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TRSundown
03-29-2005, 12:20 PM
Hey Everyone...

Are adding light affects to an XBox hard to do?

Any recommendations on a wireless system to use?

Thanks everyone.

TRSundown

TOTTEN
03-29-2005, 12:25 PM
Hey Everyone...

I am new to the XBox world. Just bought mine off e-Bay. I have been browsing the internet at different XBox mods and have a few questions.

What kind of mods can you do that are legitimate and will not prevent you from playing LIVE i.e. HDD upgrade??? I just want to get the most out of my XBox and I have heard that most mods will kill your ability to play online.

Are adding light affects to an XBox hard to do?

Any recommendations on a wireless system to use?

Thanks everyone.

TRSundown
No talking about mod mod chips here but all external stuff is ok. Welcome to the xba.

TRSundown
03-29-2005, 12:34 PM
Yeah... I dont want to do any kind of mod chips... I just want to upgrade the HDD and DVD drive to something bigger and better... Does Microsoft have any approved upgrades?

CRAYMAN
03-29-2005, 12:45 PM
Inb4tlok!!!!!!!!

Why would you need a larger HDD??? That's mod talk, which is NOT allowed!
Furthermore, if you're only doing legitimate things, i.e. no modding, then you have no use for a larger HDD. :watchout:

TRSundown
03-29-2005, 01:19 PM
Dude... I just got my XBox... I dont know much about the XBox world... I didnt know if there was a Microsoft approved upgrade or not... I figured this would be a good place to ask... Gezz... read the post.

BUT forget it... ITS OBVIOUS THAT THIS TOPIC IS BORDERLINE NOT ALLOWED AND MOST PEOPLE WILL PROBABLY SEE IT AS BREAKING THE RULES SO JUST FORGET IT...

I will look somewhere else for my info.

Cloud Wolf
03-29-2005, 01:27 PM
do that n00b keep that attidude you wont be getting no help from noone crayman was pointing a point not pointing his middel finger n00b.

MixMasta
03-29-2005, 01:37 PM
do that n00b keep that attidude you wont be getting no help from noone crayman was pointing a point not pointing his middel finger n00b.

You are one to talk. :rolleyes:

Duke
03-29-2005, 01:38 PM
do that n00b keep that attidude you wont be getting no help from noone crayman was pointing a point not pointing his middel finger n00b.

What? Shut up.

Cloud Wolf
03-29-2005, 01:43 PM
I was telling him straight!

TRSundown
03-29-2005, 01:50 PM
Ok ok... Lets just end this thread... I am editing out the original contents of my post..

Huckleberry
03-29-2005, 02:09 PM
I was telling him straight!
i pray for the day you read "banned"

Cloud Wolf
03-29-2005, 02:10 PM
maybe I should but I broken no rules.

Duke
03-29-2005, 02:40 PM
Another post like your first one up there and you will be.

Spaztic
03-29-2005, 02:58 PM
TRS there is really no point in modding your xbox unless you want to do something to the outside. If you are interested in modding I would go to a site that does xbox mods such as www.xbox-scene.com

Cloud Wolf
03-29-2005, 03:03 PM
until then. . . . . . .

CharlieHustle
03-29-2005, 04:31 PM
wait a min... what did cloud wolf do??? He was tellin him str8 up. no mod talk. obviously the noob didnt want to get it. Also if you are new to the xbox, im more than sure you didnt just heard of the xbox about a month ago. so dont pretend that this is a new console. So dont beat around the bush about modding an xbox. we dont discuss that here, and goto google and search for boards that will discuss it here. i feel ya cloud.

Nameless
03-29-2005, 09:22 PM
wait a min... what did cloud wolf do??? He was tellin him str8 up. no mod talk. obviously the noob didnt want to get it. Also if you are new to the xbox, im more than sure you didnt just heard of the xbox about a month ago. so dont pretend that this is a new console. So dont beat around the bush about modding an xbox. we dont discuss that here, and goto google and search for boards that will discuss it here. i feel ya cloud.
Well lets see, he came in and acted like a huge prick to the guy. He was askin if they were any approved mods to make to his Xbox, upgrading the HDD and DVD drive, NOT about mod chips, and even when he was told ALL talks of internal mods were against the rules he said he'd drop the subject. Then in comes Cloud, spewing trash from his mouth and using the word "noob" in a very insultful way. He never said he didnt hear about the Xbox, just that he was new to the console, meaning, its his first one! So what? Again, once he was told ALL internal mod talks are a no no, he dropped it. So pull your nose outta Cloud's ass.

Variation-XBA
03-30-2005, 01:03 AM
Put a spoiler on your xbox, then you'll be the envy of everyone cause you got a leet modded box.

Reclaimer
03-30-2005, 01:08 AM
OK.. Start over and we'll skip piracy and mod chips.

Ok I have two Xboxes. A Halo Edition Xbox for all my Live needs and a launch era Xbox that was messing up really bad. I decided not to throw it away or spend the money to have it fixed since it was out of warranty. I decided to play with it and see what can be done.

It is relatively easy to add lights and fans to your Xbox. It's pretty easy to do anything to your Xbox in terms of external modification as long as you have the proper tools, balls of steel, plenty of beer and some working knowledge of how your everyday PC works. It only got a little shaky when I had to solder something, but I read up on it and practiced on some extra wire I had lying around.
So in the end result,
I removed the stock case fan and added my own Thermal Take 80mm case fan that adjusts speeds by way of a thermal diode. This took a bit of fabricating to make it work. I have a dremel tool, so I had to some fab work to the DVD and HDD caddy, the outter back shell of the Xbox and I had to do some monster garaging to the fan body to make it fit nice and tight and not fall out.

I cut the jewel off my upper lid, discarding the heat shield. I had to use a heat gun to make the plastic soft, use an exacto knife to cut a ring out beneath the jewel so that light would shine through. It was a little tricky because the heat gun can warp the lid, so I had to be sober and careful. I took the jewel and dipper a rag in paint thinner and cleaned the green paint off the bottom of the jewel, leaving the silver "XBOX" lettering intact. Then I glued it back to the lid with superglue.

I bought an orange cold cathode tubed 80mm case fan and removed the cathode tube from the fan and carefully glued the ring to the underside of the lid around the hole I cut in the lid. The CC-tube had some nice little points to use for gluing.
I wired the tube to it's inverter and stuffed the inverter box down behind the hard drive since it seemed to fit there. I piggy backed the 4 pin molex power connector off the hard drive, which was piggy backed off the case fan.

About the hard drive. Well, I'm not going there. There isn't a mod chip in there either. But we won't discuss the actual hard drive.

But while I'm talking about the hard drive, what I will mention is that I bought a resistor, a green LED, some wires and soldered it all together and then soldered my circuit to 2 specific pin terminators on the IDE connector of the hard drive. Now I have a HDD activity LED on my Xbox. I took my dremel and drilled a hole in the lid of the Xbox and pushed the LED through.

I took the GPU and CPU heat sinks off and cleaned off the bubble gum heat paste that MS puts on with alcohol and cue tips. I applied Artic Silver 5 instead. I changed out the GPU tiny fan with another one that I had lying around that seemed to blow faster when I tested them out side by side. I had to use oversized screws and forced them into the heat dissapater fins to make it hold.

I found some electro luminence tape on sale at Microcenter. It was glows green when powered and applies like duct tape. I ran the tape around the base of the xbox on the outside so it looks like ground effects. I had to snip one end and run the wires through the rear vents and piggy back off the inverter.

Finally, one of the perks of being staff here was that we all got Xbox Addict skins for our Xboxes. I put that on.

That's pretty much all I've done to it. I buy my games and play them on the Halo Xbox and I was using the Monster-Box to watch music videos, play MAME games and do other weird stuff with. I eventually gave the project Xbox to my brother since he wanted an Xbox. He knows what it can do, however he buys games and plays it. The only thing he doesn't do is go on Live, but he said he has no desire to do that since he has a nice computer.

I enjoyed messing with my Xbox. I'd mess with this one right here, but I like playing on Live too much. It's my damn business anyway. I could go and buy an Xbox and throw it directly in a dumpster if I wanted to, they got my money. I'm not pirating their games, I still buy retail games, I still buy retail CD's, I still see movies in a theater.
Anyway, I wanted work on something.

Variation-XBA
03-30-2005, 01:34 AM
Any pics of that second one Rec?

Reclaimer
03-30-2005, 01:35 AM
Any pics of that second one Rec?

I don't think I have any pictures of it all put together. I'll call my brother up tomorrow and see if he'll take some pictures of it for me.

TRSundown
03-30-2005, 08:50 AM
Now that was a constructive post... Thanks! And thanks for the support in the whole "noob" thing.

I have seen all the different effects that people have added to their XBoxs and they look pretty sweet. I think this site should hold an EXTERNAL XBox Customization Contest to see what people can come up with. That would be cool...

Thanks again for the great post.

laughs
03-30-2005, 09:18 AM
Hey Everyone...

Are adding light affects to an XBox hard to do?

Any recommendations on a wireless system to use?

Thanks everyone.

TRSundown

Get a girlfriend :rofl:

Duke
03-30-2005, 10:06 AM
Now that was a constructive post... Thanks! And thanks for the support in the whole "noob" thing.

I have seen all the different effects that people have added to their XBoxs and they look pretty sweet. I think this site should hold an EXTERNAL XBox Customization Contest to see what people can come up with. That would be cool...

Thanks again for the great post.

That's a decent idea. Don't know if we'll do it or not. A few people around here have put a lot of work into theirs, if you do a search you might see some of the old threads.

I've never seen the point, the most decorated mine gets is when I set my beer up on top, but that's just me.

TRSundown
03-30-2005, 12:21 PM
Get a girlfriend :rofl:

Got a wife actually... and two kids... and a five bedroom house... and three vehicles... and an in home recording studio... and my own in home movie theater... and the XBox is going in the theater so I would like it to light up just like all my auido gear... Its all about cosmetics. :p

CRAYMAN
03-30-2005, 01:06 PM
Actually the thread starter was a little rude also, so he got the same response.

I don't think that calling someone a 'n00b' is really that insulting. Hell, he even calls himself "the noob" in his sig?.?.? Cloud has certainly done nothing worthy of getting banned in this thread.

Welcome TSR. This is a GREAT site for Xbox posting. I'll try to find some info on some cool modding and send it to you.

Variation-XBA
03-30-2005, 01:06 PM
Got a wife actually... and two kids... and a five bedroom house... and three vehicles... and an in home recording studio... and my own in home movie theater... and the XBox is going in the theater so I would like it to light up just like all my auido gear... Its all about cosmetics. :p
Ohh.... Laughs got TRSundownd! (haha name works perfectly) ;)

CharlieHustle
03-30-2005, 01:52 PM
Well lets see, he came in and acted like a huge prick to the guy. He was askin if they were any approved mods to make to his Xbox, upgrading the HDD and DVD drive, NOT about mod chips, and even when he was told ALL talks of internal mods were against the rules he said he'd drop the subject. Then in comes Cloud, spewing trash from his mouth and using the word "noob" in a very insultful way. He never said he didnt hear about the Xbox, just that he was new to the console, meaning, its his first one! So what? Again, once he was told ALL internal mod talks are a no no, he dropped it. So pull your nose outta Cloud's ass.

Whoa!! Seems like someone needs less coffee in this thread. Im assuming that Cloud has rubbed against you guys wrong before. I just agree with him saying that mod talks are off limits. So, since i dont know cloud and this is my first time seing him post sumthin, it doesnt qualify my nose being in his ass. So, nameless, do you read? Or do you just yap about s.h.i.t. with your eyes closed. To make a long reply short, either you are stupid or you think everyone else are stupid. He said that he is new to the system... Now the system has been out for like 3.5 yrs and even my 6yr old daughter know about the xbox, and you are tellin me that he didnt know about it? Lets be for real, im not bashin him, but im sayin it obvious what he wanted outta this thread. I hope he got the info he was lookin for, but i have been here long enough to know what is and what isnt to be talked about here. Check my join date. So if you are lookin for an argument, look somewhere else, and to the thread starter, im not jumpin on you, but thats how it is here.
Also reclaimer, thats a tight setup you got, i cant do that without f'ckin uo sumthin...

iloveRPGs
03-30-2005, 02:20 PM
wow never seen ya'll get so vicious before :p

TRSundown
03-30-2005, 04:26 PM
Okay let me put this to rest...

I JUST JOINED this site... and yes... I do know about XBox... I know its made by Microsoft and that it has been hacked to hell and a million mods are available for it and since I didnt own one up until two days ago I really didnt pay attention. Now how many of you actually read the LONG do and don’ts of the millions of forums out here on the internet. I skimmed them... missed the part about mods (or maybe just didnt want to see it). BUT I stated in my first post in this thread that I was looking for legitimate mods... Then I was nicely informed that mod talk is forbidden... Okay you don’t have to tell me twice... So I asked if there were any Microsoft approved upgrades to the XBox... (That’s not a mod) and suggestions for cosmetic enhancements (still not mods)... Some people were rude about it... others helpful. Do I care? No. What do I care if some "noob" living in his mothers’ basement wants to call me a noob... I don’t. Now that last sentence will probably draw some protest or name calling but lets not... Let’s put it to rest. Moderators, lock this one up. Enough already... unless you guys really like this tit for tat stuff...

TRSundown
03-30-2005, 04:42 PM
Inb4tlok!!!!!!!!

Why would you need a larger HDD??? That's mod talk, which is NOT allowed!
Furthermore, if you're only doing legitimate things, i.e. no modding, then you have no use for a larger HDD. :watchout:

I just realized that I never responded to this... I just heard a lot of talk about copying games to the HDD so they run faster, storing MP3's on the drive, and a lot of other things... I didnt know if these things were standard features of the XBox or if they were "mods". I've got over 30Gigs of MP3's (thank you iTunes) and wanted to load them up... Thats all. I also saw several different references to upgrading to a faster DVD drive... So thats why I started asking these questions. Now I'm being educated.

CRAYMAN
03-30-2005, 06:45 PM
I just realized that I never responded to this... I just heard a lot of talk about copying games to the HDD so they run faster, storing MP3's on the drive, and a lot of other things... I didnt know if these things were standard features of the XBox or if they were "mods". I've got over 30Gigs of MP3's (thank you iTunes) and wanted to load them up... Thats all. I also saw several different references to upgrading to a faster DVD drive... So thats why I started asking these questions. Now I'm being educated.


Good luck, in your pursuits! :cheers:

Sending you a PM.

CharlieHustle
03-30-2005, 07:22 PM
hey sundown, this is a friendly community, trust me, if not, i wouldnt be browsin here for 3+ years. Sometims we do ruffle each other feathers. Thats how it is here and everywhere else. Buy youll love it here. And you will get almost any and every info you need from xbox to non xbox issues, thats for sure.

TRSundown
03-30-2005, 07:56 PM
Yeah... I kind of figured. Most forums I have ever visited have their share of quibling... Sometimes its fun... Sometimes not. So far I think this site is great.

Reclaimer
03-30-2005, 09:06 PM
We are a good community, a little jumpy at times, but it's all good.

Honestly, I'm no computer guru wizard or anything at all. I just wanted to do something to that Xbox since I really didn't use it. I mean, there was a bit of research involved with the HDD LED system, which by the way took two times to get right. I am a bit creative, so that helped me there.
Anyway, I don't want to sing the praises of modding, but I think it is possible to do it and be legit with it. My Xbox had become a home entertainment system.. which is now my brother uses in his dorm at college.
It plays movies, music, music videos and legit games straight off the drive and it's all selectable through the new dashboard.
That's all I'll say about what it can do.

I always wanted to do an event to show off our Xboxes. I just got off the phone with my brother.. that rat bastard. I need to either buy a new jewel or a new lid. He said my Xbox fell out of his girlfriend's entertainment center and landed upside down. Jewel is split and the lid might be cracked too. He said it still works fine internally. But the top is messed up and the jewel light is broken too.
He'll pay for it thankfully. I think I'll use this time to find a clear case for it.

Casper
03-31-2005, 09:13 AM
TR - welcome to XBA, btw, might be shooting you a PM shortly, as I just got a job offer in Colorado Springs with this company called CareCore. Might be looking to see how nice it is out there, as well as the cost of living.

Ignore the trolls, they're everywhere, as you can see.

TRSundown
03-31-2005, 09:37 AM
Dude... Its Awesome out here. You have all four seasons which is something I missed in Southern California (thats where I was before I moved to CO). I live in Colorado Springs but work in Denver. The commute kind of sucks but its no worse than driving the 405 in LA.

cost of living here is great... I just bought a 5 bedroom house, 3200 sq ft on a 1/4 acre for $260k. You can find new homes ranging from mid 100K all the way up to 600K. There are new developments going in everywhere so its easy to find a new home or there are plenty of used homes on the market. If you move here and want to buy a house let me know... I can give you the info for my real estate agent. She is great, very patient, and really looks out for what is best for you. She took us to over 100 different houses and stuck with us even though we changed our search criteria three or four times.

Minus the theme parks that cover all of California (where I came from) this place has something for everyone. Lots of outdoors stuff to do, camping, hunting, fishing, snow boarding... Plus lots of city life, lots of resturants, movie theaters, malls... but it has the feel of a small or medium size city... not like LA where there are over 9 million crammed into one small area.

I can go on and on but if you have any specific questions please ask.

If and when you get here we can do some sort of XBox tournament!

Cloud Wolf
03-31-2005, 09:43 AM
Do I care? No. What do I care if some "noob" living in his mothers’ basement wants to call me a noob... I don’t. Now that last sentence will probably draw some protest or name calling but lets not... Let’s put it to rest. Moderators, lock this one up. Enough already... unless you guys really like this tit for tat stuff...

maybe you should look up some info mate, why would a 15 year old live in his mothers basement, maybe your mother treated you wrong and locked you up in there for nightly sessions but hey who cares right? l0ser.

Reclaimer
03-31-2005, 09:50 AM
maybe you should look up some info mate, why would a 15 year old live in his mothers basement, maybe your mother treated you wrong and locked you up in there for nightly sessions but hey who cares right? l0ser.

If I find you crapping on another thread, it will be the last thread on XBA for you.

Cloud Wolf
03-31-2005, 10:09 AM
Hey I left it he brought it back up saying I live in my mothers basement!!! I only checked back to see if anyone had posted any pics of there xboxs!!! The guy's a tool and I cant even say anything back when he brings up where I live!?!?! im sorry rec but that blows.

iloveRPGs
03-31-2005, 11:40 AM
It says right there on your picture-thingy that you want people to hate you, so shouldn't you like him dissing you? Just wondering.

Cloud Wolf
03-31-2005, 12:28 PM
oh yeh I love it, its amazing omg I have so much fun, dont be stupid.

Ninjermy
03-31-2005, 12:52 PM
Hey heres an idea. Everyone stop *****ing.

Now to get this thread slightly back on topic... I spray painted the X ontop of my xbox white. Also I plan on making a cardboard spoiler for it. Unless it looks teh cheez :D

TRSundown
03-31-2005, 01:14 PM
Actually I was just making reference to the Shattner Star Trek rant that he did way back when... he was making fun of all the trekkies at the conventions living in their parents basements arguing about the code used to unlock the safe in episode 46 (or whatever)... I mean, come on, we are on an XBox forum... same level of geekdom just a different outlet :D

I apologize that you are taking these remarks so personally. I don’t mean them to be. It’s all just playful banter. You don’t know me... I don’t know you... I will refrain from further negatively focused comments between the two of us until we know each other better and can do it in fun instead of taking them as personal attacks.

So truce... and peace for now... :cheers:

TRSundown
03-31-2005, 01:23 PM
As for the XBox customizations...

What I would really like to do is light up the front ports for the game pads in cobalt blue... change the power and reset ring lights to either white or cobalt blue... I also want to change out the circular XBox logo on top and replace it with a clear one. I then want to paint a dark coat over everything on the clear jewel exept the actual word XBox. Leave that clear. I then want to connect a cobalt blue light to the hard drive to act like a HDD activity light and put the light right under the "xbox" word so it can be seen lighting up. Not sure if I want to add light affects to the bottom or not...

Pretty basic setup but I think it would look cool... Most of the components in my theater equipment light up one shade of blue or another so at least it would match.

I was also thinking of adding one of those skins to the box as well. Probably something in blue... imagine that.

Cloud Wolf
03-31-2005, 01:58 PM
Actually I was just making reference to the Shattner Star Trek rant that he did way back when... he was making fun of all the trekkies at the conventions living in their parents basements arguing about the code used to unlock the safe in episode 46 (or whatever)... I mean, come on, we are on an XBox forum... same level of geekdom just a different outlet :D

I apologize that you are taking these remarks so personally. I don’t mean them to be. It’s all just playful banter. You don’t know me... I don’t know you... I will refrain from further negatively focused comments between the two of us until we know each other better and can do it in fun instead of taking them as personal attacks.

So truce... and peace for now... :cheers:

:confused: deal.

Casper
03-31-2005, 02:17 PM
Hey I left it he brought it back up saying I live in my mothers basement!!! I only checked back to see if anyone had posted any pics of there xboxs!!! The guy's a tool and I cant even say anything back when he brings up where I live!?!?! im sorry rec but that blows.
Don't worry, you'll get over it. Then again, you're only 15, so we should expect the 'I'm rubber, you're glue' type of attitude. Just get over it already.

Huckleberry
03-31-2005, 09:37 PM
Then again, you're only 15, so we should expect the 'I'm rubber, you're glue' type of attitude. Just get over it already.
that's pretty damn hilarious! i haven't heard that since...well...let's just leave it at a long time.