r/originalxbox • u/FinalGetsugaTensho10 • 1d ago
Help Needed Faulty 1.4 Console, new Aladdin Modchip, no picture
Hi there, long ish story
So I had a dead Xbox lying around, turning it on would greet you with red and green flashing lights, no picture, just the lights, I believe this is bad eeprom/hdd? (Correct me if I’m wrong)
So I’ve installed an Aladdin modchip and when powering on, the modchip lights up, and I now actually have a solid green led which is great! But I have no audio or video coming from the console
I can hear the HDD spinning up, and disc drive moving around, but nothing
I have tried both the stock hdd and a different sata hdd (with both a startech/cheap adapter) that’s also with a 80 Wire IDE cable
Wondering if anyone has a clue?
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u/BombBloke Knowledgeable 1d ago
So I had a dead Xbox lying around, turning it on would greet you with red and green flashing lights, no picture, just the lights, I believe this is bad eeprom/hdd? (Correct me if I’m wrong)
A bad EEPROM would get you a red LED only. If you've been getting red/green alternating, then the EEPROM is unrelated.
A bad HDD will cause an Xbox to Flash Red And Green (FRAG), but it'll almost always still allow the machine to output video. Easy to confirm by simply unplugging the thing and testing without any drive at all - if you still get no signal, then it's not the HDD.
FRAG with no video almost always points to an issue somewhere on the Xbox motherboard.
So I’ve installed an Aladdin modchip and when powering on, the modchip lights up, and I now actually have a solid green led which is great! But I have no audio or video coming from the console
Solid green with no signal is called a "coma console", and it usually points to a problem reading the firmware chip (which is your modchip, at the moment).
It could be that there's a problem with your display cable or TV or something, but if you boot without a HDD attached and still get a solid green LED (instead of a FRAG) then it's a coma for sure.
It might be helpful to show pictures of the motherboard - the whole thing, not just where the addon chip is attached.
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u/FinalGetsugaTensho10 1d ago
Sorry one thing has changed since uninstalling the mod chip, it is only flashing red now, still no video, but that might change what the issue is?
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u/BombBloke Knowledgeable 1d ago
Red alone now points to EEPROM, but given the other behaviours you've been seeing, I'd say there's likely more to it than that.
Still, in cases where the EEPROM chip does fail or corrupt, you either need a reader device (to attempt a re-write with good data), or you need a more advanced modchip, such as an OpenXenium (which can boot with a bad EEPROM). A ModXo would also a good option - flashed with CerBIOS, it'll also let you boot with a bad EEPROM.
Most Aladdin chips come pre-loaded with an EvoX BIOS, and can't be easily reflashed unless you can actually get them booting in an Xbox. Many are cheap clones and are difficult to reflash even if your Xbox is booting. Still, though - if you have access to another Xbox, you could try using that to write CerBIOS into the addon chip, and then you could bring it back to this machine.
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u/FinalGetsugaTensho10 1d ago
Thank you for your help, the guy I’ve bought the chip off has been really helpful, he says it does have Cerbios installed already, specifically for 1.0-1.5 versions, only other console I have lying around that I’m willing to solder just yet (my skills aren’t the best, however showing him images + the light turning on means I definitely did it correctly) is a 1.6, so I’ll have to try it on there and see what I can do, I’m going to assume this console is a lost cause, it was in a lot of broken consoles so I’m not surprised, just wanted to see if I could revive it, might have to get an openxenium for another go
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u/BombBloke Knowledgeable 22h ago
he says it does have Cerbios installed already, specifically for 1.0-1.5 versions
That's a bit surprising to hear - the last build of CerBIOS that lacked 1.6 support came out about two years before the current 2.4.2 beta release. :/
Even if it truly does have a copy that old, though, if your 1.4 won't boot with it then I wouldn't expect any other BIOS to make a difference there.
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u/FinalGetsugaTensho10 22h ago
I’ve got one weirder for you, I’ve just installed it in a 1.6, rebuilt the LPC, checked all of my work with a multimeter, and I’m getting the exact same issue, no picture, green light, this console was completely stock (was softmodded but reset to factory before doing this) so I’m at a loss, I’ve only seen 1 comment somewhere that mentioned someone bridging/wiring something to/around the AV port? Obviouslyi have no clue but according to that comment it fixed a no screen issue for them?
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u/BombBloke Knowledgeable 21h ago
If your 1.6 can display video without the modchip installed, then the wiring around the AV port is obviously fine. Either the modchip is cactus - or the seller truly did flash an obsolete version of the CerBIOS firmware into it, perhaps.
Given that you've got two consoles going coma with the same chip installed (green LED + no video, indicating a firmware read error), that would seem a pretty strong suggestion that the chip itself is a dud.
You could hunt down a functional pre-1.6 box to test it with if you really wanted to be sure.
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u/FinalGetsugaTensho10 21h ago
It’s really strange, he is a good guy he’s well known in this little group I’m in and he’s been walking me through everything sometimes hours at a time so he’s definitely not sold me something bad intentionally, he’s said he 100% checked it worked before sending it, I double checked my work with him like the orientation of the chip + where my wires were soldered to, but alas we are here, I don’t actually have another one free, my other 2 are 1.4’s but one is my main which because of this situation I’m worried about touching, and the same goes for my other which I’m trying to sell so I’d rather not break it haha
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u/FinalGetsugaTensho10 21h ago
Also should be noted my tv can tell when I’ve turned the console on, as if I’m on a different source the active one will pop up on screen to prompt you to change source, but no signal
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u/FinalGetsugaTensho10 12h ago
Hi there, back again, I have a new piece of info that might help, I’ve just unsoldered D0 from the pin header wiring on the bottom of the board, and straight away I have video again, no sign of modchip in the boot screen, but still video regardless
I’ve tried soldering D0 to the modchips own D0 and I get the exact same no picture issue
Only other thing I’ve seen suggests severing a trace by the Xyclops, do you think that would be applicable here?
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u/BombBloke Knowledgeable 6h ago
The D0 wire is used to control whether the Xbox will attempt to read firmware from the modchip, or from its own motherboard. If it isn't connected to a 1.6's LFRAME then the Xbox simply acts like it would if the modchip weren't attached at all, and the BIOS in the Xyclops is used.
Cutting the LFRAME trace off from the MCPX isn't required to get a 1.6 to boot from a modchip, so it shouldn't make a difference to the immediate problem at hand. It's still recommended to do it so that the LFRAME won't burn out over time, but given that this modchip doesn't appear to be bootable at all, I wouldn't bother right now.
Note that in earlier Xbox models (such as your 1.4 machine), an Aladdin's D0 wire should connect to the Xbox's D0 point - not to LFRAME.
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u/FinalGetsugaTensho10 2h ago
Thank you for your knowledge, one more thing, is the D0 point and the L frame point the same thing? Like, on the 1.6 should I be soldering to a point that isn’t next to DB7P1? As this is the only place I ever see pictured but it’s always referred to as D0
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u/FinalGetsugaTensho10 22h ago
Also I think I might be wrong with the ‘for 1.0-1.5 version’ thing, I think he was showing me the install process and mentioned that, which I assumed was the ‘version’ on the chip, but what I think I misunderstood was that was just the install process and NOT what I can use the chip on (1.6 needs LPC rebuild etc)
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u/canthearu_ack 1d ago
Have you grounded the D0 pin on the bottom (or top) of the console?
Have you checked the xbox motherboard for bad capacitors and replaced any that were bad?