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DARKSOFT How to convert a Xbox PCB to repair Chihiro

samplehunters said:
Good luck to anyone attempting this! Upgrading my Xbox to 128MB was the first quarantine mod that I completed.
I harvested the RAM chips from a V1.6. The XBlast OS 128MB RAM test was very helpful too.

It would've been a lot less annoying if it was only 1 chip to solder, but there are 4 in total! :thumbsup:

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Can you please describe the process so others can learn from your experince. What did you do right? What would you do differently now?
How to access that RAM test, etc.?

Thanks!
 
obcd said:
They used to number xbox motherboard revisions with a number 1.x. 1.0 boards have a gpu fan and a small separate usb hub board. 1.1 boards have the bigger heatsink without the fan and don't have that usb hub board. 1.2 boards have the dual row ATX style power connector, but have a smaller flash chip (only 256KB instead of 1MB) 1.1 and 1.2 boards don't have a connector for the gpu fan. (The solder pads exist.)
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I'm more familiar with the 1.x version numbering than anything else.

I'm not famliar with the serial break down for mobo revision, with these donor mobos what revisions are we talking about here?
 
If OP is correct in saying Conexant 1.0 - 1.3. See this for more info about Xbox revisions. (Although it's possible SEGAs custom bits need the LFRAME signal so 1.0 - 1.2, someone should look into that - however it's possible to recover it by soldering a wire directly to the MCPX)

obcd in that picture is using a kernel called XBlast OS, I don't believe(?) Cromwell has it. So what he's likely doing before hand is flashing xblast/cromwell to the tsop after having an Xbox with a softmod on it, soldering the 128MB, testing with XBlast, then is going to replace the eeprom from software then flash from software (both XBlast and base Cromwell can flash the TSOP, there also exists other scene tools to flash).
 
Darksoft said:
Can you please describe the process so others can learn from your experince. What did you do right? What would you do differently now?
How to access that RAM test, etc.?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I followed this very well written guide here:

https://quade.co/2018/xbox-128mb-ram-upgrade/

As far as what I learned from my own experience doing the mod. Starting with new RAM chips would've made things easier since the legs are clean. Chip alignment is crucial. I just soldered and tested 1 chip at a time.

I started with my T18-C2 (2.1mm) tip at 350C which was causing too many bridges. Since the temperature was fine, I guessed the tip was too small so I switched to my HS-0530 tip (3.3mm) which then made things super easy! I used cheap Amtech RMA 223 flux.

Takes a lot of patience but I think anyone can do this mod! Good luck! ^^ :thumbup:
 
Hi,



Thanks a lot for sharing,

I have 4 dead chihiro and at least 5 xbox with good motherboard version.
I already soldered 4 memory modules on one of my Xboxes it's not very hard to do with new ram chip, hot air station and a lot of flux.

I think but I am not sure that some chihiro have only 32 pins (16x2) bios chip. Someone can confirm (my chihiros are not where I live so I can't verify) ?
I think that we have to solder an LPC pin header on Xbox motherboard. No ?
I always read that MCPX X2 was requiered. Dark Soft do you confirm that we don't have to swap MCPX chip ?


So we have just to swap the 24C02 and the 29F080 from Chihiro to Xbox motherboard to convert it into an Chihiro ?
 
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Thats funny, last year i modded one xbox just to be able to play chihiro games since once i used to have was dead, and now it can be reversed somehow.
Good to know btw, thanks for the tips
 
@TheDeath So you telling me you play chihiro games on your home console xbox?
 
i won't even take the effort to explain after that.
They don't know what it is and talk thrash a minute later, like they just knew all about in a suddent. Love those kind of people in the world :)
 
TheDeath said:
i won't even take the effort to explain after that.
They don't know what it is and talk thrash a minute later, like they just knew all about in a suddent. Love those kind of people in the world :)
Click to expand...
While that's fair, if you've had a better experience with Chihiro on Xbox than everything I've read, I'd like to know about it. It hasn't seemed worth the effort to me since I've heard only a few games run right, and others crash often.
 
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I'll have to dig through my old Xbox consoles to see if I have a suitable donor.

now I regret selling off my broken Chihiros.
 
This is so cool!!!! I wonder if you could do the same with a Namco System 246 ps2 motherboard, as there are some early ps2 models that have the exact same board. ( with some added modifications, of course) I wonder if just taking out the bios chip from a broken system 246 mother board and soldering that special Namco daughter board connector will do the trick to revive a system 246. Might be impossible, but I wonder if anyone has tried this before?
 
Most chihiro motherboards have a 512KB tsop flash chip. The original chihiro bios is only 256KB and appears twice in the 512KB flash chip.
1.0 and 1.1 boards are good donor candidates. 1.2 boards and 1.3 boards appear identical so it's hard to say if the board is a 1.2 or 1.3, and yes, the chihiro needs the lframe signal on the lpc bus.

You indeed need to install some pin headers in the LPC holes. If your board is a 1.1 you will also need to install a connector for the gpu fan.

While you do all this work, remove the clock capacitor on the board and clean the leakage out of it. (if it leaked).

Obvious, this method doesn't work with the original chihiro bios as the board has a different MCPX chip and a different SMC (pic) chip.

A couple chihiro games work on a 128MB upgraded xbox. They had the gamepad support left into the game. You need a special launcher to run them and you need the cpu cache enabled for the upper 64MB. JayFoxRox made a launcher for those. Some things like gun calibration are not possible as those are stored in a memory chip on the base board and the xbox isn't having it.

This method converts a retail xbox motherboard into a chihiro motherboard. chihiro also needs the base board and the dimm board to operate properly. You also need the filter board with the connections. Next you need a JVS IO for your controls.
So this doesn't turn your xbox in to a chihiro.
 
Yes, I am doing pretty much the same thing. I just reflash the tsop onboard and reprogram the eeprom onboard as well. It's less demanding on soldering skills but requires more knowledge about softmodding the xbox console. You also don't need a programmer for the tsop flash and the eeprom.
The procedure seemed far to complicated to make public as most people even don't succeed in the ram update. That together with the fact you can't test the ramchips before you install them....
 
Well, I would have released in your place, even if it's complicated. I'm sure the talented people around here will find a way to help each other and repair their Chihiros.

Btw, can you please post the process that you follow to update the 2 chips without soldering? Maybe post to links where the info is explained.

For sure not everyone will have a programmer with the right adapter, but most of people will have the right soldering stating for the memories :thumbup:
 
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