Error 21, Won't Boot Disks, Have Eprom, Not Original Hd, No Clean Options

[hrichards]

Hi, I also have no clean backup. I have seen many topics about this error, but none like mine, or that fix mine.

I have a first gen xbox. I had a very old phenix (PBL) exploit and evox dash. I used the xbox about 5 times a year and I always had to struggle getting through the clock loop, but if I hit the controller just right and said the right prayer, it worked. I never received an error. The original MS dash never worked after the exploit was installed, I don't even know what it looks like, don't care (not in a negative way).

Well I pulled it out of storage this time and booted it up, played a few games from the dash exploit and then let it sit for a few weeks. I also remember playing around in Xbox media center last time trying to play a video. It's a very old version.

So I tried booting it up a few weeks ago, and it gave me the error 21. I can't boot off a disc, original or dvd movie.

I have the hd out, can unlock it, and see the files in the file system. I used Ndure to install a generic kernel and font hack to see if I could get it to boot past error 21, no dice, no dash, no disc booting. It shows the micosoft logo on the bottom of the bootscreen and then goes into error 21.

I copied over my old backup but I think it's a backup of the exploit, it didn't work.

I don't have another xbox.

I would be greatfull for any help.

This post has been edited by hrichards: Mar 12 2008, 04:16 AM

[obcd]

Hi,

you will need a couple of software packages:

1. xboxhdm
2. kingroach ndure 3.1
3. the original C and E M$dash files. (You can use the Slayers Iso and extract the files with Qwix)

You can create a xbox harddisk from scratch with xboxhdm and the M$dash files. If that harddisk is working, you can softmod it with the kingroach ndure package. Check your Kernel and Dashboard version before you start the softmod.

It's often very hard to say what causes the error 21. It's easier to simply rebuild the harddisk.

You can use xbplorer360 to backup everything you wan't to keep from the disk.

regards.

[hrichards]

Hi,

you will need a couple of software packages:

1. xboxhdm
2. kingroach ndure 3.1
3. the original C and E M$dash files. (You can use the Slayers Iso and extract the files with Qwix)

You can create a xbox harddisk from scratch with xboxhdm and the M$dash files. If that harddisk is working, you can softmod it with the kingroach ndure package. Check your Kernel and Dashboard version before you start the softmod.

It's often very hard to say what causes the error 21. It's easier to simply rebuild the harddisk.

You can use xbplorer360 to backup everything you wan't to keep from the disk.

regards.

Ok. Is there a way to determine my kernel version from my old backup files? I found my bios version but not my kernel version in my drive backup. I also have a huge amount of data on the f partition. Will I loose that rebuilding the c and e partition?

[Bomb Bloke]

Some consoles have the kernel number on a sticker, sitting on the TSOP itself. Only ever seen this once though, in all other cases you need to get a dashboard to boot on the system (you could install just the MS Dash backup from the Slayers disc for this purpose).

XBoxHDM can rebuild just C and E without touching F. Read it's documentation if you want to be on the safe side, it's very informative.

[hrichards]

Some consoles have the kernel number on a sticker, sitting on the TSOP itself. Only ever seen this once though, in all other cases you need to get a dashboard to boot on the system (you could install just the MS Dash backup from the Slayers disc for this purpose).

XBoxHDM can rebuild just C and E without touching F. Read it's documentation if you want to be on the safe side, it's very informative.

OK, got the kernel. 4034 marked with a big sticker on the motherboard.

I fired up xplorer 360 tonight to get to the drive to save my games off of it but when I do it, xplorer360 loads up and then when I choose to open hard drive or memory card, it pauses for a few seconds and then closes. I'm using version beta 6

[hrichards]

OK, got the kernel. 4034 marked with a big sticker on the motherboard.

I fired up xplorer 360 tonight to get to the drive to save my games off of it but when I do it, xplorer360 loads up and then when I choose to open hard drive or memory card, it pauses for a few seconds and then closes. I'm using version beta 6

ok xplorer360 was closing because I didn't have vbruntime6 installed. I still do not have it installed, but I think it is just an issue with getting the required files. I decided to mount my ntfs windows drive in linux and try to use xbrowser to copy my files off, but xboxhdm doesn't have ntfs write support loaded into the kernel, and adding it is beyond the scope of my knowledge. I'm trying to get xplorer360 working so I can my savegames and backups off.

[hrichards]

Hi, I also have no clean backup. I have seen many topics about this error, but none like mine, or that fix mine.

I have a first gen xbox. I had a very old phenix (PBL) exploit and evox dash. I used the xbox about 5 times a year and I always had to struggle getting through the clock loop, but if I hit the controller just right and said the right prayer, it worked. I never received an error. The original MS dash never worked after the exploit was installed, I don't even know what it looks like, don't care (not in a negative way).

Well I pulled it out of storage this time and booted it up, played a few games from the dash exploit and then let it sit for a few weeks. I also remember playing around in Xbox media center last time trying to play a video. It's a very old version.

So I tried booting it up a few weeks ago, and it gave me the error 21. I can't boot off a disc, original or dvd movie.

I have the hd out, can unlock it, and see the files in the file system. I used Ndure to install a generic kernel and font hack to see if I could get it to boot past error 21, no dice, no dash, no disc booting. It shows the micosoft logo on the bottom of the bootscreen and then goes into error 21.

I copied over my old backup but I think it's a backup of the exploit, it didn't work.

I don't have another xbox.

I would be greatfull for any help.

Ok. Xplorer360 still will not work. I downloaded vb6runtime from m$ but it still closes without reason or message about 5 seconds after I click on open hard drive or memory card. Please any help would be so appreciated.

[obcd]

Hi,

are you sure the harddisk is unlocked?

you could try the winhex program. It reads harddisks on a low level sector based way. It will tell you that the disk is readable in your pc.

regards.

[4real*leb]

If you can cold boot an auto-installer, you don't have to mess around with the hard drive.
You would just have to install a new dash from within the auto-installer.

[hrichards]

If you can cold boot an auto-installer, you don't have to mess around with the hard drive.
You would just have to install a new dash from within the auto-installer.

The xbox will not boot with a retail CD or any other, it's only a softmod, i tried replacing the files on c and e but get the same error.


The HD is unlocked because I can see the contents and read and write files to it inside xboxHDM under linux, but NTFS disk writing is not supported in that release of linux, so I can't copy the files from my xbox hd to my computer HD which is in NTFS format.

xplorer360 and fatxplorer do load up just fine, they even detect the drive as \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0, but after I click OK, the program closes, both react in the same way.

I would like to read the xbox drive in windows, If I need to write to it, I can do that in xboxhdm.

The problem with doing a raw read, is it's a 120 gig drive, and I don't have anything that can hold something that big.

[hrichards]

The xbox will not boot with a retail CD or any other, it's only a softmod, i tried replacing the files on c and e but get the same error.
The HD is unlocked because I can see the contents and read and write files to it inside xboxHDM under linux, but NTFS disk writing is not supported in that release of linux, so I can't copy the files from my xbox hd to my computer HD which is in NTFS format.

xplorer360 and fatxplorer do load up just fine, they even detect the drive as \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0, but after I click OK, the program closes, both react in the same way.

I would like to read the xbox drive in windows, If I need to write to it, I can do that in xboxhdm.

The problem with doing a raw read, is it's a 120 gig drive, and I don't have anything that can hold something that big.

WHY DIDN'T ANY ONE SAY TRY FTPING YOUR FILES OFF YOUR PC!!!!!! I didn't know xboxhdm had a built in ftp server. Anyway, i got all my files off.

To be certain, I wiped my fatx partition and formatted my hard drive, installed ndure and still error 21. I installed the files off slayer's, and get error 21, i installed files from my backup that I had, and get error 21. Still, no retail games load, just error 21.

I installed ndure on the freshly formatted hard drive, it doesn't use the original dash to sign anything, does it?

[compuyure]

buy a new xbox

[hrichards]

buy a new xbox

Thanks for the words of encuragement. Is there anyone else that could help out?


Thanks

[lordvader129]

get a clean backup of the MS dash (can be foudn on the slayers disc, just extract the ISO) and copy that to your drive, no softmod, no nothing, lock the drive and see if that works, if so, we'll move on from there