Thanks for that helpful info. I pulled the clock capacitor out, but didn't see any leakage. It is unfortunately some corrosion in the motherboard, which is beyond my capabilities.

I would love to backup the HDD, but can't get it started enough for a hot swap. Any other tricks on unlocking a drive?

Aloha all! I have an original Xbox that a friend soft modded years ago. I used it up until 2017 and then put it in storage. I unpacked it a couple weeks ago, bought an HDMI adaptor, and started enjoying the Xbox life again. A few days ago I tried to start it up and I got the dreaded orange flashing ...