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Author Topic: Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6  (Read 412 times)

otherguy

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« on: August 01, 2004, 04:52:00 PM »

i'm installing an aladdin advance plus on a 1.6 using the smartXX lpc rebuild diagram.
I've read through this post a number of times.
I noticed that falz seemed to have described my problem exactly in that thread
QUOTE
I should bring one thing to attention though. One of the LPC rebuild diagrams specifies to not make the wires too long for the rebuild. They're not kidding. The first time I hooked up the switch (mounted on the side right above the IDE cable on the mobo) had about 4" of extra slack in each wire, and it would NOT boot until I trimmed the wires down to have the bare minimum of slack.

This was doing a different type of "not booting" than I am used to. normall it will do a 3 time attempt to read the bios, and fail with red/green blinking on the 3rd. This time everything sounded like it was booting ok, but just no sound or video. Could help some folks.

--falz

My wires are as short as possible and I've checked all points w/ a multimeter to ensure good connections are made.
When the box boots i can hear the dvd drive spinning, but there is no video or sound.
The box doesn't frag, just looks like it's booting normally (solid green light). When i push the tray eject button the front LED blinks on/off (green) as if it were going to open, but it never does.

i'll try to get some pictures of my install up later if that helps.

Has anyone else had these types of problems? Thanks in advance.
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stacker69

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2004, 05:19:00 PM »

But does the aladdin have the M8 bios preflashed in it? Becuase you won't see anything if your bios older than the M8.

QUOTE
Evox M8 BIOS
Description: EvolutionX Proudly presents Evox M8 BIOS. Due to the latest confusions, leaks etc. we have decided to make an official M8 release. There are still some unsolved matters, so we will release it in two different versions: m8.bin Is a new BIOS based on the latest 5838 kernel, and has the same features as M7, it will work on XBOX versions (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5). m8_16.bin Is also based on the 5838 kernel and has the same features as M7. It will ONLY work on XBOX version 1.6. Enjoy your new BIOS ;)


Their's a M8 bios for the 1.6 so make sure you choose the right one (m8_16)
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otherguy

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2004, 06:08:00 PM »

yea i believe so. i installed the chip in my 1.4 earlier and checked the md5 hash in evox and it was the same as the m8_1.6 bios file i have. I was thinking it wasn't a bios problem because when trying to eject the dvd the tray doesn't ever open and the front LED just blinks green/off.

[edit] just thought i'd mention that when Lad0 and the LFRAME are removed, the box boots normally.

I've taken a few pictures, hopefully this'll help a little.
(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/otherguy/xbox/aladdin_16/aladdin_wire3.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/otherguy/xbox/aladdin_16/aladdin_wire2.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/otherguy/xbox/aladdin_16/aladdin_wire1.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/otherguy/xbox/aladdin_16/aladdin_top.jpg)

This post has been edited by otherguy: Aug 2 2004, 04:37 AM
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barclayton

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2004, 02:14:00 AM »

Did  you buy the chips from diveneo?
As i brought a large quanity of them from diveneo and they all have that problem.
they are ment 2 be "aladdin advance plus" but the chip seems to say "aladdin ice"
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catdog2

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2004, 02:46:00 AM »

I have also had this problem, see this thread: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=252692
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otherguy

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2004, 06:45:00 AM »

catdog: did simply replacing the chip work for you?

thanks for the help so far. I'm gonna keep at it.
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falz

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2004, 07:36:00 AM »

Not sure what the problem is here. My problem as you quoted was being caused by a switch with wires that were apparently too long. It doesn't appear that you're installing a switch at all, just the mod.

All of the wiring looks normal to me. All of the Alladin Advance's I've done have a pin header on them, which may make it easier to test your solder points (and to swap the mod out with another if the flash went bad.)

Good luck.

--falz
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Chancer

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2004, 01:02:00 PM »

Some of the soldering looks a bit suspect but it may just be how it looks in the picture.
Have you flashed this chip with a successful flash of M8-16 in another box because if you have not then you have the wrong bios on the chip. If the supplier told you it came with M8 and you trust them then fair enough.
the soldering looks like it needs re-doing, the corner points look quite bad though.
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otherguy

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2004, 02:55:00 PM »

thanks for the replys

i did purchase the chip from divineo...  and i had assumed that they would come with cromwell so first i installed the chip in an older box. Using the mechassault gamesave hack, i loaded evox, and checked to see what the chip was flashed with. I got the EvoX symbol in the corner of the screen when booting so i knew it was one of the M8s. I added the MD5 sums for both bios's and rebooted...  Evox said it was the 1.6 bios.  But i could have swapped the names i assume. Can anyone else verify that if M8 (non 1.6) is booted on a 1.6 that there will be no video and sound?

As far as the soldering goes...  i checked all the points for continuity. A pin header would have been better looking back however. There's a new SMC on the board that prevents the chip from lying flat (That's why the blue electrical tape is there).

Any other ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated. I'm going to try a pin-header install i guess, and double check the bios version.
Thanks
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lookformeb

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2004, 04:27:00 PM »

Chancer, what's wrong with his soldering?  There is nothing "bad" about it... soldering doesn't have to be free of visual imperfections as long as they are making a good connection.

This post has been edited by lookformeb: Aug 2 2004, 11:45 PM
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otherguy

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #10 on: August 02, 2004, 06:16:00 PM »

thanks for the defense :) lol. I think the reflections on the solder points made them look a bit bumpy, they were all rather smooth.

Anyways...   i installed my jerry rigged pin headder, and re-soldered all my lpc rebuild points, everythings working wonderfully now.

I'm wondering if it may have been the connections on the top of the board to the chip. I mentioned earlier that there is a new SMC that is in the way (doesn't allow the alladin to sit flush with the motherboard)...  i was wrong, it's actually two resistors. Anyways those caused the chip to be slightly raised from the board, i'm wondering if those long solder joints created too much resistance or something along those lines. If anyone else has any ideas feel free to throw them in.

Thanks for all the help.
Time to load a dash and apps :)
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barclayton

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #11 on: August 02, 2004, 09:56:00 PM »

i  brought around 100 of those chips from diveneo and they all seem fucked as in the problems you where getting.
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Chancer

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2004, 08:35:00 AM »

QUOTE
Chancer, what's wrong with his soldering? There is nothing "bad" about it... soldering doesn't have to be free of visual imperfections

man your idea of soldering and mine are different. Like I said it may just be the picture but look at in particular the bottom right corner of the direct solder on the aladdin to LPC, it looks way dry jointed. Don't say you cannot also see all the small solder splashes all over the LPC rebuild. The length of exposed condutor on the wires laid accross other print runs.?
Come On!!
Solder can be bad when it looks good but not the other way round, I cannot believe you think that looks fine.
Like I said may be the flash in the picture I don't know for sure but I would tidy  it a bit.


This post has been edited by Chancer: Aug 3 2004, 03:47 PM
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lookformeb

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Aladdin Advance Plus Troubles On 1.6
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2004, 11:01:00 AM »

QUOTE (Chancer @ Aug 3 2004, 09:02 AM)
man your idea of soldering and mine are different. Like I said it may just be the picture but look at in particular the bottom right corner of the direct solder on the aladdin to LPC, it looks way dry jointed. Don't say you cannot also see all the small solder splashes all over the LPC rebuild. The length of exposed condutor on the wires laid accross other print runs.?
Come On!!
Solder can be bad when it looks good but not the other way round, I cannot believe you think that looks fine.
Like I said may be the flash in the picture I don't know for sure but I would tidy  it a bit.

I didn't look at the actual soldering of the Aladdin, just the bottom LPC.  But yes, I agree, the Aladdin could be soldered better.

I believe those "splashes all over the LPC rebuild" is the FLUX from the rosin core solder, not actually solder itself.  Cameras pick that up well.

As far as the length of the exposed wire: as long as it's not touching any other points (which is hard to tell by pictures taken straight on), it's irrelevant.

I'm not saying it's a perfect solder job, I am just saying I've seen much worse function before and much better not function.  As long as no points are crossing on the LPC rebuild and there are no dry joints, it do not believe his issue to lie within that particular area of soldering.  But like you said, the Quicksolder job isn't very clean...
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