myths

[Patches]

ok I heard things about people turning X box's into a PC is this true or is this just another lie in this sick sick world of mine...

[benzaldehyde]

Well, it's no myth considering that the XBox is essentially a legacy-free PC. Tinkerers have long since known how to force Linux onto the system, and I've even heard of a Windows 2000 port. However, I have no idea how to do these things. A Google search for XBox Linux should give you a conucopia of information.

[Lesmot]

Yes, the Xbox is just a PC. Not a great one, but not bad either. I upgraded the hard drive and run a program called Evolution Dashboard, which lets you do all sorts of crazy things, like back up all your games to the hard drive, games you OWN already!

[patches]

cool i always wanted to know if it was true or not. I always use google heh thats how I found this site.

[Darklegion]

linux works great.....runs fast too considering memory and processor limitations.Only major thing missing is 3d acceleration support which is a tough thing to do without a lot of hacking/reverse-engineering/technical docs on the hardware.Everything else works great,my favourite use is using mplayer aas a media player......xbox media player/center still crashes a  lot for me.There are an absolute shitload of emulators on the xbox too,many of which are now surpassing their pc counterparts.

Also if you want a fun/difficult mod to do,try upgrading the xboxes memory....4 80-pin chips to solder I believe....

[jimmy 2/4]

that should'nt be a problen my dads a comp. engineer.

[Vleonz]

Look at xbox-scene.com for informaton, however don�t go asking for roms since they do not allow/post it.

[Vertigo]

that should'nt be a problen my dads a comp. engineer.

Why don't you learn for yourself or get him to teach you?
Don't dare respond "Because I'm not good enough at soldering". How do you think he got that good?
The apostrophe belongs between the 'n' and the 't' in "shouldn't" as you are excluding the letter 'o' from "should not" and that's what apostrophes are used for in compression of words.
Also: problem, dad's, capital T and a comma before 'my'.
Thank you and good day.

[jimmy 2/4]

I wasn't going to make him do it all by himself...im pretty good at the stuff he works on.So quit bothering me about spelling ya cough*FREAK*cough!!!....I meant to say thankyou for fixing my grammar sir.  

[Endymion]

I upgraded the hard drive and run a program called Evolution Dashboard, which lets you do all sorts of crazy things, like back up all your games to the hard drive, games you OWN already!

I don't think there is a hard disk in existence that is large enough to store all the Xbox games I own.

p.s. That list is incomplete in general (a lot of old games I haven't added to the database yte) but the Xbox game list is.

[Darklegion]

I may get around to doing this some time,I have read about how it needs to be done and doesn't look like the hardest thing in the world.Desoldering all of those pins without damaging the chips will be the biggest issue I believe.

[Guest_bcforn64]

DarkLegion, ever hear of the "oven" method?  B)

http://www.savel.org/hardware/solder/index-en.html

             Also the chips are 100-pins each. I've done this mod twice. Each time with failure but I've gotten better each time. First time, I accidentally desoldered a small capacitor by one of the chips and didn't notice until after I had all the chips in and then desoldered them back off. Needless to say, the whole board didn't work without the capacitor.

           Second time I did it was on a different motherboard. I used the ram chips off the first board. I had it working for a while but unfortunately; one of the three sides of one of the chips was misaligned. Not wanting to mess up the other three perfectly soldered sides, I was able to solder the 20 pins on the misaligned side crooked to their respected solder pads. It worked fine and dandy for awhile, but one day two of the crooked pins bridged each other because they were so close and I had to fix it. In the process I lifted up two solder pads and ruined the ability to have 128 Megs of ram for the entire board. So even with a 99.5% successful install still there the mod was useless.

So like you said, it's not the hardest install but like always watch out for the little things.

Are you serious about this mod? I could dig up some small notes I left for another guy on Xbox-Scene on how to take out the chips from another motherboard.

[Darklegion]

You can dig it up if you like but I have seen plenty of information around before,and have at least some of it archived.I also have a very nice video that shows someone effortlessly soldering some high pinned surface mount chips,although I'm sure it won't work at well on a first go

And wow that 'grill' method is just.....crazy!  I somehow doubt that the memory chips will be able to handle that kind of heat,even though it is not running.I guess it could as long as there is not direct contact.I may try it any case the board I have is otherwise broken and getting all parts off the pcb in one fell swoop, would be  brilliant.

[bcforn64]

I somehow doubt that the memory chips will be able to handle that kind of heat,even though it is not running.

It works, it's how I got the memory off the two times I installed the memory. The notes I have are an appendix to that guys work. Same method just a little revised, a few things I find to do different.

1.) MAKE SURE YOUR HOUSE OR APPARTMENT IS SET UP TO BE WELL VENTALATED. There is nothing more horrible than the smell of melting PCB, like the link I sent you said, it may even be toxic. Have an open window with a big ass fan blowing air out.

2.) Break off any capacitors on the board and remove the heatsinks and the remaining plastic that holds the heatsink in place.

3.) Place in motherboard and make sure that the motherboard is on the top rack, this ensures that the solder will melt properly, and also place an oven safe pan big enough to catch all the motherboard peices, I recommend using foilpaper on the pan too.

4.) Heat oven to 180�C (Or the closest temp your oven will support) ON BROIL or GRILL, or whichever mode only uses the top burners in the oven.

5.) after about 5 minutes, turn off the oven, get some tongs, grab hold of the motherboard and shake the shit out of it. Empty the pan of the fallen parts.

6.) Wait a sec for the board to cool a little, then flip the board over, and repeat steps 3,4 and 5.

Well that's pretty much the gist of it. The first time I did it I didn't put it on the top rack or remove the capacitors and I waited too long because nothing was happening and suddenly capacitors started exploding like crazy in the oven and the plastic heatsink enclosures started melting. At the same time there was huge smoke stacks. Reminded me of star wars   . With the capacitors ripped off and most of the plastic gone you should have nothing to worry about being as you're only doing this in 5 minute incurments. If after 5 mins nothing happens, don't fret and go for another 5 minutes.

I take no responsibility if you blow up or set on fire your house, Xbox, dog, or any other object while following these steps.  ^_^