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[tvaldez]

First the forum is great I don't post often enough, but whenever I had a problem I have had a solution in no time and you guys have been great.
So big up to the forum.

I did my best read the tuts (evox 458) sections and tried going as far back as I could on the threads, but I didn't run across a solution. I bought a Maxtor 7200rpm 40g drive. I followed the instructions as best I could.

I keep getting the red light and service menu. I tried switching the jumpers and have tried both a cd-r and cd-rw loaded with an evolution 458 iso. The same disc I used to add evox to my xbox in the first place. I tried the Xbox prep tool and tried both options. ie 4096 only and then doing the whole thing.

My question is there anything that I should look for on the disc that is maybe missing and thats maybe why my xbox is not reading it?

Secondly is the xbox always going to have the service message come up if there is no cd in the drive. According to a few other threads it looks like it is normal. But no one ever came out and specified.

And lastly do I have to do anything to the hd before I use the XboxHD prep tool. Like install the hd or format it. I mean I just bought it and popped it in there. Windows does not recognize it because its not installed, but the Xbox program does. Is that all I should be concerned about?

Thanks in advance.

I should also mention I never disconnected my enigma mod. I designed it with the 2 extra long wires on point 15 & 21. To shut it down, but never had to. I guess I should leave it connected to do this no?

[opjose]

QUOTE (tvaldez @ Oct 16 2002, 01:47 PM)

First the forum is great I don't post often enough, but whenever I had a problem I have had a solution in no time and you guys have been great. So big up to the forum. I did my best read the tuts (evox 458) sections and tried going as far back as I could on the threads, but I didn't run across a solution. I bought a Maxtor 7200rpm 40g drive. I followed the instructions as best I could. I keep getting the red light and service menu. I tried switching the jumpers and have tried both a cd-r and cd-rw loaded with an evolution 458 iso. The same disc I used to add evox to my xbox in the first place. I tried the Xbox prep tool and tried both options. ie 4096 only and then doing the whole thing. My question is there anything that I should look for on the disc that is maybe missing and thats maybe why my xbox is not reading it? Secondly is the xbox always going to have the service message come up if there is no cd in the drive. According to a few other threads it looks like it is normal. But no one ever came out and specified. And lastly do I have to do anything to the hd before I use the XboxHD prep tool. Like install the hd or format it. I mean I just bought it and popped it in there. Windows does not recognize it because its not installed, but the Xbox program does. Is that all I should be concerned about? Thanks in advance. I should also mention I never disconnected my enigma mod. I designed it with the 2 extra long wires on point 15 & 21. To shut it down, but never had to. I guess I should leave it connected to do this no?

                                    If your drive is not prepped properly or missing the right dashboard (or unlocked with the original bios) you will get the red light AFTER it tries and reboots.

Do not use the HDPREP CD, instead follow the directions in the Tutorials on Evolution-X 1.8.4xx

Yes you missed several steps.

No it should NOT go RED after a CD LESS BOOT.

[tvaldez]

I either misread your post or your misreading mine. I didn't use a prep cd. The only cd I have is my evox cd. The prep tool I used was the one I downloaded from the tut. (xhdprepa.exe) What steps did I miss. I feel I followed them exactly.

"Preparing Your New Hard Drive

The hard drive with which you choose to replace your Xbox’s original drive can be brand new or can already have existing data on it. There are just a few steps that you’ll need to take in order to get it ready for use in the Xbox. Thanks to Ziki, this is now a 5 minute process rather than an all-nighter…


1. Turn off your computer
2. Open up your computer’s case and find an available IDE spot
3. Connect the new HDD to an available IDE cable and an available power cable
4. Boot your computer. If you need to make any BIOS modifications with respect to the new HDD, make them now
5. Run the XboxHDPrepar utility
6. In the left hand window, select the drive that you intend to install in your Xbox

Note: Be VERY careful choosing the correct drive. If you select the wrong drive, you will almost certainly lose all system data on your computer.

7. Select the “Only 1st 4096 sectors of partitions” option in the “Zeroing” box
8. Click “Prepare” and let it do its magic!
9. Once the utility has finished, shut down your computer, remove the IDE cable and power cable from the HDD and take the HDD out of your computer case."

[opjose]

This is only "Part One!"

BTW: the "ONLY FORMAT FIRST SECTORS" is a bad idea, you need to perform a FULL ZEROING.

After you have done this, then you move on to the section about formating the partitions, etc. under the Evolution-X tutor for 1.8.4xx off the main page.

[tvaldez]

I know...I know, but I'm not suppose to go the next step if I keep getting the service message no? In the tut it says to back and troubleshoot if get that error message.

I mean I'm not being a ballbuster or anything, but I just wanna make sure we are on the same page. My problem is Part one. I can't get around the service message. The xbox won't read my evox cd either probably because of something related to that.

I appreciate the help...really!

[opjose]

No YOU WILL get the service message!

This is NORMAL, as your Xbox does not have it's partitions formatted until the next stage.

You boot from the Evolution-X cd again and then format each partition sequentially, do it again for good measure (yes really!) and finally copy your files back.

Yes you will be able to boot from the CD, if you get Red/Green, eject or turn off the Xbox with the CD in and try again. It will come up at some point.

[tvaldez]

Ahhh....thats the part the tut didn't make clear. I thought if I got the serivce light at that point b4 I started partitioning I did something wrong...Let me try. I dodn't know to ignore the error and keep going....makes sense.
T

[erexx]

Well I am not sure what you did exactly from the last post
and it still looks like you are missing some steps.

HDPrep. (full or short)
Format all 6 partitions
Copy OS to xbox C partition.

(HD jumper should be Master but Cable select works for a few)

If that fails try this:
Double check your install job on the new hard drive and you are 100% certain nothing is wrong then

1) Put your original hard drive back in the box and make sure you can still boot orginals, etc...
2) If it still has the same symptoms then you know its not the new hard drive.
3) If it behaves normally again then you know its the harddrive.

2) Cont. If it exhibits the same behavior with the original hardrive then the problem is some where in the xbox hardware.
Since you know it was working before the modchip, right?, then the next step is to take a closer look at the modchip install. Wiring and Bios used.

3) Cont. If it behaves normally again then something went wrong with the new hard drive install.
Instead of repreping the whole drive again
(which is what you Really should do)
You might be able to get away with:
Formating all 6 partitions with FlashFXP,
complete a re-copy of original OS to the xbox C partition via FlashFXP.
Make sure you can boot originals and backups before installing Evox.
Install Evox if everything still looks good...

[tvaldez]

Ok I will try.
I just want address all the PMs as well. All I have done so far is. Back up my C & E from my old drive. Then put the new drive in my pc and ran the xbox prep tool. I now put the new hd in the xbox and turn it on. At this point- b4 I am able to use and ftp program.. before I can do any partitioning the service message appears.

Is this normal? I just want to speicfy that because I know I have not completed those other steps you keep talking about because I can't. Evox wont load...therefore I can not ftp to xbox to partition the drive. I just want you to undertsnad I can not go further. The service message appears and the xbox freezes.

[tvaldez]

Oh and my original hd works fine if I swap it out.

[erexx]

Totally normal.
You must boot with EvoX next
FTP in then Format the drives
Copy over the OS

[tvaldez]

ok good then. So this is part where I am stuck. I bunch of times. I can't get the cd to boot. I 'll keep trying though.
Thanks

[tvaldez]

Been tying for 2 hrs. Still wont boot. I even tried making a new evox boot disk. It just wont boot evox.

[erexx]

Check the jumper settings on the HD.
Master is the preferance.
Cable Select works for some.

I assume this EvoX disk booted without problems in the past

[tvaldez]

yup