Need Help with OG Xbox

[Nathan]

I am such a dumbass i was trying to get Insignia on my og xbox using splinter cell but it booted me into the xbox soft modding tool and i want to keep my xbox stock but i accidentaly hit A and not knowing what to do i shut it off and now it gives me error 21 what should i do 

[Bowlsnapper]

7 hours ago, Nathan said:

I am such a dumbass i was trying to get Insignia on my og xbox using splinter cell but it booted me into the xbox soft modding tool and i want to keep my xbox stock but i accidentaly hit A and not knowing what to do i shut it off and now it gives me error 21 what should i do 

Fuuuuuuuuuck dude...  How is your xbox modded?

[FrostyMaGee]

From what I recall error 21 is a dashboard error. I want to say there was a trick with certain games that were Xbox live enabled games where you could run them and then update your dashboard from there. This would get you back to stock as it were. You might be able to make Rocky’s extras disc or a Hexen disc and boot to that. If you had a backup of your eeprom you could more. 
 

There’s some info here and more in the Softmods section. I’m sure others will also comment as well. 

 I hope that helps!

Halo 2 was one game that could do that. Burnout 3 as well. There are others. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by FrostyMaGee
Added a few of the games for Xbl

[FrostyMaGee]

It occurred to me that you may also be able to boot to splinter cell and proceed with the exploit (assuming it’s still on your hdd). You could then let the softmod go all the way through and afterwards use Rocky’s or another utility to restore to the original dash. I believe that’s a possibility. 
 

Am I remembering that correctly guys? 

[Bowlsnapper]

8 hours ago, FrostyMaGee said:

It occurred to me that you may also be able to boot to splinter cell and proceed with the exploit (assuming it’s still on your hdd). You could then let the softmod go all the way through and afterwards use Rocky’s or another utility to restore to the original dash. I believe that’s a possibility. 
 

Am I remembering that correctly guys? 

theoretically, yes.

[FrostyMaGee]

3 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

theoretically, yes.

Yeah. I probably should’ve put that. Lol. There could be other factors in play to make that not work. I was thinking about an “if all else fails” scenario before maybe trying a hot swap route. 

[Bowlsnapper]

7 hours ago, FrostyMaGee said:

Yeah. I probably should’ve put that. Lol. There could be other factors in play to make that not work. I was thinking about an “if all else fails” scenario before maybe trying a hot swap route. 

Since the C partition has no actual important data on it, I would just format it anyway. But if a recovery works, why not?

[FrostyMaGee]

1 minute ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Since the C partition has no actual important data on it, I would just format it anyway. But if a recovery works, why not?

That was my thinking. Try and fix before just torching it and starting anew. Sometimes you have no choice but to burn the hdd (or partition) down though. Lol

[big F]

Im sure I have/had a dash mod disc that had an option to restore a retail harddrive. I did back in the day royally f one of mine up pulling the power cord while it was modding. 
So restoring to retail is possible, without opening the unit, via one of the exploits, like Splinter cell  or Mechwarrior. The question is in this day and age why bother. Just have the retail dash XBE there to use if you want/need it

Edited September 26, 2023 by big F

[FrostyMaGee]

33 minutes ago, big F said:

Im sure I have/had a dash mod disc that had an option to restore a retail harddrive. I did back in the day royally f one of mine up pulling the power cord while it was modding. 
So restoring to retail is possible, without opening the unit, via one of the exploits, like Splinter cell  or Mechwarrior. The question is in this day and age why bother. Just have the retail dash XBE there to use if you want/need it

Yeah I’m with you. I know I had one long ago as well (and currently with Rocky’s and hexen discs) and I remember it’s usually possible to restore (barring something horrible having taken place) when one gets screwed like that. It’s been a long time since I had to do it though. Lol. As for going back to stock I don’t know why either. I’d just let the mod finish and leave it at that. Run the stock if I had a reason to use it. It sounded like the OP really wanted it back to stock though hence my suggestions.  Damn I hope I didn’t jinx myself with that earlier comment. Lol

[Nathan]

I think if i can get it fixed i might keep it softmodded but keep the XboxDash on it

[Nathan]

So it should fix it if i pop back in splinter cell

[FrostyMaGee]

2 minutes ago, Nathan said:

So it should fix it if i pop back in splinter cell

You should be able to boot to splinter cell and use the exploit (assuming that game save is still on your hdd) and let the softmod complete. The dashboard will be replaced by the one with the softmod bud you can install the ms dash, should you wish, via one of the aforementioned discs. You can even run Rocky’s extras disc via iso and the xbe loader if you ftp it to your Xbox after the softmod. Definitely back up your eeprom when it prompts you though and afterwards save it off to your computer or somewhere so you have a copy off the Xbox itself. 
 

let us know how it goes and if you need anymore help though. 

[Nathan]

Okay thanks for all the help i honestly wouldn't of been able to figure it out myself

[Nathan]

i'll definitely let you guys know what happens when i put in Splinter Cell as the savefile should still be there on the hard drive

Edited September 26, 2023 by Nathan

[FrostyMaGee]

23 minutes ago, Nathan said:

Okay thanks for all the help i honestly wouldn't of been able to figure it out myself

You’re welcome. There are definitely folks that know a lot more than me here and have provided a lot of help over the years before I ever even made an acct. It’s a great place for all things about the original Xbox. Everyone has had to start somewhere.  

 

By the way, if you have a copy of halo 2 I still remember there being a way to have it update the dash for you should you want to try that route first. As I think about it from back in the day it’s possible you may have to do that with halo 2 or another similar with the 5960 dash update on it in order to get the softmod going at this point. Guess it all depends on how much got screwed up when it was interrupted. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by FrostyMaGee

[Bowlsnapper]

9 hours ago, FrostyMaGee said:

You’re welcome. There are definitely folks that know a lot more than me here and have provided a lot of help over the years before I ever even made an acct. It’s a great place for all things about the original Xbox. Everyone has had to start somewhere.  

 

By the way, if you have a copy of halo 2 I still remember there being a way to have it update the dash for you should you want to try that route first. As I think about it from back in the day it’s possible you may have to do that with halo 2 or another similar with the 5960 dash update on it in order to get the softmod going at this point. Guess it all depends on how much got screwed up when it was interrupted. 

I'm confused... How was this console modded exactly?

[FrostyMaGee]

1 hour ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I'm confused... How was this console modded exactly?

It sounded like the initial goal was to install insignia but he accidentally started a softmod using the SC exploit but killed it before it was done. After that the error 21. 

[Bowlsnapper]

On 9/26/2023 at 6:21 PM, FrostyMaGee said:

It sounded like the initial goal was to install insignia but he accidentally started a softmod using the SC exploit but killed it before it was done. After that the error 21. 

But how was a softmod accidentally done? That would mean that he already copied over the install/exploit files from a memcard to the HDD. And he then accidentally selected "Linux" in the game save menu in the game. Can you install insignia on a non-modified Xbox? I think you can, but it's a pain in the ass because you have to register the serial with the app, correct?

Maybe that's why the exploit was present... to run the Insignia application.....

NOT "App"! Fuck that term. I remember when Applebees ran a commercial advertising free "Apps!"... fucking appetizers. I was like uh, no, dude. I miss the days of Windows 95, when we used to run Applications... God those were happier days.

[sweetdarkdestiny]

2 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

God those were happier days.

You missed the best days with c64 and Amiga. BABY!

[FrostyMaGee]

9 minutes ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:

You missed the best days with c64 and Amiga. BABY!

I used to love the amiga and the commodore. All the old Interplay games like Wasteland. I remember thinking the amiga was awesome when I heard it play a song I’d heard on the radio and it sounded the same. Lol. Not to mention all the different programs and games around for it back then.

[FrostyMaGee]

3 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

But how was a softmod accidentally done? That would mean that he already copied over the install/exploit files from a memcard to the HDD. And he then accidentally selected "Linux" in the game save menu in the game. Can you install insignia on a non-modified Xbox? I think you can, but it's a pain in the ass because you have to register the serial with the app, correct?

Maybe that's why the exploit was present... to run the Insignia application.....

NOT "App"! Fuck that term. I remember when Applebees ran a commercial advertising free "Apps!"... fucking appetizers. I was like uh, no, dude. I miss the days of Windows 95, when we used to run Applications... God those were happier days.

I’m not sure on that part. Like you I assumed it was there for him to do the insignia install. I’ve never installed insignia itself so I’m not positive. 
 

That’s hilarious about that Applebees commercial. I remember that and cringing when I’d hear them say it. Lol

[Bowlsnapper]

8 hours ago, FrostyMaGee said:

I’m not sure on that part. Like you I assumed it was there for him to do the insignia install. I’ve never installed insignia itself so I’m not positive. 
 

That’s hilarious about that Applebees commercial. I remember that and cringing when I’d hear them say it. Lol

God THANK YOU for confirming I wasn't the only one cringing at that type of usage of the term "Apps." 

[big F]

8 hours ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:

You missed the best days with c64 and Amiga. BABY!

Still got all mine and very active in that community.

The things you can do now with modern Chinese PCB fab and inexpensive EDA. My 1980/90’s self would have some kind of seizure, so many things back then were only for very very deep pockets or straight up StarTrek, now easily done.    

The OGXbox is in that zone too, but just getting started on its journey. 

[fox]

1 hour ago, Bowlsnapper said:

God THANK YOU for confirming I wasn't the only one cringing at that type of usage of the term

that odious contraction actually became one of my trigger words, I can't believe other people hate it, too

I have a word filter add-on always running these days