MS Dash help

[MikeTee]

Hello everyone, yeah, I'm a n00bie. I just purchased a pre-modded XBOX Jan 3 and I've been lurking & learning here since. It has a Chameleon chip and Xecuter2 bios(version comes up unknown).

I've decided to come out of the closet. LOL I have to say when I first came on this board, I was slightly overwhelmed when I saw what had to be done just to burn a backup. To make matters worse, this EVOX thing looked extremely complex. I have to say, while I'm far from expert, this board has brought me a loooong way. With the combined assistance of detailed tutorials, outstanding mods and some equally outstanding members, I've done quite a bit since Jan 3.

I've learned how to FTP, check my bios version, do data burns, create and burn iso files, "rip" oversized games, edit EVOX ini files and today I installed a 100GB WD HD with EVOX loaded on quickly & easily. That's a hell of a lot in a short time. This site is amazing and yes, I do use the search function........regularly. LOL


Now,I do need a bit of help with EVOX. When I click MS Dashboard it just goes to a green Evolution X screen and then back to the EVOX dash. I'm guessing either I did something wrong with the msdashboard.xbe file or something is not right in the EVOX ini.

I thank you for all the help that I already found on this board, I would appreciate any additional help on this minor yet annoying issue with MS Dashboard.

On another note, I thought I read a past thread that compared "data burn" to ISO burn. I originally started burning backups with the "data burn" method(I use RNM), now I use the ISO burn method. I use QWIX to create the ISO & burn it with RNM. My point is, ISO burns seem to run better & load faster in my Xbox at least.

I originally "data burned" ESPN Hockey and Outlaw Golf, ESPN stuttered in places & Outlaw Golf seemed to take forever to load. I tried burning each of them again with the same results. When I ISO burned them, ESPN ran smoothly and Outlaw Golf most definitely loaded quicker. BTW, I use inexpensive COMPUSA DVD-R disks and they have been terrific. Actually with either burn method using RNM, I haven't had one coaster yet. :>)

Sorry for the long post but it is my first and after all I am a n00b.

Thanks, Mike T.

[Jay_83]

Hi m8,

Pretty easy one hopefully!

First of all make sure you've renamed your original microsoft dashboard to msxboxdash.xbe


Ok, open up evox.ini in notepad and the start will probably look like this.

[Misc]

AutoLaunchGames = No
AutoLaunchDVD = No
DVDPlayer = "f:\apps\dvd2.0\default.xbe"
AutoLaunchAudio = No
#AudioPlayer = "c:\xboxdash.xbe"
MSDashBoard = "c:\xboxdash.xbe"


You want to change the line in red to this

MSDashBoard = "c:\msxboxdash.xbe"


Upload both the msxboxdash.xbe and the evox.ini and that should work fine :)

[Quall999]

wait hold one. X2 bios eh?

Just rename the evox executable to "evoxdash.xbe", and keep the ms dash named "xboxdash.xbe". You xbox should boot to evox with the chi pon, and the original xbox dash with the chip off.

[MikeTee]

Thanks JAY, it worked perfectly. I kinda' figured it was something simple with the EVOX ini file. Once you explained it to me it all made sense. I do the same thing with horse racing, I can easily pick the winner........after the race is over. LOL

Thanks again, it was a minor thing but it was driving me buggy.

QUALL, I also thank you for your reply and I understand what you told me to do but I don't understand the "chip on", "chip off" thing. I don't have a switch of any kind and EVOX is loaded on the HD, so isn't the chip always in the "on" mode when I power up?

Please let me know if I'm missing something here and thanks again. I've read all your posts/replies and you're pretty much always on the money.

P.S. any recommendations on the prog of preference for transferring games to the HD, HDLOADER or DVD2XBOX?

Mike T.

[TylerDurden]

DVD2Xbox is hella good. It auto patches and basically does everything you need for you.




Tyler!

[MikeTee]

Yeah, tried them both the last couple of days. Both are pretty fast but DVD2XBOX seems pretty cool. Nice that it has auto & manual media check. For some reason, it's not recognizing my Shenmue 2 disk(original or copy)???

Whatever, nice prog

Thanks for your input Tyler.

Mike T.

[TylerDurden]

Not a prob, man.



Tyler!

[Quall999]

Originally posted by MikeTee

QUALL, I also thank you for your reply and I understand what you told me to do but I don't understand the "chip on", "chip off" thing. I don't have a switch of any kind and EVOX is loaded on the HD, so isn't the chip always in the "on" mode when I power up?

I take it that you don't have a switch to turn your modchip off/on then? Well, if that's the case, then I guess it will not matter.

The x2 bios have a boot sequence that boots to evolutionX, and then the xbox dashboard if evox (evoxdash.xbe) isn't found.

That makes it handy for people with xbox live. Thay have evolutionX load up when the chip is on (because it looks for evoxdash.xbe and not xboxdash.xbe), and when the chip is off, the xbox boots normal to the xboxdash.xbe. Making it possible to use XBLive.

[MikeTee]

Thanks for your reply QUALL. It sounds like having a switch is the way to go. But since I don't, I'll just deal with it the way it is which is really not a problem, I guess.

Also, I'm now able to get to my MSDASH easy enough with either ini file config you & JAY told me about. One thing is for certain, I've had consoles & computers for gaming for many years, too many actually, LOL but I've never had a console that you could do so much with. A modded XBOX is definitely the ultimate "toy". LOL

Anyway, thanks again for the help.

Mike T.