Rescuing original HD Help

Discussion about Modding the XBOX, including hardware and software hacks.
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skeletor64
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Rescuing original HD Help

Post by skeletor64 »

Yesterday I purchased an xbox that from what I can tell is not modded. It has some issues however. Upon first booting it, the green splash and sound would startup as usual, but then the screen would freeze at the xbox logo. My feeling was that the dash couldn't load up. Thinking that maybe it had been a botched softmod, I tried booting to HeXen, but It did not read. I then put in Halo2 (just because), and it started to boot the game, but then suddenly I was at the original xbox dash where you set the clock. I continued on, and was at the original dash. I accessed the hard drive memory, because I first wanted to clear out old gave saves, and prepare to move the linux and splinter cell saves. I was able to delete the old gamesaves, but would get random hangups/freezes, but was eventually able to delete each game-save. When I tried copying over the files from the USB/Memory card, it said copy failed. I think this hard drive is having some issues reading/writing and is on its last legs.

Is there a way of swapping this drive with an already softmodded drive? If I can't get this original drive to at least function enough to get linux on there, it's really of no use to me. I was reading up a bit on the hot swap method, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and maybe applying some of that logic to this situation. My thought was maybe If I boot up with the DVD drive disconnected, I could unlock the original hard drive by forcing error code 13, then pop in an unlocked softmodded drive (which I would unlock as a slave in chimp via another xbox), then swap the hard drive IDE cable with the already softmodded hard drive. Will this work? Open to ideas/suggestions. Thanks!
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EvoluterX
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Re: Rescuing original HD Help

Post by EvoluterX »

skeletor64 wrote:Yesterday I purchased an xbox that from what I can tell is not modded. It has some issues however. Upon first booting it, the green splash and sound would startup as usual, but then the screen would freeze at the xbox logo. My feeling was that the dash couldn't load up. Thinking that maybe it had been a botched softmod, I tried booting to HeXen, but It did not read. I then put in Halo2 (just because), and it started to boot the game, but then suddenly I was at the original xbox dash where you set the clock. I continued on, and was at the original dash. I accessed the hard drive memory, because I first wanted to clear out old gave saves, and prepare to move the linux and splinter cell saves. I was able to delete the old gamesaves, but would get random hangups/freezes, but was eventually able to delete each game-save. When I tried copying over the files from the USB/Memory card, it said copy failed. I think this hard drive is having some issues reading/writing and is on its last legs.

Is there a way of swapping this drive with an already softmodded drive? If I can't get this original drive to at least function enough to get linux on there, it's really of no use to me. I was reading up a bit on the hot swap method, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and maybe applying some of that logic to this situation. My thought was maybe If I boot up with the DVD drive disconnected, I could unlock the original hard drive by forcing error code 13, then pop in an unlocked softmodded drive (which I would unlock as a slave in chimp via another xbox), then swap the hard drive IDE cable with the already softmodded hard drive. Will this work? Open to ideas/suggestions. Thanks!
Try building an EEPROM reader,read the EEPROM then build a new HDD using XboxHDM. Also,FYI,E13 will NOT unlock the HDD. E11 and 12 will. ;)

Here's quite why:

E13 - no dash found - this is generally sign of a really botched softmod disk. HDD will not unlock on this error.
E11 and E12 - no DVD-ROM drive found - this is because either the power cable (usually coloured yellow) or the IDE cable going to it is removed - you want to get this error in order to unlock the HDD.

As for softmodding - again, it's better if you build a EEPROM reader (see pic),read the EEPROM (use Ponyprog,then save the file as eeprom.bin - just google how to do that,there's tons of guides how to extract your EEPROM) and then add it to your XboxHDM disc,inside the EEPROM folder,then build the iso. You will need a PC that has 2 IDE ports,and have the HDD you are building set as primary master.
Attachments
iohf9k.jpg
Xbox v1.0 - stock drive,softmodded
Xbox v1.0 - ST380211A,EvoX M8+
Xbox v1.4 crystal - ST316025ACE,iND-BIOS 5004
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Rocky5
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Re: Rescuing original HD Help

Post by Rocky5 »

EvoluterX wrote:E13 - no dash found - this is generally sign of a really botched softmod disk. HDD will not unlock on this error.
The HDD is unlocked at this stage, i.e. It unlocked the HDD and couldn't find the xboxdash.xbe located on the C partition.

I'm assuming any error that isn't directly related to the kernel, ram or eeprom will have the HDD unlocked when displayed.
( as the kernel, ram and eeprom all happen before any other extra hardware initialisation )

I have hotswapped from error 13, error 16 I have never had to disconnect DVD cables.
( you have about 2 to 3 seconds to get the PC side IDE or IDE adaptor plugged in )



Also to the OP, sounds like the hdd is on its way out, you will need to do above ( what EvoluterX said ) to get the eeprom so you can lock a new drive to the Motherboard, install a chip or get it softmodded some how to get the eeprom.bin.
Download Xbox Softmodding Tool & Extras Disc
XBMC4Kids Mod


Xbox Gamertag = Connxtion
PSN ID = JCRocky5
skeletor64
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Re: Rescuing original HD Help

Post by skeletor64 »

Well, I appreciate the help guys. This drive is officially dead, so I'm going to have to try and mod chip it. I ordered an Aladdin XT +2 chip. Here's to learning new things, cheers!
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