Qoob Chip

[schooluser]

So I managed to golf it down enough by using kprintf and replacing libfat with fatfs while keeping libogc's SD driver. Source code here, binaries as soon as emu_kidid has tested it on his SX.

That is awesome!

[novenary]

I've posted binaries here, in the "releases" tab. Still no Qoob SX support, as I'm trying to figure out the alignment of its scrambling, and emu_kidid wasn't able to provide me with a dump yet.

[schooluser]

I've posted binaries here, in the "releases" tab. Still no Qoob SX support, as I'm trying to figure out the alignment of its scrambling, and emu_kidid wasn't able to provide me with a dump yet.

Thank you for everything you've done!

One question, will this remove the standard Qoob menu that allows booting backups? Should I install a XenoGC if I want to boot backups as well? (Can you use both a Xeno and a Qoob together without interfering with each other?)

As far as the dump, is it something I can provide using mine and my broadband adapter or something?

[novenary]

The main point is to use it with Swiss which is able to boot DVD backups without any other modchip.
emu_kidid is still looking into dumping it so no problem there, but thanks for the offer.

[schooluser]

Well, the good new is, the RTC is fixed, thanks to Extrems for pointing me in the right direction.

The bad news is, only half of the already tiny SX flash can be used, as the other half is used as a recovery IPL. I'll have to try harder if I want to make it fit. Or figure out how to use the entire SX flash. Current compressed size with all screen output disabled is 86KB.

Maybe the only way to flash it would be like you flash the PS3 firmware or dreamcast bios... that you can't update it using the software update because it locks out anything through those channels.

I'd love to replace the recovery IPL with the updated Qoob IPL that allows booting backups and then install the ipl booter into the QoobSX update flash. On that note if anyone comes across a Qoob Pro I've got a second gamecube now that I'd like to chip... and I'm still trying to find out if a Qoob works without problems on a system that has a drive chip like a Xeno.

[novenary]

You don't need the Qoob IPL at all, Swiss already does everything it does. I got the lz version to fit in the 64KB limit, and I more or less know how to make a flashable upgrade for it but I haven't put a test together yet.

[schooluser]

You don't need the Qoob IPL at all, Swiss already does everything it does. I got the lz version to fit in the 64KB limit, and I more or less know how to make a flashable upgrade for it but I haven't put a test together yet.

Ah, cool, that's exactly what I'm looking for then, I didn't want to remove the option to play burned discs was all.

Thank you for all your help! Will be happily awaiting the successful test and release!

[highzeth]

You don't need the Qoob IPL at all, Swiss already does everything it does. I got the lz version to fit in the 64KB limit, and I more or less know how to make a flashable upgrade for it but I haven't put a test together yet.

I have a Qoob Pro that uses your swiss loader, splendid work. I'd love for my SX to have the same feature, did you find a way to upgrade it?

[novenary]

I have yet to try, I don't even remember much of my research on it.

[schooluser]

I'm glad to see this is still going on.

I have a QoobSX GC running GCOS 1.5 or something ancient I'll happily try it on.

Streetwalker and emu_kidid if there's anything I can do to help please let me know.

[highzeth]

I have yet to try, I don't even remember much of my research on it.

I can appreciate this not being a priority, hope you want to look into it at some point.

[Ripthorn]

Hey guys, I recently broght a old stock Qoob Pro, but it seems that the installation wire is missing.
Is it easy to find another one or should I cancel the purchase?

[novenary]

If you mean the wire harness that goes to the motherboard, you can solder your own to the Qoob instead, as for the lid switch harness, you don't need it.

[Ripthorn]

If you mean the wire harness that goes to the motherboard, you can solder your own to the Qoob instead, as for the lid switch harness, you don't need it.

This. Is missing the wire harness. Why is not necessary the lid switch harness?

[novenary]

It's only used by the stock Qoob IPL to patch the drive faster. It still works without and you should use iplboot to load Swiss anyway.

[toxic9]

Hi Streetwalker!
I'm posting here this time, so it can help anybody who needs.

Yesterday I was studying more of this stuff and I have only one more question!

Just to remind people that are not aware of what I want to do:
- I want to achieve running homebrew without Action Replay boot disc-
Now I know it is possible replacing qoob pro bios with iplboot.

But I would like (if possible) to keep qoob bios as primary loading method and I am thinking about this:

Setup A:
- install the latest Qoob bios on Qoob Pro Bios slot
- install Swiss (DOL) on empty slot
- load Swiss (I don't know how to load an application from extra slots but I think we have to push a button on console start-up?)
- open Swiss menu and access SD card in adapter and load an ISO (will it only support 2GB SD cards? I read it somewhere)

Setup B:
- install the latest Qoob bios on Qoob Pro Bios slot
- install iplboot on empty slot
- load iplboot pressing a special button?!
- I think it will load Swiss automatically if Swiss is present on SD card in adapter.
- Load ISO!

Is anything like this possible to be done?
Thanks in advance

[novenary]

iplboot can be built as a DOL and put into any slot to be loaded from the Qoob menu, but that's kind of pointless, Swiss does everything the Qoob bios does and more. You can also boot without an SD card inserted to get the regular IPL.
Swiss and iplboot support any card size, but some cards are unreliable for loading game backups because of constraints.

[Bugalo]

A couple of years ago, I bought a Qoob Pro chip, and I was not able to flash it: the flasher always crashed after writing 16kb of data. I posted my problem here in this thread, and despite the helpfulness of the members of this forum, I was not able to flash it. Today, I was able to flash the chip, so I would like to share my experience here, because it might help someone else in the future.

The problem was a hardware fault. In the memory chip (am29lv160d8), two of the pins were shorted (with a little bit of tin?). I originally saw this when I fist got the chip, but it seems I was not thorough enough removing it. Today, in desperation, I tried to clean this area again, and when I was convinced I removed the short-circuit, I tried the flasher again and it worked just fine.

I was also able to use the gqoob flasher program under linux. I am a gentoo linux user, and so I am not able to use the Ubuntu/Debian precompiled packages. In order to compile it from the source code, I did the following:

1.- Download the source code from either
https://gitorious.org/gqoob/mainline
or
http://jvaltane.kapsi.fi/deb/pool/

2.- Uncompress libqoob and qoob-flasher.

3.- Compile and install libqoob by doing:

Code: Select all

cd libqoob
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install

4.- Compile and install qoob-flasher

Code: Select all

export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=~/Qoob/libqoob
cd ../qoob-flasher
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install

5.- Tell usbhid to ignore the Qoob Pro device. If usbhid is installed as a module in your kernel, it suffices to create a file

Code: Select all

/etc/modprobe.d/qoobpro.conf

with the content

Code: Select all

options usbhid quirks=0x03eb:0x0001:0x00000004

If usbhid is compiled into the kernel (not loaded as a module), you will need to pass this command to the kernel during boot-up. This is done by editing the file

Code: Select all

/etc/default/grub

finding the option GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX and modifying it to read

Code: Select all

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="usbhid.quirks=0x03eb:0x0001:0x00000004"

Generate then the grub configuration with

Code: Select all

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

and reboot the computer.

6.- Plug the Qoob Pro. You might need to unplug it and plug it back (after 2-3 seconds) several times until both green leds turn on.

7.- As root, execute

Code: Select all

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
qoob-flaher

8.- In order to erase a memory slot, you can do

Code: Select all

qoob-flasher -vv -e0

where 0 is the number of the memory slot to be erased.

9.- To write a bios or swiss you can do

Code: Select all

qoob-flasher -vv -d -w0 swiss_r431-compressed.dol

where 0 is the number of the memory slot where the writing will start.

10.- You can read a complete list of options and examples both in the man page

Code: Select all

man qoob-flasher

and in the help

Code: Select all

qoob-flasher -h

[emu_kidid]

A couple of years ago, I bought a Qoob Pro chip, and I was not able to flash it: the flasher always crashed after writing 16kb of data. I posted my problem here in this thread, and despite the helpfulness of the members of this forum, I was not able to flash it. Today, I was able to flash the chip, so I would like to share my experience here, because it might help someone else in the future.

The problem was a hardware fault. In the memory chip (am29lv160d8), two of the pins were shorted (with a little bit of tin?). I originally saw this when I fist got the chip, but it seems I was not thorough enough removing it. Today, in desperation, I tried to clean this area again, and when I was convinced I removed the short-circuit, I tried the flasher again and it worked just fine.

I was also able to use the gqoob flasher program under linux. I am a gentoo linux user, and so I am not able to use the Ubuntu/Debian precompiled packages. In order to compile it from the source code, I did the following:

1.- Download the source code from either
https://gitorious.org/gqoob/mainline
or
http://jvaltane.kapsi.fi/deb/pool/

2.- Uncompress libqoob and qoob-flasher.

3.- Compile and install libqoob by doing:

Code: Select all

cd libqoob
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install

4.- Compile and install qoob-flasher

Code: Select all

export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=~/Qoob/libqoob
cd ../qoob-flasher
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install

5.- Tell usbhid to ignore the Qoob Pro device. If usbhid is installed as a module in your kernel, it suffices to create a file

Code: Select all

/etc/modprobe.d/qoobpro.conf

with the content

Code: Select all

options usbhid quirks=0x03eb:0x0001:0x00000004

If usbhid is compiled into the kernel (not loaded as a module), you will need to pass this command to the kernel during boot-up. This is done by editing the file

Code: Select all

/etc/default/grub

finding the option GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX and modifying it to read

Code: Select all

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="usbhid.quirks=0x03eb:0x0001:0x00000004"

Generate then the grub configuration with

Code: Select all

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

and reboot the computer.

6.- Plug the Qoob Pro. You might need to unplug it and plug it back (after 2-3 seconds) several times until both green leds turn on.

7.- As root, execute

Code: Select all

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
qoob-flaher

8.- In order to erase a memory slot, you can do

Code: Select all

qoob-flasher -vv -e0

where 0 is the number of the memory slot to be erased.

9.- To write a bios or swiss you can do

Code: Select all

qoob-flasher -vv -d -w0 swiss_r431-compressed.dol

where 0 is the number of the memory slot where the writing will start.

10.- You can read a complete list of options and examples both in the man page

Code: Select all

man qoob-flasher

and in the help

Code: Select all

qoob-flasher -h

Nice follow up

[schooluser]

I'm glad to see this thread hasn't died, great to see more info on it. Hoping to someday see more about the QoobSX being able to run iplboot but I know the interest has severely declined.

I still have yet to find a Qoob Pro chip, though someone is selling a GC modded with one for an outrageous $500 on Ebay right now...

I would be willing to pay $70 for a working Qoob Pro chip by itself.

Anyone who can get a QoobSX to accept a rom flash from disc with a firmware that loads iplboot and run Swiss from SD card, willing to give me the reliable method so I can use it and it tests on my system and works, I would then be willing to send that same amount of money, as that's all I'm wanting it for, to bypass the need to use a disc to play my Gamecube games.

[novenary]

The qoob sx has proven to be very difficult to work with, and without hardware to test with, I don't think I'll ever be able to support it. I might release an open source hardware design in the future, but it's pretty far off from being ready for public consumption.

[toxic9]

This could be a silly question, but why is it very difficult to patch the QOOB_SX.elf file withing qoob_13c_disc.iso for a version with ipl.boot ?
I'm also interested in using ipl.boot with SX =)

[novenary]

The Qoob Pro overrides the contents of the IPL ROM directly, so you can easily do whatever you want. Flashing without the USB cable still remains a mystery though.
The Qoob SX takes a different approach, since it can't be flashed over USB, it has a dual boot system to prevent bricks, and it's impossible to override that without knowing how the flashing software works. I've tried to reverse the dual boot logic but didn't succeed either.

[toxic9]

I finished patching the 1.3c upgrade DVD with ipl.boot for qoobSX.
Later in the evening I will try to update it through DVD and see what happens!

[novenary]

I can guarantee you that it won't work. The SX IPL doesn't use the same format.