Xecuter 2.0Pro - cable broken

[stesmi]

Hi.

I posted something similar to the X3 forums but I thought I'd post it here in case someone has an idea (and doesn't read the X3 forums).

My brother in law has an X2.0Pro (the one where the dip switches are on the parallel port thing switchbank).

The thin cable is broken and of course the X2.0Pro doesn't start because of it.

Now, my idea is just to hardwire the modchip to always use the first bank and always be enabled (he rarely if ever plays and only uses it to watch movies in XBMC) so the question is HOW? Flashing it is also secondary since the BIOS on it is fine as it is, no plans on upgrading it .. ever.

I've searched around but I haven't been able to find a solution to this problem. Anyone have a schematic or something that could help me?

Worst case is that I break it when I try to fix it - so what - it's dead as it is - it can only get better. If it breaks he'll get an X3 instead.

Thanx in advance.

// Stefan

 

[Big_Whoopin]

Take a look at this thread - http://www.team-xecuter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36173
The end post is the closest I've come to a full schematic of the switch, I haven't been able to confirm that it is correct and I'm not even sure what X2 Pro models it would cover. From the pics at Xbox Scene I don't believe the 2.0 had any "front" switches so if this is what you are dealing with it will take some investigation on your part.

For your 2.0, here's some tips for investigating with a multimeter:
* Pins that go to the DB25 port are likely to only go to that point, with the exception of ground. On the small connector for the ribbon cable these will probably be all in a row with ground on one end or the other.
* On the non-pro switches the on/off function of the switch typically would take one input line and either connect it to a common ground (making a loop between two pins on the small connector) or left it as an open circuit. Again, the pins on the small connector that are for the 4 DIP switches are likely to be all in a row.
* If you have access to the solder points on the bottom of the board this will provide the quickest method to determine what pin goes where. Each switch has two solder points, with the switch off each of these points should only have one pin on the small connector with continuity. You may find that 3 or 4 of the switch points share a single pin, this is probably the common ground. The other points should all have one unique pin each.

To enable the modchip without the switches all you need to do is ground the D0 wire. The simplest way is probably to tie it in with the motherboard screw closest to the LPC port. The challenge will be to make sure that the chip is set to a bootable bank, this may require knowledge of the arrangement of the wires to the switch bank.

-Whoopin'

 

[stesmi]

Thank you.

I have removed the gunk from the bottom of the boards so I can get to all the points and am about to start measuring in a little while (already had planned that before I read your reply).

// Stefan

 

[Big_Whoopin]

Do me a favor and if possible post a couple pics of the board. If you can get some good tests off of it I'll see if I can do up a schematic. Knowing the number of pins that are on the connector for the ribbon cable would help out too.

-Whoopin'

 

[stesmi]

I have two more questions if anyone happens to know answers :

a) If I just set it to be 1 bank of 1MB or two banks of 512 but use bank 0, what negative effects can I get from doing that ? Will the box not work at all?

b) I just found where on the cable the traces are broken. It's 17 out of 20 traces that are broken from the looks of it, roughly 5mm from the end of the cable on one end. Can I just remove the blue protection, remove a piece of the white/silver protection, cut it before the break and replace the blue protection again or is there some reason that won't work?

// Stefan

 

[Big_Whoopin]

Scratch that, unless you think a pic of the underside would be worthwhile. This pic from Xbox Scene provides a good amount of detail, and something none of the X2 non-pro chips had... pin numbering!

-Whoopin'

 

[Big_Whoopin]

To your questions:
a) I believe to boot with the chip set to 1MB you'll need a 1MB BIOS. For 512KB you'll need a 512KB BIOS loaded on the appropriate bank. Now the traditional method to make a 512KB BIOS used to be to combine two 256KB files, I suppose the same would hold true for a 1MB. Unless you are going to reflash the chip first you will need to know what it currently has onboard for BIOS(es) and then set the chip accordingly. You won't harm the Xbox by trying different combinations, at the worst it simply won't boot.

b) The only reasons I can think of that this cable repair might not work would be 1) not all the insulation (if it exists) gets removed from the wire and it can't make good contact with the plug, or 2) the area that you hope to use in the repair has smaller traces. Typically on wires such as this the traces are wider at the point of a connector, plug or solder pad and thinner down the main body of the cable to allow for better flexability and a smaller cable. Without getting a real good look at the cable I can't tell if you'll run into this problem, but based on pics at X-S it looks like the cable may have consistant width traces the entire way. Make sure you can keep the end square for best fit in the socket.

-Whoopin'

 

[stesmi]

Quick info : 20 pins on the connector on each end.

J1 is the LPT port. J2 is the ribbon cable connector and SW1 is the dipswitches themselves.

The schematic in the post you gave the link to is (obviously) not totally accurate when it comes to the 2.0Pro.

Differences between "your" schematic in that thread and what I see:

Top Row:

Yours:

/--o   o---o---o
|
|  o   o   o   o
|  4   3   2   1
|  |   |   |   |
|  |   |   |   |

With them connecting individually to the cable to one pin. The top is unconnected (could be by mistake?).

Mine:

/--o---o---o---o
|
|  o   o   o   o
|  4   3   2   1
|  |   |   |   |
|  |   |   |   |

I haven't taken my multimeter out to measure what pins go where yet so I don't know where they connect to (I would guess pins 1-5 or 16-20).

Gonna measure and test a bit in a while.

Keep you posted.

// Stefan

 

[stesmi]

Scratch that, unless you think a pic of the underside would be worthwhile. This pic from Xbox Scene provides a good amount of detail, and something none of the X2 non-pro chips had... pin numbering!

-Whoopin'

Heh, that's a pretty good picture. The VIAs aren't that easy to trace so a multimeter test is the best I believe and should yield quick results.

// Stefan

 

[stesmi]

Ordering of what's where compared to my/your drawings:

Just on the underside of the board (where the dipswitches are actually soldered), the side with "ON" is the "top" of our drawings with "1 2 3 4" being the bottom (the side that they're not all just connected).

EDIT: The traces on the cable do look to be of the same size to my naked eye so that might be a way to go and then just put it inside the box after I'm done so noone breaks it again

What happened originally was that the switchbank/lpt box detached somehow from the back of the xbox and probably broke then.

// Stefan

 

[Big_Whoopin]

...With them connecting individually to the cable to one pin. The top is unconnected (could be by mistake?).

That was my guess. All the signals for the X2 non-pro switches that I've worked with were triggered by grounding them, I would expect the same of the Pro series. I'm sure that common trace among the DIP switches goes to ground, if so and if Xecuter did the right thing on the design then the sheild to the DB25 connector ties to there as well.

-Whoopin'

 

[stesmi]

OK, I have now mapped the whole switch thing on the X2.0Pro.

That is, I don't know what the signals actually DO (on the modchip side) but I know what pin goes where.

SW1 is the 4 dipswitches. 1, 2, 3, 4 are the pins on the side where the numbers are. GND 1-4 are the pins on the side where the text "ON" is (closest to the LPT connector).
J1 is the LPT connector.
J2 is the 20-pin flat cable.
LPT Name is the name of the signal if it had been an LPT port. I added those so that if anyone wonders "is it from the right or left if I look at it that way or that way or .." then one can just check it out in any document describing the parallel port. Very easy to find out what's what since half the bottom row are all ground.

I re-measured a few times to try to find what pins 18 and 19 do on the J2 connector but I didn't get a ring anywhere, neither did I get a ring on pin 11 in J1 (Busy).

SW1		J1		J2	LPT Name
		17		 1	Select In
 1		 1		 2	Strobe
 2		14		 3	Auto Feed
 3		16		 4	Init
		 2		 5	Data 0
		 3		 6	Data 1
		 4		 7	Data 2
		 5		 8	Data 3
		 6		 9	Data 4
		 7		10	Data 5
		 8		11	Data 6
		 9		12	Data 7
		15		13	Error
		13		14	Select
		12		15	Paper Empty
		10		16	Acknowledge
GND 1-4		18-25		17	Ground
				18
				19
 4		N/C		20	-

// Stefan

 

[Big_Whoopin]

Interesting that DIP switches 1-3 also tie in on the DB25 connector. I wonder if the three switches need to be set off when programming via PC? I'll see if I can whip up a schematic next week, thanks for the investigation!

-Whoopin'

 

[stesmi]

Yes, I think I read somewhere that it needs to be set to 1MB mode (and that means they need to be set to off).

Let's see if I can't find where I read that.

EDIT: http://www.team-xecuter.com/x23b_pro_pin.htm.

Scroll down until you see the dip switch settings and read the comment on the bottom right:
"When flashing mod with Cromwell or X2BM the PRO must be in 1MB mode and DIP 4 ON".

But I have a question and call me stupid.

Tell me where I'm wrong (or right) please:

a) The original (non-modded) Xbox (the early ones with 1MB BIOS) had 4 copies of the same ROM mirrored 4 times (256K bios *4 = 1MB).
So if we call them "banks" then bank 0, 1, 2, 3 all contained the same BIOS.

b) The Xbox would only execute the first bank in reality, right?

c) So if b is true then we could for all sakes just fill banks 1, 2, 3 with random garbage since it's not used.

d) If c is true what makes that different to an X2? Wouldn't I be able to take a 256KB bios and stick it in bank 0 in the X2 Pro, set it to 1MB mode and the layout would be the same as an original xbox (using "c") and everything should just work? Of course, the same should hold true to using a 512KB bios. First half of the modchip is BIOS, second half is random.

Or am I missing something vital?

// Stefan

 

[stesmi]

Hate the 10 minute reply block thing but oh well.

What I was getting at is that in theory if I KNOW that the first BIOS bank contains a working bios regardless of 256K, 512K or 1M size then I can just ground D0 to enable the modchip and it should just work.

Currently I'm trying to repair the little cable running to the lpt/dipswitch board. If I get that to work I'll just put the lpt/dipswitch board somewhere INSIDE the xbox instead of the outside - it's really not used at all and if I EVER feel like using it I can just open his box and connect a cable or flip a switch or whatever.

 

[stesmi]

Ok, that cable did not like trying to get fixed. I couldn't figure out a way to strip the plastic from the top of it.

Hrm.

Gonna try to find where on the modchip I can find the dipswitches, then tie the D0 to GND and be done with it ..

// Stefan

// Stefan.

 

[stesmi]

Ok, I've found position 1 and 3 of the dipswitch on the board.

I also tied GND and D0 together BUT - nothing happens when I turn it on.

Nothing as in the normal bios from the motherboard boots (and of course I get an error 11 due to it - unlocked harddrive).

Any clues as to why that happens ? I doublechecked the D0/GND connection and it's solid.

// Stefan

 

[Big_Whoopin]

Still have continuity between ground and points further up and down the trace from where D0 is soldered in? It may be difficult to find such points to test, but it is the only way to make sure that your solder point is good *and* the traces around D0 aren't damaged. Try finding one of these points (may need to clean up some of the coating applied to the MB) and checking continuity to the sheild of the Xbox case. If D0 is good it should be "telling" the Xbox to look to the LPC for a BIOS, at which point you'll either get the mod to boot or you'll get a frag.

Best I've got...

-Whoopin'

 

[stesmi]

Thanx. I'll remove the mobo from the box and check the point on the back to see if it's still ok.

// Stefan

 

[xionanx]

I too have a broken FCC Ribbon Cable on my X2 Pro, so I'm very interested in finding out how to fix this problem. I have pretty much come to the conclusion that finding a replacement cable is impossible so finding a way to lock the chip in the "ON" position would be nice. I dont have much else to add to discussion other then encouragement and to let you know that there are others looking for this answer as well.

If all else fails I can find a copy of 007 and TSOP flash.