I got a Modded Xbox, but don't know the mod

[Rhys Wilde]

Hi, jeez I've been lurking here quite a bit but I've never posted, I think I have forums shyness.

Well, anyways. Just today in fact my boyfriend gave me an old Xbox of his that didn't work anymore and I need some help with it. I really want to learn about console modifications and I feel like this is a great way for me to get some more practice in after my horrible Dreamcast escapades. Anyways, the Xbox weighs quite a bit more than the standard one, and from turning it on I can tell it has a new fan put into it as it has a much quieter sound and seems to be spinning a lot faster. However, upon loading past the initial startup screen the console gets the telltale blinking red light of death and goes to the "requires maintenance". The console also has a little circuit board on the front with three switches labeled "Enable/Disable" "Protected/Unprotected" and "Bank1/Bank2". As far as I can tell switching them on or off make no difference during the startup, except for "Enable/Disable". When I flick the switch into the "Enable" position the console restarts three times when I turn it on with no visuals, then goes into the blinking red light, still with a blank screen. I took quite a few pictures of me piecing the thing apart, just in case that helps.

http://img135.imageshack.us/i/img0748k.jpg/
-This is the console itself from the front, as you can see the little circuit board is on the bottom poking out of some of the vents.

http://img820.imageshack.us/i/img0749b.jpg/
-Closeup of the circuit board.

http://img857.imageshack.us/i/img0750h.jpg/
-Upon opening, the HDD is a 200gb model, I don't know much about the specs of the original Xbox but this seems out of the ordinary if it normally was just intended to store save data. Probably used with a custom firmware for torrented games/movies?

http://img594.imageshack.us/i/img0752p.jpg/
-After taking out the HDD/Disk Drive I have a picture of the motherboard itself, there are a few things worthy of note.

http://img163.imageshack.us/i/img0751w.jpg/
-The circuit board on the front is hooked up to this thing on the motherboard. It's probably a modchip but I don't know much about them, do they normally have switches?

http://img405.imageshack.us/i/img0753sn.jpg/
http://img831.imageshack.us/i/img0755sf.jpg/
-Also of note, there's white paste all over the right side of the motherboard, I have no idea what it is but it's hard. Maybe some sort of glue used for electronics? Or spilled thermal grease? I don't really know.

I assume this is some sort of really simple answer, I know a lot about computers, hardware, software etc but I know nothing about consoles and their workings. It's something I'm trying really hard to get more experience with so if anybody can help me with this I would really appreciate it.

Also, anyone know anything about the blinking red light of death? Do you think it could be linked to the modifications done to the console or does that happen with normal use?

[Hobie-wan]

I can't help you with the rest, but the white caulk gooped in places is normal. It's to make sure some of the larger components can't shift around. It's pretty common on power supply circuitry which is what that section with the white board is.

[jinn]

You have an Xecuter 2 modchip.
You might want to switch banks to check if the correct BIOS is installed.
You also have a Version 1.2-1.5 xbox
Google Xecuter 2 chip instructions or guide to learn on how to reflash the chip

[Rhys Wilde]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm not entirely sure how to check the BIOS with either bank, as the console doesn't boot past the initial loading screen...

[gtmtnbiker]

Welcome to the forums, hope you stick around. As a future tip, you can use the image tag to embed photos into your post.

Just click on the the button that is labeled "Img" and then stick the URL of the image between the tags like this:

[Rhys Wilde]

Welcome to the forums, hope you stick around. As a future tip, you can use the image tag to embed photos into your post.

Just click on the the button that is labeled "Img" and then stick the URL of the image between the tags like this:

Thanks for the tip! Anyways, I've tried quite a few methods but no matter what, most likely due to my inexperience I can't get this thing to work, no matter what it gives me the red light of death. Really until I can get around that, if it's possible there's not a whole lot I can do :/