This service included a
- Package OG Xbox Refurbishment and modding PLUS (TLC, partial recap, modchip and 1TB HDD)
- Installation of additional 64 MB of RAM for a total of 128MB
The console had a soft-mod and had previously been open to remove the clock capacitor. No additional work was found. The HDD was a stock 10GB. The console was also relatively dirty but initial testing showed that everything worked fine including the DVD drive.
First port of call was to wash the shell and check out the shield. Small pockets of rust were found, which were sanded and protected with anti-rust liquid. While a repaint of the shield would have been the best solution, the amount of rust was relatively small so not suggestion for that extra service was made.
Next came the replacement of the CPU capacitors and the thermal paste, as well as the installation of the header pins for the modchip (which were not present as the console was soft-modded)
After initial testing, the next task was to upgrade the RAM. This revision has empty pads where to install 4 new additional chips for that extra 64MB of RAM. Each chip requires testing with an specific modchip that lets you test each bank of RAM. The last photo below shows a successful install of the the 4 chips.
The DVD drive was opened up, cleaned and lubricated. Unlike the shell and the shield, it was in a relatively good condition already. Lithium grease was used, and the tray belt replaced to avoid any future issues with the tray being stuck as the rubber belt degrades, which is common in these consoles.
Finally, a new 1TB HDD was installed and configured to boot with the new modchip (a ModXo sold also in our shop). The ModXo has been loaded with the latest version of Cerbios. The HDD has been preloaded with the XBMC4Gamers dashboard, and a couple of games have been installed for testing purposes. The HDD also contains the artwork pack, whose script needs to be re-run as a script from the settings menu if you wish for any new games you install to have the artwork on them (doesn’t affect running games, it just shows makes it look nicer). Please familiarise yourself with the XBMC4Gamers Dashboard as is highly configurable. Other dashboards can be installed as well, and you can boot them by default by modifying the Cerbios.ini file. Do be careful to ensure that any dashboard you boot from has FTP enabled or any further changes will need you to remove the HDD from the console and plug it into your PC.
To install games, you can do this from an existing physical DVD (there is a homebrew software called DVD2XBOX for this, which just copies the game to the HDD so that you don’t need the disc anymore). Otherwise, to copy games that you obtain from elsewhere in your PC, the easiest way is to connect the ethernet cable and upload them through FTP using an FTP client like Filezilla. You can see the current IP address in the context menu inside XBMC4Gamers, and you can configure the username / password in settings (it should be xbox/xbox by default). 128MB of RAM should give you better performance in certain emulators (like PS1) and let you run a couple of SEGA Chihiro games. You will need to find this information elsewhere but we are happy to answer questions or point you to the right places.
Please note that together with the console, we have also sent:
- The original HDD that was inside
- The original IDE flat ribbon cable, as the new HDD is SATA and requires a UDMA cable together with a IDE-2-SATA adapter
- The daughter board and ribbon cable to program the Raspberry Pi that is in the ModXo modchip (as a Raspberry Pi Zero is installed in this ModXo)