Update Xecuter to Cerbios + Insignia

[NokSueCow]

A friend has found an xbox with an Xecuter with the front panel switches. He's asking if I could upgrade it to a 3TB with Cerbios and be able to use Insignia. As I've never dealt with hardmods, is there a guide that I can use to direct me? Is it as easy as formatting the hdd with Hazeno's guide, inserting it into the xbox, and updating the bios somehow? He doesn't know which version Xecuter it is, but since it has the bank switches, is it safe to say it's a v3? Is there a big difference between 3/3CE for bios? He's going to get me pics soon.

I've read that some chips block access to xbl, is that no longer relevant if you have Cerbios?

[Bowlsnapper]

1 hour ago, NokSueCow said:

A friend has found an xbox with an Xecuter with the front panel switches. He's asking if I could upgrade it to a 3TB with Cerbios and be able to use Insignia. As I've never dealt with hardmods, is there a guide that I can use to direct me? Is it as easy as formatting the hdd with Hazeno's guide, inserting it into the xbox, and updating the bios somehow? He doesn't know which version Xecuter it is, but since it has the bank switches, is it safe to say it's a v3? Is there a big difference between 3/3CE for bios? He's going to get me pics soon.

I've read that some chips block access to xbl, is that no longer relevant if you have Cerbios?

CE is a hardware difference. Bios will not matter there. Yes, if it has the switch bank up front, it's an X3.

Cerbios will not block live. Either use X3 ConfigLive (hold white button during the boot animation to go into it) to flash Cerbios (I flash it to bank 5 (switches 1,2 & 4 on), keeping the X3 bios on banks 1-4 (switches 1 & 2 on), or use FlashBios which you can boot by pressing power and eject to boot. I would use X3CL to flash. You can flash via HTTP to keep things simple. Use an installer disc, or image the drive with a good downloaded image. You'll be aight.

[MadMartigan]

I believe all xecuters have front panel switches. X3 just had many more dips than the others. A picture of yours would give a definite answer to whether it's an X3 or not. 

[GreenDevil]

I'm in the same boat. Just dusted off my old X3 modded 1.6. Still boots to the latest X3 bios but can't seem to boot to the backup/flash bios...is it possible that the flash protection switch on the board itself is preventing me from booting into it?

[MadMartigan]

Yes that’s highly possible. You can add a little contact cleaner or some isopropyl alcohol and hit it with a tooth brush or something that will break up the grime or corrosion within the switch. 
I’ve only had this happen once and I did eventually get it work. The switches are also readily available online if you just want to replace it. 

If you are strictly asking about the protection switch preventing you from flashing a bios, then yes, that is absolutely the problem if protection mode is on. 

Edited March 17 by MadMartigan

[Bowlsnapper]

3 hours ago, GreenDevil said:

I'm in the same boat. Just dusted off my old X3 modded 1.6. Still boots to the latest X3 bios but can't seem to boot to the backup/flash bios...is it possible that the flash protection switch on the board itself is preventing me from booting into it?

The flash protection being on will only cause an error to display when attempting to perform the actual flash operation. You will still be able to boot flashbios by quickly pressing power+eject. You know you have a problem if you tell it to flash a bin and you get an error. However, I would go ahead and flash Cerbios by booting X3 Config Live. Make sure you are holding white at the very moment when the microsoft logo shows up at the bottom at the end of the boot animation when booting the X3 bios. So start pressing a bit before that happens. You will boot into CL. Find the bios flashing in the menu and flash to bank 5 (assuming that the X3 bios is on 1-4). Bank 5 is switches 1,2 & 4 on. You can technically flash to 5 no matter what the switches are doing, but you will need to have those on in order to BOOT bank 5.