I turned on my xBox today, and the SoftMod has gone. Looks like the hard drive has been wiped as it says

Hard Drive size: 50000+ blocks
Available: 50000+ blocks

And it now boots into the normal menu. Am I right in thinking that I will now need to redo the softmod?

Seems strange that it just went without me doing anything, just happened out of the blue

Which softmod did you use?

What was the last thing you did before turning off the Xbox?

Thanks for your help. The last thing I did before turning it off was play on LMA 2006 (which wasn't very good to be honest)

Anyway, I bought an action replay and tried re-softmodding. Using the same method as last time - Splinter Cell gamesave and AID Disk

But this time instead of loading the installer menu, it just resets the game when I select the "Checkpoints" option on the gamesave

Have tried doing a quick google search which threw up nothing, so maybe I have worded it wrong. I hope someone can help

Use a post 2004 Live-enabled game (Halo 2 or later) to restore the MS dash. (Just select the option to play on Xbox Live, the first thing the game should do is update the dash before it tries to connect to Live, and once it has done that you can quit).

Then use the AR to put the Krayzie 1.1.1 gamesave installer onto your Xbox. There are two saves with Splinter Cell, and you need both of them. Load the game, backup the eeprom, select Basic Install - UnleashX Dashboard.

Thanks

I tried that (the updating of the Dashboard via xBox live and I get the "Service Required. Call Customer Support" message

with the code 21

That's not good.

Can you still run games?

Yesh, it's fine, all of them work no problem.

Do you have a link to the Krayzie download?

All I have found are fake/dead links and an NTSC version

I will try it and if the worst comes to the worst I can just get a new xBox from my local cash converters (nearly always under a tenner) and then sell my current on on eBay seeing as it works for normal games

we cant link you to these files.

but google search for

"KRAZIE Splinter cell 1.1.1 exploit PAL"
With the quotes.
you should then fine ones i uploaded recently

Do you have any other Live-enabled games? If you do, try doing the dash update with one of those.

I will have a look and try tomorrow. Also need to try and find the drivers for my action replay, bought just the memory card and reader without a disk

Found and loaded the software, but it doesn't have the drivers with it to my knowledge

Try using Xplorer360 beta 6 instead of AR. It doesn't need drivers.

I have downloaded that Explorer360, loads up OK, but unable to see my Action Replay

I have emailed the makers of the action replay requesting drivers, saying that I have lost my CD, hopefully it will come up trumps

Remember that until you can get your MS Dash restored AR is no use to you......

OK

So this where I am at present.

Bought a "new" xBox

Quite pleased, as it was fully boxed, came with official pad (which I didn't have previously), instructions, and all the other usual stuff. And it only cost me £6.99

As a side note, in case anyone is reading this, I would update the Dashboard before doing a softmod (I used LMA 2006) Reason why, had loads of problems creating a backup, then got error 13 upon console startup. Luckily I had made a backup of the MS and C:Drive (though the SID told me I hadn't) and I was able to get the MS Dashboard back.

I then updated the dash and all appears fine now. I would however like to put my other xBox back in a softmodded state before I sell it, but will look at doing that later

That doesn't sound great. You are almost certainly still in the same precarious position with your new Xbox as you were with your old one.

SID allows you to install a softmod with absolutely no protection against accidentally overwriting the softmod files, which is what happened with your original Xbox. That's why we recommended you use Krayzie 1.1.1, because it always installs a protected softmod with shadow C. It also insists that you have an updated dash before you start.

I would seriously recommend that you do two things. First, take a backup of your eeprom and put it in a safe place. Second, use HeXEn (Google Heimdall's Xbox Engineering Disc, burn it to DVD-R at 4x or slower) to update your softmod to Krayzie 1.1.1.

Nope, it's OK, all working now.

If I can't get the old one back to softmodded mode, will just sell it as a normal console

Just installing emulators as we speak

No, you're not understanding the problem. Your new Xbox is one click away from the same fate as your old one, because you've used SID. The fact that it is working now means nothing - your old Xbox used to work as well.

SID allows you to install softmods that have no shadow C protection. Shadow C hides the softmod files, so games can't overwrite them. No shadow C = games can wreck your softmod, as you found out with your old Xbox.

Krayzie 1.1.1 fixes that, and HeXEn will upgrade your Xbox to Krayzie 1.1.1 with no fuss - but ultimately it's your choice. If you're happy to live with an unprotected softmod then leave it as it is.

Edit: And you can't sell the old one as a normal console with error 21........

What is the deal with SID? I've never used it but SID 5 claims to use xman954's latest revision of nkpatcher and uses ndure and shadow C is available, though I don't know if it is setup by default.

There is no problem with SID 5, it does indeed use a recent nkpatcher, and it's very good. The issue is that shadow C (and virtual eeprom) are options, not installed by default, so unless they've read the manual and understood the issues most people don't select the appropriate options, and can then have the problems that RussWWFC had with his original Xbox.

Thanks, maybe I'll try it sometime, though I usually just use ndure installer files and put them in the right place by whatever method is handy.

if your going to go for sid. then skip it and go for autobuilder v3 instead.
SPPV has been releasing these things prety regular, and auto builder v3 is the latest incarnation.
its xboxhdm/sid based. has a revized and updated nkpatcher.

then he also has "Pimped CD"
prety much the same but a much smaller download. without all the extras included as options on autobuilder.

SID offers six single boot choices including three with Virtual C but as Heimdall indicates there is no default. The Virtual C options are listed last as they are in the SID online manual too so chances are most users would likely go for one of the unprotected options. It would certainly be more sensible if they were listed with the Virtual C options first and a recommendation to use these options.

As far as I can see the manual doesn't say what alternatives in regard to Virtual C the dual boot options provide now. In older SID versions you weren't given any Virtual C choices at all. I have two machines never updated still running fine for years despite using such an old unprotected SID and a dodgy copy of that too.

Using AID though, at least with the One-Click installs, single boot with Virtual C is the prime recommendation.