ok there are couple of ways to fix your xbox:

First way, download and install xplorer360 in your PC. You can get it from my tut.

Then take the hdd off the broken xbox.

With PC off, install this hdd on Second IDE cable on PC. If you dont know which one is primary or secondary, just ask.

turn on pc. PC boots normally to windows. if not, then you have wrong connection.

Open xplorer360 try to read xbox hdd. Read my tut on the first page how to use xplorer360.

It should see the xbox hdd with partition 0-4.

Let me know, when you get here. Other ways I will tell you later.

Thank you! I really appreciate the replies!

Followed your instructions (very clear and well written btw!), and my disk DOES show up in Device Manager, but unfortunately xplorer360 can't find it. 8(

Thanks for the support!

did you install xbox's hdd on pC? Your hdd is unlock, xplorer360 should read it. NO xbox involve in this case.

Restart PC again to see if xplorer360 can read.

Thanks, i understood your instructions clearly. I have connected the HDD to my pc directly, and it is recognized in Device Manager, but other than that, no joy. I think the DOS tool i used to try and relock the drive has made my efforts moot. I have hotswapped so many times now, i'm really afraid of killing the HDD and losing everything. Also, the HDD is definitely locked now, because if i throw it into my modded xbox, it cannot open that way either.

cheers again

ok so this way not work.

Second way, more work. Do you know ftp?

Hello. yup yup... i FTP into my modded xbox daily.

ok.

- download and unrar Softmod files "Shademand's Ready Made Xbox SoftMod" 325MB from bittorrent. Read the first page for more info.
- download and burn iso of any autoinstaller disk. If you have already then ok.
- install modchip into a broken xbox. Put the hdd back into broken xbox
- Connect xbox to pc as you ftp
- turn on xbox with autoinstaller disk inside dvd drive.

What is on the main menu of autoinstaller disk? Like IP, hdd space, options, etc..

Thank you!

I have done this except I have been using my already modded xbox to attempt the boot with the bad HDD. (I'm afraid of breaking them both!) I have tried slayers and a bootable evox with a static IP already set to match my LAN. However, the boot disc simply does not start up. I cannot even get a white logo to appear under the X when booting when i have the bad HDD connected.

I have even tried booting up with a working hdd and a boot disk, and then hotswapping the HDD with the broken one, but i can never get anything to work this way either (my guess is that the hdd wasn't unlocked on boot up, so the bootdisk apps cannot access it either.) With this logic in mind, i attempted to use Configmagic with the hotswapped xbox way, and when trying to unlock the hdd, it says "HDD Not Lockable!" wtf? i thought it was locked?? Wierd.. i've really screwed the pooch here neh? 8-)

Arg! and Thanks for all your help!

NO i'm not doing hotswap. I will fix your xbox with modchip.

Install modchip into the broken xbox. It will load Slayer disk. On the main menu of slayer, what do you see?

Okay, i will move the modchip to the broken one and try to connect the HDD that way. It will take me a bit, so i'll respond later. Got to put a pause on this project for a while.. been at it for about 6 hours.

Thanks so much for your help. I'll hollar later.

Cheers again!

Hey, TheReturn, I'm back and THANKS YOU SO ****ING MUCH!! IT WORKED!
I copied all the files from that download you told me about and it worded! And it's already modded with pretty much everything so you saved me a bunch there too!

Thanks again

[EDIT]:
Uh, I was trying to put in the Halo 2 Map Pack to download th enew maps, then after I put it in, I get an error: "Error! No definistion file (either b:\cdxmedia\cdx_fffffff.inx or b:\cdxmed"... then it's cut off.
And when I got to the MSDash and go to Xbox Live->Recover Account, or Create Account, I see that little icon at the bottom and it goes back to the modded dash.
What's the problem? Everything else seems to work?

CHEERS..........

Well you want to go Live. You have to RESTORE xbox's hdd to factory condition. But it did not work on your xbox at the begining. YOu can try it now if you want. I dont know if it work or not.

How do you mean? I have everything else working great. Except for the Live parts. If I tryed both the original and the modded files, what else can I try doing? Is there any better files I can get to restore it to 'factory condition'?

"Shademand's Ready Made Xbox SoftMod" is softmod file. That is why you can't go LIve. Plus I dont know which method that Shademand did the softmod.

Well you can try to hotswap again and reinstall the working MS dash. If it does not work, then you are stuck.

Well, if it's softmodded, it should already come with all the necessary files needed to return it to it's original state. I believe he used the Mechassault (don't have original -Platinum Hits :[) method with SID. I can try restoring it with the softmod and if that doesn't work, I'll try to hotswap the original files you have up here again. And if that doesn't work, I have another Xbox that doesn't work (lol).

Thanks for the help. :)

Good luck.

LOL.... okay, i'm back. And i'm (very) sorry to now report that i have completely killed my HDD. AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRG! LOL Wow, what an adventure!!!! Can I go now? My brain is full. 8)

So, now i have a useless HDD, not even a click or an attempted spin on power up, not even when connected with my PC.
It is officially D E A D.
I'm thinking too many hotswaps or jiggling around.
So... i was thinking... if i put my modchip into the HDD-less xbox and boot with slayers disk, can I read the eeprom straight from the motherboard with configmagic and then save it to a newly created (retail formated) HDD and then start over?

Hmmm... i'm thinking this may be the way to go and was perhaps your reasoning for getting me to put the modchip into the bad xbox? (Bad Xbox, bad! Go to your room!)

Cheers for your patience!

download and unrar Softmod files "Shademand's Ready Made Xbox SoftMod" 325MB from bittorrent. You will have 2 folders: E and C.


I know your hdd is dead. So get a brand new hdd like 120GB. Don't need to format. Install it in a broken xbox and install modchip in the broken xbox too. Try to load autoinstall disk. It should load.

Format the hdd and install dashboard. Then install configmagic. Run configmagic to lock hdd and to backup eeprom.

set up ftp by using FlashFXP. FTP eeprom to PC. Then delete everything in C, E, F, X, Y, Z.

Then ftp everying inside C folder on PC to C drive. FTP everything inside E folder on PC to E drive.

turn off xbox. turn off modchip. Turn on xbox. Xbox should boot. If so, remove modchip.

Whoah. That sounds really hard and expensive. Lol. I would of just gone out and bought a new Xbox. And since the 360's out I'd just get that (which I do). If you can't do anything with your Xbox, I suggest going to Llama.com (http://www.llamma.com/xbox/xbox.htm). Thay boy broken Xbox's and parts. I plan on selling them my two broken Xbox's to them for some cash I can put toward a new Xbox, a modchip and harddrive (like the stuff at Modchipstore.com), or some 360 things. ;D
I am having trouble with my Xbox HDD so I say forget it; I'll just either try it on my other broken Xbox or just sell it to someone who will have a use for the console.
Best of luck everyone.

well if it is too expensive then get the 10GB hdd instead.

Thank you very much for the advice.. I will do this tonight! I already have a HDD I can use.

One question about your instructions:
You said, "Then ftp everying inside C folder on PC to C drive. FTP everything inside E folder on PC to E drive."
What files am copying from the PC? When you said "FTP eeprom to PC. Then delete everything in C, E, F, X, Y, Z."
Did you mean that I should copy everything to the PC first, before deleting it from the Xbox? Sorry, I think I missed that part.

Thanks again!

did you download the Softmod files "Shademand's Ready Made Xbox SoftMod" 325MB from bittorrent? Extract it you will have C and E folder.

Delete everything in Xbox hdd, the ftp C and E to xbox as I said above.

HI! ok, i have a problem and havent seemed to be able to find any answers, i softmodded my xbox and it works fine... untill i wanted to change the hard drive... i was going to use xboxhdm but when it was time to find my eeprom.bin in my backup ms directory... IT WAS GONE!!! wtf... i dont know what happend to it... i have all other files and definately did a backup. I dont know where to go or what to look for... i did however find a file called system_eeprom.bin in the xboxmediacenter directory... can i use that or can i use the hotswap technique to get my eeprom back??? PLEASE HELP!! has anybody ever heard of this missing eeprom file

@rxn155
What happen to original hdd? Is it still working? if so, just install the config magic to backup eeprom. Then use it for xboxhdm to lock the big hdd.

If the original hdd does not work, what is the error code?

OKay.. finally some success here! After putting my modchip and a newly formatted hdd in my bad xbox, i was able to boot up and use configmagic to grab my eeprom.bin from the motherboard and save it and then ftp it to my pc. 8-} Unfortunately, the Western Digital HDD i was using turns out to be "Not Lockable", so as soon as I get a hdd that I can lock, i will pop it in with the new eeprom and copy over the C and E drive files from the Sahemand disc and be done!

Thank you so very much for all of your help! I am very grateful and have learned quite a bit!

cheers!