>>Afterwards, I'd remove my chip & enjoy

how would one remove the chip? with the troubles we've been having, I'm ready to sh*tcan it.

we do have one other Xbox he can use, but all his "imformation" is on his box, not his brothers (who's just upgraded to 360)

Disconnect any wires that are going to the chip, then remove it from the pinheader.

Very rarely will you encounter a chip that's been soldered to the pinheader (or to the LPC on the motherboard). Most chips have a female header that connects to a pre-soldered male header on the motherboard.

don't quit with your mod, the box has already been banned from live so you might as well stick with it to get the most out of your box.

If you reallyw want to be able to get onto Live though, get another EEPROM (cheap as chips) and get another HDD, they're not too pricy these days, especially from computer fairs and give it another go. Just make sure you don't connect to live with your chip activated. And get 'The Iceguide', it'll walk you through step by step telling you what you ned to do as well as what not to do.

It's an Xecuter 3, not a Xenium...

OK -- so now that the box is banned -- i guess i need a new EERPOM and hard drive, right?
guess that also means we'll be leaving the chip in the box....

and this "Iceguide " that Jon mentioned - that wont help? Is there some other guide that will have the do's and dont's for the Xecuter3 - so we dont accidently make these mistakes again?

TIA,

Mrs Smyth

Once you install a new eeprom and hard drive, you can always softmod the box and remove the chip.

Anyway, here's the link you were asking for: Unofficial X3 Guide & FAQ - v2.0

Excellent!! Thank you Alex.

Also, if that new HDD isn't a stock xbox drive, you'll need a new gamertag.