this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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With exception of the Mister, all consoles have either been modded or repaired. Bonus, everything is automated through Home Assistant so it will turn on the TV, switch inputs, and turn on the console, all via voiced controlled.

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[–] MrShankles@reddthat.com 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

I wish there was an active OG Xbox community on Lemmy. The subreddit helped me get through my journey of doing a hardmod (TSOP flash) on my 1.0 version; I had an unfortunate disk drive failure at the EXACT wrong time (after the softmod), and it made things a LOT more complicated lol. But I also learned wayyy more than I anticipated, and have flashed 3 more since then without any issue (except for finding a roach infestation inside one of the cases, but I still salvaged the hardware and flashed it)

But regardless, you can message me too with any questions. I've never installed a chip to hardmod, but I can TSOP flash the hell outta them now. And if you're able to hardmod, I highly suggest it mainly because of how much more stable it becomes

Edit: This wiki also has pretty much anything you'd want to know about modding the Xbox https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:Original_Xbox_Mods_Wiki

[–] Walican132 2 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Man you’re so helpful I really appreciate it. I’m definitely intimidated by the steps to Tsop but soft modding looks incredibly easy.

[–] MrShankles@reddthat.com 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

The softmod is pretty easy, especially if you have one of the exploitable games lying around (I had Splinter Cell). The flash drive-to-controller port converter-cable and a compatible flash drive (listed on that website) is all you need.

Just write down your EEPROM number after you softmod, for the love of god, even before trying to zero it or back-it up. That was when mine froze, restarted and the disk drive failed, giving me an "error code 7"... which not many people knew could be due to a dead disk drive, because it can be due to several things. A TSOP flash (if you have a version earlier than 1.6) allows you to run without a disk drive, and an unlocked HDD. It makes it pretty much brick-proof

I had no soldering skills when I tried it, so I was very intimidated too. But a $15 RadioShack soldering iron got the job done... the TSOP flash technically only has to work once. I even "lifted the pad" on my second xbox, but there are alternate points you can use a jumper wire on, if you fuck up the first attempt. .

For a $30 xbox at a thrift store, it might be worth your time to try. I say this from the other end of doing it, but it was also my first mod, first soldering job, and I was terrified I would fuck it up. Turned out, the soldering was the least of my problems after my disk drive failed lol

But either way, good luck! It was one of my favorite projects and is still in use as a balling emulator. The thing has a lot of potential once you get into it!

[–] Walican132 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Hey friend. So I’ve never soldered before really. I was looking at harbor freight and they have two types could you verify if I could use the cheaper one? I don’t fully know the differences. https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/c5fa90cd-305e-499a-90ee-e1a9897793bc.jpeghttps://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/7c70f4ad-9267-4486-abdf-8ed568fa8f51.jpeg

[–] MrShankles@reddthat.com 1 points 9 months ago

Hey! You can definitely use the cheaper one, it's still a lead-free rosin core, but just doesn't come with as much solder as the more expensive one. And you'll use very little for a Tsop flash, not even a quarter of what's in the cheaper one (even less than a quarter of it)