What modcip works in panasonic q?

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EthernumRasa
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What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:50 am

As a recent panasonic q owner i wanted to ask weather there are some guides how to install a modchip into the mashine to make it region free. I've red a lot of threads and there are no definite guides or answers where to solder or what modchip to use. Could someone clear it up? There are like a million yes and no threads on the topic weather a xenogc works. Also people say that the qoob pro works but i wasnt able to find a guide.
So is it possible yes or no? I live in europe and most of my games are pal so just a region switch is out of the question. Also I've red that no matter what game you have inside the Q, it will allways format the memorycard to jap region. Is that for real???????
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Papy.G
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by Papy.G » Wed Mar 06, 2019 2:22 pm

The gamecube motherboard in the Panasonic Q is essentially the same as in a regular Dol-001 Gamecube. So any GC modchip should do, and the solder pads are not differently placed, making guides for the GC still valid for the Q.
If you do the region switch, the Q will act as a NTSC-US GC, thus format MC in a Pal-compatible way.

Some time ago, for specific needs related to S-Video out, I was looking forward to get a NTSC one, and if I had gotten a Jap one, I would only have put a region switch for the hard mod, then got a US copy of an exploitable game just to boot SWISS, that can do the job of a chip, at the expense of boot time, indeed.
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EthernumRasa
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Wed Mar 06, 2019 5:19 pm

Ok, but here are different contradictionary opinions:
First we have the argument that viper and qoob work but xeno doesnt since someone tried it:
https://assemblergames.com/threads/pana ... all.49023/

And here we have a thread where someone claims it works with all chip but doesnt provide proof:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=549110

Edit: yes i know that you can use that savegame exploit, buuuut i would like for the q to have a nice solution so i dont waste time everytime i want to play a pal game on the system. I allready havthe freeloader to play any gc game on any region gamecube and the AR so i can boot swiss, but with a modchip i can at least just boot swiss from cd.
I also have a viper extreme chip soldered inside another of my gamecubes, but i dont have the programmer for it so i cant program the chip to directly boot swiss and reuse the chip inside the q.
I have a bunch of xenogc that i got from aliexpress, and since this is the only chip that i can find as all the others are rarer then unicorn tears my wish would be to install a xenogc inside the q and then maybe make the gc mainboard permanent ntsc so my memorycards wount get formated by accident.

Also changing the dvd region........well that isnt possible at this time since noone has the service disc any more and even if they did to make the q play pal dvds you would need to solder some stuff onto the mainboard. I talked to JVC Digital since they are one of the last companies apearently in the World that could do this and are in posession of the equipment and offered them almost a blanco check to make that region free mod and they declined telling me that they would need to write custom firmware for q to make the whole thing work and estimated the manhours at around 100.
count.zero
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by count.zero » Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:57 am

This is the problem with opinions... they are not facts.

The gamecube motherboard inside a Panasonic Q is almost standard so, every modchip connected to the motherboard will work in the same way. The dvd drive uses a custom board because it interface with both the gamecube motherboard and the dvd decoding board so no wonder that the modchips connected to this pcb do not work as usual. Those are facts.

If you only have a xeno my opinion (this means non backed up by facts) is that if you do a wire install of a xeno (the dvd drive pcb has the same install points of a standard gamecube disk drive) connecting the power NOT to the dvd pcb but to the gamecube motherboard should make it work. This is because the GC motherboard is disabled when the video dvd board is running. Since the DVD video board is able to read a whole full sized DVD but the gamecube part should not be (in a Panasonic Q) we can suppose that the optical drive board is somehow reset when you switch from GC to VideoDVD with the dvd drive changing firmware. At this point the xeno is already powered and won't send again the commands necessary to free the DVD drive; commands that are ignored from the DVD drive logic when it works for Video DVDs. If you connect the xeno power (3,3 or 5 depending on the chip mounted on the xeno) to the gamecube motherboard it will start only when the gamecube motherboard is active. This is, again, only my opinion.

Have also a look to https://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.p ... noGC_Clone
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by runepune » Thu Mar 07, 2019 12:33 pm

The Xeno doesn't work on Panasonic Q. The reason is in the bios of the chip. The bios have to contain the spesific DVD-drive for it to work. Only the bios for Viper and Qoob has that info in the bios.
EthernumRasa
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Thu Mar 07, 2019 2:41 pm

Ok to sum it up till now:
Viper extreme, qoob pro work
Xenogc only works if soldered differently since it connects to the dvd drive and in the q the dvd drive is different

Are there any instructions, tutorials, how-to with photos that show where to solder those chips to the motherboard of the q or can i use the normal instructions for soldering them to the normal gc board and that will do?

If those chips are installed is the panasonic q then still in japanese bios and will format any memorycard to Japanese or could i then just insert my pal games and pal mmc and play without worries?
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by count.zero » Thu Mar 07, 2019 4:12 pm

Viper extreme, qoob pro, qoob sx, viper "normal" and probably all the ipl replacement. Xeno "should", my Panasonic Q is still unmodded (but I have a region switch). The problem with memory card is not related to the bios but to the games saving. It could happen also if you use japanese software on a pal cube. BTW since you are opening your Q I will install a region switch so you will be able to keep the bios in english. It's more practical for me.
EthernumRasa
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:30 pm

Yeah, i also think if i start doing it then im going to shorten the R6 so it stays in us mode forever and with a chip i would be able to play jap games and pal games anyway without having the problem of the memory card beeing formated. Now i just need a qoob pro and here we go.....
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by Papy.G » Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:53 pm

For the DVD video Playback, aren't you in the european Zone 2?
Japan is in that zone too, so it should just work. 8-)
Isn't that good news?
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by renanbianchi » Fri Mar 08, 2019 12:56 am

I was the guy that claimed at the time the xeno would work, but i didn't have one to test at the time. What i was saying was that it could work in theory, but it turns out someone did test it and indeed it didn't work. Shame.
EthernumRasa
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:26 am

Papy.G wrote:
Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:53 pm
For the DVD video Playback, aren't you in the european Zone 2?
Japan is in that zone too, so it should just work. 8-)
Isn't that good news?
Yeah thats right but since the work on the gc motherboard has to be done i thought why not do the other thing as well if possble. But from what ive red there is stuff that needs to be soldered to the dvd mainboard and one needs that rare and elusive panasonic service disc which i have never seen popping up on ebay or somewhere else.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by runepune » Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:47 am

If you want the dvd-drive zonefree you have to solder more ram to the dvd board. Luckily my Panasonic Q has that modification.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:13 am

runepune wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:47 am
If you want the dvd-drive zonefree you have to solder more ram to the dvd board. Luckily my Panasonic Q has that modification.
Did you do it yourself? Do you know where to solder? Could you upload some pictures if you have som eof the spots where to solder?
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by runepune » Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:20 am

This modification was done by the shop where the previous owner bought it from. Lik-sang.com that no longer exists.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by count.zero » Fri Mar 08, 2019 8:54 am

Panasonic Q is NTSC-Jap. To make a universal video dvd reader for NTSC you need a service disk (that is not easy to replicate because it uses a special format). For having Pal compatibility you need also an extra memory chip and,from the photos I saw, also a pic with unknown content.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:38 am

count.zero wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 8:54 am
Panasonic Q is NTSC-Jap. To make a universal video dvd reader for NTSC you need a service disk (that is not easy to replicate because it uses a special format). For having Pal compatibility you need also an extra memory chip and,from the photos I saw, also a pic with unknown content.

Yeah i know all of that, but there are no how tos on where to solder what. What pic with unknown content?
Also yeah i know of lik-sang, but there has to be someone else with that know-how to do it.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by runepune » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:41 am

Here's the best link I've got so far:
https://manualzz.com/doc/4383990/panaso ... d-multimod
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by Papy.G » Fri Mar 08, 2019 11:01 am

The zone is already the required one, so better then debating for hours if it should or shouldn't work, it is just about slapping a disc into that Q, to check if Pal DVDs will playback on it. :roll:
It will just work, or won't, but this won't harm the hardware anyway, we'll then definitely know. :P
Maybe it has been already modified?

In many topics found on the web, people seem often confused between Zone unlocking and video transmission standard.
Thanks for the link, Runeptune, but I still wonder why would a DVD player need more RAM to play PAL codec versus NTSC? :?
Is that chip not installed in the NTSC-only ones?

Ah! Fond memories of Lik-Sang, still have a sheet of stickers from that era. Maybe i'll put one on my Wii, one day, but besides they become colletor's items, they may be out of place/time on there. :oops:
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by count.zero » Fri Mar 08, 2019 11:53 am

Vertical resolution is 480 for NTSC vs 576 for pal, this is why they need more ram. On the unmodded units the chip is missing.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by theclaw » Sat Mar 09, 2019 9:12 am

runepune wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:20 am
This modification was done by the shop where the previous owner bought it from. Lik-sang.com that no longer exists.
It seems to me that an unusual, exceptionally large, number of panasonic q's were modded. So many that it's almost become hazy whether or not they were official in some sense.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Sat Mar 09, 2019 9:32 am

theclaw wrote:
Sat Mar 09, 2019 9:12 am
runepune wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:20 am
This modification was done by the shop where the previous owner bought it from. Lik-sang.com that no longer exists.
It seems to me that an unusual, exceptionally large, number of panasonic q's were modded. So many that it's almost become hazy whether or not they were official in some sense.
Of course you would mod that mashine so it unfolds it full potential.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by emu_kidid » Tue Mar 12, 2019 10:14 pm

To set the modchip facts straight:

XenoGC only supports patching the 3 standard drive firmwares found in retail GameCubes. The Q is slightly different. You can see in the source of the XenoGC that it supports only the 3 [04, 06, 08]: XenoGC's QLite Main.asm.c

libOGC supports the 3 standard drives and the Q with its patches, meaning Swiss can read backups from the Panasonic Q DVD drive: libOGC's dvd.c

All IPL replacement modchips like Viper GC / Viper GC Extreme, Qoob SX, Qoob PRO should work in that they'll be able to boot up their BIOS, but whether or not they're capable of patching the drive to enable backups is another story. You'd be better off putting IPLBoot and booting Swiss on those modchips these days. Game exploits also work fine when combined to boot Swiss off a memory card.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:05 am

So the best option is to find one of the rare and elusive chips and puting iplboot on them?
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by Papy.G » Wed Mar 13, 2019 9:54 am

Do the region switch first, get a US copy of Wind Waker, maybe a WiiSD too, then see if getting a chip is worth it.
WW is not cheap these days, but maybe the faster exploit, there are some other exploitable games that are less sought for, 007AUF for example, but while the hack will only take 3 blocks on the MC, the hassle and time to get to Swiss can be frustrating, and make you want a modchip.
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Re: What modcip works in panasonic q?

Post by EthernumRasa » Wed Mar 13, 2019 8:32 pm

Papy.G wrote:
Wed Mar 13, 2019 9:54 am
Do the region switch first, get a US copy of Wind Waker, maybe a WiiSD too, then see if getting a chip is worth it.
WW is not cheap these days, but maybe the faster exploit, there are some other exploitable games that are less sought for, 007AUF for example, but while the hack will only take 3 blocks on the MC, the hassle and time to get to Swiss can be frustrating, and make you want a modchip.
Thats exactly what i dont want. I dont want to switch discs, boot swiss then boot again. My ideal solution would be put disc in, push power and the mashine boots directly to swiss so i can force 480p and widescreen.
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