points and provide a working pin header so the customer could transparently swap chips on it. The extra wire is on the underside of the board and is the only wire there (no crappy alt d0 for me), so this seemed to be the best solution.
But just so I understand what you were saying, were you suggesting running a wire from, say, the Quick Solder point 2 to a ground point. If this is the case, I believe I can safely assume it would work.
Post by: Terrorbyte on August 02, 2003, 12:14:00 PM
| QUOTE |
| But just so I understand what you were saying, were you suggesting running a wire from, say, the Quick Solder point 2 to a ground point. If this is the case, I believe I can safely assume it would work. |
Yes, running another ground to quick solder point 2 should work, at least providing a more consistent ground to the entire modchip. However, perhaps it would be better to connect pin #2 to another ground, although if signal is somehow interfering with that area it probably won't work. Since you're attempting to repair the pin header in order to allow transparent modchip swapping, I'd try getting that pin #2 to ground to something else.
Looks like you isolated the cause of your issue. Bad grounding/continuity, although it does sound like the source of the problem (defect) is the actual LPC bus and not the Chameleons, since you tested multiple Chameleons on that same mobo. I've always liked the fact that the Xecuter chips had an independent ground to a screw on the motherboard, and did not rely on pin #2 to provide the grounding.
I've never really liked Chameleon modchips (not that I'm blaming the problem on the Chameleon), I'll always recommend X-ecuter over Chameleon.
This post has been edited by Terrorbyte: Aug 2 2003, 07:16 PM
Post by: Xeero on August 02, 2003, 02:38:00 PM
I can certainly understand Xodus' intention in utilizing pin 2 as the ground. Those who install a pin header solder this point anyway may as well make use of it. Unfortunately, as you and I know, soldering a header pin to an LPC hold is much more prone to failure than simply screwing down a wire, which is obviously near impossible to screw up.
Post by: aitf311 on August 04, 2003, 02:05:00 PM
Post by: sk8ermike6789 on August 04, 2003, 07:08:00 PM
| QUOTE (aitf311 @ Aug 4 2003, 10:29 PM) |
| If anyone here knows how to install the Chameleon with the pogopin adapter, please respond |
yea, i know how, all you need to do is hold it down all the way so the plastic almost touches teh motherboard, or touches, and make sure the d0 spring thingy is in place, and screw it in... ohhhhh yea, you need a new screw... go out to a hardware store and get one thatll fit, it should be a tiny bit less then 1/2 an inch, and it should have a fat head and it should be the right width.... its really not complicated...
ok now, i have a question... can i take a wire and put it on that d0 spring and put it to a switch and then on the other side of the switch, can i take it to the sheilding, and toggle that switch to turn the mod off/on??? becuase whenever i tighten the screws 4 the xbox case too tight, my mod turns off (i think, the bios doesnt load, its still green and not blue, and msdash loads up) im guessing that when i tighten it the spring goes too far down and touches the sheilding or something...
oh yea, does any one know how to use the expansion port for external switches???
Post by: agony on August 05, 2003, 06:09:00 AM
i have evox 3752, evoxd6 on 1st bank e x2 4972 on 2nd.
This post has been edited by agony: Aug 5 2003, 01:33 PM
Post by: agony on August 07, 2003, 06:10:00 AM
| QUOTE (agony @ Aug 5 2003, 02:33 PM) |
| hi. i have installaded the chamaleon (MODE 4) on a 1.0 and a 1.1 xbox, and all seems good except when i try to flash it. from evox i got the error message "UNKNOW FLASH" what is going wrong? i have evox 3752, evoxd6 on 1st bank e x2 4972 on 2nd. |
problem fixed adding the following lines to evox.ini.
Flash = 0x015b,"AMD - Am29LV800B",0x100000
Flash = 0x01da,"AMD - Am29LV800B",0x100000
Post by: plue99 on August 07, 2003, 10:44:00 AM
Post by: juleskitten on August 07, 2003, 12:28:00 PM
Post by: sk8ermike6789 on August 07, 2003, 09:10:00 PM
| QUOTE |
| i have a v.1 x box thanx again |
hey so do i , what a coincidence
Post by: mistermega on August 08, 2003, 05:32:00 AM
Post by: juleskitten on August 08, 2003, 03:06:00 PM
"slight modifications need to be done to the Adapter - instructions for this will be released soon"
http://www.easybuy20...n_adapter.shtml
Post by: sk8ermike6789 on August 09, 2003, 02:39:00 PM
| QUOTE (plue99 @ Aug 8 2003, 07:48 AM) |
| sk8ermike6789 where did you find out how to install the chameleon with the solderless adaptor from?? did you jsut figure it out? is it really easy or am i just stupid |
guys, its really not as complicated as everyone thinks!!! Well i think i got it to work easily is because i have my LPC holes filled and my d0 uncovered
Post by: peanuthead on August 21, 2003, 10:24:00 PM
Post by: auburn on August 22, 2003, 10:53:00 AM
can someone advise on what to do? been through these forums and manuals and can't find the solution?
Post by: agony on August 22, 2003, 03:54:00 PM
Post by: loupham on August 25, 2003, 08:41:00 AM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on August 31, 2003, 03:11:00 AM
try flashing a different bios, could just be the xp flash progarmmer doesnt recognise or something. otherwise i dont know, havnt had any time for anything xbox related recently
blue flash but having no effect i would assume is related to the lpc. however if it is booting the msdash normally then its a problem with the d0 connection (and possibly he ground connector on the lpc
Post by: otakonx on September 04, 2003, 10:36:00 AM
-Otakonx
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on September 04, 2003, 04:53:00 PM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on September 06, 2003, 03:08:00 PM
Post by: perforator on October 02, 2003, 08:59:00 AM
| QUOTE (Xeero @ Jun 18 2003, 05:40 AM) | ||
A "connection ring" is actually called a via. d0 is not ground...it is +5V or something...when you manually ground it (enable the mod), then the Xbox knows to use the LPC points as a location for the BIOS. |
When you say manually ground d0, do you mean ground the d0 point on the Chameleon or ground the d0 connector on the mobo?
Just curious..
Thanks,
Mark
Post by: JonDante on October 02, 2003, 01:06:00 PM
JD
Post by: perforator on October 03, 2003, 05:18:00 AM
I'm guessing that the d0 point on the Chameleon is wired to pin2 of the LPC which is ground I believe?
Thanks!
Mark
Post by: JonDante on October 03, 2003, 01:22:00 PM
JD
Post by: Deadpool on October 05, 2003, 11:15:00 AM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on October 06, 2003, 11:38:00 AM
Post by: MatroxMan69 on October 08, 2003, 10:24:00 AM
| QUOTE (Deadpool @ Oct 5 2003, 08:15 PM) |
| Guys working on a ver 1.3 box.... has anyone had any luck getting the chameleon to work on this type of box..... |
Did a brand spanking new from the store v1.3 last night...
- Header Pin install
- Soldered the top D0 w/30awg wire. Easier than most think. The 30awg fits IN the D0 pad!
- Used Matrix programmer to flash BIOS (evoxM7 in bank0)
- Wire from D0 goes to SPST switch mounted at rear of case, then to ground pad beside screw. You DO NOT need to solder it to the Chameleon. All you need to do is ground the D0 line to cause the machine to use the LPC port
- New 120GB HDD
- Slayers's 2.1 install (Not my box and it's quick
)DONE and have a DUAL "boot" box.
Post by: Datadog13 on October 18, 2003, 01:57:00 PM
Post by: SBug on December 04, 2003, 12:07:00 PM
Post by: ibri on December 07, 2003, 12:55:00 AM
Post by: SBug on December 07, 2003, 08:48:00 AM
Post by: ibri on December 07, 2003, 09:45:00 AM
| QUOTE |
| Install is the same on a 1.4 or 1.5 (I have not seen REAL verification that the install is different) boxes as it is on all others. If you did get your chip from EB2K though, your gonna need a programmer to flash the BIOS. |
Now on EB2K's site it says that it comes preflashed with Linux Cromwell BIOS. But it seems, unless I'm mistaken, that is not the case. False advertising anyone?
Post by: accuman on December 08, 2003, 10:56:00 AM
Post by: Toddolophogus on December 09, 2003, 07:56:00 AM
Post by: ivc on December 09, 2003, 02:12:00 PM
it writes just fine to chameleon v1.0 chips, but i get "unknow flash" when i try to flash chameleon 1.3 chips.
i tried the v0.13 version of the program and a brand new 9v battery, nothing.
edit: i have tried the programmer on two different computers in all the possible paralell port modes (spp,epp,ecp,ecp+epp,normal). xodus programmer v0.13 detects the chip and shows the different modes/banks and can read them just fine, but when i try to write i still get "unknow flash".
seems like a lot of people report that the matrix programmer is not compatible with chameleon 1.3+
Post by: msm35 on December 12, 2003, 08:28:00 PM
Post by: ivc on December 13, 2003, 06:58:00 PM
| CODE |
| If you have an older mother board you will have to remove the solder from the LPC points, this can be done relatively easily using either solder wick (braid) or a simple solder sucker, ensure that your soldering iron is set to a moderately high temperature. |
Post by: sloerie on December 17, 2003, 05:33:00 AM
| QUOTE (SBug @ Dec 4 2003, 10:07 PM) |
| Lets just recap for a second here. So the Solderless adapter is'nt truly solderless on a 1.4/5 xbox? ive been trying to get mine to work for almost a week now, bought it from easyscum found out 2 1/2 weeks after i ordered that they had hijacked the chip and there were all sorts of problems. anyway one tut or another seemed to indicate that if the xbox FRAGed the solderless adapter was installed correctly, problem is when i plug my chip in thats all it does, on every bank. so all i have to do is get a programmer to fix this? so much for a christmas xbox |
I am a little further than you. I have a v1.4, also with a Chameleon solderless adapter. Did a quick install the other night, having had the experience of installing a Matrix chip in a v1.0. Noticed that the modchip came with no bios installed. Had a matrix programmer laying around so i flashed the chip with x2 4979.67 on bank 0 (default boot up bank)
Got the xbox to frag, just like you, but nothing else. no blue lite, nothing.
Post by: sloerie on December 19, 2003, 07:29:00 AM
Again the blue light did not start to light up ONLY until i inserted Slayer's autoinstaller CD-RW (an xiso image) and booted this up!Hope this helps...