HOW TO: Hotswap with XboxHDM v1.9 (Super Tutorial)

I have hacked a few xbox's with shademands ready made softmod by hotswap but recently lost it and was wondering if I can make a ready made softmod from one that is already softmodded and just hotswap it into an unmodded xbox just like I did with shademands?? I have 4 modded xbox's we use them for everything(streaming from pc, games, surfing,etc) but shademands ready made file went away with demonoid and I have 2 new unmodded boxes. If I copy the c and e drives from one of my modded boxes will I need to do anything with tdata or udata to ensure that the eeprom does not get screwed up or will it matter? Any help will be appreciated. Many thanks.

 

Much easier and safer to just Softmod correctly!

 

Alright, i've read through this whole thread and found nothing to help me fix my problem.

I've got what I believe is a v1.6 xbox and I'm trying to hotswap with a 4-5 year old Compaq. I necessitated a hotswap by getting confused with AIM and formatting my C drive. (ya, real good)

I've done everything up to the first screen of xboxhdm. My computer does boot up with a message about the CDROM options being updated and "No IDE fixed disk present". I usually push F2 to get to the xboxhdm screen. Then I plug in the xbox hardrive to the comp's IDE cable and wait. I'm not sure that the computer is recognizing it, the screen doesn't change or anything. I wait a minute and then have typed "1 xboxhd" and tried a second time by typing "1" and another time, while waiting for it to find the hd, it just went on without my prompt(the tutorial isn't clear on which one to use.) Either way, it says it's initializing and then the comp screen turns black and stays that way. I never get the next screen of xboxhdm.

What on earth is going on? How do I get to the next part? This is the only PC I have... Help?

 

hey chunkhead!
great tut! just had one problem though...
folowed your instructions because i had a problem with the dashboard (error 13) got to the error 12 continued to the last screen in hdm and i get a screen that reads ...

No xbox-partition table found on /dev/hda

Drive is not locked but locking is enabled
Dont reboot until you have build a working xbx HDD
since rebooting will relock the drive.
Press any key to abort the operation....

it won't go any further and as deisplayed it takes me back to the xboxhd menu if i press any key... what am i doing wrong? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

I had this same problem. Your drive is not unlocked. To get it to work I had to boot to the CD, and when given the option booted to DOS with unlocking / locking capabilities. Had to do the process at command prompt typing in unlockhd /p, or whatever the process is.

But until I really got my hard drive unlocked that is what mine did too. And I know I ran the Linux unlockhd previously and thought it was unlocked, but it was not really.

Not 100% sure which one finally did the trick, but I know i was prompted for my drive password after typing in unlockhd, and being asked which drive to unlock. The message you are getting is what I got too - because my drive was locked.

Or maybe I had to go to hddisabl and just turn off locking. Been a while, so I am not sure, but I know that it was not unlocked even though I thought it was, and that is the message I saw... I was frustrated for days.

Hope that helps point you in the right direction.

 

Can anybody give me a hand here?

 

I don't know if you still read this thread but the problem im having with this process is when i get to the part where files start copying to the c drive... It says "Building C-drive..." and sits there indefinetly. THe first cdr i tried made weird noises in the cdrom at this point, so I burnt a new one and now it spins up like its doing something for a bit then nothing. Up till this point, everything was working great.
Any ideas?


By the way, I really appreciate all your lists and tutorials. It must have taken quite some time to put all this together and its invaluable.

 

I would almost certainly put all of your problems down to misread or missed steps!

Either the Software you are using isn't mine, the HDD is locked of you have Hotswapped incorrectly!

@ nustud

I will suggest that you look at my Troubleshooter\tutorials and try some of the Hotswap tips!

@ bender300

As suggested, ensure that the HDD is in fact unlocked! Try the Hotswap process again!

@ zionad

Your HDD may be on the way out!? What was your reason for hotswapping?

 

i had the thing properly softmodded and it was all running great when i decided to access xbox live...
it tried to update and had an error then went into the live loop (error 16). thats when i started the hot swap

 

Try my Error 16 Hotswap guide, it will probably suit you better!

 

So i used a different computer and different program to burn the cd with 'verify data' on and it all worked great!

Thanks for all the help and the great tutorial!

 

I'm at wits end...i've tried both ways of hotswapping and I still cannot unlock the hard drive.

I keep getting a prompt for a password and that no operating system is found.

My nephew is going to kill me it's his box. Should I just get a new hard drive?

 

@ zionad

Congratulations! Glad we could get you going! Persistence is the key and good things come to those who wait!




@ dogwood
Slow down champ, no need to panic!

Talk us through what you have tried (in detail) and exactly what has gone wrong! We'll get you up and running, I promise!

 

ok...first...happy new year!

alright, i've tried BOTH ways of hot swapping but on bootup I cannot get past the password prompt for the xbox HD.

I've tried both ways eg. waiting for the microsoft logo to appear and then disconnecting and disconnecting when error 12 pops up.

I just want to be able to restore his xbox pre-soft mod...Chunkhead any help on unlocking that HD would be a Godsend..!

 

Where exactly is this prompt for a password? There shouldn't be a prompt...

More to the point, what are you trying to accomplish? What's wrong with your Xbox and why are you trying to fix it!

Talk to me, let me know what you were doing and what you did, then we can set you on the right track!

 

After the xbox was softmodded all of a sudden we were getting error 21. we could play original games but not backups. Then all of sudden neither. We started the hotswapping process but we were getting the HDD is locked prompt when connecting the xbox hDD to the pc. It was asking for the passkey/password.

In other words, the Xbox hdd is still locked even though we digilently followed the hotswap directions when disconnecting the hdd from the console.

 

Use the same advice I gave above, try the Error 16 tutorial. It shows hotswapping as well and is quite easy. My first modding experience was fixing an Error 21 off ebay! I used a guide found on here to hotswap and restore!

My guide is a easier, better laid out version of that guide!

Follow it and you'll be fine! Get yourself back to stock, then use my Softmodding guide to get you up modded again!

 

I followed you guide to the 't'...the problem is i cannot get that damn hdd unlocked!!!! I would sigh relief once I could get myself back to stock...

 

oh where art thou Chunkhead

 

Flat out working dude!

Sorry man, I'm kinda busy at the moment, moving house as well!

Still won't unlock... the error 12 is ok?

The only thing I can suggest is another PC! If the Error 12 is appearing on the screen, the HDD is definately unlocked!

Also try 'FatXplorer' instead or Xplorer360, it's in my software section!