Topic: Can't Play Retail Games (Read 464 times)

Outrager · « **on:** July 20, 2004, 04:23:00 PM »

Okay, I installed a Xenium ICE Solderless into my 1.0 XBox. I put in an 80GB Maxtor and use the New HD Wizard to get the 80GB to work. I take out the original HD and store it.
I launch the Retail Kernal (TSOP) thru Xenium OS2 and I put in my Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (retail) disc to see if I can still play my games on Live. It freezes at the big X logo after the blubber effect. I wait 5 minutes or so hoping it will work, but it doesn't do anything. I also try ESPN Football 2k4 and it loads, but freezes after the intro movie to the game. I try Soul Caliber 2 and that loads up to the main menu, but I didn't try starting a fight.
When I have no disc in the XBox I get the the normal configuration screen and I go to Music section. I try deleting soundtracks I made, but it doesn't delete them. I try going to the save manager section and deleting the soundtracks from their and it also doesn't delete them.
I didn't know what to do so I tried putting the original HD back in instead of the new 80GB, take out the modchip, and I get the screen that says my XBox needs to be serviced.
That didn't work, so I put the modchip back in and put the 80GB back in as well. I can play backup games on my new HD perfectly fine except I can't play the retail disc games. I'm thinking it has something to do with the HD not being locked, but in both Xenium OS2 and EvoX they say my HD is locked.
Does anyone know what could be wrong?

Outrager · « **Reply #1 on:** July 20, 2004, 04:35:00 PM »

Upon further testing it seems older non-Live games work fine (LoTR:TT, MGS2, Halo) while newer Live games freeze or do nothing while loading (PGR2, Rainbow Six 3).
When I tried Halo the XBox asked me for the time because it seems be have been reset even though I haven't unplugged it and the time is fine in EvoX.
I also checked the XBox Live section in the MSDashboard using the Retail Kernal and it seems that my account has been erased. Could recovering my account make everything better? I don't want to sign on Live yet because since my retail DVDs aren't even working properly they might ban my XBox.

AmO · « **Reply #2 on:** July 20, 2004, 05:46:00 PM »

if you are using the default xbox bios, then recovering your account should work fine. As long as you can access the default MS dashboard and everything else works fine i say go for the account recovery. As of now, MS only checks your bios when you connect to live to determine whether to ban you or not. As long as you are using the imbedded MS TSOP you should be fine.

P.S. - Do at your own risk. I use Live all the time with my xenium using the TSOP in my xbox and I have NEVER had a single problem. If you make a mistake I take no responsibility.

xFusioNx · « **Reply #3 on:** July 20, 2004, 04:53:00 PM »

If you have an account to recover from, do that and sign on with the retail bios, you should have no problems.

Outrager · « **Reply #4 on:** July 20, 2004, 07:33:00 PM »

Okay, I select recover account, the interface goes away, and I'm left with a black screen with the spinning green pie thing on the bottom. It spins for a second and then freezes. I think this is why none of my retail games seem to work. When my XBox tries to sign onto Live or anything to do with it it seems to just stop. Anyone ever have this problem?

Outrager · « **Reply #5 on:** July 20, 2004, 10:34:00 PM »

Weird. I tried the AvalauncH Dashboard and it lets me unlock my HD, but not lock it. With Xenium OS2 it lets me do both. Also, AvalauncH says that my HD supports Locking, but not Secure Erase. Does anyone know what that is?

Chocula · « **Reply #6 on:** July 22, 2004, 07:03:00 PM »

There seems to be a bug with the hard drive upgrade in OS2. Everything looks normal and works fine until you load a game that has live support, the game lockup while loading and just sit there. Games without live support are said to run fine but I did not personally test any.

The data is copies over fine, but the partitions are not formated correctly. I do not know if all of the partitions are messed up or just one, but I redid all of them and it works.

The tutorial for upgrading your hard drive using EvolutionX can be found at:
http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/hdd-install.php

The part that you need to be concerned with is "Formatting the New Hard Disk".
Assuming you have already loaded EvolutionX on the hard drive, you do not need to make a DVD, everything can be done from the new hard drive. You do NOT need to connect your original hard drive, keeping this safe should anything go wrong.

First backup your C: and E: drives, F: should be backed up too if you have any data on it that you want to keep. Just FTP the entire contents of the drive to your PC in such a way that you can load it back. I made a seperate directory for my C: and my E: drives.

(from the tutorial)
1. "Formatpath \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1" (Do 1-6)
You will receive a [key] reply from the Xbox that will appear in your FTP client
2. "Formatdrive [key]" (obviously youd enter the actual key that you received, not [key])

Disconnect and reconnect your FTP client, or at least refresh list of files so that it correctly shows the C: and E: (and possibly F:) drives are empty, then copy back the data you backed up. Restart your system and everything should be working.

Chocula

Megaloballer · « **Reply #7 on:** July 22, 2004, 09:23:00 PM »

I heard that MS is now checking the size of your hard drive when you sign on to xbox live, so be careful, they could still ban your account even if you're using retail games and your original EEPROM/BIOS etc...

humptiness · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2004, 09:18:00 PM »

I get the same problem with ESPN NFL 2K5: gets past the intro movie and then freezes.

Outrager · « **Reply #9 on:** July 22, 2004, 11:23:00 PM »

Thanks Chocula. I hope this is really what's wrong and it works. Weird thing is that with so many people probably using the ICE and the OS2 HD Wizard I would think that this problem would be a little more wide spread and documented. Or maybe I just don't know where to look.

Gumba · « **Reply #10 on:** July 23, 2004, 05:17:00 AM »

MicroChip · « **Reply #11 on:** July 23, 2004, 08:19:00 AM »

Outrager · « **Reply #12 on:** July 23, 2004, 08:45:00 AM »

Okay, I started the processes of backing up my harddrive at 3am and then formatted the drives as per Chocula's instructions and ftp'ed all the data back onto my Xbox finally around 9am. Live seems to work perfectly fine now for Splinter Cell (only retail game I tried. I'll try more now. If anything doesn't work I'll post it). THANKS A LOT Chocula!
The only thing that still seems to freeze is XBMC's Weather lookup. But that might be a problem with XBMC, I don't know.

Chocula · « **Reply #13 on:** July 23, 2004, 11:41:00 AM »

Outrager · « **Reply #14 on:** July 23, 2004, 01:44:00 PM »

Yeah, I just looked at the XML setting file since I just uploaded it without changing anything and put in 'dhcp' as my ipaddress and now it works fine.
I also just renewed my XBox Live account with a starter kit and I called up MS and they gave me a choice of 3 games to get for free: PGR2, Crimson Skies, or CS. I have PGR2 and Crimson Skies. CS I used to have but traded for Rainbow Six 3. So I told them to send CS.

And I also save $150 from having to buy another XBox to play my Live games.
Finally, I love XBMC. It's so much better watching videos on the TV and my couch then on my crappy computer chair using ear buds. Luckily I have a nice monitor.

Author Topic: Can't Play Retail Games (Read 464 times)