[Help] Modding my Xbox

I don't understand what you mean, when you say you want to build a modchip. There are several excellent chips on the market if you want to fit one. It's a shame your original hard drive is dead, or you could have softmodded. It still might be possible to do so, but not nearly as easy. Without access to your xbox's eeprom key, you're on a long road unless you go with a modchip.

Just to check, we are talking about the first-generation xbox, are we not? If you mean the xbox 360, then I can't tell you a damn thing except that many have tried. Sucesses have been limited.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php

That link should tell you everything that a person without hardcore scene access can learn. Some of the people who are really big in the scene do post there, so if you've got the skills, then you could easily get in with the big boys.

The SDK for xbox has been pirated, so you can find that on the net. Andrew "Bunnie" Hwang did the initial exploration of the hardware, and other hackers have followed. Bunnie is still one of only a few who could do what he did though. Such documents as exist are available on the site I linked you to. They may be buried deep in the forums though.

I know all about the practical side of using and installing softmods, but that's about it. The theoretical stuff, and the coding is just a hint above my level. I can understand some of it, but not enough.

Originally Posted by Qwarky

Why make/install a modchip when you can simply softmod it which runs pretty much the exact same thing?

With the original HDD busted, that's going to be a problem. In order to extract the eeprom key, you need a working hard drive. In order to have a working hard drive, you need to lock it with the EEPROM key.

It's a chicken-and-egg situation. Normally the stock HDD would do the job just fine, but since it is dead...

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It's very easy to remove the HDD from the xbox. You need Torx screwdrivers in sizes 10, 15, and 20 to actually remove it from the box, first of all. Then you just need to use xboxhdm to unlock it, if it has been locked. Then you can partition and format it. Acer is right that it's a perfectly standard IDE hard drive.

The process of unlocking requires your EEPROM key, which is easy enough to obtain. It should have been in your E:\Backups folder as part of the process of modding the box in the first place, so check there.

There's nowhere I can't reach.