OK, I have a soft-modded xbox with a stock HDD in it (honestly not sure which exploit I used last... MA gamesave, though, think it may have been Krazies 1.1.1)... have a 500GB WD (yes, it is IDE) coming in the next few days to put in. I already have a copy of EEPROM.BIN from the Xbox. I have no access to a chipped Xbox.

I plan on using Xboxhdm 1.9 with Ndure 3.0 on the 500GB. Can anyone tell me what problems I might encounter (hopefully with solutions)? I understand I'll need to format any partition larger than 137GB with 32K blocks, and Xboxhdm does not do this? Or has this since been fixed? Will I need to create the partition in Xboxhdm and then do the formatting with a program on the Xbox (which would you recommend... I have various install disks that I believe have partitioning and formatting tools, and of course there's "the usual places")?

Also, what is the best partitioning scheme? Not sure what the largest partition size allowed with LBA48 on the Xbox, and most threads I've been finding are very outdated... Will I need to create both a F: and a G: partition, and even if I don't, is there an advantage to doing it that way? Would there be any advantage to making E: larger also (say for the cache directory), or would M$ send the cops after me if I did so?

Oh, and I think I already know the answer to this, but would you recommend me replacing the NKPatcher in the NDURE 3.0 with NKPatcher v11-U04 (I think that is the latest)?

Thanks in advance!

First you should just create a basic harddrive.. when xboxhdm asks you to format F drive, type no. After you boot to unleashx on new harddrive, first backup everything from E drive to your computer.. Format the E drive using unleashx and copy back the contents of E drive ( you will still have ftp access).. This is because xboxhdm sometimes corrupts E drive creation and you will get problems saving games.

Then install xbpartitioner and using 32K clustter format 247GB F drive and 245GB G drive.. You can also all 500GB F drive but chances are it will get corrrupt at the end.

If you can you can install the nkpatcher 11_U04.. Rename the nkpatcher file you compile to bios.xbe and copy that to C:\bios\ folder..

Thank you! Exactly the kind of information I needed, especially the reformatting of drive E:. And it sounds like I'll definitely want to create F: and G: drives to be safe. So other than what you've mentioned, follow the "standard" instructions for your NDURE installer?

BTW, any plans for an NDURE 3.1 with the "latest and greatest" NKPatcher? And is NKPatcher still "the way to go" as far as soft-mods are concerned, or is there a better route to go now?

Oh, a suggestion: Any chance of updating your Xboxhdm tutorials with the information needed for todays larger hard disks? Or did you, and I just missed it?

Just select nkpatcher .67 in the nkpatcher options..I am working on the nkpatcher .67.. work is about 85% done..

xboxhdm guide hasnt been updated in ages.. so you didnt miss anything.. I will probably update the guides when I submit ndure 3.1 in xbins..

OK, I got the drive up and running in the Xbox... however, I just noticed you said to use 32K clusters. When I used XBPartitioner I kept hitting "A" until it showed me the F: and G: partitions split evenly, and I formatted with that. However, I believe I saw it say it was using 16K clusters. From what I've been reading, XBPartitioner only auto-selects 32K clusters on >250GB or so partitions? And the information I've been reading online has been contradictory on whether or not you need 32K clusters above 256GB, or if it's needed above 512GB... So, am I going to get corruption on these partitions if I don't reformat with 32K clusters or not?

BTW, instead of FTPing the E: drive to my computer, re-formatting E:, and FTPing back, I copied E: to F:, formatted E:, and copied back from F:. Figured it'd be faster. I did this from the AID Deluxe 4.01 disk (it has XBPartitioner on it, too).

Sorry, wouldn't let me edit. Meant to say I've been reading contradictory info on if 32K clusters are needed above 137GB, or above 256GB.

if your partition is over 250+ GB then its better to have 32K clusters.. but under 250Gb it doesnt make much difference..

Good news. Both are just under 250GB. With 16K clusters, I'll lose less space in the slack area of the files, so I prefer it that way anyways.

BTW, with nkpatcher, which options are overiden when setting "KINGROACH_NDURE" (or whatever the define was... not on the computer, typing on my phone)?

it overrides the booting xboxdash with eject.. it doesnt take away any features.. along with normal booting of msdash, it will enable you boot xbox live dash if you want..

I probably got this all wrong so if someone could explain it would be really nice.
Here's what i tried: I have an original xbox and a chipped one and a 250gb hard disk.
I created ndure files for full retail and added kernel fonts for 5838.
then I put the hard disk in the chipped xbox to install with slayers cd.
deleted everything in C and E and replaced with ndure files.
then put the hard disk in the original xbox and got the error screen.

First of all, thanks for the Ndure installer. My X2L was acting up (stupid pogo pins) and your installer really made it easy to switch over to a softmod.

I patched my C drive using the BASIC setting, which works as advertised. I would like to change my install to RETAIL since I need to access the Xbox Dashboard to change my system settings (need to enable 5.1). What do I need to do in order to do that? Reason I ask is because I ran the installer again on a backup of my original C drive except this time used the RETAIL profile. When I tried to upload those files over to the C drive on my Xbox, it wouldn't let me copy over some of the files like shadowc.img, the xboxdashdata folder, and a couple others.

Am I doing this right? I noticed that there is now an H drive that has pretty much everything that I copied over to the C drive when I originally did the patch - would I need to update those files?

BTW - is UnleashX required for a softmod, or could I change the dash to EvolutionX or XBMC? Would I just need to update e/dash/ with the appropriate files?

Thank you

if you copied shadowc.img file in your first softmod attemt then you have shadowc enabled.. you dont need to change the softmod to get ms dashboard.. you can just copy fresh C drive ( from slayers etc) to the shadowc drive and run msdash from there.

you can use any dash you want... just replace files under E:\dash\ folder.

How do I get to the shadowc drive? When I FTP into my box, is the C drive that I see there the shadowc drive, because I see nothing there in that drive?

If so, I would just need to extract the fresh C drive from the Slayers disk, which includes these files:

[Audio]
[fonts]
[xboxdashdata.185ead00]
[xodash]
Xbox Book.xtf
Xbox.xtf
xboxdash.xbe

and FTP them over to that C drive? Sorry if this seems elementary, but I'm new to the softmod world, so I'm not terribly familiar with the vernacular.

Thanks again.

yes.. if you see nothing in C drive after you ftp then thats the shadowc.. just upload the files you mentioned..

Worked like a charm - thanks kingroach

One more issue - when I enter into MS Dash to change my audio settings (from STEREO to SURROUND), it appears that they do not get saved after a reboot. Searching the forums, one said that I needed to add a backup eeprom.bin to my shadow c drive. Before I ran the Ndure installer, I backed up an eeprom.bin file. I went ahead and ftp'ed that to the C drive, so now my C looks like this:

[Audio]
[fonts]
[xboxdashdata.185ead00]
[xodash]
eeprom.bin
Xbox Book.xtf
Xbox.xtf
xboxdash.xbe

I went back into MS Dash, changed the settings and rebooted, but they did not keep. Any ideas how to resolve this?

run E:\ndts\default.xbe.. this will expose the real C drive.. copy th eeeprom in C:\shadowc\ folder.

That did it. Thanks again!!!!!!!!

okay, i have the original mech assault, xbox, action replay with cable and memory card. so what software do i need and what is the correct procedure to complete the soft mod of my xbox.

thanks for all the help.

first of all: thank you very much for this installer! really awesome work ;-)

I used to work with Softmod Installer Deluxe 5.01 and Auto Installer Deluxe 4.12,
but since playing ISO games from hdd was not possible with that software I switched to Kingroachs Ndure Installer,

but I have some questions - comments:

first of all an annoying bug:
- when freshly ftp'ed, network is set to DHCP, so when I change it to Static and configure ip to 192.168.0.2 & reboot, the ip is after reboot 192.168.0.100... so have to adjust it again, and reboot again!? quite frustrating...

- in the standard UnleashX dash the fan is very loud, even louder than 20%, so I check and put treshold to 45C and fan speed is set to 1x, but still remains that loud?!

- as I read in this thread it's normal that files of C are not visible when Retail is chosen, why's that?
in SID5.01 & dual boot (MS dash and EvoX/XBMC) it's also with shadowc.img, but the C files remain visible (I think only those softmod files like shadowc.img etc. are invisible), cause this makes the menu entry MS Dash useless (since XBox says then can't find necessary files...),

- I went from my old softmod to Ndure like this: made the patched C and E files with installer, deleted my C and E files, ftp'ed them (didn't work at first, files could not be transferred, so I used Restore C with files in E:backup),
but my question now is, do I have to install Ndure Retail also in install menu of UnleashX (E:ndts/default.xbe)? and what does activate Ndure do (necessary?)? and what about nkpatcher settings: 'use nkpatcher.67 w...' ? also for nkpatcher.67 there are 2 entries: they both end with 'w'... so I don't know what the difference is between them?

I used AID4.12 to format my hdd, does that go in conflict with this Ndure softmod?

any info/help very much appreciated,

thanks in advance ,

Kind regards!

ok I think I understand about MS dash now:
I just have to install the unmodified C files on the shadowC invisible C (therefore appearing empty drive)?
so I've first ftp'ed the C and E files made by the Ndure installer, then when in softmod dash C shows no files (invisible because of shadowC), I ftp the standard unmodified C files so I can use MS dash too? correct?

derived that from this post, if I understand it correctly: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?sho...p;#entry3346273

and running nkpatcher.67 is to enable G drive (6=F, 7=G), do I have to re-format it after that? can I use AID4.12 for that?
still don't know what the difference between those 2 'use nkpatcher.67 w...' entries are... anyone?

and please check if you know the answers to my previous questions in earlier reply...

thanks!

what I was also wondering:

in AID there's an option to 'Unmount Virtual C' after which you can uninstall its softmod,
but when I want a fresh install of a softmod I just format C and D,
in that case everything's gone right, so no need to 'Unmount Virtual C' first?
a format wipes everything clean, right?

the fact that the fan runs louder now (in UnleashX dash and everywhere else outside XBMC (in XBMC I configured it to just keep it at max. 45C, so it's silent there), is that because of the UnleashX dash (and its settings?), if it can't be changed I'm definitely going to change it to EvoX or XBMC dash...


thanks,

Regards

if you used Ndure 3.1 then you can change the fan speed by placing a .bin file in E:\NKP11\ folder. Look at the stickied ndure 3.1 thread for that.,

You can change the dashboard by replacing files in E:\dash\ folder with evox/xbmc files. Just make sure that there is a default.xbe file in E:\dash\ folder.




Thats correct. C drive files are not visible because shadowc is activated. Normally the installer copies the original C drive files in in shadowc ( if you are using the xboxhdm installer). Otherwise, you need to copy the C drive files to shadowc ( the empty C after softmod is installed).

you shouldnt need to format the drives again if you choose nkpatcher .67. As you said .67 is for F and G drive and .06 is for F drive only.

many thanks for your fast reply

found the fan bin file you posted in this thread: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?s=&...t&p=4111095

by Kingroach:


but what about those 2 entries in ntsp/default nkpatcher.67 menu, what's the difference between those two (since the titles are both only till 'w...')?

much appreciated, awesome...
now I can play certain backups from ISO on hdd which don't work in file-mode,
so my dvd-drive can safe it's energy & hopefully will last longer

I've put the fan.bin file from the 20 folder (so at 20%, which was standard with my previous softmod), didn't change anything,
so I went into System Settings and went from 1x to 1,5x and after saving it went silent?!
looks like it does not respond if set to 1x (if I set it to 4x or so, then go to 1x, nothing happens,
if I go to 1,5x it goes more silent, but I wouldn't go lower than 1,5x, so it's fine now)

one more inconsistency: in the File Explorer of the UnleashX menu of E:/ndts/default.xbe I don't have G partition, and if I load XBMC from there, also no G?!
(tried installing nkpatcher.67)(in UnleashX dash of E:/dash/default.xbe I have the G drive (also visible in XBMC if loaded from there)
is that normal?

thanks,

take care &
Regards!

I've tried the Format menu in Toolset (E:ndts/default.xbe),
when I tried to format G, nothing happened (I think...),
G was still not seen in File Explorer of the Toolset UnleashX menu,

then I formated the F drive... now it's 186thousand MB big... (it's a 200gb drive),
but it should have stayed a max. 120gb partition with rest to G (nkpatcher.67)...

when I check outside toolbox, like in XBMC, the F is empty but still under 120gb
and the G is the rest, untouched by the formatting in the Toolset menu...

this can't be healthy?

the NKP11 folder is empty (except for the fan.big file that I've put in it)?
is that normal?
(when I install nkpatcher.67 in menu of Toolset, it goes like super fast, can't see what it copies...)

I've installed Kingroach's Ndure 3.1 Retail, with Kernel selected,
and dual boot (retail ms dash with eject)

anyone?

I don't understand why you would want to split a 200gb drive over F+G, but an easy way wold be to use xbpartitioner. nkpatcher will read the partition table and run with whatever you setup in xbpartitioner.

true, might be more convenient to just go without G, cause now I have around 120gb on F and 60gb on G,

but I thought it's always better to not go over 120gb...

so for 180gb partition are standard clusters ok? or should I use 32kb clusters?

never used XBpartitioner, loaded it once, but looked too complicated and haven't looked into it yet...

what is the de-activation and activation of Ndure in Toolset for? to disable and enable the softmod?!
if I choose activate I get error 'Batch process failed... rename' or something?

I'm very thankful for the unleash dash that's standard in Ndure!
updated it to v0.39, it's menu outlay isn't as practical as EvoX, and it sure has some bugs I think (with fan settings & when u change IP), but I get network speeds of over 11mb/sec (mostly around 10,5mb/s)!
while EvoX and XBMC are mostly around 8,5 or 9mb/s...
is that because of the 'boost' feature of UnleashX ?

can the Ndure-3.1 installation (Kingroach) by ftp be done without losing files on F and G?
(xboxhdm does not work with my pc, after it boots it can't find dvd-drive, like in this thread: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?sho...;#entry4164484)
because after I installed it F and G were empty, and I don't remember formatting those?

you can do it by fto.. just make sure you read the ftp uploading instructions in the .pdf files. If you used F+G drive with previous mod, its unlikely that with Ndure 3/1's .67 bios wont work. If you tell me what version of nkpatcher your old softmod was using then maybe I can compile that version of nkpatcher with the ndure settings in it..

the F and G partition did work fine in dashboard,
but not in the 'Toolset' menu (E:ndts/default.xbe), there only 1 big F partition and no G?!

can you just confirm that I'm doing everything right (this is for v1.0 with kernel 4034 & 200gb hdd):

1st - I put the C folder (with standard MS files of a XBox from 2005) in the Ndure folder,
2nd - I start Ndure-3.1.exe in which I select Retail with options: nkpatcher.06 (for hdd till 200gb) & my Kernel,
3rd - I ftp the by Ndure modified C and newly created E to freshly formatted C & E of the XBox,
4th - reboot and copy the standard unmodified MS C partition files (of an 2005 XBox) to the C (that appears to be empty because shadowC.img and the true C is only visible from inside the UnleashX Toolset in ndts)

then I format the F drive (with the menu of UnleashX),

et voila, softmod installed and everything running
(I don't need to install or apply anything from inside the 'Toolset' UnleashX (E:ndts) menu?)

but I did replace the UnleashX dash that Ndure uses in E:dash, since it's v0.38,
and the UnleashX dashboard I copied from Auto Installer Deluxe is v0.39...
is there a way to update the one of the Toolset too (in E:ndts)? which files may be replaced to do so?

I'm going to switch to Ndure with my v1.6 Crystal 250gb Xbox too, only changes for that are different Kernel and I will not select nkpatcher.06 in Ndure setup, since I want 2x 120gb for F and G,

so am I doing everything right or am I missing something?

(from what I understand the NKP11 folder is empty and can be used to put in configuration files, does anyone have any of those? (I've got only fan.bin, but don't have the feeling it does anything at all...)

thanks,

Regards!

you shouldnt need to worry about Ndure toolset since you wont use it for day to day use.. its mainly for doing small configurations within softmod and it only touches C and E drive.. to update you need to change the unleashx.xbe with new unleashx dashboard default.xbe. But changing that files wont make the G drive appear since it uses different kind of bios ( PBL).. You can format any drives within normal unleashx dash. You can also change the dash by replacing contents of E:\dash\ folder with your favorite one.

you might want to look at :

http://www.esnips.com/web/kingroach/

and download the npatcher used with ndure 3.1. It includes the original source files and documentation for producing config bin files. You can also compile your own bios with hardcoded fan speed.. But seems like unleashx overwrites the fan speed settings..

thanks, yup, you're right

only trouble left is indeed the fan speed in UnleashX,
played around with it, and if I select 1.00, then it's speed is actually 3.0 ...
so can't go slower then 1.50... which is still pretty loud on my Crystal v1.6 Xbox...

am I the only one experiencing that?

I can answer that last one myself:

just changed 3rd Xbox to Ndure-3.1 with UnleashX v0.39,
it's also a v1.0 kernel 4034 Xbox,
and for this one the setting 1.0x works!

strange though, because it's one I fixed:
it had bad trace corrosion (it powered on when powerplug connected,
eject & power button did not function normal and only red light), which I was able to fix...
now it turns out it functions better than the other v1.0 and the v1.6 Crystal... nice

anyone a clue?

big problem:

friend of mine wanted XBMC dash to boot,

so I copied all files of XBMC to E:/dash,

but now it doesnt boot anything, not MS dash with tray open,
just stays black,

only loads original games...............

help!!!

I even tried to install MS dash by trying to go to Xbox Live in a game...
but it gives an error, fails little bit over halfway...

it's a v1.2 Xbox from 2003,
but the kernel in the eeprom backup menu showed 5838,
which I selected to make the C and E files wit Ndure-3.1,
but isn't 5838 the newest kernel, can this older Xbox have that new kernel?
maybe it's the wrong kernel (I've heared that using the wrong kernel can cause not to boot...)

is it maybe because only the shadowC was installed,
normally after first boot I ftp the retail MS Dash files to the "empty" C (the shadowC),

does the XBMC dash not support that in any way?

or is it because there's no config file in root or E:/dash ?
(just the XBMC folders and its default.xbe in E:/dash)

it doesn't load AID dvd, only original games...
and the dual boot does not work, can't get into MS dash with open tray to put the savegames for exploit on.............

I've backup the eeprom etc to my pc,
please don't tell me I need to take out the hard drive...
what's the easiest way to fix this???

what if I were to clone the C and E partition with Chimp?
(of working v1.0 kernel 4034 or v1.6 kernel 5838 Xbox?)

but will that corrupt the F and G partition?
because it's a 160gb hard drive and may not loose files on F and G...

can't seem to edit or delete my previous posts...

fixed it:
my Crystal Xbox hasn't got his screws in it,
so throwed it open,
booted into a menu with broken xbox,
booted in avalanche toolset with crystal xbox,
took out ide of hdd from broken one and put in the ide cable of crystal xbox (hotswap),
booted AID disc from there, re-installed softmod...

... et voila, softmod runs fine now and no data lost on F or G,

few... but sweeeeet

-----------------------------------------

I think I might know what the problem was:
if I check now in XBMC, the kernel is 5101 !
while in the eeprom backup utility it was 5838 !?

is that the cause, or did I have to do something more to be able booting XBMC dash?

I am trying to enable the virtual drive in my xbox, so I followed what skridsko did in post #735:

After I did that, my 200gb F: drive (with 60gb of free space) turned into a 4gb blank drive. How do I make it so that I can see my whole F: drive again? I know all my data is still there because I can see it again when I replace the new bios.xbe with my original backed up bios.xbe.

EDIT: Nevermind, I should have read the entire config.inc before posting my question.

I just had to change the bios from .67 to .06 by editing:
%define PARTITION_METHOD 2 to %define PARTITION_METHOD 1

xbins isnt working for me i cant get ndure 3.1 any help would be appreciated pool-of-nothing@hotmail.com and my aim is o0SilverOo im always on

Could someone clear up the difference between Option 1 and Option 2 in the XboxHDM installer? I would like to keep the C-drive as stock as possible, so Option 1 sounds safest, but then the instructions recommend Option 2 for stability. For a stock Xbox softmodding through Ndure's XboxHDM script, what would be the best option for maintaining a working C-drive that can be loaded from UnleashX?

On a side note, I also tried overwriting the UnleashX dash in E:\dash with the latest version of the dash (after using Ndure 3.0) and I got the same booting to a black screen like the guy a few posts back. Any idea what causes this? I have yet to recover from it, was just going to restore my Xbox to stock with XboxHDM and then use the latest Ndure script to softmod it again. Thanks in advance!

Same problem, anyone know when the FTP will be back up?

Greetings,

I'm planning to softmod my virgin Xbox to convert it into a media center using Xbmc. I have been reading numerous post about the best way of doing it and decided to go for the Ndure 3.1 PC installer using the XboxHdm installer and hotswap method.

After following the instructions in the manual I now have a xboxhdm\linux\ndure directory with the ndure.htm script file.

I have two questions on which I need a answer before doing the actual softmod

• Is it ok to use the standaard ndure.htm script file?
• Will it work with dashboard version 4920?

Can anybody help me?
Thanks.

yes.. you should use the script that came with the 3.1 installer. Its highly recommended that you update the dashboard to latest (5960) . The files are designed to fit 5960 dashboard and will give you error if try to install over old dashboard.

Thanks for the fast reply kingroach.

I just update my dashboard to 5960 by connecting to Xbox Live. This means that I'm ready to do some hotswapping!

Which me luck http://images.xbox-scene.com/forums/style_...icons/icon5.gif.

I just finished my first Xbox softmod with success!
I can recommend this software (Ndure 3.1 & Xboxhdm) to everybody. If you follow the instructions it should work without any problems.

I have one more question about backup. How can I backup the original xbox files and the eeprom?

Thanks.

the ndts folder on the E partition (run default.xbe from it) has an option to backup the xbox eeprom. After that, you can ftp the eeprom.bin file (256bytes) and the other files (unmodded M$dash) to your pc.

regards.

OBCD thanks for the answer.

I managed to create a backup of the eeprom using the Ndure toolset by following your instructions and found the eeprom.bin (1KB) on E:\NKP11. Next I made a backup of the entire C and E drives using FTP server from the Ndure toolset.

Should I be worried about the filesize of the eeprom.bin?

Regards,
Slam007.

Are you sure 1K is not the size it takes on the disk?

There exist a windows program for pc called liveinfo beta 3. You can load the eeprom.bin in that program, and it will show you all the relevant information of it. You can compare the serial number with the number on the sticker on the bottom of your xbox. If those matches, things should be fine.

regards.

OBCD,

It was indeed a PEBCAC problem (problem exists between chair and computer). The actual size is 256 bytes.

I'm all set now.
I would like to thank all people who helped me out on this very responsive forum.

You guys are amazing.
Thanks for letting me resurrect my XBOX

Slam007

kingroach

I have an xbox modded with NDure 3.0 with the double boot option and UDDAE.

With power button, XBMC gets booted. When I UDDAE, I would like to boot into unleashX instead of XBL.

How can this be accomplished ?

there is a folder on the E:\ I think its called NTSF or something like that look in that folder and run the .xbe that will let you change some options for that solfmod I am not sure if it will let you boot unleashx and XBMC but it will let you change a bunch of stuff. Be careful in that folder cause the you can mess some stuff up if you dont watch what you are doing