XBOX EVOLUTION

Matrix Tutorial From MoistFist @ ISOnews.com :

I received 2 matrix chips yesterday and after installing both of them I realized that I might be able to help some people out. Yes, the information you need is all out there, but it's not all in one place and some things could definitely be clearer. In any case this is just what worked for me. I am sure there are plenty of bioses that would work equally well. If there is anything I missed or anything useful someone may want to add please feel free to add it. I hope this helps to keep the board from cluttering up with the same questions every other day. This tutorial will be written in a languague that even you can understand.

Here's a list of items that will come in handy for your matrix installation:

1. Get the install instructions from the Xodus/Matrix site or Easybuy2000 and print up
a hard copy. It's about 8 pages but hardly explains at all how to flash the bios on The Matrix. It will come in handy for taking the system apart and installing the chip.

2. You will need 2 different sizes of Torx screwdrivers. I'm not sure exactly what size they are but they are very common sizes. Should be able to get them at Radioshack, Walmart, Sears etc... These will be used for taking off the top of the XBOX and for removing the dvd drive and hard drive. Also for screwing in the Matrix to the motherboard.

3. You will need a 9 volt battery. This is used for the programmer that comes with the Matrix. These are those rectangular batteries that hardly anyone uses anymore. You would be surprised to find how many people failed to flash their chip at first for lack of a battery.

4. A good source of light. You may need a flashlight, also, even a small magnifying lens is useful when aligning the chip.

5. Download "wmilk.exe" as per the installation instructions. Some people running Windows XP have reported that they needed to install a driver to get their flash to work. You can download "GiveIO Driver setup.exe" from http://www.roentdek.com/Software/SP-Main.htm

6. Have the bios you intend to use handy. I used the EvolutionX 2.4 bios. That one worked for me.

A few words of warning and general safety tips:

Do NOT use a cable and attach your programmer to the Xodus while it is installed in the system, it will fry the programmer! Always remove it.
Always plug the mod into the programmer before plugging it into your pc, it could damage the programmer/mod.
Also, when installing it in your system, make sure its in mode 1 (off/testing mode) otherwise you can potentialy fry your system.
Once you have a battery in your programmer be careful not to set it on a metal surface. I set mine down on a stainless steel table for a few seconds and smoke started coming out of it! I'm an idiot. Luckily I had 2, although I don't think it was damaged, it could have been.
Don't forget to place the included round, metal spacer under The Matrix. It looks like a small washer and it's probably easy to forget.
Be mindful of what "mode setting" your chip is in. There are 2 dipswitches on the chip and 4 mode settings which are explained in the installation instructions. It seems that they are are shipped by default on "mode 1" (both switches on) for installation. Mine had a small piece of yellow tape covering the switches which I removed before installing. Be mindful of what mode your chip is in depending on what step of the installation you are oN.
FLASHING THE BIOS

As I said I used the EvolutionX 2.4 bios (http://www.xtracerfilez.net/) which was 1,024 KB I renamed it
"evo24.rom" just so it would be easier to work with. Yes, it had a .rom extension instead of a .bin extension when I got it but it didn't make any difference.

I used winhex to split the "evo24.rom" into 4 files each 256 KB. I took the last file and placed it in folder where the Wmilk.exe program was. WinHex renamed the 4 files so I had to rename it again.Again I only rename it so it's easier for me to keep track of. To split the file: Open WinHex, go to "file manager" and then the "split" option. Load up your .bin (or .rom) file and pick a folder to save the files that WinHex will make for you.

Okay, now you have your wmilk.exe program and the bios of your choice in one folder. I found it easier to just make a folder on my c: drive and work with the stuff from there. For example: C:matrix since you have to use DOS commands it's easier to find your stuff there.

I flashed my chip using Windows XP on an Athlon based system. I installed the GiveIO driver and rebooted. I don't know if that made any difference or not. I do know that on the first few tries I was getting errors and the flash didn't work until I rebooted, so don't forget to reboot!

The programmer now has a freshly installed battery, the matrix chip is now attached to the programmer. Attach the programmer directly to your parallallel port. a solid red LED lights up on The Matrix. On your PC open up a dos prompt and go to the directory where your Wmilk.exe program is. In my case: c:matrix.

type the command that appears on the installation instructions. In my case:

wmilk -c -a ffc00000 -v -p evo24.rom

and hit enter

now you should see the program running:

erasing
erase completed
programming ...
programming ...
programming ...

The programming part went on for about 100 lines in my case, then I got a few lines of

verifying ...
verifying ...
verifying ...

and finally

Programming complete.Verification complete.

Some people keep getting errors, and some have said that they tried on 4 or 5 different systems before it finally worked. So the only thing I could suggest if you are having problems is to try the flashing on a different system. There is a program called "flashpack" on http://www.xtracerfilez.net (under PC applications) which is essentially an easier to use version of wmilk.exe (fewer commands). I tried Flashpack which uses the evolutionX 2.5 bios, but it did not work for me. You could also try installing the GiveIO drivers. Again, this is just what worked for me.

Remove the programmer from the parallel port. Take the Matrix off the programmer. It is now ready to install.
The Installation instructions do a good job of telling you how to take the XBOX apart so I won't go over that here.
I will only add a few things. I found it easier to remove the DVD-rom and Hard Drive completely while installing The Matrix.

Again, that's just me. Make sure the chip is in Mode 1 when first installing. Make sure you have your spacer in place. It's easier to align the Matrix using a magnifyng lens while looking straight down at the alignment holes. On my first try I got a blinking red light which means "bad alignment". I unscrewed it slightly and turned it just a hair to the right. Screwed it in again. Powered on the system and BINGO! green flashing light (good alignment). Don't forget to now set the mode to mode 2 "always on". I Put the drives back in but left the lid off the system (just in case) and hooked up my box to the TV. First tried an original, it booted perfectly. Good.

Next tried a legal backup of a game I already own (right?). Boots up perfectly. Great!
Close up the system and I'm done. Very happy and satisfied with my purchase. I noticed that I could see the solid green light from the left side of my XBOX. Letting me know that my Matrix is working.
One final note. The second system that I did that same night also showed a green light, but when I tested with backups kept getting "dirty disc" errors. I could see the solid green light from the side of The XBOX so I knew the Matrix was working, WTF???

I reopened the system and removed the chip, could not see anything wrong. Placed the chip again, again a green light. Tested backups again and Bam! they all work. I'm only saying that it appears that it is possible to get a "false positive" when aligning The Matrix. That is, you get a green light but the chip is just ever so slightly misaligned.

If this happens to you, you might try removing the chip, reinstalling and then slighty tweaking the chip here and there. You can twist it a little to the left or right and still get a green light. Keep trying and good luck!!!
By the way, the Bios I used does not change your boot up screen in any way.

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