Xboxhdm For Dummies, hd rebuild, restore, upgrade ..so on Options

[kingroach]

For unlockhd -a to work; make sure you have the eeprom in eeprom folder..Otherwise; you can also unlock with unlockhd -p "PASSWORD"

You can also hotswap the xbox harddrive, then power the new hard drive with computer and clone.

However, to avoid data corruption ( since you will be using a 2TB drive); its better to backup the contents of original hard drive in your computer. Then build a new harddrive from scratch and lock it using eeprom. Then format the hard drive again with "xbox partition tool" using 64KB sector size. Then copy back everything.

[JudgeVolt]

Hi,

Im hoping somebody can help me...

I am trying to build a new xboxHD from scratch using the xboxhdmaker as my original drive is toast. I have no backup of the drive but I have been able to pull the eeprom file from the xbox itself.

When I boot into the xboxmaker cd my new HD is recognised and I can select the option to rebuild an xbox hd from scratch. However I get an error message when the tools tries to active the fatx partition table.

Here are the messages I see:
"
Searching for linux-CDROM... [ok]
Building partitions...[ok]
It appeart your hardrive is larger than 8gv and you have the option to build an F-partition
Do you wish to build the F-partition: [yes/no] yes

Activating the fatx partition table...[error]
".
I have tried deleting the faxt partition and then re-running the "install new xbox hd from scratch" but I get the same results.

Would anybody have an idea what I am doing wrong?

[kingroach]

When it asks you to build F partition, say no. You can format that partition later from the dashboard.

[JudgeVolt]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I re-ran the cd using the same steps as above but selected "no" to the F-partition. I still get the same error message.

The HD is on the primary IDE cable, jumpers set to master.
The cdrom is on the secondary IDE cable.
Both are recognized by the BIOS and the xboxhd script.

I then tried the following option sequences(below). Each time the harddrive is detected ok but I always end up with the same cryptic error message (I rebooted the computer each time the script failed before trying the next sequence).

1:
boot from cd,
boot to VGA console,
"xboxhd",
option1(build hd),
yes to F-partition.
Error message appears

2:
boot om cd,
boot to VGA console,
"xboxhd",
option1(build hd),
no to F-partition.
Error message appears.

3:
boot from cd,
boot to VGA console,
"xboxhd",
select option to delete fatx partition,
select option1(build hd)
select no to F-partition
Error message appears

4:
boot from cd,
boot to VGA console,
"xboxhd",
select option to delete fatx partition,
select option1(build hd)
select yes to F-partition
Error message appears

Basically, the error is always thrown when the script tries to activate/check for the new fatx partition. So I'm stumped as to what to try next.

Also, just to rule out a problem with the HD(its an 80gb Maxtor D740x-6L), I used gParted from a linux system rescue cd. The hd was found and I had no problem creating a new fat32 partition so I believe the harddrive is not the problem.

If you have any more suggestions as to what I should try next they would be most welcome.

Thanks again.

[ldotsfan]

@JudgeVolt

FAT32 partition and FATX partition are at different physical locations on the hdd. Try doing a surface scan with your favorite hdd diagnostic tool from Windows/Linux and see if there are any bad sectors. What does the hdd SMART values say?

[JudgeVolt]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.
Ran some diagnostic programs on the HD and it was fine.

On a hunch I tried the same HD in an old Dell Desktop that my friend had.
On running the softmod install cd everything worked perfectly on the first run.
My xbox is now back up and running. Sweet!!

Looks like the problem was that my machine was just too new.