This order includes a number of services for an Original Xbox:
- OG Xbox Refurbishment and modding
- OG Xbox 128 MB RAM Upgrade
- Full recap of motherboard, PSU and DVD drive
- Installation of Noctua Fan for the GPU
The console had never been opened before, and on disassembly, it was confirmed as a 1.0 with a Thomson drive and a Delta PSU. The stickers hiding a couple of the screws were removed with heat and protected with baking paper so that on reassembly it looks as much stock as possible.
The console was in a relative good condition but the external shell had a many marks and small dents. There was also the usual dust and grime in the various fans and other parts.
The metals shields also were rusted in several places, particularly the bottom one. The customer agreed to paint it for an extra fee. A galvanising zinc spray was used to provide a conductive finish for the repainted shield.
Recaps were done for the motherboard, the PSU and the Thomson DVD drive. The thermal past was also changed while the heatsinks were off.
The DVD drive was also refurbished, including cleaning and lubrication of rails and cogs. The belt was changed with the one that the customer provided.
Modding was done by first installing the pin headers in the LPC port. After this, an Aladdin Xblast modchip was used to test the RAM upgrade, one memory chip at a time. The shell was also washed with warm water and soap.
After the motherboard, the PSU and the shell were ready, partial reassembly was undertaken, this time using the Stellar modchip that the customer provided. The modchip had to be prepared in advance by connecting it to the PC. As the online firmware upgrade failed (this is well known bug), an offline upgrade was made by downloading the latest firmware 1.7.2 (factory was 1.2.1) and installing it directly from the PC.
The 1TB SSD that was provided by the customer was also partition and files were installed, including various dashboard, a couple of games, and artwork packages. XBM4Gamers was installed in E:\Dashboard as otherwise the stock dashboard would boot, which doesn’t provide any way of booting fame from the HDD. Other dashboards are included in the E:\Dash folder, although any other dashboard can be installed, either by taking out the HDD and connecting it to the PC and using FatXplorer, or by using an FTP client. FTP server can be used from the Stellar BIOS menu, or from the currently installed dashboard.
Finally, a 40x10mm Noctua fan was installed for the GPU in place of the stock fan. A 3D printed adapter was used to fit the fan in place.
Various games were tested, both from HDD and from disc. The DVD drive shows signs of wear by not booting some discs, but it does boot others. The recap didn’t seem to make a difference. DVD drives are swappable in OG Xboses, so a different drive could always be installed if this one was to fail further. Below, the game selection screen and synopsis with the artwork package installed, Ninja Gaiden being played from the HDD, and Project Gotham being played from disc.
Finally, scratched were removed with a magic eraser, and plastic protector was applied to the black shell. The jewel was also polished. The rubber feet were reattached with some additional double tape, and the stickers were put back
