Skin Change, Fails To Load Menu Options

[redbull1212]

I had modded my xbox a few years ago, maybe 4. But probably a year or two ago I was tying a different skin and after selecting a new one and loading it basically shut down the dashboard. Now I try to start the xbox and it will stay at the Xbox logo. Not having a lot of time on my hands I just didn't bother with it then. Now that I have some extra time I am trying to figure out how to fix this issue. I was planning on taking the HDD and slaving it on an old desktop to then find the skin folder and replace every skin with the default skin. (under the old names so whichever I had picked is now the default under a different name) But I couldn't get my computer to recognize the drive. I also tried to FTP the box to get into the files to do the same thing, but I believe it fails to get that far in its boot sequence.

( I am pretty sure the backup bios are destroyed cause I wasn't really paying attention when I first flashed it, I have tried flipping the different switches to no avail in any combination)
So with this situation, if their is anyway to view the contents of the Xbox drive on a pc or mac that would get me to do my round about plan of renaming skins, or if you can think of any other potential solution please let me know. Otherwise I guess its time to move on and find another system to use as a media center. Thank You in advance.

[Heimdall]

Grab HeXEn (Google Heimdall's Xbox Engineering Disc). Burn to DVD-R at 4x or slower, cold boot with it in your Xbox DVD drive. It will give you FTP access, and it will also give you tools to rebuild your hard drive.

[redbull1212]

Do I need to remove my modchip or put it in a certain setting for this? I believe it is an xecuter 2.6 or something. haha. its red and solder-less and got it maybe 05 or 06 if that helps.

[Heimdall]

No.

[redbull1212]

I got into the ftp but it didnt seem to work. How would I use this disk to just reinstall everything. I figured out its an xecuter 3 chip if that changes anything. I tried a basic cleanup but it didnt work. But this time i would like to have the bios set up right so I can have the two settings depending on the switches thrown from the chip.

[Heimdall]

What do you mean "it didn't seem to work"? Could you FTP to the Xbox? Could you see any of the drives? Could you copy a file from the Xbox to your PC? Could you copy a file from the PC to your Xbox?

Are you sure you are using an X3? Do you know which BIOS you are using? If you are using an X3 BIOS then just press and hold the white button on your controller while booting, and that will bring up X3 config live, which also has an FTP server built-in.

If you aren't using an X3 BIOS then you need to flash one to the chip. Boot by pressing power + eject at the same time, the X3 control panel LED will turn purple, and Flashbios will load. Follow these instructions to load X3.3294 to banks 1,2,3 and 4, then reboot and press the white button to load X3 config live. Follow these instructions to set up your Xbox to boot from C:\evoxdash.xbe as its first dash.

Once you've done that you can use HeXEn to rebuild your hard drive from scratch - but note that this will delete your existing data on your Xbox. If you want to retain your existing data then the process is a bit more manual.

[redbull1212]

It doesn't seem to work meant I couldn't get the xbox to be recognized by a router or by using a crossover cable directly to a pc. The Lan port may be broken, the LEDs never flashed even when directly connected to the modem. So the ftp may never be possible which negates the advantages of the xbox.

however, I found that the largest partition of the HDD was messed up, which was causing some of my problems. I repartitioned that from the boot disk, then reinstalled unleashx on bio banks 1, 2. Which was working great except all my games are no longer available after having to repartition that section. This seems like it has fixed whatever was done to it a long time ago, but I am also wondering what the temperature should be if one is just idling. My cpu was apparently climbing to 135F just sitting there, and after playing tetris in xbmc it was in the 145F area. The case top was also open, which is why I am more concerned, since I dont remember it getting that hot being closed.

I really do appreciate all the help, and your disk is fantastic, would have loved to use that a long time ago. But my hunch is this xbox is already on its last legs and may not be all that useful anymore. But nonetheless, thank you. I am looking to try and ftp the box a few more times, but nothing has recognized it being attached yet. I am also worried about its temperature as well, what would be the normal run temps?

[Heimdall]

I repartitioned that from the boot disk, then reinstalled unleashx on bio banks 1, 2.

You don't install UnleashX on BIOS banks. You flash a BIOS to the BIOS banks, you install UnleashX on the hard drive.

However, if you can't get the network LEDs to light up, even with a different cable or connected to a different device, then you're probably right about the Xbox being on its last legs. Time to pick up a cheap replacement and transplant the X3 chip into it.