Quirky Xbox

If you need any help with XBMC4XBOX, such as installing or using the software, please post it in here.
hawsey
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Quirky Xbox

Post by hawsey »

Hi good people.
I have just fished my trusty old Xbox out of the loft and I remembered it has a bit of an issue.
Sometimes it wont boot but tries too and ends up with the flashing green / red lights .
A fiddle with the hd cable at the back always eventually seems to get it running but I am not sure whether its just coincidence.
I would like a reliable box I dont have to mess on with like this to get working :-D
Any ideas?
Oh and it had an X 2 chip with a 320 gb hdd and its running on NTSC to get the HD cable working.
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by AZImmortal »

What shows up on your tv when you have these bootup problems? Or does it remain blank?
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by hawsey »

Blank
fxmech
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by fxmech »

Your cable may have a short in it somewhere
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by hawsey »

Ahh right thanks , have other xboxes so will try out on another before changing as its a hd one and was pricey.
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by hawsey »

Hmm not the lead then, could the hdd be faulty?
I either get boot or nothing until the red flashing lights
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by AZImmortal »

You're saying that you tried other cables known to be good on this Xbox and still have the same problems?
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by hawsey »

Yes it works fine on a softmod xbox but not on my X2 one with the 320 gb drive in it.
Looking at how easy it is now I might just put the 320g drive in the softmod box but I really wanted to stick with the chipped one if possible .
It just does not reliably boot 1st time and I want it for others to use who will have less patience than me :-D
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by hawsey »

All seems ok now, I now need to look at the tutorias to correctly format my 320gb HDD as last time I used it it started to lose data. Then find an FTP.

Then start loading it up with stuff.
Going to be busy :-)
Thanks for the help .


Then update the Xbmc
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by mrmajikbus45 »

Simple way to do it all. For formatting, use xbpartitioner 1.3. Download it as a standalone, download the Slayer's 2.98 disc, or HeXEn to use it. Fairly simple to do. For an FTP client, use either Filezilla or FlashFXP. Finally, seach the development boards for Baked Pi to look into your XBMC needs. Cheers.
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by hawsey »

Thanks again ,
Just hit a snag however , i just discovered a few folders of photographs that i dont have elsewhere on the XBOX , will formatting wipe these , i think it will !
Will it wipe what i have on the box now , clean ?
Aso does Hexen or Slayers not do the format too ? i didnt know about XPB partitioner until now ....
Busy looking at tutorials but dont want to use an old one and mess up :lol:
Thanks
Gary
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amvalk
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by amvalk »

Just to clarify, have you tried booting up on another BIOS using your X2's external switch?
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by Heimdall »

Reformatting the drive definitely gets rid of anything on there, so FTP the photos off there. As a side note, leaving anything solely on the Xbox is a bad idea - the version on your Xbox should only ever be a copy, because the Xbox file system has absolutely no resilience.

HeXEn formats the drive properly using XBPartitioner. Slayers 2.98 doesn't - it still uses the old Evox formatter, which doesn't understand large hard drives.

Edit: But see the post later for a clarification. Slayer's 2.98 has options that use XBPartitioner 1.3, which is excellent, but the bulk of the disk rebuild options don't use XBPartitioner, they still use the old Evox formatter.
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by hawsey »

Cheers,
no i have no external switch but when it boots up it has Executer 2 written on the screen together with the normal boot screen.

Just checked the photographs and its ok , i do have them in other places lol , but you know what its like , i just opened a random folder and thought i haven't seen these for years ;) but all is good to go now .

Just downloaded and burnt HeXEn , thank you Heimdall much appreciated for your efforts on this one .

Will get back with my story ................
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by mrmajikbus45 »

Heimdall, I will have to say that your statement of xbpartitioner 1.3 on Slayer's 2.98 not understanding large HDD is incorrect. Xman uses this all the time to build his 2TB machines, so I know that this isn't the truth. In all fairness, I know you're promoting your stuff, but to just be misinforming isn't cool. xbpartitioner 1.3 on Slayer's 2.98 has worked great for me with a 500GB, 750GB, and any other size that I have tried. The clusters are accurate, and the drives work fine.

OP, glad you got your stuff working using Hexen though. Just don't use the xbox as a primary storage location for something as Heimdall said. As a sitting backup, it's a brilliant idea though provided you have enough storage...
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by Heimdall »

I'm not promoting my stuff, and I'm not misinforming. I have always been really even handed about the strengths and weaknesses of all of the Xbox boot discs, including my own. I also never said that XBPartitioner 1.3 on Slayer's 2.98 didn't understand how to format a large hard drive.

The Standard Slayer's large hard drive rebuild menu options (the ones that start 3.x) all use the old Evox formatting routines, which don't work for large hard drives. If you want to format the hard drive properly you have to use options 4B.x. However, there is no manual and no on-disc help to tell you to do that. Consequently people will still use the 3.x options, and believe that their Xboxes are properly set up. If the authors of the versions of Slayers after 2.97 had wanted to sort it out properly they would have removed all of the old options, so there was no chance of people getting it wrong, and written new options to replace them.

The naming of the sections doesn't help. Section 3 is called "NEW INSTALL / FULL REBUILD", whereas Section 4 is called "APPS / EMUS / DASHES / UPGRADES / LOCK / FORMAT". Users who know no better will assume that, if they want to rebuild a hard drive, they should use one of the Section 3 options. Really, the 4B options should be under Section 3, because logically that is where they fit.

I do have a genuine question for you (I'd try it myself, but I am away from home for the next few days): If you use e.g. option 4b2-3 to set up a 500GB drive with XBPartitioner, then use option 3a3) NEW INSTALL - LARGE HDD to install the dashboards etc., what size clusters do you end up with on the F/G partitions?
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by mrmajikbus45 »

You did say so, now 4 posts above that Slayer's couldn't do it. I use the options located under the 4. menu, therefore I don't know what happens if you use the 3. menus. I'll grab an xbox off of the pile here, and do it the way that you asked me to (which is never the way I do it) just to quench a curiousity. I won't use the build of XBMC on that disc as it's obviously antiquated, and throw 3.5Beta on there, and use Slayer's to point to it on E:\Apps\XBMC.

Any particular HDD you want in it? I have a 320GB tops right now. Haven't picked up any others...
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by mrmajikbus45 »

Complete and tested using a 320GB WD Blue Caviar (only thing I had), it is 32k cluster of the F: according to xbpartitoner 1.3 program, and partition sized properly using the 3.x options on Slayer's 2.98. I will continue to do it with the 4.x options, because I know it works. Tested using a 1kb test file also, confirmed 32kb clusters.
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by Heimdall »

Slayer's can't do it, unless you manually pick an option other than the option that claims to build a new hard drive for you!

I suspect that your workflow involves using option 4b2-3 to format the drive, then manually using FTP to install a dash, which isn't what you expect to have to do with an autoinstall disc... and it certainly isn't what a relative newbie would do.

My suspicion / worry is that if you use 4b2-3 to format the 320GB drive as all F, then use 3a3 to install the dash etc. to the hard drive, the reformat of F and G that Evox does (automatically, as part of all of the 3a options) will reformat F back to 16kB clusters. If it doesn't then that's good, but it's no more than good luck.

Edit: you posted while I was typing. That's good, but still requires the user to know to use 4B2-3 then 3a3, and there's no manual to tell you that.
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Re: Quirky Xbox

Post by hawsey »

Right thanks guys, sounds like some possible pitfalls for people above if not carefull
I managed to get xbmc booting as main dash etc, thanks.
I am now trying to get 20 gb worth of visionary across to my xbox but apart from taking ages I so far have 20 failed files and when you look at them and try to overwrite it says the original exists but has 0 bytes do you want to overwrite so I just say yes, is this normal?
Just worried I have messed up.
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