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[d-range]

Hi, i was curious about a HDD swap issue i ran across when i recently softmodded/hd upgraded an xbox. It was the first box i modded since 2 years or something, but before that i have modded multple boxes in multiple ways (hw/sw/linux/etc). So i think i can say that i know what i'm doing, but i cannot explain this one.

Here's what i did, and normally always have done to softmod/hd upgrage: i have my own xbox, with xecuter 2 chip and xecuter bios. Naturally, this box can use unlocked drives. When i switch off the modchip, the box is also softmodded using PBL installed with the gueux UXE installer and then boots into UnleashX. Lets call this xbox+. Then I have the xbox to softmod to a larger hd, lets call it xbox-. The procedure I used is this, all done with the modchip on xbox+ on:
 
1) On xbox-: Load splintercell gueux UXE save. Backup C:, backup eeprom. Transfer eeprom to usb stick by copying it into the splintercell save in UDATA & using the MS dashboard to copy it to 'memory card' usb stick.
2) On xbox+: Get save with eeprom backup. Unlock hd, flash xbox+ eeprom to xbox- eeprom using Config Magic.
3) Reboot. Format new hd using a really old slayer evox auto-installer. This installs a crappy old evox with crippled ftp support to the new hd.
4) Use splintercell installer on xbox+, and now actually install the softmod. This boots into a french old UnleashX version using PBL. Reboot, lock hd using the slayer cd.
4) On xbox-: Install the formatted/installed hd. Boot into UnleashX, ftp latest xbmc & a few apps to it. Set xbmc as default dashboard by replacing hackdash.xbe
5) Reflash xbox+ to original eeprom. Lock HD.

This works flawlessly everytime, save for a few stupid bugs in the gueux installer (font copy failed issue and missing backitup.xbe).

Now, the strange thing i noticed was this: between step 2 and 3, i tried the original 10G HD from xbox- on xbox+, just to verify i flashed the eeprom correctly. With the executer chip on, this worked (boot into ms dash), but when i switched it off, i got an hd error (02 or 05 i think, cant remember). I don't really get this, because i always assumed that you can swap locked hd's without any problems between boxes with matching eeproms. Also, because it does work the other way around: the hd formatted, softmodded and locked on xbox+ *does* work in xbox- without any problems. I experienced this with a second xbox again today. AFAIK there are no box-specific things to the xbox hdd's besides the locking key, at least nothing that is actively checked by the original ms bios? But maybe someone can enlighten me?