Hey all I have a modded xbox that the HDD has decided to die on it and I have a new HDD that I need to put in the system and start from scratch, but I have no idea where I could get the original files from the original drive since I bought this thing second hand from a buddy and he got rid of the drive a couple years back. Could anyone help me with what I need to have on the new drive to install everything?

Thanks,
-Steve

How was the xbox modded? Did it have a chip or softmod?

It has a mod chip in it. It is an xecuter2 ( not sure what version to be exact).

you should be able to just get a xbox boot disk and just get another hdd in there and use the boot disk to set up everything. Slayers or Auto-Installers Deluxe (AID) will work

Well I have an issue there I can't seem to find any media to be able to boot from. I have tried everything and have not been able to find a single good iso that will work. My xbox has the Thompson drive in it and I have tried using xiso (which seems to give me trouble under win-XP) to build a boot image (using dvd-r dvd+r cwrw) and I can't seem to get it to boot. I even have borrowed a buddies bootable disk he used and can't get it to work.

Thanks,
-Stephen

OK can you hook the hdd up to your PC and use xboxhdm you install the stuff you need?

I have the HDD connected to my PC now and am using xplorer360 to connect to it, but the problem is I have none of the data for the C/E drives to load it like a new drive. I have download the xboxhdm program but it doesn't have anything I can see in the C/E directories.

yeah just get a dash you want and put it in the C folder and rename the defualt.xbe to evoxdash.xbe. If you want to use XBMC for example copy the contents of the XBMC folder to the C folder and rename its default.xbe to evoxdash.xbe. So the folder for Xboxhdm will be like this C/evoxdash.xbe. You dont need anything for the E folder.

Ok I just was under the impression that I need to have to original xbox hdd files there for the system to boot and run, is that not the case?

since you have a chip no. Now if you boot with the chip turned off you will need those files but once you get it booted with the chip on you can just ftp the stock xbox files over to the xbox

Ahh ok well what if I don't have the stock xbox files?

you can get those from a boot disk. you just download the disk and extract everything with a prgram called qwix and you will be good to go

This is partially true. If your new HD has never been installed into an xbox previously, your HD will not have a Fatx partition. So, If you have any issues with Xplorer360 complaining of "No Fatx drive present" and seeing as how your Thompson drive is not reading your boot discs, you will need to build an xboxhdm disk to at least get a Fatx partition table onto the new HD, since Xplorer360 does not have the capability. Once formatted with xboxhdm, you will be able to complete the drive set-up using Xplorer360.

Reports of media that works with Thomson: http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/Xbox_Linux_...D_Burning_HOWTO

Have you tried DVD+RW?

My drive is setup as FatX with the partition tables there so I think I should be good to go here. I jsut really want to start fresh so I have made myself learn the process and know the inner workings for the whole system.

I have not tried the +RW media yet, I think it's about the only one I didn't have at home already so I will give that a shot next. Is there anyway to actually replace the DVD drive with lets say a phllips drive?

Yes, xbox1 DVD drives of different brands are interchangeable.