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Xbox mod chip recommendations?

F

frx218

Senior member
I have had an Xbox for 2 or 3 years now and purchased 3 or 4 games, right now its just sitting there and I would like to change that.. Unlocking Linux would be something I would like to do and, being able to play backups ect, ect... My soldiering experience is little but I don?t think installing a mod chip will require much. Any Ideas what Mod chip I should pick and which retailer is good? Any accessories or other parts you would recommend?

Thanks
 
Xecuter 3 hands down

You drop it in with a few solder points, nothing major, if you already have some soldering skills.

Then you drop the hard drive in.
The chip will format the Hard drive for you. It has the options in the menu to format the hard drive for you.
Then you plug in your ethernet cable.
The X3 has built in FTP and DHCP so you plug in the xbox to your router if DHCP
If no router and straight PC, than use a crossover cable and set the chip to Static IP and assign it an IP address and make sure to do the same in your PC
Flash the chip with your choice of BIOS.

All together it takes me 20 minutes to do all this. What takes long is installing all the apps and software. That takes about 5 minutes.
 
Originally posted by: frankgomez75
Xecuter 3 hands down

You drop it in with a few solder points, nothing major, if you already have some soldering skills.

Then you drop the hard drive in.
The chip will format the Hard drive for you. It has the options in the menu to format the hard drive for you.
Then you plug in your ethernet cable.
The X3 has built in FTP and DHCP so you plug in the xbox to your router if DHCP
If no router and straight PC, than use a crossover cable and set the chip to Static IP and assign it an IP address and make sure to do the same in your PC
Flash the chip with your choice of BIOS.

All together it takes me 20 minutes to do all this. What takes long is installing all the apps and software. That takes about 5 minutes.
Click to expand...

Damn doesn?t sound like it can get any easier then that..

Thanks for input!
 
Originally posted by: frx218
Originally posted by: frankgomez75
Xecuter 3 hands down

You drop it in with a few solder points, nothing major, if you already have some soldering skills.

Then you drop the hard drive in.
The chip will format the Hard drive for you. It has the options in the menu to format the hard drive for you.
Then you plug in your ethernet cable.
The X3 has built in FTP and DHCP so you plug in the xbox to your router if DHCP
If no router and straight PC, than use a crossover cable and set the chip to Static IP and assign it an IP address and make sure to do the same in your PC
Flash the chip with your choice of BIOS.

All together it takes me 20 minutes to do all this. What takes long is installing all the apps and software. That takes about 5 minutes.
Click to expand...

Damn doesn?t sound like it can get any easier then that..

Thanks for input!
Click to expand...


I recommend the software hack no need for mod chips or anything... Just need a pc its real easy to do as well... Just need a lockable hard drive and follow directions on xbox-scene..
 
The no-solder kits also work very well. I've installed 2 or 3 of those w/ a Xenium ICE and it couldn't have been smoother. Sounds like it has the same features as the Xecuter 3. FTP server, bios flasher, etc. all built into the chip for very quick installation. You boot it, copy over a bios file to the XBOX HD, select a bank to flash, and then point it to the BIOS you just copied over. The X Ice also has an HD upgrade wizard built in that will guide you through the process of changing to a larger HD (basically set it to a slave and put it on the DVD drive cable, then it images everything over for you).
 
I was thinking about the software hack and did some reading on it but I wont have a lot of the features I want..
 
also soldering is not that hard to do. just get a 12 dollar iron/package from radio shack and that is all u need
 
I modded my first gen but have a new question. Back then, there was a HD size limitation. I believe it was 160GB. You could do little hacks to squeeze a bigger drive in there, but it was not worth it to me. Now, I am not sure if this was a hardware or software limit. So I'd like to know what I need to do to be able to upgrade to a larger HD. Can I just update my dashboard or would this require a new chip? Also, is there a quick and easy way for me to copy the existing 120 GB drive over to the new system (partitions and all)?
 
I honestly would recommend the Xecuter 2.3+ over the Xecuter 3. Why? Puyo-pins. Everyone moans and complains about those damn things but I've yet to have a problem with mine. Installation was infinitely easy since no soldering was required. The most difficult part was threading the cable for the external switches through the vents in the XBox.

Soft-modding has advantages if you want to, say, play XBox Live with a modded XBox, or don't want to open your XBox up at all. However, with a bigger HD and programs like XBox Media Center my XBox has fast become my most-used home console.
 
Depends what kind of guy you are IMHO. My top choices would be the X3 or the SmartXX v2. I personaly have the SmartXX. If you like to go the easy route, go for the X3. As stated above, it's a piece of cake to install. If you want an LCD add on, they sell a whole custom front panel that's plug and play. With the Smartxx, you have to solder on the LCD and do some cuts to fit it into the front panel. Xecuter is comming out with an IR addon (once again, plug and play) so you can use your dvd remote to power it on and such. One thing I hate is external switches. The X3 comes with an external bank swith that is pretty ugly. You can upgrade to the pro switch for another 20 bucks or the full front panel (X3CP) for 60. SmartXX's OS lets you chose with bank to load from on power on. Don't get me wrong though, the X3 is a great chip. I believe both SmartXX and X3 (along with others such as Xice) have solderless options. You might want to check with version your Xbox is. If you are planning on buying a new one, it will most likely be a v1.6. They are a bit more tedious to install compared to the older version, but I wouldn't reccomend a solderless adpater for those.
@sygyzy: I believe the harddrive limit originaly was 137GB. Now the only limit to harddrive space is your wallet and the market. Upgrading your dash won't do anything, you need to upgrade the bios you flashed your chip with. I recommend the newest X2 bios. I can't remember which it is off the top of my head though.

If anyone has any questions about any kind of Xbox mods, feel free to PM me, I'll gladly help out as much as I can. 🙂
 
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