Hello all, I'm an experienced Xbox modder (though I haven't modded on in some time), but I'm totally new to softmodding. I got a few Xbox's from some friends that I'm trying to get back up and running. Problem is, NONE of them have the retail HD's attached, and your guess is as good as mine as to where they are. In any case, I need some help...badly. Simply put, I have no idea what to do here. At my disposal I have: -One fully working, modded Xbox (mine...it's v1.4), fitted with an X3 Chip (v3249 bios...I think). -Three Xbox's that I hope to softmod, then install new 80Gb drives into. Again, I do NOT have the retail HD for any of them. -WinPC & FileZilla for FTP'ing -Slayers 2.7 Autoinstaller DVD. -NDURE's Splinter Cell exploit saved on my Action Replay memory card. -Copy of Splinter Cell (of course). I was thinking that I could attach a blank 80GB to my working Xbox, format it through the X3 bios, FTP the MS Dash, UnleashX, and all that good stuff onto it, then drop it in one of my friend's 'Box. We will just say that after a few hours, and several Amp'd induced fits of anger...this will not work. So, I need someone to tell me, from the beginning, in the most noob friendly way possible, what exactly the hell I need to do to get these Xbox's out of my living room. Thanks to all that respond.
I'm kinda confused on as what you what to do....softmodding is super easy and you already have all the materials so just look at some tutorials in the general discussion....as for the hard drive there are more tuts on unlocking your hdd.... if thats any help.....and get xbmc it will rock your world!!!
Your missing the most important key to softmodding, which is why you were unable to load up a HDD on your modded and then just plug it in to the other boxes. EEPROM file. In a retail box (and softmodded as well) the HDD is matched to the motherboard through a file on the eeprom that locks the HDD only to that console. The easest way is to hardmod all the boxes and then using AID and new HDD setup each one. I'm not sure, but if you build an eeprom reader and then get the eeprom file from each console and then build a HDD for each, that would work. Look through Chunkhead's FAQs on HDD failures without eeprom (which is basically what you have). I'm pretty sure there is a FAQ that will work for you, but you'll have to get the EEPROM file from each console and then build a HDD from there.
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/357863 $6 worth of parts at radioshack. (if you already own a soldering iron) I fix xboxes and resell them on ebay, and this little gadget is a miracle tool. Once you have the eeprom, read chunkheads tuts on softmodding, and you can download everything else you need for free.
So, the best way to proceed is to: -Get or build an EEPROM reader -Use that to get the EEPROM.BIN files off the non-working Xboxes. -Then drop the retail MS DASH onto the blank hard drive using Xplorer 360. -After that I can run the softmod again, and all should be well. Sound good? The only remaining questions I have is if I'm going to use Xplorer360 to setup the new hard drive, where does the EEPROM.BIN file go? In the root of 'C'? Also, does Xplorer360 allow you to lock the drive? If not how would I do that?
the method i use, if you have a PC that supports IDE drives is this one: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/533828 use a cd-rw in your pc drive, and you don't even waste a disc. The disc loads a clean retail harddrive image, and locks the drive to your supplied eeprom. Install the drive in the xbox, and use the memory card exploit and loader to load the softmod. You could load the softmod, using the disc method above, but i prefer the extra step, to make sure each step is working correctly, to narrow down any unexpected errors. Plus it makes uninstalling the softmod easier, if it happens to mess up. Before you start, just in case you havent yet checked, go here: http://xboxdrives.x-pec.com/?p=list and make sure your harddrives are lockable. This can save a lot of headaches later on, if you happen to have an unlockable drive. Eric
