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:::::THE COMPLETE X-BOX MOD:::::
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::::::::::By: Confedx19:::::::::
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Disclaimer: This guide is only to be used as personal
reference and not to be distributed, sold, altered, or
broadcasted on any site without my concent. Any violation
of these terms is a punishable offense, and can result in
fines, lawsuits, jail-time, ect. Thank You.
Notice: I take NO RESPONSIBILITY for any personal harm,
damage to any property including you X-Box. By doing any
of the mods in this tutorial, you take full responsibility
for the outcome of your work. You should also know that
once you open your X-Box, any existing warrentys will
be null and void. Thank You.
~Table of Contents~
0. Version History
1. Introduction
2. A Few Helpful Ideas
3. Basic Knowlege and Tools
a. Things to Know
b. Things to Have
4. The Mods
a. Opening and examining the X-Box
b. Painting the Case
c. Changing the Front LED's to Red
d. Adding new Front LED's
e. Lighting the Jewel
i. Preparing the Jewel
ii. Option 1, The LED Method
iii. Option 2, The Cathode Method
5. Credits
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0. Version History xxx
-------------------//-\\
Current Version - .3
Version .3 - 5/25/04 - Sections 0,1,2,3 and
5 Complete, Section 4: parts a,b and c
Complete
Version .6 - 5/27/04 - Section 4: part d
Complete
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1. Introduction xXx
----------------//-\\
Welcome to my first tutorial. In this tutorial, I will
show you how to turn you boring, dreary, ugly X-Box, into
a gleaming, hot, X-Box God. I will cover painting, and
lighting your X-Box. I hope you have as much fun doing these
mods as I did! When reading the ASCII diagrams, you may see
a legend which instructs you on what symbols mean, please
pay attention to those. Also, in the legend, if you see
"Connect points A, B, C, ect." That means those letters
are connecting points on wire that you can't see. Example:
:::Legend:::
:::Connecting Points A
------A[]A------
Although the box is in the way of the wire, the wire actually
looks like:
----------------
This is because the two A's are connected.
CONTACT ME AT: confedx19@yahoo.com
I will be more than happy to help, just as long as you
keep it polite. Also, please do not ask when the next
version is due. I will get to it when I do so don't
bother me, it wont help.
-----------------------\\-//
2. A Few Helpful Ideas xxx
-----------------------//-\\
In case you are not too inventive, creative, or imaginative,
here are some ideas for colors for Modding. (Primary refers
to the "X" color, secondary is everything else [see 4-b])
Primary Secondary Front LED's Jewel Color
Chrome Black Blue Blue
Chrome Dr. Blue Blue Blue
Silver Silver Purple Purple
Chrome Black Purple Purple
Silver Silver UV UV
Chrome Black UV UV
Red Blue Red Red
Red Gld./Org. Red Orange
Silver Gold Orange Orange
Hey, this is just a list of ideas. Use it if you like. If
you're not, the go ahead, be creative, have fun! Anyway,
it is your X-Box that you modding.
(Gld. = Gold, UV = Black Light)
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3. Basic Knowledge and Tools xxx
-----------------------------//-\\
a. Things to Know
LED's: Just to let you know, the positive leg is small on
the inside, negative is big.
____
/ \
| _ |
||/ ||
|| ||
+----+
| |
Negative--->| |
| |<---Positive
| |
| |
|
You should also find that the LED's positive leg is slightly
longer.
Soldering: Although it is possible to do most of these mods
without soldering, it is good to know how because you will
need to do some soldering in some of these mods.
Wiring: Hey, I'm not asking you to be a mega genius at wiring
and electronics, and I am telling you basically what to do, but
it never hurts to know, or at least sort of know what you
are doing.
Painting: Well, I can tell you how to paint the damn thing, but
you should at least know how to correctly paint, or have someone
else who does know what they are doing paint it for you,
'cause you can ruing a good case with
some bad painting if you know what I mean.
b. Things to Have
Torx Set (Not going to go into exact sizes, just do yourself a
favor and get the set).
Dremel Tool With: Cleaning, and Grinding/Sanding sets
Soldering Iron
Solder
Flux (Optional)
Hot Glue Gun (Preferably with Glue)
Spray-Paint
Wires
Resistors
LEDS
(Everything else needed will be addressed with the mod itself)
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3. The Mods xxx
------------//-\\
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a. Opening and Examining the X-Box xxx
-----------------------------------//-\\
Tools Required:
1 Torx Set
Alright, before we can actually mod, we should get inside the
X-Box and see whats inside, MmmmmKay. First Look for the screws
here:
Diag. 1
:::Legend:::
:::S=Screw
+----------------------------------+
|S S|
| +-------+ |
| | S | |
| +-------+ |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| +-------+ |
| | S | |
|S +-------+ S|
+----------------------------------+
The screws on the squares are under the stickers and
the corner onesare under the pads. Lift up and were
in business. See the aluminum casing, well, you can
get rid of it once you pop it off of the case if
you want. what you should see on the inside is this.
Diag. 2
:::Legend:::
:::|, /, \, -, and "=" = Wires
:::v = Plugin Ports
:::Connecting Points A
--BACK--
||Yellow Wire
|| Gray Ribbon
|| =========================
|| ///// =========A\\\\\A===
|| ||||| // ||||| \\
vv vvvvv VV vvvvv ||
+---------------+ +------------------+ ||
| | | | ||
| | | | ||
| | | | ||
| | | | ||
| | | | ||
| DVD Drive | | Hard Drive | ||
| | | | vv
| | | | Power
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
+---------------+ +------------------+
--FRONT--
To get the drives out, you'll need to hit some screws
around the outside
of each drive. Once you have the drives out, you should
see somthing like
this.
Diag. 3
--BACK--
+-------------------------------------------+
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| Mother-Board |
| |
| |
| |
| |
+-------------------------------------------+
| Daughter-Board |
+-1--------2-----------------3------------4-+
Controller-Ports
--FRONT--
If you want to take the front plate off, first, look for
a yellow wire group connected near the daughter-board,
unplug that, then unplug the controller port
wires from the daughter-board. Now, pry out each side
of the front plate until it pops out. Congrats, you
successfully took apart your X-Box, wasn't that easy.
Now, you are ready for som real modding.
---------------------\\-//
b. Painting the Case xxx
---------------------//-\\
Tools Required:
2 Cans of Spray Paint (Preferably Krylon for Plastic)
1 Roll of Masking Tape
1 Rag
1 Bowl of Warm Water and Dish Soap Mix
1 Craft Knife
1 Torx Set
1 Flathead Screwdriver
1 Ball of Blu-Tac
Now we are ready to make our X-Box look cool. First, after
taking off the case of the X-Box, wash off the case using
the rag, and the dish soap water mix. Let it air
dry before you continue. Next, decide what two colors you
will use. For this mod, we will refer to the "X" part of
the case as the primary color and the other parts the
secondary color. Next paint the whole case using the SECONDARY
color. Make sure you do at least 3 coats, and remember, DO NOT
USE TOO MUCH PAINT!!! Let each coat dry inside
in a well ventilated area. After you finish that color,
tape all secondary colored areas with the masking tape.
Use the craft knife to get a nice clean cut. Also
cover the Jewel, because you REALLY do not want to paint
the outside of it. Now, paint the rest of it with the PRIMARY
color. After you are done with that, peel off
the tape and your done! Now for the front plate. As you did
in the first section, pop the front plate. Continue to
paint as you did with the top cover. To get the DVD drive
cover out, just pry the side with a small flathead
screwdriver until it comes out, this part will be primary.
To get the back, simply use some Blu-Tac to cover the ports.
It will probably be best to have the cover on at this point
and have masked the top part of the cover to ensure not
getting paint on it. Make sure you leave some tac left
outside of the port so you can grab hold of it. Paint that
and guess what? You're done! Now we can get on to Part C
(If you want the LED's Red), Part D (If you want the LED's
to be another color other than red), or Part E (If you want
the front LED's green)
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c. Changing the Font LED's to Red xxx
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Tools Required:
1 Torx Set
1 Flathead Screwdriver
1 small Needle
Alright, lets just skip to the chase, this is a damn easy mod,
so lets get to it. Open the box and get to the mother board (
take the drives out). Pop the LED wires and the controller ports
and pop off the front cover. Now, see the chip on the front? Take
that out by just pushing the Tab and pulling it out. Now, see
where the wires are connected to the chip? Notice the numbers
on the wires. 1, and 9. Now, find 8 and 7, 6 and 5. We are going
to switch these. Use a small needle or somthing to push back the
tabs holding the lil suckers in to get to the wires. Make sure
you switch the wires on the end that plugs in. The new order
should be:
Old: 123456789
New: 123465879
Plug her back in, get you X-Box put together, and WOW, your front
LED's should now be an evil Red. Majik I tells ya.
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d. Changing the Front LED's xxx
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Tools Required:
1 Torx Set
1 Flathead Screwdriver
1 Soldering Iron
1 Roll of Solder
1 Can of Flux (Optional)
2 3mm LED's (Your Choice of Color)
Just to make things clear, this mod is for anyone who wants LED's
that are not Red, or Green. This time you will need to install
your own Diodes. Open the box and get to the mother board (
take the drives out). Pop the LED wires and the controller ports
and pop off the front cover. Now, see the chip on the front? Take
that out by just pushing the Tab and pulling it out. Now you
should have the LED board. Okay, look at the LED's; see anything
odd? The LED's have three legs! This will make a few problems
but don't worry, we can get it to work (If you have the wires
in a different order [changing the LED's to red] switch them
back, I don't know if it really effects anything so it's always
good to be safe with your X-Box). Now, cut the existing LED's
out, preserving as much of the legs as possible. Now, there will
be a special way to soldering the LED's so pay attention to
the diagram.
Diag. 4
:::Legend:::
:::R = Red LED Wire
:::G = Green LED Wire
:::M = Middle Leg
:::(+) = Positive
:::(-) = Negative
:::E = Eject Button
:::P = Power Button
+-------------------+
| |
| G(+) E R |
| M(-) (-)M |
| R P (+)G |
| |
+-------------------+
If you have soldered it correctly, It should work just fine. Make
sure that nothing is touching the Red LED wire. If you do not know
how to solder, just have a friend who does know how do it for you.
If the connections are bad, big deal! It just won't light up.
Just find out whats wrong, and fix it. Now its on to the fun stuff,
lighting the Jewel.
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5. Credits xxx
-----------//-\\
I would like to thank:
Me, for writing the guide
www.xbox-scene.com, for teaching me to mod my box
Microsoft, for hours of mind-melting fun
Krylon, for awesome paint
LSDiodes.com, for cool diodes
Direction.com, for the awesome Cathodes
Notepad, for the good text editor
My mom, for giving birth to me
Everyone that has read this mod, because without you, I have done this
for no reason at all.
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Copyright, 2004
confedx19
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