Hi,

Firstly thank you for reading.

I recently was given an original Xbox and decided I wanted to softmod it for an XBMC install.

All went well I found a great tutorial here and decided that the route to follow would be to use Ndure 3.1 and Xboxhdm with the hotswap method.

The softmod worked for a few hours now I seem to be having a lot of issues with it namely the following:

- Softmod works but if shutdown (powered on at wall still) it won't boot the next time, it will just show the xbox logo then flash an orange light on the front and shutdown. Takes about 30 mins to get working with various button combo's on controller or a rebuild of the hard drive using xboxhdm and a reinstall of the softmod to get working again.

- More often than not the power button stops working and the only way to boot the Xbox is by the eject button. Usually after this happens I cannot get back to the softmod at all and have to rebuild the hard drive with Xboxhdm.

Overall I seem to be having a fairly bad time with this and the softmod just doesn't want to stick. Any help would be greatly appriciated.

I have since been able to dump my EEPROM making unlocking and relocking the drive much easier and no need for hotswapping.

Dave

Sounds like your xbox is overheating. Check that the fan is plugged in and working.

I thought that but fan is running fine.

I checked the temp in UnleashX when i did get it running and it's hovering around 44/45C so I don't think it's that.

I thought it might be something like a clock loop but the clock it set fine when ti boots.

Dave

I would try a new hard drive, though it doesn't explain the power issue. Look for any problems (corrosion) on the motherboard.

If I rebuild the drive back to standard with the latest dash it has none of these issues making me think it's not a hardware issue but something I'm doing.

Dave

If you have access to a compatible hard drive, give it a shot. The stock hard drive may not be being hit with requests for the same sectors that are killing the softmod, and you'll either eliminate at least part of the problem or know to look somewhere else.

Will any IDE drive suffice?

Dave

As long as its lockable

How do I determine if it's lockable?

Also how would I dump the EEPROM for a new drive?

Dave

You said you already had a dump of your xbox's eeprom, thats all you need...its always the same for that particular xbox no matter what hard drive you use.

As far as if your drive is lockable, u just gotta try to build & lock it with xboxhdm and see if it locks...either is going to lock or not.

http://xboxdrives.x-pec.com/?p=list

Do the same procedure you did for the stock drive, xboxhdm will figure out how to lock it with just the eeprom.

^Oh well..

Give that go when I get in.

Thank you for your help guys, most appriciative for your helpful responses.

Dave

Well so far so good.

New 120gb Maxtor drive and everything seem's to be much better than it was. I've had the machine turned off for a while, all buttons work on the front after it's been off and it always boots into UnleashX.

Thanks guys was great to get some helpful responses.

Dave

EDIT: Spoke too soon, BUT I've just noticed the issues only start after I FTP stuff to it. I FTP'd a copy of Surreal to the App's folder and it stopped booting. I wonder if it's something to do with the FTP client I am using or maybe because I'm FTPing from a Mac?

FTPing some apps shouldn't do anything to the booting process...how does it 'stop booting'? More detail.

As I said in my first post but I'll outline it in exact detail here:

- Softmod works fine
- Turn xbox off
- Turn xbox on
- Shows Xbox Logo (Light on front Green)
- Light turns Orange and just turns off.

Nothing else happens. But like I said I just tested this. Rebuilt the whole hard drive from scratch, softmodded using Ndure 3.1 and booted it up. Xbox run's like a dream, UnleashX boots every time no issues clocks set etc etc.

Load up Filezilla on my Mac, FTP something to the App's folder & reboot the Xbox & it's bricked again.

Going to try from a windows machine I have here.

Dave

I would get it going again....and then use HeXen (Heimdall's xbox engineering disc) to re-do the softmod for you properly...either that or get it going again and directly run Krayzie's NDURE 1.1.1...

Either way, it sounds as if after uve got it softmodded, and then u ftp any kind of files, it bricks because something is being moved or something.

Ndure softmod should be okay, and FTP access shouldn't do anything, but you never know, these things sometimes don't seem to make sense until after the fact. Wouldn't hurt to redo the mod with Hexen and and see what happens, otherwise I think you have a hardware problem that is going to be hard to solve unless you have some parts to swap around and test and eliminate, like a different power supply for one.

Something was wrong with your dashboard files, the light turning green(edit:orange) tells me that it was about to boot into the dash (some dash's have the led orange by default) but it couldn't do it.

Thanks for more ideas guys.

I recently tried HeXEn before I posted here to redo the softmod. It made no difference once the Xbox was bricked.

However running Krayzie's NDURE 1.1.1 directly from the Xbox sounds interesting. How would I do that?

Oddly on top of all this I bricked the Xbox last night, was doing the booting then orange light & off thing, gave up for the night and went to bed.
Turned it on this morning and it fired right up like nothing had ever happened. It is starting to look more and more like hardware which is a shame really, I guess I'll just have to Jtag the exploitable 360 I have here instead.

It's a shame really as like I said if I restore the drive to defaults it works perfectly.

Dave Maltby

What is meant by run HeXen to re-do softmod is...get ur xbox back up and softmodded the way you've been doing it 1st...once its running again, dont FTP anything, dont do anything but boot HeXen...and re-do the softmod...obviously you cant do it like this after its bricked...

As far as running Krayzies directly...i think, not sure, maybe someone will come along and correct me, but after you run NDURE to be able to create your xboxhdm disc...and since ur having trouble FTP'ing afterwards, you can create a folder on E called UDATA and put the Krayzie's 1.1.1 gamesave folder(s) in the root of UDATA...so yes, you would have to create a new xboxhdm disc...but once your box is softmodded with NDURE, you could then use file browser/manager to locate the install.xbe for Krayzies and run that package...then softmod with it normally.

This is the method of running tsop packages directly on previously softmodded xboxes...so it should work...of course if HeXen doesnt work, and this doesnt work...then you got other problems...orange led and then immediate shutdown is new on me.

In fact, what version is your xbox? if its not a 1.6 you may want to TSOP it and be done with it...then you wont have to hotswap etc anymore...plus would rule out any stock kernel corruption that could be causing the issue in the 1st place...you dont necessarily have to solder...can always use a conductive ink pen to bridge the tsop read/write enable points.

Got a V1.0 Xbox according to a guide here on Xbox Scene.

Was made in Hungary, interesting crap comes out of serial numbers. Well if you find nerdy crap interesting (which apparently I do).

Anyway as I understand it a tsop is a complete flash of the bios correct?

I don't mind soldering I've got a JTAG-able Xbox here that I was going to give ago next month when I have the cash to buy the bits.

Do you have a good tsop guide you recommend, a real idiot proof step by step one?

Dave Maltby

The easiest way to try a completely different BIOS is to use PBL to load it after the Xbox is booted - which is exactly what HeXEn does. So, if you cold boot with HeXEn (burned to DVD-R at 4x or slower) does the Xbox work? If it does then TSOP may be your answer. If not then it starts to sound like a hardware problem.

Hexen work's perfectly after boot, used it for a few different bits.

Hexen obviously stops working once the softmod breaks.

Dave

IF your xbox is a v1.0, did you check the GPU fan too?

Yes I did.

Dave

Excellent.

Next question: Just to confirm, have you tried using HeXEn to install a clean softmod, as JohnnyHunng sugested a couple of posts back? If so, which softmod did you install with HeXen?

Used HeXEn to install a clean softmod. I believe it was krayzies.

Option 2, then 2 again then 4.

Dave

Good news...i'd still TSOP it tho if it were me

HeXen can flash tsops too...nice disc.

Obviously needs to be softmodded first I guess, process being (simplified obviously):

- Softmod (don't FTP anything)
- Solder Points
- Run HeXEn
- Run option for TSOP flash (anyone got the option code for this?)
- Reboot
- ?
- Profit

Dave

TSOP points

Not sure which option it is on HeXen but its self-explanatory and HeXen walks you thru..maybe Heimdall will come confirm.

Try A-Y-B-X for passcode.

look for E:\NKP_11\clock.xbe and delete it

Before you TSOP, try something else first. Redo your softmod, use HeXEn to install Krayzie 1.1.1, then use Krayzie Extras (available from the UnleashX Menu that HeXEn installs, can't remember what I called it but it's something like NDURE tools), then use it to switch to a kernel specific font exploit to match your kernel version.

You might also want to do the same with Kingroach (i.e. install from HeXEn, use NDURE tools to change the font exploit).

The reason for this is that I recall there being an issue with generic fonts on 1.0 retail BIOS Xboxes, but I can't find any details at the moment.

Wife's taken over the study so will try both these things tomorrow.

Thanks guys.

Dave