Had my box modded with SID v2.0 for a while, and recently been messing around with XBMC and XDSL, changing the boot dash etc, etc.

Anyhow I decided I wanted to restore my box back to stock and try Krayzie's NDURE instead for the dashboard folder and virtual drive features.

So, i booted up into my softmod menu, and selected "restore MS" which takes the MS5960 backup from E and restores it on C. I used this feature once or twice before without problem but today of all days it got to 82% then just froze. After a while restarting the xbox was my only option and now i get the screen "Your xbox requires service. Please call Xbox Customer Support" and the error message 21 top left.

A few times before when ive been messing with the dash, ive ran into the problem where the xbox couldnt load the dash but it would still boot cd's, so using a bootdisc i could still get ftp access to sort it out etc. Now however, no such luck. Whatever way i boot now (tray-closed, tray-open, with-disc) i get the error message.

So, im guessing my box is fudged but hoping someone can suggest a course of action other than getting a new one. Hotswapping maybe?

Any advice appreciated.

If you have your EEPROM.bin file on your pc it is no problem. Just use xboxhdm to unlock your hd and get the original xbox C partitions files from somewhere (hint: Slayersdisc) and copy them in C using xbrowser.

If you don't have your EEPROM, you deserve a slap , you can hotswap your hd and use xboxhdm, with original C partition files, to copy the files with xbrowser to your xbox.

Good luck!

Damn. I have a number of backups of my C and E drive at certain stages but i cant find an "eeprom.bin". I remember the guide talking about backing up the eeprom after the softmod was installed but not sure now whether i had or just thought i had.

I have the following:

open.bin
closed.bin
padding.bin
auxilary.bin
dsstdfx.bin

And various other savegame and localcache types. Im guessing then its not one of the aboves?

/awaits a slap/

Can anyone confirm, if i had backed up my eeprom correctly then i ould have a file called "eeprom.bin", or would it be called somethin else.

Assuming the worst, and i dont have a backup of my eeprom then does that leave me with no other options to get this fixed?

*give the awaited slap*

Well I never used SID, so I don't know. Seeks you will have to do a hotswap and use xboxhdm. After you have hotswapped it succesfully you can use xbrowser (which is part of xboxhdm and you can start it by typing 'xbrowser' at the prompt) to fix the files you damaged. NOTE: you need to put the files you want on the xbox on the cd of xboxhdm

Good luck, and if you have some questions just ask!

all sorted.

TO ANY AND ALL - if you fuck up your xbox and dont have your eeprom backed up then look for Pirrups guide "HOTSWAP:recover a hd without eeprom backup"

Although really you should just back the bastard up in the first place.