CDIH

Has anyone modded an XBox before to use as a media center?

i've modded it to play copied games, and can do some stuff with it (play all sorts of media, movies, etc). i haven't spent more than $5 on a game in months.

which chip did you get?

I have the Chameleon. bought it from <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.easybuy2000.com">http://www.easybuy2000.com</a><!-- w -->

info on it: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.xbreporter.com/chameleon_xbox_mod_chip.php">http://www.xbreporter.com/chameleon_xbox_mod_chip.php</a><!-- m -->

BUT, i think it's been replaced on that site with the Xchip. which i believe is a lot more buff.

i modded mine tonight, im running xbox media center on it right now. its pretty sweet. its alot like the windows media center but running on my tv. i can sit on my couch and play any movie file from my pc, listen to any songs, flip through all my pictures and stream net radio. i also can play backed up xbox games ::wink wink, nudge nudge:: and dvds.

I modded mine about a year ago. I too have the chameleon. I love it.

Playing backups, running emulators/roms, and the media center kicks some serious ass.

why don't you put together a nice CDIH step-by-step post about how to actually do it, with links to the chip and/or software needed? I've been toying with the idea for a while, and a concise plan of action would be sweet.

I've got one of the original boxes (with the shitty Thompson dvd drive), and I'd like to mod it up - the only problem is I've got LIVE, and I hear even though the new mods allow you to install a toggle to turn the chip on & off, MS can still detect it if you go LIVE with it off. With new boxes going for $150 or so, I figure a smart plan would be to buy a new box, move my LIVE shit to it and use that for LIVE only - then mod the old box up and use it to play games & use the media center for watching divx movies (which would save me a shit load of time since I wont need to convert to dvd specs to watch them).

The thing is, how do I move my LIVE account to the new box? and where can I get a new dvd drive (to replace the thompson drive), and what kind of a harddrive should I replace the old one with (since I'll be in there anyway to replace the dvd drive) ?

so yeah, a step-by-step guide would be great :thumbs-up:

for game "backups": <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.geocities.com/efreeks5/games.html">http://www.geocities.com/efreeks5/games.html</a><!-- m -->

these guys are reputable and consistent. it usually arrives in 2 to 3 days.


The Thompson drive is a problem...requires you to suck the solder on that verision to connect it...but doable. I have that too. ALSO, the Thompson will not read movies on CD-R. only CD-RW and DVD disks. Big pain in the ass. Use the new one to mod up, keep the old one for LIVE, is my suggestion. Newer Xboxes are better with the chips

that's what I read also, the problem is the Thompson drive is gonna die on me eventually - it's pretty much happened to everyone. I didn't get the extended coverage on it because I didn't pay for it - Target forgot to ring it up for me (a story for another time). I figured if I swapped the shitty drive out, I might as well mod the cunt up.

I'm pretty good when it comes to working with solder also, so that doesn't scare me too much. My main concern is getting my LIVE account off the box and onto another one before I start fucking with it - unless its as easy as inserting the original LIVE install disc in the new box and updating it that way (I havent a clue tho).

i never have used XBOX LIVE. i hate other people. like to play with myself

Tutorials to anything you can think of regarding modding your xbox can be found at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.xbox-scene.com">http://www.xbox-scene.com</a><!-- m -->

If it ain't posted there, it don't exist.

so...CDIH should'nt have it's own guide? Like an all-in-one thread/post so people (like me) don't have to sift through thread after thread after post after article for information?

besides, why give XBS the traffic?

yeah and if someone has a guide on how to mod the PS2 would be helpful. I have an extra one.

The chip I bought was the Xecuter 2.3B Lite from ModChipMan.com

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.modchipman.com/catalog....2845a48">http://www.modchipman.com/catalog....2845a48</a><!-- m -->

It doesnt make sense for me to repost pics and instructions, why reinvent the wheel, I followed, but I can add some helpful hints.

Here is the tutorial I followed to do the chip install...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://images.xodus-chip.com/adaptor_manual.zip">http://images.xodus-chip.com/adaptor_manual.zip</a><!-- m -->

Funny part is, they show the chameleon chip even though mine looks slighly different, the install is basically the same.

I bought a solderless one, which I regretted cause it was tougher to set the d0 wire. It would have been easier to glue that sucker down with solder, which I can still do. I honestly have never soldered a thing in my life, so this would be my first time. I definitely recommend going with the soldered ones, they're cheaper too. i also could have unscrewed the whole board and taken it out and taped the d0 wire to the back which may have been easier in hindsight.

once my hardware was in place. i created a bios flash disk, which is needed to install a dashboard to the xbox, which is basically a GUI to do all sorts of cool things like install apps, put in new peripherals like a larger HD, ftp, etc...

i used Cromwell to flash my bios with this tutorial...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamxecuter.com/cromwell.htm">http://www.teamxecuter.com/cromwell.htm</a><!-- m -->

I have a samsung dvd-rom drive in my xbox which seemed to not have a problem with CD-R discs. some people complain that their drive only reads CD-RW or DVD-R but mine worked just fine.

Once cromwell was installed, I created a boot disk. You only need the boot disk the first time, then you can upload the files so XBox runs them from the HD. Now I could have, with a little more configuration, made XBox Media Center my default dashboard, but there are some utilities that i like that are part of another dashboard called Avalaunch. So I made Avalaunch my default and if I want to run XBMC, I can just click it off the top of my menu.

Now to get some of this software, you need to get on IRC. There might be other ways, but thats how I got it. I logged on to DALnet and room #xbins and followed the instructions in the topic.

To create my Avalaunch boot disk, I used this...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamavalaunch.com/docs/manualv2.2.pdf">http://www.teamavalaunch.com/docs/manualv2.2.pdf</a><!-- m -->

You can actually make Avalaunch your dash without flashing your bios.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamavalaunch.com/docs/replace_evox.html">http://www.teamavalaunch.com/docs/replace_evox.html</a><!-- m -->

Once installed, I was able to FTP to my XBox, your XBox IP will be on your Avalaunch screen. The UN/PW is xbox/xbox by default.

I downloaded XBMC, uploaded it to my F drive on my XBox, went to File Manager on Avalaunch, found the XBMC folder, ran the default.xbc file and viola! Media Center!

I've only begun to scratch the surface, but so far it is amazing.

My next step is to "backup" some games and trying playing them. ;-) If anyone can help me with that, i'd appreciate it!

BTW, This all took my about 6 hours, but I am not the most tech savvy person, your results may vary.

very nice! I really just wanna do the divx files on my tv, and play game backups - the ftp is nice, too

This is why you buy two X-Boxes, mod one and leave the other for your Live account

LyricalGomez Wrote:This is why you buy two X-Boxes, mod one and leave the other for your Live account

Quote:I figure a smart plan would be to buy a new box, move my LIVE shit to it and use that for LIVE only - then mod the old box up and use it to play games & use the media center for watching divx movies (which would save me a shit load of time since I wont need to convert to dvd specs to watch them)

:thumbs-up:

Keyser's pretty geeky.

great now do the same thing only this time instead of xbox, it's play station 2.

or just come over my place and do it for me.

GonzoStyle Wrote:great now do the same thing only this time instead of xbox, it's play station 2.

or just come over my place and do it for me.

Yeah just tell me how to do it, so i can charge gonzo to do his.