Americanizing a British Xbox
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
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www.BorderlineOCD.com
In the previous episode on the PAL Crystal Xbox, we manage to get it working by recapping the motherboard, only to find it also has a faulty DVD drive. Today we turn it into a US NTSC Xbox with a full conversion. We also take care of the lingering maintenance items to make sure this system is ready for another 20 years of service 🖖🏻
🎮 Part 1 if you missed it
Turns out $35 for a faulty Crystal Xbox is a fantastic deal: • Turns out $35 for a fa...
🕹 The latest and best BIOS mod for your OG Xbox
16TB in an OG Xbox? CERBIOS has arrived: • 16TB in an OG Xbox? CE...
🛒 Specialty products and links specific to this project
Aladdin XT PLUS2: amzn.to/437dcHW
Circuit Board Holder: amzn.to/3k35Pzm
Desoldering Vacuum Pump: amzn.to/3Qe9ipl
An inexpensive Hot Air Rework Station to get you started: amzn.to/3w023bF
Kekule’s LPC rebuild board: chimericsystems.com/products/...
OG Xbox Installer Thread: www.ogxbox.com/forums/index.p... (click on "Folder link for updates" and download the v1.5.4 archive)
My philosophy on buying tools is to start small and to "outgrow" your gear over time. Expensive gear won't improve your repair and fault finding skills, only practice will do that. With that in mind below is what's in my current toolkit.
🔧 Toolkit
Screwdriver Set: amzn.to/2X7s0Gj
Automatic Wire Stripper: amzn.to/30F5TJm
Pocket Multimeter: amzn.to/3IdvzQz
Component Tester: amzn.to/3l5rHG8
🖌 Soldering Essentials
TS100 Soldering Iron: amzn.to/2YIJZUR
No Clean Flux Syringe: amzn.to/2NFUZvQ
No Clean Solder: amzn.to/2NHEAqQ
Desoldering Braid: amzn.to/312Grws
Tip Tinner: amzn.to/31w2EF4
Contact Cleaner: amzn.to/3dI93ly
🔍 Soldering Add-ons
Fume Extractor with Hose: amzn.to/3hspLZi
Desoldering Vacuum Pump: amzn.to/3Qe9ipl
Hot Air Rework Station: amzn.to/3w023bF
Circuit Board Holder: amzn.to/3k35Pzm
Helping Hands Soldering Aid: amzn.to/3ihgksP
🔥 Thermal Compounds & Tape
Kapton Tape amzn.to/3DEu0dd
Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste: amzn.to/2Ak2y8w
1.5MM Arctic Thermal Pads: amzn.to/2Vv1RQU
🧴 Lubes and Epoxies
White Lithium Grease: amzn.to/2UApx5M
Plastic Epoxy: amzn.to/3up0LIm
Timestamps:
0:00 Where the journey began
1:17 It's 110V from now on, captain
5:19 Fresh lube and rubber all the way
8:55 LPC QSB kit
11:46 Who is this LFRAME fella
13:29 FAKE Aladdins
16:37 NTSC for the win
21:17 Goodbye (for now) - Ігри
I spent the last 2 weeks re-capping stuff at work and now I'm watching a guy recap to relax.
Excellent video. I really appreciate your clear presentation style.
hey man, you have become my favorite youtuber since I met you, my first video to discover this great channel was from this beautiful console, the xbox. Thanks to you I have learned a lot about electronics and I have been able to fix my beauties that I have here at home. Beautiful work on this crystal :3
Glad to hear you’re finding the content helpful my man.
The only thing you missed was to increase the ram memory to 128 MB. beautiful restoration
It's very difficult on a 1.6 and not worth it. People mostly do it for proof of concept and the lulz.
@@jamesdavies686 you can piggy back the chips, which is arguably easier.
I'm very excited for you're next upload, I've binge watched almost every video. can't wait to see what's next ❗️❗️
So nice to watch! please, keep those coming.
Another great restoration! I remember Aladdin chips from way back in the day!
That is a beautiful console. Awesome work yet again Friend. Can't wait for the next one
Thanks again!
Oh man, a new video and it's Friday? Could the day get any better?!
Ha I'm glad my videos bring you such joy.
Informative and spot on video as always!
Much appreciated!
One benefit of HDMI is less lag. Usually flat panel TVs with analog inputs add some lag when using them. No need to go with a fully digital hdmi solution to avoid lag though. You can get a cheap, lagless component to HDMI converter. That’s what I’ve done.
The cheap hdmi adaptors are excellent. How about installing g an exciter 3 with led panel and all
Used to install those Aladdin chips back in highschool when these old beasts were the current system like 20 years ago. Those Aladdin chips were cheap and effective. Never had an issue!
I hope all is well as I haven’t seen a vid in several weeks. I hope you and your family have a great holiday and can’t wait to see what you have to show us next 👍
Thanks my man, same to you and yours. See you in the new year.
You are dah man!!! 👍 I am most impressed with your skills!! You inspire me to learn how to solder, etc.-all the skills you have acquired and improved upon since starting this channel!! 😁
It's a great hobby, I would definitely recommend getting into it.
A holy grail for me - so satisfying!
Finaly, looking forward to see this one later tonight. Thumb up in advance :)
Great video, as always!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I love your vids, makes my day when I see you post
Thanks my man, glad to hear it.
Love the look of that Xbox
It does look pretty sweet, now I just need a matching controller :P
Great work!
Thanks!
Oh the nostalgia. I had the same crystal clear xbox back in the day. It had blue leds that lit up the power button, top logo, front and sides. It also had an Xecuter 3 modchip and 250gb HDD. XBMC was awesome for playing movies over the network. 🙂
I still have my original Xbox as well as a spare one I bought off my friend years ago... one has the Xecuter2 modchip (soldered) and the other was a softmod technique I used where you basically hot-swap the IDE cable during start-up. I have CoinOPS installed on both and I love it so much. Nothing like the feel of those original Xbox S controllers!
Hi Borderline OCD!
I am writing to you from Morocco, I wanted to thank you for these videos that you make, and for sharing this wonderful hobby with us, I did not have much experience with electronics, but I did have a tremendous love for retro consoles, and because of you, I now have the desktop full of systems, and I'm running out of space XD, I started with a ps one that had image problems, I did the test of the cable that you showed and I got the image, so I changed the capacitor and voila! We have a crystal clear image! I couldn't believe it haha, and since then, console that I see, console that I buy. I've even been encouraged to fix a friend's og xbox, the typical thing, a complete recap and an hdd upgrade hehe I sound like an expert now haha.
anyway! thanks for everything and keep it up campion!!
Little tip here I found out myself to make a PAL console true NTSC. Some games like Ratatouille (US) will not boot on a PAL console even if the EPPROM is patched to NTSC. This is due to extra region protection on the game and the workaround to fix it is to use Config Magic and set the Region from 4 to Region 1 and save/reboot.
For EvoX, IND and Xecutor bios's the aforementioned is needed. I have not tested this on Titan and Cerbios.
We should all be reviving our xbox. Great stuff.
use XEMU instead.....
that looked like the perfect amount of thermal paste
Did the same process for an Italian 1.6 crystal about a year ago. Much cheaper than buying a Canadian NTSC crystal. Did a full recap, MakeMhz XboxHD+, 3TB drive, Open Xenium, etc.
Very nice !
awesome stuff 👍
Thanks 👍
I just purchased a crystal Xbox 1.6 and matching controller off eBay for 69 pounds with shipping, which came out to about $80.00 USD. It was listed as broken but fired up just fine after a good cleaning, it has a nice Hitachi DVD drive that works great as well.
you can use the config magic 1.6 to properly change the region setting in the eeprom to Region 1. this will convert the PAL xbox to a NTSC machine. games like panzer dragoon orta, the warriors, ratatouille will run properly. this eeprom mod will work on all xbox revisions including the v1.6. another new modchip coming from the hdmi mod creator is called project stellar and it seems jampacked with a lot of interesting features.
Thanks for the excellent video once again! I was wondering what desk you have? I’m looking to buy one of that size. Thanks in advance!
1.6 is the ideal candidate for Project Stellar from what I've read. Would be cool to see a vid on that when it's released (even though you're not interested in HDMI mods :P)
Hope all is good. Miss your videos
Thanks for checking in friend. Coming back in a couple of weeks.
when it comes to greasing and cleaning the drive mechanisms it can be very tricky. sometimes less is more
Great video
Glad you enjoyed it
I think the system could use a new fan like a Noctua one. Also I really like the OGX360 that allows you to use wireless Xbox 360 controllers. I have a simple OGX360-T4 which is based on a Teensy 4.1 controller but it does the job.
I think it would be cool to see you repair a neo geo cd because it is hard to find information on what the issues are for that console
Nice!
Power is equal to voltage times current. And with the 110 power supply it’s half the voltage so you have to double the current that’s why the parts are bigger
Not an Xbox fan but that crystal shell is awesome
Awesome
I've done this rebuild a few times and don't remember doing the 3.3v on the LPC rebuild. Also, FYI the Arctic MX5 had several bad batches so they discontinued it. Just a heads up in case you run into thermal issues.
It was a bit tricky to find good instructions for installing an Aladdin XT using an LPC rebuild kit as the official documentation is clearly targeted for an OpenXenium install. I drew some conclusions from reading several forum posts while making sense of the pinout and trying to put it all together. I read that Pin 9 is NC on a v1.6 (Xbox Dev Wiki) so Pin 15 restores the 3.3V line. I didn't confirm by measuring Pin 9 before installing the board so I am not sure, and I admittedly don't really know if the Aladdin XT needs the 3.3V to function. I guess it doesn't hurt anything but I would be interested in knowing for sure so maybe I'll take some measurements on the next v1.6 I work on. Also thanks for sharing about the MX5, I'll keep an eye on it.
Great video was worth the wait. Maybe a stupid question but new to the modding scene. What are the benefits of modding the xbox?
Like most modded systems the obvious one is playing backups of your games, or loading them directly from an internal hard drive. There are of course many other mods for these systems but I’d recommend checking out my Cerbios video to give you an idea what a modded rig would look like for most people who just want to enjoy the game library.
I like the gloves for removing the heatsinks wish I thought of that, many, many times. We used to joke around that a computer build/fix would never be complete without a blood offering.
😂
We’ve all been there after choosing ntsc thinking what do I do now. It’s the simplest program to use but could do with a message or option to reboot your black box.
The instructions said to hold in the buttons, you didn't hold them in you only pressed them. It might still work
The grounding plate around the dvd drive is for compliance with fcc regs iirc, and isn't required on pal systems.
I got a 1.6 NTSC back in the days and it doesn’t have it either.
Nice I have same but green and Helo edition I will do same
Do you have a link for the bottles that hild your cleaner? I like the little plastic bottle with what looks like a metal tip for precise application.
OMG Nice!
Thanks!
i found a xbox in the bin outside so obviously i had to rescue it, fully working too, my Region lock was on pal and using the splinter cell save exploit i was able to softmod the box and mine is region free :) only thing i need to do is give it a bigger HDD so i can install games.
I would love your take on an Xbox with a RAM and CPU upgrade 😁
I would love to one day be able to do CerBios and a loaded 16TB (Xbox, PS1, N64, Mame.... emulation works) on a v1.1 or v1.4 with RAM/CPU upgrade and HDMI mod, and everything else... ultimate modded system.
The drive on mine pretty much needs a whole new drive since not only the rubber band went bad the laser died
Please do the hdmi mod for xbox, there aren't many videos out there with the mod and especially the new v2 and stellar mod
I wonder if anybody has upgraded the cpus in these things yet .. Pretty nice mod Never did one myself
cpu upgrades been out for a while, I remember reading about them like ten years ago, about guy who soldered in celeron 1400MHZ cpu
In VERY broad terms, all that power supply is doing is rectifying 110/220AC into DC voltage(s). Dropping from 220 to 110AC input might mean that all the passives are over rated for what you actually need them to do. If you wanted to experiment you could swap the 220v transformer to a 110v one and see what the output voltages are. Going from 220v to 110v should be less of a big deal that going the other way. I have never done this on an Xbox but I have on other electrical components and swapping the transformer worked since the machine didn't care what was making the DC voltages as long as the DC voltage was correct.
You should also do the 128MB Ram mod on this.
Nice job! Good choice using SoulCalibur 2! What is gonna happen with the PAL motherbaord, spare parts or a move in to a empty Xbox shell?
It’s the original board. The EEPROM was modified to change the video mode to NTSC.
@@BorderlineOCD Aha, now I understand
I have to ask... why cut the legs on the CAPs? the differing lengths tells us the polarity..... granted.. so does the stripe
Awesome video
I'm hoping to get a used DOA blue crystal ed. Xbox soon its JP region so I assume I'll need to reference the same steps here to convert it to NTSC also.
Does any one know what liquid was used @6:48, @7:54, & @8:03? Where do you get the applicator if it just isopropyl alcohol. And where do you source the DVD drive belts were they specific to Samsung DVD drive or do they work on all OG xbox DVD drives?
Nice 🙂
i have a US crystal xbox so not sure if there is much different between them really.
Two mods that you could try are the ram and processor upgrade
The 1.6 doesn't have the pads for the ram expansion.
@@michaelmcpeters8098 There's a piggy back method that was discovered, you place the extra RAM chips over the existing RAM chips and solder the legs down except the chip select pin, you just have to run a wire to the chip select signals on the motherboard for each extra RAM package. That said, the extra RAM doesn't seem to be all that beneficial except for running homebrew software.
Enigmah for the win
you have to press the Button Combo at XBlast Os all at the same time, not like you did. Thats the reason why it not worked...
Dammit! I was worried there for a second that the thing had crashed. You know, it would have been useful for the instructions on that XBlast OS screen to mention "together" on the key press combo... Appreciate your help on the previous video nonetheless, it was good to get a confirmation that you can write the EEPROM on a v1.6.
Hey Brother no more videos???
was expecting an overweight orange xbox with gun themed controllors
You don't need to write out a map of all of the capacitor values, polarities, and locations, the console5 wiki has all of the values and designators documented and the polarities are marked on the pcb
No they do not: console5.com/wiki/Microsoft_Xbox#Delta:_DPSN-96DP
What do you use to covert the signal on the TV? I saw you used a hookup for the 360 aswell.
Are you talking about the video overlay? That's just a USB capture card on my Macbook. For the HD resolutions on the TV I'm using stock (knockoff) component HD cables.
Anyone remember when your video games were region locked?
Funny that yours is a 1.6.... the one I landed my hands on (and still have it) is a 1.4.
Hi guys, looking for some advice. My dreamcast outputs 31khz/vga fine but 15khz/rgb got strange issue with sync(looks like is inverted or over interlaced even on crt) but retrotink status shows that syn is constantly switching from 240p to 480i. Any ideas what could cause that?
so theoretically just changing the power supply can make it usable in the US? as in plugging it into the wall and playing(while still using whatever region games)
Yes, if all you want to do is plug it directly into the wall, although I would definitely recommend the mod to remove the drive region lock and enable the NTSC advanced HD modes.
Ive got an xbox that’s having trouble maybe you’d want it
New video coming soon?
Not that I've done this, but why do you recommend cutting the parts from the tape as opposed to pulling the tape apart?
Tape reels are designed for automatic placement machines, i.e. robots. If you’ve ever tried separating components from a tape reel it’ll make a lot more sense. It’s a bit difficult to do, and although I’ve never actually damaged a component by doing it that way in the past, I was always nervous how hard I was tugging at the component to free it’s legs from the adhesive between the tape layers. I got the idea from a “tips” card in a Console5 order. Makes sense that they order large quantities of capacitors this way because they buy in bulk and merchandise the cap kits for each console before they sell it to you.
Confused. Though couldn't play games in HD on 1.6 version. I was bummed when found out having one myself. I've certainly had no luck playing say Jet Set Radio.
You’ll have to mod your system to toggle the HD modes back on with any PAL Xbox. And you have to be using component cables of course.
@@BorderlineOCD softmodded it and changed to NTSC. Also have composite lead. Told Microsoft changed the graphics chip on 1.6 which doesn't do games in HD. UI is in HD. Actually had to get hack to force game to play in 480p😞 More confused🤔
Composite and component are two different cables. You need component cables, not composite.
@@BorderlineOCD meant to say component. Always get wrong name😄 Was so cheap had to wire in extra grounds to stop audio noise. Total bodge you'd hate it😮 Glad yours working👍
What about using an 80 conductor IDE cable? Does that yield any benefits?
With a full hard drive mod yes. Especially if you’re on the new Cerbios and you’re using a SATA adapter that supports UDMA 5.
Taking the heatsinks and thermal paste of the Xbox is an absolute pain. Also. How much better is mx-5 over mx4 thermal paste?
Someone just informed me in the comments that MX5 has been discontinued due to quality issues with some batches. I would stick to using MX4.
@@BorderlineOCD ok. Will do. Thanks for letting me know. Would be sticking with mx4 for a while as bought the massive 1.
So, I really want to mark where screws go in consoles by color. Is there any recommended marker I can do that with? Preferably a set, or a brand with colour variants.
I use dry erase markers to mark circuit boards while working. They come off easy with a spritz of IPA.
@@BorderlineOCD What if I want small dots that are permanant? PS3 fat's just have too many screws >~
I like your shirt
Get yours at BorderlineOCD.com ;)
are they any honst websites that sell these classics modded systems ?
Check out ModzvilleUSA he's legit and does custom work.
19:56
Can i play PAL-OG-Games also, if i switch die Region to NTSC?
We changed the video mode to NTSC rather than the region. I believe all custom BIOSes disable the drive region lock so you can play any region discs as soon as you install the modchip.
No new video for a while. Have you been using the spectrum yet?
Have not tried the spectrum yet. I need to figure out the RGB situation. Looks like I might be getting an upscaler soon.
Hi , so Pal EU consoles cant go 720p or 1080i , only 480?
Correct
I love when people claim old modchips are "fake". As you said, by now they are easily clones of clones, the originals haven't been made in years.
Skipped 1080i enable I wonder why no
There are a lot of good videos that explain the difference between interlaced and progressive scan. 720p is superior in my opinion but that’s subjective because it’s technically lower resolution. Also very few games support 1080i so I don’t think you gain much by enabling it.
@@BorderlineOCD Not lose much cuz yeh not many offer it then when says outputting 1080i can start compare
Why not recap the board while you’re in there? Are these caps not worth the trouble of replacing?
Recapped it a couple of videos before this one. This was a Part 2.
@@BorderlineOCD got it! Would you advise recapping of these systems even if they’re not showing issue?
So would this be a "Brexbox"?
Any new vids?
This weekend!!
A plea for help from a fellow restorer:
I've recently started restoring old consoles as a hobby after watching videos like this one and I got a great deal for 2 Fat PS2s at a flea market. When I opened the first one I had a bit of a surprise. A disgusting one: the whole console was filled with insect corpses and droppings. The Motherboard especially was half-covered with droppings. I cleaned everything as best I could with IPA and it looks clean now but there's still a problem. The whole thing stinks! It's a real shame because, besides some broken plastic bits from the optical drive that I'm going to glue back on, the console works perfectly fine.
Does anyone know of a way to get the bad smell out of electronics?
Clean it with something... smelly ;) like an electronics cleaner or even dish soap. And scrub the inside of the plastic case - these also "absorb" smells from my experience.
after a good cleaning, put it in a sealable container with a butt load of dryer sheets. then wait like a month.
Either you're lucky or I'm unlucky. I went to two flea markets and neither had particularly good deals on consoles.
@@ssgohan296 It's the luck of the draw. Me neither - only really get consoles/retro PCs for cheap from classifieds or online auctions.
@@ssgohan296 I guess the location matters a lot too. I live in Romania and there is not a big retro/old game collecting scene here. At the flea markets I go to there are many sellers who just get stuff they think will sell. Many times they don't even know what the items they have are, so you could get a decent price for them. But there is a big risk for the buyer too because the consoles are usually in really bad shape and you have no guarantee that they will work. But that's just fine with me since I enjoy the repairing aspect.
hey man, were are you? are you ok?
Thanks for checking in friend. Coming back in a couple of weeks.
@@BorderlineOCD Great news! I really miss your detailed videos!
Nice modding...if we can't have our PAL console back...can you return the power supply to Britain...we can still use it...Mark in London England I'm joking of course...I do have a late model XBox the one with the non leaky clock capacitor...I forget the version...2005..6.0 or something? Unmodded
Like and comment for support. Great job! Greetings from Ukraine!
Thanks buddy. Cheers.
The simplicity of that chip install almost makes softmodding pointless now.
I'm not your pal ntsc!!
I love that. HELLO comment. hahahah