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Include Softmod When Building a New XBox Hd From Scratch?


RMM
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While tinkering with my Ndure softmodded Xbox, I have managed to mess something up with the files on the hard drive.  I now get error 21.  I'm not too concerned as I was sure to back up the eeprom.   What I would like to do is use something like xboxhdm to build a new hard drive but have the softmod files included when the hard drive was being built.  This way I simply put the hard drive in and I dont have to go through the process of softmodding all over again as it was included when I built the hard drive.  From there I will probably just go ahead and TSOP flash the Xbox to make any future issues easier to deal with.

What would be the easiest way to do something like this?

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XboxHDM23USB Beta 3 does exactly what you want.  No original game disk is required.  Boot the console after building the drive with it on a PC and the softmod installer starts up to finish the installation. 

There will be no MS dashboard installed to the C drive when completed.  If you need/want to run the MS dashboard,  you will have to install it by either FTPing the files for it to the C drive (Clean_C_and_E_Files_for_Xbox.7z) or download the Xbox Softmodding Tools Extras Disc and boot it. Find the menu option to install the MS dashboard to the HDD.

Note: XboxHDM23USB Beta 3 requires the HDD to be connected to the PC with a USB-to-HDD interface adapter.  Place the eeprom.bin backup file in the root folder where you extract XboxHDM23USB Beta 3 to lock the HDD before exiting the app.  A softmodded console requires the HDD to be locked.

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Thanks for the suggestion.  I didn't realize a softmod was installed with xboxhdm23beta3.  I had thought the rebuild C option was to take the C drive to a virgin state.  

In any event it worked.  It is a very easy process if you can find an adapter that works with xboxhdm23beta3.  I ended up digging around the house and I found a little 2.5 sata hard drive enclosure that I used to format a 2.5 hard drive and I used that 2.5 hard drive with sata adapter to boot the Xbox.  From there I went ahead and flashed the Xbox TSOP with Xblast via the netflash option.  

I still would like to be able to unlock my original IDE hard drive that I messed up but I don't have an IDE computer anymore nor do I have an IDE usb adapter that works with xboxhdm23beta3.    I thought with the TSOP flashed and having the locked hard drive connected I could boot a recovery disc like Hexen and unlock the hard drive but the Xbox wont boot Hexen.

Another Idea I had is would it be possible to boot the xbox into a dash with a working hard drive, unplug that hard drive, plug in the locked hard drive and use a utility from the loaded dash that would unlock the hard drive?  Or maybe a second option of unplugging the DVD drive using the second hard drive in place of the dvd which would allow booting from one hard drive while being able to unlock the other one.

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8 hours ago, RMM said:

I still would like to be able to unlock my original IDE hard drive that I messed up but I don't have an IDE computer anymore nor do I have an IDE usb adapter that works with xboxhdm23beta3.

What is the USB VendorID:ProductID for your adapter?  Some adapters don't work without adding an additional option to all the smartctl.exe command lines in the XboxHD/[unlockhdd.bat, lockhdd.bat, checklockhdd.bat] files.

8 hours ago, RMM said:

I thought with the TSOP flashed and having the locked hard drive connected I could boot a recovery disc like Hexen and unlock the hard drive but the Xbox wont boot Hexen.

XBlastOS is not a hacked BIOS to load Xbox disks.  It is MS free code and doesn't run games I'm surprised the Xbox boots into the softmod with it.  I've never tried to use it to boot into the MS dashboard as I thought since it is based on Cromwell (Linux) BIOS's it was only for flashing a different bank with a hacked BIOS or booting a linux distro for the Xbox and other testing built into it.

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Sorry for the confusion in my explanation,  I didn't install the XBlastOS.  I used XBlast to flash evox m8+ to the TSOP. 

The USB IDE adapter I have is the one I mentioned in another thread.  It is a Sabrent (USB-DS12) combo IDE + SATA adapter.  It has a vid of 0x1F75 and apparently is not supported in xboxhdm23.  I was hoping there was some way to unlock it with the Xbox since I don't have an IDE adapter that works with xboxhdm23.  I did try to boot the TSOPed Xbox with the locked drive and Hexen in the DVD but after the flubber animation and Microsoft text the screen just goes blank and stays that way.

Edited by RMM
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2 hours ago, RMM said:

Sorry for the confusion in my explanation,  I didn't install the XBlastOS.  I used XBlast to flash evox m8+ to the TSOP. 

The USB IDE adapter I have is the one I mentioned in another thread.  It is a Sabrent (USB-DS12) combo IDE + SATA adapter.  It has a vid of 0x1F75 and apparently is not supported in xboxhdm23.  I was hoping there was some way to unlock it with the Xbox since I don't have an IDE adapter that works with xboxhdm23.  I did try to boot the TSOPed Xbox with the locked drive and Hexen in the DVD but after the flubber animation and Microsoft text the screen just goes blank and stays that way.

If the original drive is softmodded it will crash after the Xlogo screen, so you will need to boot a disc like hexen to get access. 

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3 hours ago, RMM said:

Sorry for the confusion in my explanation,  I didn't install the XBlastOS.  I used XBlast to flash evox m8+ to the TSOP. 

The USB IDE adapter I have is the one I mentioned in another thread.  It is a Sabrent (USB-DS12) combo IDE + SATA adapter.  It has a vid of 0x1F75 and apparently is not supported in xboxhdm23.  I was hoping there was some way to unlock it with the Xbox since I don't have an IDE adapter that works with xboxhdm23.  I did try to boot the TSOPed Xbox with the locked drive and Hexen in the DVD but after the flubber animation and Microsoft text the screen just goes blank and stays that way.

I think you need to add "-d sat" to every line that calls smartctl.exe found in the batch files in the XboxHD folder of XboxHDM23USB Beta 3.

 

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15 hours ago, Rocky5 said:

If the original drive is softmodded it will crash after the Xlogo screen, so you will need to boot a disc like hexen to get access. 

I messed up my softmod and the Xbox wouldnt boot even with Hexen in the DVD.  I ended up formatting another hard drive and installed the xboxhdm23beta3 softmod on it.  That second hard drive worked but I am now trying to unlock my original hard drive but I dont have an IDE computer anymore and xboxhdm23beta3 doesnt seem to work fully with the IDE USB adapter I have.  I could be doing something wrong however.

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14 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

I think you need to add "-d sat" to every line that calls smartctl.exe found in the batch files in the XboxHD folder of XboxHDM23USB Beta 3.

 

I finally got an IDE hard drive to lock/unlock but it doesnt work on the original IDE Xbox hard drive or two other IDE hard drives I tried.   SATA hard drives dont even show up

When I plug in the xbox IDE hard drive to the USB adapter and check the lock status I get a SCSI error.

error1.jpg

Edited by RMM
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18 hours ago, KaosEngineer said:

Try opening a cmd.exe window and try the following command line:

smartctl --scan

Does it show your USB connecteed HDD?

You may have to add the path to the smartctl command or be in the folder that contains it and use:

.\smartctl.exe --scan

That's two dashes before "scan".

All 3 IDE hard drives show up even without a scan.  If I run xboxhd.bat each of the 3 IDE drives will show up as a choice in the menu when I connect that particular hard drive to the adapter.   Seeing the hard drive as being connected doesn't appear to be the issue for xboxhdm. The problem is whenever I select one of the original Xbox hard drives as the drive I want to lock/unlock/check status,  I get that SCSI error.  If I use a Western Digital 250GB IDE hard drive on that same USB adapter I can select it from the list and can lock/unlock it with no problem with no error.  I get the error when I select one of the 2 xbox hard drives. 

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