Help Getting Started

[Kazuki]

I'd like to put my old xbox to good use as a media/emulation device, but I've never done anything like this before so I'm kind of lost. I've read things about splicing together a female usb to a male xbox connector in order to do the fake save-file method, but there's also this hotswapping method where all you need is your computer and you swap the xbox hd to it or something? Nearly every tutorial I've seen was old and had broken links everywhere.

What would be the easiest/cheapest method to softmod an xbox?

[JustinBeaird]

Same here too much old info to sort through. I would like to use the hot-swap method because I don't own any games
I also read something about using a circuitwriter pen to make the bios writable and flashing with a hacked bios, so I can use an ide to sata connector and 2tb hard drive. Any Help Please

[Heimdall]

Easiest

The easiest method is to use a gamesave installer. To do that here's what you do:

1. If your dash version isn't 5960 then run a post 2004 Live-enabled game (Halo 2 or later) and go through the process of signing into Xbox Live. You don't need to be connected to anything, the first thing the game should do is update your dashboard. Once it's done that you can quit the game - no need to go any further.
2. Buy a copy of Splinter Cell.
3. Download the Krayzie 1.1.1 gamesave softmod installer.
4. You need a mechanism to get a softmod installer onto the Xbox. You need Xplorer360 beta 6, plus either:
a. a USB stick that the Xbox will recognise (<4GB, not all work so there is some trial and error) and an Xbox to USB adapter.
b. An Xbox memory card, plus access to an existing modded Xbox to transfer the gamesave to the card.
c. An Xbox memory card, plus a controller modded to have a USB connector.
5. Plug the memory card or USB stick into the Xbox, and try to access it. The Xbox will format it for you.
6. Plug it into your PC, and use Xplorer360 beta 6 to copy the numbered gamesave folders (5553000c and 21585554 for Splinter Cell, 4d530017 for Mechassault, and 4541000d for 007-AUF) to the root of the memory card.
7. Plug the memory card back into the Xbox, and copy the gamesaves onto the Xbox hard drive.
8. Run the game, load the gamesave, and the softmod installer will launch.
9. Backup the eeprom as instructed, then select "Basic Install - UnleashX Dashboard" and follow the instructions.

You can skip steps 2-6 if you buy a ready made softmod kit from eBay. When you do the search for Splinter Cell one will appear in the results. However, you don't know which softmod you will get, so you should then grab a copy of HeXEn (Google Heimdall's Xbox Engineering Disc), burn it to DVD-R at 4x or slower, cold boot with it, and use it to install a clean copy of Krayzie 1.1.1 - option 2.2.4 or 2.2.7 depending on whether your Xbox is PAL or NTSC.

Cheapest

The cheapest method is to hotswap.

You need xboxhdm 1.9 if your PC has two IDE ports on the motherboard, and xboxhdm 2.2 if you only have one IDE port. You also need Kingroach NDURE 3.1.

Run Kingroach NDURE 3.1, select your Kernel version under "Kernel Selection" and select "Create XBOXHDM Installer" - leave all other options at default.

Build your xboxhdm disc using the stock C from HeXEn (HeXEn:\StockFiles\c\), and the Kingroach NDURE 3.1 files you just made. Rename ndure.htm to ndure (no extension), and place it in linux/ndure/ndure. Put the stock C in linux/C, and the Kingroach 3.1 files in linux/ndure (the Kingroach C and E directories and the ndure script should be immediately below this i.e. linux/ndure/C/ and linux/ndure/E/.) Build the xboxhdm image according to the instructions that come with the package.

Hotswap (detailed tutorial later) and run xboxhdm, select option 1 - boot VGA Console, then type xboxhd, then select option 2 - Rebuild C partition on existing Xbox drive. Once that has finished exit, then type xbrowser, run the ndure script, then select option 1.

TSOP Flashing

You need to solder the TSOP points. You can use a conductive pen instead. You then need to softmod the Xbox so you can run a flashing tool (Evox or Raincoat, or one of the scripted versions on HeXEn), or use a gamesave flasher. I'll post a more complete version when I get time, but the important point is that you still need to softmod the XBox first, or need all of the same tools you use for gamesave softmodding.

[Kazuki]

Thank you Heimdall! This will be very helpful~

[Kazuki]

Ugh, it figures my xbox's hard drive would die the day after I order Splinter Cell and a usb adapter. It was working fine a few days ago, but now it gives me an error code 07 and clicks a bit when starting up. I took the case apart and made sure everything was connected alright and still nothing. Removed the hard drive, put it into an external enclosure and my pc wasn't finding it (it was clicking and then it seemed to stop trying altogether).

So because I wasn't able to get my eeprom that means I won't be able to just put in another hard drive and have it work. I'll have to go buy an eeprom reader like this one to get the eeprom.bin file for my xbox, right? Is that the only thing I'll need in order to use a program to format the hard drive as an xbox hard drive?

[JustinBeaird]

I haven't bought one yet but I emailed that guy selling them on ebay about a month ago, and asked if it would read the eeprom on an xbox missing the hard drive and he said it will

I want to try and build one with radio shack parts but don't know what I need does anyone have a list of parts?

[Heimdall]

There's an eeprom reader tutorial with a parts list here.

[shulbocka]

Heimdall, sorry if this is a dumb question, but I just want to be sure. In the guide you wrote where you say to rename the ndure extension then place it in linux/ndure/ndure directory, I just want to make sure that's the correct directory, and not linux/ndure. I only ask because by default when I create the ndure files, it creates the ndure.htm in linux/ndure. Im sure you know that but i just want to be sure that I'm supposed to create an ndure folder within linux/ndure, get rid of the .htm extension on the ndure script, then place it in linux/ndure/ndure, and not just get rid of the extension and leave it in the default directory. Again, sorry if that's a dumb question, I'm just not having good luck with my Xbox ventures lately. Also thanks for the guides by the way. Coherant, thorough, and to the point.

[professor_jonny]

i believe you place it in the linux/ndure/ directory so the file would be placed in the ndure directory directly after the linux directory not nested inside another ndure directory.

[shulbocka]

Alright, thanks for the reply man. I figured that's how it was supposed to go, but the rest of his guide was well written and punctuated, so I couldn't tell if the extra "ndure" was intentional or not. Kind of like what you did with "directly" lol. Thanks again man, I appreciate it. I guess if that doesn't work, then I'll know for sure anyways.

[spicemuseum]

...
You need xboxhdm 1.9 if your PC has two IDE ports on the motherboard, and xboxhdm 2.2 if you only have one IDE port.
...

since xbox-scene forums are down, does anyone have an alternative link to the instructions for xboxhdm 2.2 - or a cached copy they could post here?

[Heimdall]

Code: Select all

1. First determine how much memory is in your system.
2. Pending your memory requirements, download either xboxhdm2.2-full-gui.rar (if using more than 512mb RAM) or xboxhdm2.2-lite-console.rar (if using less than 512mb RAM).
3. To get your USB to multi-boot you now need to download Bootable USB-Drive Utility 1.8.1 here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21702
4. Run the BOOTABLE_USB-DRIVE command script.
5. Select ‘v’ to make a note of what drive letter your USB is assigned to.
6. Select ‘c’ (create) in the MS_DOS window.
7. Select ‘s’ (create a new USB-stick) to create Fat32 stick
8. Now select the drive letter your USB-stick has been assigned to. Follow on-screen warnings about wiping your USB stick etc...
9. Bootable USB-Drive Utility 1.8.1 will now create your bootable USB stick.
10. Don't create BartPE files on the USB stick when requested. 
11. Extract all the contents of your xboxhdm2.2 zip (GUI or Console) to the root of your USB flash drive, overwriting any files.
12. Place your "eeprom.bin" file in the "eeprom" folder located on the root of the flash drive.
13. Populate the /hdm/C folder with the M$ Dashboard files.
14. Populate the /hdm/E folder with any chosen files (games saves etc) that you require installed.
15. That's it! Reboot using the USB drive and if all gone well, you should see the new (blue) boot screen. Choose what you need in the boot menu or wait a few seconds and Slax GUI/console (depending what version you downloaded) will be automatically selected.
16. Some help files now located in a “help” folder on the root of the USB stick including the (outdated) xboxhdmFAQ_8.1.pdf. There are also tips/code on using FreeDOS to un/lock your HDD and other some help on other advanced methods (hdparm/MHDD).

Please note SATA HDD drives are largely untested but some users have suggested that forcing IDE legacy mode in the BIOS, may yield success.

Code: Select all

Quick install notes:

1. Extract zipped files to the root of USB stick
2. Populate the /hdm/C folder with the M$ Dashboard files.
3. Populate the /hdm/E folder with any chosen files (games saves etc) that you require installed.
4. Add the eeprom to /eeprom if you intend to un/lock
5. Follow these instructions (http://themudcrab.com/acronis_grub4dos.php) to install the MBR to get your USB drive to multiboot (**make sure you select the right drive to install the MBR to. Get it wrong and you could brick your PC!)

[spicemuseum]

Fantastic, ta.