XBOX-HQ.COM - Xenochip (Aladdin XT) News: Clones Info and Issue with Datecode 0441195A

* Clone Buyers Beware!! We have received reports about Xenochips not working properly, in particular not starting on 1.6 Xboxes. We have thoroughly investigated this problem and we have NOT found one faulty chip produced by us!

There seems to be 2 major reasons why people don't get their chip to work.

1) IMPROPER LPC REBUILD

See this picture for an example of it should NOT look.

Do people really expect things to work when they use cables that are 20cm too long? Use as short wires as possible.

2) CLONES WITH "ALADDIN" CODE

Many clone manufacturers in Hong Kong and China disguise their chips to look like Xenochip, but they use outdated Aladdin cores for the CPLD.
These clones are normally very easy to spot. Look for this:

a) All original Xenochip PCB's are manufactured with a technique known as gold immersion. Hence all holes and solder pads are gold color (obviously the solder is still silver color). But if the holes or easy-solder interface is not gold colored then it is a clone.

b) Some clones have a PCB that looks similar, but you will notice that the signal tracks on the PCB are routed differently because the idiots producing these clones cannot alter the signal routing in ther cracked core.

c) All Xenochip Lite are manufactured WITHOUT a pinheader, with the exception of a custom order from one customer. All chips in this custom order was on white PCB, so if you receive a "Lite" chip with pinheader on red PCB it is a clone.

d) Original Xenochip Pro are manufactured with a Bourns potentiometer that matches the footprint exactly. The clones generally have a much smaller Panasonic potentiometer that does not fit the footprint properly.
We don't care if other people call their product Aladdin, as long as they don't call it "Aladdin XT" or "Xenochip". Websites selling other products using our name will be listed in our hall of shame.

* Issue with datecode 0441195A
It has come to our attention that some Xenochips with the datecode 0441195A will not work properly when flashed with EvolutionX(info) m8_16_plus bios. This problem only occurs with some chips, and only with the mentioned bios. Other bioses suchas Yoshihiro Beta 4 and Evox_m8_16 works without any problems. It appears that ICs with this datecode have a weak driver, which is causing this problem. We would like to stress the fact that there are only a few chips, less than 5%, showing this behavior. And the problem only occurs with Evolution m8 16 plus bios. ICs with this datecoe has not been used for manufacturing any Xenochip products since December, so new chips purchased now will not have this problem.

News-Source: http://www.xenochip.com