Everything I've Ever Learned About the Original Xbox Part 2- Motherboard Revisions

[@DerfJagged]

Just so you know, the main difference between (and the reason why it's a different revision number) 1.2 and 1.3 is that the LFRAME signal is removed from the LPC in 1.3. Each community made "revision" is labelled because it broke all the current modchips at that time, which is why you see revision "1.6b" out there, since it uses different memory timings it warranted a unique identifier, but it was a problem fixed by updating custom modchip BIOSes to support them. Glad you enjoyed the wiki I maintain :)

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

Derf Jagged thanks for that input. You've helped me many times with Xbox issues. You the man

[@silky1725]

@@retro_vg_repairs3339 ah ok thanks alot! I enjoyed these 3 videos

[@izzyhope58]

One thing to note, not all 1.0 xbox's have thompson drives. I currently have 2 1.0 Xbox's, and they both have samsung disc drives (specifically the samsung B drive, where as later models most likely have the samsung A drive if they have a samsung drive. samsung a drives are better for your discs health from what I know). I've also read that 1.6 xbox's only come with segate drives, but I've also found that to not be the case sometimes, as all 3 of my 1.6 xbox's have WB drives. I think the info about which disc and hard drives are in which models are mostly true, but can somewhat vary from the norm.

[@missiondemolition]

My 1.0 had a Philips.

[@brkbtjunkie]

I have a functioning 1.0 board, manufactured June 2002, I just received with the clock cap intact. It had leaked but I was able to clean it up and system works fine as far as I know. Thanks for these videos! There is one thing I’d like to clear up, the Xbox I received had never been opened, it is definitely the 1.0. It has the GPU fan, but it also has a Samsung dvd drive, not Thompson or seagate.

[@nigelnightmare4160]

7:17 This really shows that we live in the computer age, "Save that in your brain for later" instead of "Remember that for later".

[@jerryakamuadams6399]

great video, i learned alot. i just picked up a xbox from craiglist. first xbox ever ( i was a playstation kid). i plan on modchipping it. thanks

[@robotvacuumreviewsandmore9791]

Good info to have. I have a 1.6 with a hitachi drive

[@kornweed]

ima cry now.. my disc drive is thomson :(

[@swagamotherfr.6696]

I've been modding/repairing Xbox originals for years now, (since 2003) and I would say this is 100% right it's cool to know, that people still do this 10+ years later great video edit if you want a 1.1 image msg me I'll send one edit more.. 1.6 Xboxs tend to die easily I've had them just die on me

[@YellowElevator815]

swagamotherfr. Thanks for the comment! Don't worry about the 1.1 picture it isn't that important.

[@brkbtjunkie]

Good to know!

[@ViperGTS737]

I’m sorry for the very late reply, but I want to buy an Xbox and don’t plan to mod it, is version 1.4 reliable? It’s the most common one I keep seeing here

[@swagamotherfr.6696]

@@ViperGTS737 yes, however the clock capacitor will need to be removed as they destroy the traces on the motherboard.

[@joeypr]

Nice. Enjoying these videos, man. Thanks for taking the time to make them!

[@CoRoLLa97GLi]

so many information in this great video ,, nice work

[@j.slumski05]

I have a Hitachi in my original Xbox. I'm pretty sure that it is a 1.6 revision. In my opinion, Samsung drives and Hitachi drives are the best to have in your console. My Hitachi works really well though, I have some games that have deep scratches and it reads almost every single time. Very reliable

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

Tech Productions Hitachi s can have sticking problems as apposed to reading problems. But I agree

[@BadBrad119]

that guy was probably right, capacitors in AC circuits are very useful. It's a big part of instrumentation theory that I don't really know much about :P I just know they slow down the flow of electrons and build capacitance. It affects the characteristics of power (as opposed to inductance)

[@defconzero]

I got a v1.1 xbox the other day for $5 with a slightly leaky clock cap but everything still works after cleaning up the corrosion

[@dougmccomber]

Nice explanation of the different boards. I just looked at mine. My wife bought it for me in 2004. It is a 1.6 (has the Xcalibur chip) with a Samsung DVD. But I modded it with a solderless chip called a spider chip. I did not have to do the dev port rebuild.

[@vinceplayzforeal]

That's Intriguing. I Wonder What's Up With That. The Xcalibur 1.6 Chip On A Otherwise 1.4/1.5 System. Thats Cool

[@OlivierJannard]

My 1.0 came with a Philips disc drive, they did not all came with Thompson

[@OlivierJannard]

Also with a Western Digital HDD

[@Konphetty]

Wow I have a 1.6 with Hitachi drive no wonder I couldnt find too much info about them. I didnt know they were the least common.

[@halo3odst]

I got lucky here is my build.i have a 1.0 motherboard with no descernable clock cap damage. (It all stated right under the cap itself and the power traces are all completly intact.) i added one of the gold clock caps from a junk 1.6 via some jumper wires so it isnt even sitting on the motherboard. It has a minebea rev 7 power supply and a hitatchi DVD drive. I just need the aladdin modchip to arrive so i can upgrade the HDD to a 320GB one with an 80 wire ribbon cable. Rate my build.

[@JLMtime]

I didnt know mod chips unlock hardrive by default I always wanted to put an external Compact flash instead of SSD so i can add files fast

[@JohnSmith-qn3ob]

I have a 1.0 and need to replace my CPU capacitors (I already removed my clock cap). What type of capacitors would you recommend? Aluminum, polymer, electrolytic, solid?

[@SirMillz]

Thanks for the 3 part series. Good work

[@neetcollector]

I actually have a 1.1 and it has the GPU fan it came like that because I was the first one to open up the system.

[@wertywerrtyson5529]

Thanks for the informative video. I probably had a 1.0 or 1.1 back in the day. I recently got a console made in June 2005 so it should be a 1.6b so i don't need to worry about a leaky capacitor. 480p doesn't affect me much since here in Europe the Xbox doesn't support 480p and i plan on connecting it to an old CRT via SCART RGB.

[@blitzkrieg1174]

I just found out that I have a Thompson disc drive in my Xbox, it works fine and has been since the day I bought it brand new. The date of manufacture on my Xbox is 2002-03-12, I suppose I have a version 1.0 Xbox.

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

Blitzkrieg the DVD drive itself doesn't determine the version, I suggest you look at the links in the description. There occasionally was some kind of surplus so you can see Thompson drives shipped with different boards. From the date listed its probably a 1.0

[@at-cj2iy]

You have 1.1 with thompson drive

[@califaern3sto]

Thomson drive lasted barely one year for me when i got my xbox in 2002 with jsrf and sega gt 2002 bundle. Thomsons should be avoided like the plague.

[@Bassjunkie_1]

I have the first revision, I need to find a new gpu fan for it.

[@asherael]

please can you go in detail on the differences, strengths/weaknesses of the various modchips? or point me to where thats done?

[@Corialtavi]

Just found an Xbox for £10. First time I've touched one since I hard modded and HD updated my original 1.1 box back in the day. Looks like this is one of the last ones. Checked motherboard and serial manufacture date of 2nd August 2005.

[@vinceplayzforeal]

yeah i have one of those too, except mine was $60 Aaaannndd i've had A Plethora Of Problems With The Little Bastard Since I Got It lol, I Hope Your Having Better Luck Then Me. I Got A 1.5 Now But Man Dealing With That 1.6b Was Not Fun

[@Corialtavi]

@@vinceplayzforeal swings and roundabouts, don't have the capacitor issue but can't put the pretty led display on. Mines doing fine now, I leave it unlocked put in a 1Tb drive and found a chinese seller doing alladin chips for £3 with free shipping so all sorted now.

[@vinceplayzforeal]

@@Corialtavi cool dude, glad to hear your having decent luck with yours i might softmod one of mine at some point any chance you could link me to the guy doing those mod chips on 1.6's?

[@Corialtavi]

@@vinceplayzforeal The Alladin chips were on Aliexpress but just looked and he's no longer there although I have seen them on Wish for £6 inc post

[@vinceplayzforeal]

@@Corialtavi oh alright thanks man

[@RavenShinyThings]

Will an Aladdin mod chip get around 1.6 480p issue or must you do further steps ?

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hovdd3eAp7NqjZo see here. Essentially it doesn't matter what mod you are using, you would need xbmc to launch a patched version

[@rixille]

I took mine apart, it's a 1.0 version board and the capacitor was not leaking, but I snipped it off just to be safe. DVD drive reads poorly however. Crappy Thomson and all that.

[@brandonharper3060]

Hey man great video, you're like the only person doing videos like this and it was super informative. Don't try to be like the guys who do those scrappy edits and goofy sound effects you're great

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

Wow thanks for the positive comment! I really appreciate it. It was my goal from the start to just cut the bullshit and lay everything out in a way everyone can understand. I know I'm a huge video editing amateur, but if it helps even one person out, then I think it was worth doing.

[@brandonharper3060]

Retro_VG_Repairs what mod chip do you suggest for V 1.4?

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

I always use aladdin chips because they're so cheap and easy to install. For a 1.4 I would TSOP flash it instead of using a modchip. Its much less work and gives you the same failsafes.

[@swagamotherfr.6696]

Brandon Harper use a xemuim or a duo x3

[@GREEDYPESOS]

U didnt mention anything about Hotswoping using to 2 xboxs using ZXBinstallrr disc..

[@silky1725]

From looking at the tray, I have a Samsung drive, however you said that they introduced those in version 1.3 while my softmod says I have version 1.2. Am I not understanding somthing?

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

They are mostly the same. I wouldn't worry. It's possible a Samsung drive also shipped on the 1.2

[@carlottajohns8691]

I like the version 4 revision of the original Xbox. And the best Dvd Drive for the original Xbox is either the Hitachi or The Samsung/Toshiba Drive. Philips Drive is also pretty decent it’s better than the Thompson Drive

[@dw9932]

I have 1.1v console I'm going to mod it tomorrow night I have the aladdin xt plus2 modchip and I have an evercool silent 60mm fan 4 colors I have artic mx 4 thermal paste I'm getting a Kingston 120gb ssd and it's not necessary bu t I am replacing the 1.1 gpu heatsink with a 1.0 heatsink and I have an adapter from my evercool fan that has 2 ide male to female with female 3pin connector which is for the secondary gpu fan my console must a rarity it has an Samsung dvd drive

[@tboyz1]

great video resource thanks for sharing your knowledge - Im still rocking my original xbox :)

[@evanphelps8907]

Hey do you know which Xbox revision/power supply works well with the component to hdmi converters that are on the market these days. I have a 1.6b Xbox and a 1.4 and they both get wavy line errors when trying to convert the signal. I’ve done a ton of troubleshooting And tested probably 10 displays And three different Converter cables from pound, panorama, and some generic one I found that is an actual component to hdmi converter with component inputs And the same thing always happens on both of my consoles. They all get horizontal wavy lines and diagonal wavy line distorted feedback on both consoles,all TVs, and all three converters. I have the official high definition TV pack that Microsoft sold. But I am sorely lacking any display with low input lag and actual component inputs to take advantage of it.

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

I'd say take a look at the capacitors near your motherboard power connector. Those tend to fail quicker than most. It's probably not due to the power supply itself but moreso old failing caps

[@evanphelps8907]

Retro_VG_Repairs yeah I’ve looked at all those old caps but they look prestine on both, Unless, even though they look good they could still be causing the issue

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

@@evanphelps8907 yeah they could still cause those issues cause of bad filtering

[@evanphelps8907]

Thanks so much Man you are the best. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for an answer like that. I’ll go ahead and order some caps and install them on both and I’ll let you know how it goes after I get done with it in a week or two

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

@@evanphelps8907 np man

[@SeanLowe1288]

My Xbox was made in early 2004 yet it has a Thompson drive so which version would mine be

[@missiondemolition]

1.4.

[@sumitjangra6281]

Awesome job. Thanks

[@axelpalsson2402]

i have what i belive is a crystal 1.6a samsung memory, seagate drive and philips disc

[@PAUL-69420]

Great vid, lots of info

[@halo3odst]

samsung ver. A drives are easily the lowest in terms of build quality, worse than Thompson. ver B are usually fine.

[@carlottajohns8691]

Samsung version B drives might be the best drive to use since it read almost anything u throw in and are very quiet. But unfortunately I couldn’t find a good working version B Samsung drive because they have lasers that aren’t working well even tho the description said it works well . I have 3 Samsung SDG 605 revsion F tho, I’m using one on my Modded OG Xbox 1.4 1TB by the way. And those things work pretty reliably especially if u throw almost any Burned DVD-R brand in there.

[@halo3odst]

@@carlottajohns8691 i use Hitachi. have 2 of em.

[@johannesvonfreudenthal8738]

Hi i am 99% sure i have a 1.1 rev BUT i have a Samsung DVD an Seagate HDD ?!?

[@popcatzoo]

I replaced my GPU fan with a noctua. it's now a very quiet xbox.

[@imelitetrooper]

So i have a 1.6 board and a philips drive. Is that normal?

[@Wilson_Racing]

My v1.0 came with a Samsung DVD drive and Seagate HDD. I guess I just got lucky when my dad bought it back in 2001 lol. I recommend a v1.0 simply because of the GPU fan

[@glencoco9159]

i have a v1.0 with a bad trace can i buy another v1.0 and still use my old hdd and cd drive basically just swapping the motherboard

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

nope. You can freely swap DVD drives but Hard Drives are locked with a special password that only works with the motherboard it shipped with. So if you want a new 1.0 mobo, make sure it comes with the original hard drive for that board too

[@defconzero]

There are certain solder pads you can bridge to "unpair" the hdd from the mobo so you can freely swap hard drives.

[@dorifutodami]

what are, or where can i find, the list of games that dont work on a 1.6 in 480. i have a 1.6 and play in 480. thanks

[@kokotheclown2588]

Hey dude can I replace disc drives without damaging the console

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

As long as you're careful 👉

[@kokotheclown2588]

@@retro_vg_repairs3339 oh really so it's possible u know a way I can get a disk drive

[@elijahtaboy]

My Samsung disk drive quit working and it was barely used. It has error code 12.

[@califaern3sto]

I might throw away my Samsung xbox because it has the flashing black screen of death with sound still being heard, very annoying

[@TheIvantals1]

I have a 1.6 vanilla i know there is no time cap but as far as the other capacitors go is it ok to keep it plugged in or should i unplug it which is best for the console?

[@TheIvantals1]

There is a time capacitor i mean there is no danger.

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

@@TheIvantals1 You are fine. Keep your system plugged in.

[@teamdynamite1923]

I have a hitachi drive

[@CoRoLLa97GLi]

16:54 alright , what about 576i 50Mz definition in PAL region ?

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

PAL systems cant do progressive scan at all on a stock system. You would have to do a softmod and use an app to change the xboxs region to NTSC. 576i is still standard def so it will work on all games

[@classicgamereviews54]

i have a 1.4 that i broke the seal on myself, and it has a phillips drive. the more you know.

[@carlottajohns8691]

Hey retro VG repair I own a version 1.0 and the console is unopened and it’s manufactured in 2001-11-19 for unknown reasons it has a Samsung Drive In it but ah well but whatever it’s least its more reliable than the crappy Thompson drive

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

Interesting! I guess you're pretty lucky

[@carlottajohns8691]

Retro_VG_Repairs hey retro VG repair do you think Hitachi drives has the same reliability as the Samsung Drives

[@retro_vg_repairs3339]

@@carlottajohns8691 never really seen bad hitachis. But more likely because there aren't that many. I'd say they are pretty reliable

[@carlottajohns8691]

Retro_VG_Repairs thanks man

[@carlottajohns8691]

Retro_VG_Repairs oh let me give you the info for original xbox dvd drives. From my experience The Thompson are the worst Drive you can get for the original xbox due to its very high failure rate I heard the later Thompson Drives from 2003 were much better but still. Phillips drives has a better laser and better reading speeds than the Thompson Drive. The Samsung Drive is no doubt to be the best drive for the original xbox due to its very high success rate and faster read speeds and more cd format compatible and they last a long time the only problems about the drive is the dvd drive stuck sometimes. Hitachi drives are about as reliable as the Samsung Drive but it’s a very rare drive and it’s the latest drive for the original xbox it’s also the long lasting drives out of all of them.

[@Tweaker420666]

Little known fact... ONLY a 1.0 board will display Linux properly

[@andrewdupuis1151]

I soft mod my Xbox I didn't want to mess up using hard mod

[@CitrusChrome]

1.1 also has the fan.

[@crazyworldoutthere4379]

Glad I have a 1.4

[@alexvids9232]

got a complete 1.0 great condition never opened not to dirty for $20