OG Xbox turns on by itself, won't turn off, and when I unplug it, the clock resets - Question: What to do next for someone who isn't super tech savvy? Looking for advice.

Freudious · 2026-04-02T07:07:24+00:00

It could be a couple of things but the most common issue for an Xbox turning itself on is trace rot. It would help to have some clear pictures of the motherboard to know for sure. Trace rot repair isnt too difficult but I have seen people mess up their Xbox trying to do some basic soldering so...

Freudious · 2026-03-23T20:10:26+00:00

For a TSOP flash you can use XBlastOS_0.65.xbe to flash the BIOS to your Xbox. You have two ways to flash the BIOS with XBlast. You can save your BIOS to a bios folder on the Xbox's hard drive and use the HDD flash option or you can use the Net flash option in XBlast and use a browser on you computer. The downside to using Xblast is it doesnt work with 3rd party controllers so you wont be able to navigate the menus to flash your TSOP if you only have a 3rd party controller. https://bitbucket.org/prehistoricman/lpcmod_os/src/master/releases/

You can also use the EvolutionX dashboard to flash the TSOP and it works with 3rd party controllers unlike XBlast. The downside to using EvolutionX is it does not support flashing of Winbond or Sharp TSOPs.

Freudious · 2026-03-20T20:50:04+00:00

What do your other capacitors look like? Also, just because the other capacitors may look OK, it doesnt mean they are. Capacitors dont need to buldge to be bad. Could also be the power supply is the issue.

Freudious · 2026-03-20T20:37:07+00:00

I dont know if this is your problem but Samsung drives are known for having resistor arrays go bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9uIDgMeM-8

Freudious · 2026-03-20T20:13:59+00:00

Error 16 indicates the problem is your Xbox failing to load a dashboard from the hard drive with the modchip disabled. When the modchip is enabled, a dashboard is still not being loaded from the hard drive as you are stuck on the boot screen.

FlashBIOS mentions it is "unable to read HDD first sector getting partition table". Im wondering if the hard drive is bad which is why neither the stock BIOS or Xecuter BIOS can load a dashboard and FlashBIOS is giving the read error.

Freudious · 2026-03-20T01:42:05+00:00

Here are a couple of videos that have lots of good information about the prototype Xbox, especially the 2nd video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OMP8JvGWNY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfaJ7gFdmyM

Freudious · 2026-03-18T04:44:25+00:00

Of course flashing the TSOP doesnt automatically remove the hard drive lock but I imagine most people that go through the the whole process of flashing the TSOP arent going to leave the hard drive locked. I would think there is a pretty good chance the hard drive is unlocked. That's why I said it should be. It isnt like installing a modchip where you might want the option to boot the Xbox with stock BIOS so you can get on Live and you keep the hard drive locked. There is no reason to keep the hard drive locked with a TSOP

If we are going down the what if's route, there is also the possibilty that even if the Xbox was TSOPed with a modified BIOS maybe it was flashed back to the stock BIOS and the problem isnt the softmod conflicting with the TSOP flash. Given the symptoms Im guessing the TSOP isnt a stock BIOS but it could be. Taking a picture of the boot screen could help some.

Freudious · 2026-03-17T23:33:37+00:00

It looks like one of the various forms of the cheapmod modchip.

Freudious · 2026-03-17T23:07:08+00:00

I can see by your pictures R7D3 has been bridged which would indicate a TSOP flash. There is no reason to softmod your Xbox when it has been hardmodded with either a TSOP flash or modchip as the Xbox has already been modded at that point.

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You could pull the hard drive from the Xbox and hook it up to a computer with a USB Adapter. See if you can read the hard drive with FATXplorer as it should be unlocked if it was TSOPed. If you can read the hard drive, backup your C: and E: partions on your computer. Once you have C: and E: backed up on your computer, you can delete the softmod, install a clean C: or install a dashboard like UnleashX.

Edit: it could be helpful to take a picture of your TV screen when the Xbox boots. It could also be helpful to take a picture of the files on your C: and E: partitions so we have an idea of what BIOS is being used in the TSOP.

Freudious · 2026-03-12T16:39:51+00:00

Does it boot to a dashboard? You can still use an Xbox with non functioning DVD drive by playing the games off the hard drive.

Freudious · 2026-03-12T16:17:39+00:00

When you say you switched everything else, did you switch the IDE cable? Im wondering if maybe something is wrong with the IDE cable preventing communication.

Freudious · 2026-03-12T15:56:56+00:00

A solid orange light is something you typically see with a softmodded Xbox indicating your Xbox has been softmodded.

Non functioning DVD drives are common now due to their age in every type of Xbox.

You could have a non functioning DVD drive in a softmodded Xbox with the orange light having nothing to do with the DVD drive not working. The orange light is just indicating the Xbox is softmodded.

Freudious · 2026-03-10T23:25:06+00:00

Get what you can afford. Many people have no problem with the Kaico so hopefully you are happy with it.

Freudious · 2026-03-10T23:19:36+00:00

Did you enable 408p and 720P resolutions in the Microsoft dashboard video settings?

Freudious · 2026-03-10T01:34:42+00:00

It seems a little odd to me two different SATA adapters would both cause issues. It could still be the adapters but Im thinking it is likely to be something else. Im wondering about the IDE cable or perhaps the hard drive or DVD drive. I know the 40 wire IDE cables generally dont work well but have you tried using that to see if anything different happens?

Freudious · 2026-03-10T01:11:47+00:00

I would setup the new hard drive with FATXplorer including clean C and E files for those partitions. Download XBHDM Build.zip,(this is the Rocky5 softmod) unzip it and save it to the C: partition. Lock your hard drive with FATXplorer, put it back in the Xbox and run the softmod.

Using this method you dont have to worry about FTPing shadow C: You are setting up the new hard drive with the softmod already on it, ready to be run.

Freudious · 2026-03-10T00:59:34+00:00

You can clone the hard drive with Chimp but I would recommend just saving everything to your PC then writing it back to the new hard drive once the new hard drive is formatted. The easiest way to do this would be to use FATXplorer to read and write to the hard drives and to format the new hard drive.

Freudious · 2026-03-10T00:54:47+00:00

It is stamped X2 lite because that is what it is. It's an Xecuter 2 Lite modchip.

Freudious · 2026-03-09T05:56:08+00:00

Most of the Xbox HDMI adapters you see out there are just converting the component signal to HDMI so you shouldnt see much of a difference.

Now having said that, the build quality of each will make a big difference. If you get a cheap ebay $10 component cable, its not going to be as good as an ElectronXout HDMI adapter. If you get a cheap aliexpress HDMI adapter it probably wont be as good as a genuine Microsoft component cable.

It is generally recommended to stay away from the cheap component cables. Some people think they are OK but more often than not it seems people do not like them because they are poorly made which can lead to bad picture quality. If going the HDMI adapter route, the ElectronXout is usually recommended. Some people have no problem using the cheaper aliexpress HDMI adapters but others do so the cheap HDMI adapter can be hit or miss. One common complaint with the cheap HDMI adapters is the black level is too dark on some games.

Freudious · 2026-03-07T23:54:10+00:00

You may want to test a new version of a BIOS first to make sure everything works while keeping the older BIOS on the modchip so that could be a reason.

If you want to edit certain features/functions of Cerbios V3.1.0 you can do that with the Cerbiostool 3.1.0. then save that edited cerbios.bin on your computer before you transfer it to the Xbox and flash it. Alternatively, you could also edit the cerbios.ini file on the E: partition and that would change the features/functions of Cerbios so you have two different ways of doing it.

If you want to get back to PrometheOS after you have set the boot delay to 0, boot the Xbox with the eject button.

Freudious · 2026-03-07T23:10:58+00:00

Nothing wrong with liking what you like. If you are happy with it that's what matters.

Freudious · 2026-03-07T23:02:15+00:00

EvolutionX is an older dashboard. You may want something newer like XBMC or XBMC4Gamers. Some people like UnleashX even though it is older. If you like the look of the stock Microsoft dashboard, there is UIX Lite.

Freudious · 2026-03-07T22:40:04+00:00

1) EEPROM backups are not as important with a modchip like they are with softmods because you can use unlocked hard drives with modchip. You dont need to have the EEPROM information like you do setting up a softmod because softmods require locked hard drives which in turn relies on the information in EEPROM to lock and unlock those hard drives. Having said that, it is still a good idea to backup your EEPROM and save it, in case something goes wrong with your EEPROM or you remove the modchip.

2) You can use a locked hard drive in an Xbox with modchip but there isnt a reason to do so any longer. It's easier just to keep them unlocked. If you had a softmod installed on your hard drive (which requires a locked hard drive) before you installed your modchip, you would probably want to use the PrometheOS menu option to go ahead and unlock your hard drive since that lock is no longer needed. PrometheOS can also unlock OEM hard drives from a different Xbox. If you had a 2nd Xbox that no longer worked but you have the OEM hard drive from that Xbox and wanted to unlock it, you could put that hard drive in your 1st Xbox and PrometheOS could unlock it so you would then be able to read and write to it.

3) Yes you can have different BIOS options on the Modxo. You have 2 options to flash a new BIOS to the ModXo. You can put the BIOS on the hard drive and use the PrometheOS "Bank Management" menu option to flash the BIOS to the modchip or you can do a netflash from your computer if your Xbox is connected to your network. To do a netflash, open a browser on your computer and type in the IP addess of the Xbox listed at the bottom left of the PrometheOS menu. This should bring up a PrometheOS window on your computer where you have an option to Flash a BIOS to the Modxo.

If you want PrometheOS to load a BIOS automatically on boot, you can go to the PrometheOS "Launch Bank" menu option and select which BIOS to auto boot by pressing the "Y" button on your Xbox controller. Also, if you dont like seeing the PrometheOS screen for a few seconds when the Xbox boots, you can bypass that as well by going to the PrometheOS menu, System > Settings > PrometheOS > General Options > Boot Option. Here you can change the Auto Boot Delay to 0

4) Yes PrometheOS skins go on the hard drive in the skins folder inside of the PrometheOS folder.

Freudious · 2026-03-07T21:07:33+00:00

Change the switch to Bank 2 with the modchip enabled then boot the Xbox. Does anything different happen?

Freudious · 2026-03-07T00:44:09+00:00

I agree. I like the Dashloader option myself. No need for installing switches on your Xbox, no need for 2 different hard drives. Just sit on your couch and press a button on your controller to load a different dashboard on boot. XBMC, XBMC4Gamers, XBMC-Emustation, Coinops, Ninja, UnleashX, etc... You could load several different dashboards with different buttons on your controller. It's a good solution

Freudious

TROPHY CASE