Ok, for starters both of theses boxes were running linux softmodded with the spliter cell hack, very old hack that has problems now...

Box 1, My Friend restored it to MS Dash, and now it's stuck at the "Xbox Live is trying to update, but can't. Please Try again later" Loop for hell.... I'm just curious if there is anything i can do about that besides hot swapping, cause i'd rather not endanger my computer or my friends hdd.. but mainly my computer.

Box 2, ok this friend is one of my genius friends, he says he deleted Linux while running Linux.. and because that's physically impossible to do on a computer, he figured if it worked, then it should be fine and he'll have more room on the hdd. So now when he turns on his box it goes to the load screen to boot up the xbox and microsoft pops up under it..... and it does nothing. He's stuck at this screen and he can't even load games now. Cold boot or anything, his box just sits idle at that xbox boot up screen with microsoft written on the bottom.

Now I'm just wondering how to fix these two boxes, and i'm glad my box is just fine and now running XBMC woohoo!!! Yea, i'm kinda noobish at fixing them and i would appreciate any help from anyone on this forum!!!!!

Thank You,
KillerMx1337

Your friends sound like some real winners.
Out of all seriousness I would never trust the "Box 2" guy with a modded xbox. That will prolly fix future problems.
Box 1: should still be able to boot the gamesave hack if you run the corresponding game and launch. Then you will have FTP access. Setup the IP so you can transfer stuff from PC to Xbox (many tutorials floating around so I wont go into detail). Once you can access the Xbox via FTP replace the C drive with a fresh M$ dash.

*Hint: autoinstallers like SlaYers have the original M$ dash, and please dont ask where to find one because the only responses from a question like that will be "the usual places" and alot of flames.

Box 2: Sounds like a hotswapper. Best way to do that safely (not quite 100% safe) is to ground the xbox to the PC by attaching a cable of some sort to the metal chassis of both the xbox and PC. Then do the hotswap. Also, the best technique is disconnnect the DVD drive from the xbox to trigger an error #12, I and many others have found that to be the easiest because the HDD unlocks just before it errors out then locks back up once you see the error screen giving you the perfect between time to perform the hotswap.
Good Luck
BTW- Again, I would never trust the "Box 2" guy with a modded xbox.

yea, but unfortenutly, box 1 won't read a game disk.... it goes straight to the update and it won't even cold boot.

and the owner of box 2 has never and never will touch my xbox, cause it's awesome and runs XBMC like a champ with the other little LED mods i've done.

Thanks for the help on xbox 2, still need a bit more help on xbox 1...

though, thank you

Damn Box 1 all to hell!
^kidding

First boot priority of an unmodded BIOS is D:\default.xbe so if there is a game disk in the drive it should load before the M$ dash.
So maybe the disk/DVD drive is scratched,dirty, or screwed. You can usually hear the disk whirring around if the xbox cant read but is trying to read a disk. Maybe try cleaning the DVD drive and the disk and try again.
OR
What I stated about Box 2 will also work to fix Box 1. Its whatever you want to do. Hell a modchip will fix both problems but I just figured you would not want to venture that path.

Keep in mind that it is not 100% safe (i have prolly performed 100 in the past so odds are my failure is approaching). Also I didn't mention before but you should always discharge any static electricity from your body by grabbing ahold of a ground before performing a hotswap.

yea, thats what i thought i had to do. Though a mod chip would be the easiest for me, and i don't want to risk my computer or my friends xbox's even though they have another xbox or a 360 now. So, i might charge them 20 bucks or do it for x-mas for them to fix there box with a modchip if nothing else works, besides hotswapping(though i might try that on box 2). Thanks for your help yet again!

The ever greatful,
KillerMx1337

You dont have access to a POSPC (Peice Of Shit Personal Computer)???
I have one just for risky stuff like hotswapping.

Cheers

nope, well... a laptop, but thats about it. oh yea, i'm totally diggin your Pulp-Fiction Avatar and quote, seriously one of the best movies ever made!!! But can a mod chip leave a new bios on the hdd? So can i put a modchip on a box, upgrade the hdd to be uber with some new bios, perferably XBMC pimped out edition and take off the mod chip? or is that not possible...

This is the DL...
Mod chip installed to the motherboard. Modchip has a new BIOS chip which can be flashed with a new BIOS. The new BIOS tells the xbox that unsigned code is acceptable and it pretty much disables security. Now you can get apps like XBMC running. Or you can install it as a dash. You can also enjoy autoinstallers like SlaYers which is key for a HDD upgrade.
Also I recommended T3CH builds of XBMC to someone on another topic, and I recommend you use T3CH builds too. There really isn't anything pimp about the "Pimped Edition". Plus if you have problems with a non-T3CH build you won't get help from anybody on these forums.
EDIT: No you cant just pull the chip out (unless a softmod is setup and running on the machine).

BTW- I LOVE PULP FICTION

thanks for the help, so, whats the differences between pimp edition and a T3CH Build of Xbmc? Cause if it is much better than what has already seriously impressed me, then i may consider it.

Its like this. Team XBMC releases new code via SVN (just switched fom CVS), that really means nothing to you I'm just saying thats where it originates.
It then can be accessed by anyone to compile into being usable. It just so happens that T3CH knows what he is doing when it comes to compiling source code so his builds are trusted my all. There may not be a noticable difference between the two but the T3CH builds are still the trusted builds.
So when you encounter a problem with a T3CH build of XBMC you go the XBMC forum and post the problem, you will get help and the problem will be solved. But if your using some Bling Bling or FahxBahx build you will simply be told not to use non-T3CH builds, and the problem continues.