My very own Softmod Hotswap Guide!! ( WORKS ) EASY and friendly thx to shademand and xbhdm for the great tools

Okay so here goes. after a long hard read and download nearly everything on the web i figured out how to successfully hotswap and install install softmod.

This way costs zero dollars and there is little effort req. on your part thanks to some very great people!! I will make sure that they duely noted in this post!!

First things first

yes you can fry alot of stuff hotswapping so pay attention and try not to do anything stoooopid. i fryed an 80 trying this so i know it can happen.

the point is that i am going to try to explain this without getting banned.

what you need

XBHDM ( usual places )
XBHD image ( again usual places )
DVD-R ( go buy one lol )
internet ( ie you would never be able to read this )

okay now you have what you need. and now you want to know how do this without killing any of your hardware!

I will go through this step by step and then you should maybe print it out and read it again then you can try it.

i will detail the terms i will use

xbox ide = the ide cable the connects the hdd to the xbox console

pc ide = the cable connecting your pc hdd to the computer

hhd autodetect = the state the displays on your pc during boot where it says " detecting hdd " or something along those lines

boot drive = the state on your pc after it detects the hdd. this is when it starts looking for disks and drives to boot from.

okay i think i got the most of it.

1. You need to put your xbox and your pc side by side. Then open both and make sure that it is possible for you to plug the pc ide into your xbox hdd.

2. turn on the xbox and wait 10-30 seconds. this will give the console time to unlock the hdd.

3. disconnect the xbox hdd ide and connect the drive to your pc ide. ( leave the xbox on and the power cable connected to the xbox hdd DO NOT UNPLUG THE XBOX HDD POWER CABLE!! )

4. turn your pc off.

5. disconnect the pc ide cable and connect it to the xbox hdd.

6. Turn on the pc. the bios will autodetect the xbox hdd. Before the pc starts to boot and after it detects the drive press the PAUSE key and this will halt the system.

7. you halted the system before it started booting for one reason. when you turned on the pc the drive may have locked again by default. and that will prevent you from editing anything on the drive. this too is very important.

8. disconnect the xbox hdd from the pc while the pc is still on the xbox is still on. and reconnect the xbox hdd to the xbox ide.

9. turn off the xbox and then turn it on again, wait 10-30 seconds and disconnect the xbox hdd ide and connect it again to the pc.

10. press enter on the pc to continue loading. it will take you to the xbhdm boot screen.

11. here you have two options. the xbox browser or the drive maker.

12. type in the command to run the drive maker and install from scratch. this will cause the program to format the drive and install the files from the C and E dir on the disk.

13. Go have a cup of coffee or something. keep an eye on the screen as there a couple of prompts to follow.

14. the drive copy is finished!!

15. shut down the pc, connect the xbox hdd to the xbox ide, reconnect your own hdd, and start putting everything back together. OR test and make sure install went okay by trying your xbox. this was especially easy for me as i have a tv wonder card so i can see the output of the xbox on my pc screen.

16. if all went well your xbox will boot to the new dashboard and have everything ready for you to use.



there is always more to add. and i know this. i will try to cover some more essentials here

- the image i used used the evox dashboard so before i made the xbhdm boot disk i had to configure the evox ini file for my network and veryfy the ftp settings as well as name and pass for ftp.

- if anyone has the means to be a seeder please mail me or respond in this thread as i will produce a complete iso for install. the file is huge though 2.2G

- I did not personally write any software that is used here. I take no credit for their AWESOME programming abilities. all i did was try to reallocate the info in one usefull thread.

- I absolutly have the utmost appreciation for the makers of the great and powerful xbhdm and those who are willing to upload their hdd image for others to use.


This is my first shot at this. As i spent four days reading and trying i figured i would put it into one very successfull guide that will get it right on the first try!

Thanks again to everyone that made the software and files available as well as the coders that made it work!! you guys are awsome.

 

i belive i can do some seeding for you on this, but id like to know if you can, install the trainer collection i have on this before i seed. ive tryed ftp and i never have been able to do it. so im stuck with a folder full of game trainers im wanting to use.

 

Hmm...

***WARNING***

This is a VERY dangerous way to mod your Xbox!

Although the concept "works", it has many flaws.

Firstly, there is no backup or second chances. Should anything go wrong you will be left with an almost useless Xbox.

Don't be fooled, there are many things that can go wrong.

What if you have a v1.6 Xbox?
Power failure?
Bad connections?
Accidently followed instructions badly?
Bad 'image' download

The list goes on...


Secondly, whats all this...

To hotswap you simply turn off the PC, unplug the PC HDD, boot your Xbox, unplug it after the "Microsoft' logo appears, plug it into the PC, turn the PC on and it loads!

Why would the Xbox lock itself again?


I can't strees how much of a bad idea this is!

I appreciate your thinking and the effort you went to, but it's just not safe.

Feel free to look at the tutorials i've written regarding softmodding.

 

stryker69
Junior Member
_
i belive i can do some seeding for you on this, but id like to know if you can, install the trainer collection i have on this before i seed. ive tryed ftp and i never have been able to do it. so im stuck with a folder full of game trainers im wanting to use.
[ + quote]

seeing as a dvd is 4.7 gig i think we may have room to make addons. though there are two hdd clones there already. so as for room yeah it can be done. pm me i guess and we'll work it out.

chunkhead
Senior Member

as for you. I have read, read and read some more. on my pc with my xbox hdd and it got locked at every opportunity at the xbox and at my pc. i read all the tuts i could find and there was no mention of the hdd locking from the pc bios. four days later and 100+ attempts i figured out it my pc that was relocking the drive before i got the chance to edit the drive.

 

besides this mothod req. no spending of cash on games.
no extra hardware

and i feel that if a person does not understand the device well enough to know the risks offhand then they probly find another way to do this.

for me it was free and with the exception of an 80 gig drive i fried nothing ( the fried drive happened around attempt 78 i was no longer thinking clearly and inadvertently connect it to my pc while the pc was on PHHHHZZZZ ker ticker ker ticker ker ticker drive no good. the upside being it was a spare in the first place lol )

 

Look, i'm not going to get into an argument with you, you seem like a nice kid and you mean well. However...

* I don't destroy HDDs.
* I don't have any issues locking or unlocking drives.
* I don't offer advice that is potentially dangerous, without major warnings that ensure the end user understands the risks fully.
* I have NEVER had a PC lock a drive on me. Only the Xbox can lock the drive, otherwise the drive would be dead. (1000+ drives succesfully modded)
* I have been modding consoles, phones and other electronic devices for over 10 years.

More to the point, if you don't understand how the process works and are quite happy to just settle with "It Works!" then you have no place in modding!

What are you going to advise when somebody destroys their Xbox? Do you know how to fix it?

No, I have to help them fix it!

As for the purchase of games... if your such a tight arse as to buy a secondhand game for $5 to mod your console...

END RANT!

 

allright cool. i was just trying to share how i did it.

i get the rant. i am very impressed you been at this stuff that long.

moreover i think it is very surprising too that my hdd relock the drive. and i probably would have been fine with " It Works! " except that in all the reading i found it was surprising that this issue never came up. therefore i thought i try to help as best i knew how by putting this up where it explains how to get around that issue as well.

chances are if someone mucks it up you will be the one pm and emailing all over the place to fix it. That just means your the pro. so in a nutshell.

- i never saw it before so i put it here! easy as that. no rant req.

 

PLease note that there are trainers included. You Will need your eeprom on 3 1/2 floppy if you plan on using a non hotswap drive!