Been a Long Time - Need Help/Instructions On Bert Ernie Exploit

[DanDaMan]

I have a 2 modded xbox which have been sitting in a box for 10+ years - one is chipped (bought it this way and don't know the chip), and the other softmodded (I did it with the Bert & Ernie exploit 10+ years ago).  I recently took them out and having a great time playing some old games on them.  

So at a local yard sale I picked up a xbox for $5.  I want to softmod it, but forgot all the details/instructions.  I just ftp''ed into my softmodded and see I renamed the c:/fonts to c:/f0nts and in the original c:/fonts have the 2 bert and ernie files.  From memory I think the xbe files on the root are the modded dashboard.   So my question is, if I copy Bert and Ernie to the c:/fonts and copy all the files from my root to the new xbox, is that all I need?   

Also, before the mod do I need to update the dash/kernel - does it matter?  I don't plan to use any xbox live, so can I leave the kernel as-is?

Also, the way I softmodded my previous unit was by hotswapping using my chipped xbox.  If I recall, I need to boot both, then unplug the ide cables from each and quickly plug the unmodded hdd to the chipped xbox - I then have access to the hdd files to add the files.  

Any advice would be appreciated.  Or if you have a link to an instruction page that would be great too (I searched google but nothing exists anymore).

 

Thanks

[KaosEngineer]

Leave Bert and Ernie alone. Possible Clock loops, specific dashboard version required.

Use a modern softmod package to mod the console.

Rocky5's Xbox Softmodding Tool Build v1.1.6

This videos a bit dated as the softmod package has been updated since its release but the procedure still works with the latest release:

 

[DanDaMan]

Thanks - I might try this newer exploit, however I don't have one of the 4 games needed for this mod to load.  Can I install it via hotswapping with my chipped xbox?  If so can someone give me some directions.   Though I might still want my old and trusted bert and ernie.  Can someone confirm my thoughts in my original post would work, or be able to provide me some instructions for bert and ernie.

 

Thanks

[JHanks]

On 6/23/2019 at 7:53 PM, KaosEngineer said:

Leave Bert and Ernie alone. Possible Clock loops, specific dashboard version required.

Use a modern softmod package to mod the console.

Rocky5's Xbox Softmodding Tool Build v1.1.6

This videos a bit dated as the softmod package has been updated since its release but the procedure still works with the latest release:

 

Thanks for the information and link KaosEngineer!!  It certainly has directed me in the right direction!

[KaosEngineer]

You know, maybe you don't, newer softmods actually use an offshoot of bert and ernie font exploit as the fonts were not signed so they are the way into the console's OS. Even with the newest softmodding packages like Rocky5's Xbox Softmodding Tool, it is used.

Source code for the Xbox Softmodding Tool is available at https://github.com/Rocky5/Xbox-Softmodding-Tool/

Font exploit - ernie.asm not sure where bert went I don't see an asm file for him:

https://github.com/Rocky5/Xbox-Softmodding-Tool/blob/cdf63d7d25484f6671be91f0011533f757fbfe38/App Sources/NKPatcher/Main NKP11/ernie.asm

This softmod uses ernie and NKPatcher 11 code to exploit the system.  However, it's still ernie (Xbox Book.xtf) that exploits the MS dashboard to start the process of modding the in-memory BIOS to hack the Xbox kernel. It runs C:\nkpatcher\default.xbe from the user hidden real C partition when the console boots. The real C partition is not visible once the exploit is in place.  The shadow C is (I think that's the right terminology for it).

Line of code from ernie.asm at the Xbox Softmodding Tool source repository on github.com:

xbestr db '\Device\Harddisk0\Partition2\nkpatcher;default.xbe',0