Xbox

Xbox
Developer: Microsoft Publisher: Microsoft Released in JP: February 22, 2002 Released in US: November 15, 2001 Released in EU: March 14, 2002 Released in AU: March 14, 2002 Released in KR: December 23, 2002 This console has unused code. This console has a hidden developer message. This console has hidden developer credits. This console has unused models. This console has unused sounds. This console has regional differences. This console has revisional differences. This console has a prototype article This console has a prerelease article

This game/console's online features are no longer supported. While this game/console's online features were once accessible, they are (as of May 11, 2010) no longer officially supported and online-exclusive features may be documented as now-unseen content.

To do: There may be some other differences in the BIOS and menus. Document the various pre-release material shown here and here (might wanna archive them soon). Check root/Audio/AmbientAudio. If there are clips that are unused, rip the audio. Move all the source code exclusive stuff to a development page. If there's anything unused from source code, add it to a development page.

The Xbox was the console that introduced a new third contender between the Nintendo and Sony console wars following the demise of Sega's Dreamcast, and proved for the first time in two decades that it was possible for an American console to become successful. And all they needed was backing from the biggest software company in the world, a willingness to lose millions upon millions and never really turn a net profit, and launching with one of the most popular and influential games of all-time.

Pfft, see Atari? It's not hard!

Xbox Live, the console's online service, was scheduled to cease operation on April 15, 2010 - but as it turns out, it couldn't shut down until every user who'd connected before said date disconnected, leading to a few determined players leaving their consoles on for nearly a month and playing Halo 2 until their Xboxes died from overheating. The service went down for real on May 11, 2010.

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Development Team Easter Eggs

<<Eggsβox>>

When copying a CD to the Xbox, save the Soundtrack as <<Eggsβox>> including the Beta, greater than and less than symbols. A "Thank You" message starts which is followed by a scrolling list of the Xbox Team members. The easter egg in question is a standard Xbox Executable (XBE) which is launched when the easter egg is triggered. The executable is disguised in the C:\xboxdashdata.<dashboard version number>\settings_adoc.xip file. This file can be launched with a third party dashboard once renamed/copied to default.xbe to invoke the easter egg manually.

If you press a button on the controller or let the message play through to the end, the Xbox reboots.

(Source: Xbox Dev Wiki)

Timmy!

In May 2021, an anonymous developer from the Xbox team revealed the 2nd Easter egg that went undiscovered all this time, which has a similar activation method.

When copying the soundtrack from a CD, set the title to Timmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! (26 y's) but this time you have to let it finish ripping the soundtrack. Then go back into Settings, and in System Info. This will now display the following developer credits.

(Source: Kotaku)

Boot Logo Sequences

To do: See if it's possible to get a better rip of the shield animation and/or see a modded intro that has the shields.

"Fireworks" Boot Logo	DVD Error Animation	"Shields" Boot Logo	Final

Various pre-release Xbox development hardware used different boot animations.

The first animation is dubbed by the community "Fireworks". The sequence shares similarities with the short video played when inserting an Xbox disc into a DVD Player. It's unknown if the console's sequence was supposed to completely mimic the video. This sequence was known as "ani.bin" and there are no leftovers of it in the Xbox code. The final logo is known as "ani2.bin" in the code.

The second animation is a development version of the final boot logo sequence that had "shields" around the "flubber" of the logo. The Microsoft logo was also colored green at this point in time, and it had a longer delay before appearing. The shields can be re-enabled via custom bios on a modchip like Cerbios.

(Source: https://www.obscuregamers.com/threads/og-xbox-boot-animation-easter-egg-hunt.1216/)

Controlling the Bootlogo

In late development, the bootlogo would respond to button inputs of A, B, X, Y, Black, White, or the Left Stick. Players were able to control animation speed, fog, the presence of shadows, camera position, intensity of the "flubber" energy, and shields. In the final build of the kernel, the library for handling controller input is not loaded on boot, so this code is unused.

(Source: /r/OriginalXbox & source code: private\ntos\ani2\defines.h)

Hidden Factory Reset

An undocumented user data wipe feature is available by pressing Y followed by a 4-button combination on the System Info screen. Contrary to popular belief, the latter part of the code is console-specific, being derived from the HDD Key in EEPROM. The specific button combo can be determined using this calculator.

(Source: unmodded.mine.nu & 2020 leak: private/ui/xapp/config.cpp:887 → private/inc/cryptkeys.h:42 & 88-146)

An equivalent sequence exists on the Xbox 360 for parental controls, and is officially available to users who registered their Microsoft Account on the console by going to the account's device management page.

Regional Differences

Note: video region is separate, and technically independent of, software region. Both of these are defined by EEPROM.

• NTSC systems can officially output 480i, and (with YPbPr cables), 480p, 1080i, and 720p.
• PAL systems only offer 576i and 480i, but do so with any cables.
• Additionally, only American (region 1) and Japanese (region 2) consoles have parental controls, and only the former have them for games (as opposed to DVD-Video).

Revisional Differences

Hardware

The Xbox received multiple internal component changes, to reduce cost and obstruct modchips. These variants are labelled with unofficial version numbers:

Name	Fans	RAM	ROM	Power supply	Clock capacitor	Video DAC	USB hub	Service port (LPC/I2C)
1.0	2	Samsung, 4 out of 8 16MB chips	NOR Flash (TSOP), parallel, 1 MB	Single column connector	Known to leak, optional	Conexant	Separate PCB	Fully featured
1.1	1						Integrated
1.2			NOR Flash (TSOP), parallel, 256 kB	ATX-like connector
1.3								No LFRAME
1.4						Focus
1.5								No LFRAME or power
1.6		Samsung, 4/4 chips	ROM, LPC, integrated in Xyclops SMC	ATX-like, pinout changed again	Relatively reliable, required to boot	Xcalibur		No LPC bus
1.6b		Hynix, 4/4 chips

As there have only been a couple of reports of consoles matching its description, it is unknown and debated whether 1.5 actually exists or happens to be a convenient manufacturing defect of 1.4.

Software

If the console is running the dashboard version "4920", once you hit "Xbox Live" in the menu, a FMV for the Xbox Live logo will be displayed. The oldest dashboard completely lacks an Xbox Live option.