- Revision Notes
- Methods of Identification
- Special/Limited Edition Exceptions
- Summary
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Special/Limited Edition Exceptions
Microsoft has released several special versions of the Xbox that you should know about because they may (or may not) conform to the guidelines presented in the preceding sections. More than likely they do, but if you own a special or limited edition Xbox, you will be able to quickly and easily identify the revision. The special/limited editions were produced at a single plant for a short time, so they are all identical in hardware.
Halo Special Edition
If you own the Halo Special Edition Xbox with a translucent green case (see Figure 3.9), your Xbox is a revision 1.2. If you want to verify the revision, you can check the production numbers. This Halo SE Xbox was manufactured only in China, during weeks 8 and 9 of 2003, on the manufacturing lines 2, 5, and 6! (How's that for detail?). In other words, if you have a Halo SE Xbox, the serial number should look like one of the following:
2NNNNNN 3WW05
5NNNNNN 3WW05
6NNNNNN 3WW05
And WW should be 08 or 09. I would like to advise you that it is possible for this version to be manufacturered again, in which case you might find a newer Halo SE Xbox.
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Figure
3.9 The Halo Special Edition Xbox.
Limited Edition Crystal Pack
The Limited Edition Crystal Pack (shown in Figure 3.10) was a unique and collectible Xbox, released only in Europe to improve sales. If you own this edition, you may be certain that it is revision 1.4. This edition was manufactured in China, in week 6 of 2004, on production line 4. In other words, the serial number should look like this:
4NNNNNN 30605
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Figure
3.10 The Limited Edition Crystal Xbox.
There are rumors that a more recent manufacture of the Crystal Xbox has taken place, and if this is true, then it's possible there might be some of these units with a 1.6 revision motherboard.
Additional Exceptions
I have encountered some very strange exceptions to the guidelines presented in this chapter, where a motherboard has the telltale signs of two different revisions at the same time. Take Figure 3.11, for example. This Xbox was purchased from a retail store in late 2003, but it has signs of being a 1.0 as well as a 1.1 at the same time. The heatsinks are not shown in this figure, but take my word for it, there was no heatsink fan on the GPU, indicating that this is a 1.1 or later.
However, look at the filled-in LPC holes in this figure, along with that very strange sticker on the motherboard, spelling out clearly that this Xbox has a 4034 kernel. That kernel, according to Table 3.5, should be in a 1.0. But here we have what appears to be a 1.0 with no heatsink fan. This is very strange, indeed! Expect to find exceptions to the rule like this case, which is not a problem at all because any 1.0 to 1.4 Xbox will accept a solderless mod chip adapter (which is all that matters).
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Figure
3.11 This unusual 1.0 has no fan on the GPU heatsink (not shown).