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Old 26th Jan 2022, 2:09 am   #2
hamid_1
Heptode
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: High Wycombe, Bucks. UK.
Posts: 811
Default Re: Xbox (original) killer capacitor

I found out about this last year, and went through my stock of original xboxes. 4 out of 6 clock capacitors had started leaking, luckily no track damage to the PCB, though I removed them anyway. I also have two V1.6 consoles. The clock capacitor should not be removed from these.

More info here:
https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:Clock_Capacitor
and https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:Or...Xbox_Mods_Wiki

As these consoles are around 20 years old now, and past their life expectancy, I've gone a bit further by flashing the xbox BIOS with a non-Microsoft one such as EvoX or Ind-Bios. This allows the console to boot from an unlocked hard drive, making it easier to install a newer larger HDD or SSD. With the modified BIOS, you can copy your game discs to the hard drive and play them from there instead of wearing out the original DVD drive in your console.

I've found the original DVD drives and hard drives are starting to fail due to age. Replacing a failed HDD in an unmodified xbox is not simply a matter of plugging in a new one. It needs to be formatted correctly with the xbox dashboard system files on it, and in the case of an unmodified console, the hard drive must be "locked" to it using a unique key which is stored in an EEPROM inside your xbox. If your console is still working, you can install the "softmod". You can then see your HDD key from the dashboard and back-up your EEPROM to a file. Keep a copy somewhere safe, should you need to prepare a new hard drive.
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