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[piggymouth]

It's been a while since I've posted a new topic. Most of the time I try to reply to a topic to get a question answered. Now I'm asking for help.

I have softmodded quite a few xboxes for friends so I have the knowledge. I also like to understand how things work. I enjoy knowing how to fix something but I would like to know what fixed it.  Follow me..?

Here is the situation. I have a version 1.1 xbox (according to configmagic) with a 120GB HDD and it works fine. In doing some computer upgrades & I have a spare 320GB Western Digital that I would like to use in my xbox. I have the softmod booting and have access to FTP, Telnet & everything else I need threw the Evox dashboard.

When I first noticed Drive F is was 137GB and no bigger. After doing some reading I used xbtool with the RC4 key and made myself a bios.bin file with LBA48 support. I also set the bios option to use the remaining space on just one drive (F) rather than split it between two. I put the file on C: and rebooted the xbox. I can now see Drive F: as 315GB or something close to that (I'm not in front of my xbox while typing this) so I figured I'm good to start putting things on the Drive.

I start copying XBMC first to get it setup and ready. It will not boot to save it's life. I tried DVDtoXbox, it too will not boot. I also tried UnleashX and it freezes. The only program that will boot on F is configmagic. My E: drive Udata/Tdata are all cleaned out. This is a brand new hard drive and I want to get things up and running before I dump huge amounts of data over.

I did some more reading and found the "Format your HDD with 32K clusters" thread and read threw that. I was able to use Xpartition (don't remember name) to format the F Drive with 32K clusters. I would like to have one big F drive rather than a F & G if possible. I have read that people with 500GB drives have a large F Drive and no G and it works for them.

I started copying files again and still the same problem happens. Nothing will boot on F. Everything I've read said the xbox HDD using a file size of 137GB or greater must use 32K formatting or the data will get corrupted over time or you may experience problems running things on that drive.  This fits the issue I'm having.

All these programs work fine on my old 120 HDD. FlashFXP is what I'm using to copy stuff over and it copies fine.  I am at a loss, this can't be a big deal.

Anything I can try to fix this..?
Something I missed or overlooked..?

Or do I have to have a F & G partition.  If that's the answer I'll gladly do it. I don't want to do it but after all the time I've put into this it seems like a option.

Thanks.

[xman954]

QUOTE

I started copying files again and still the same problem happens. Nothing will boot on F. Everything I've read said the xbox HDD using a file size of 137GB or greater must use 32K formatting or the data will get corrupted over time or you may experience problems running things on that drive. This fits the issue I'm having

256gb is the limit
but your showing 315gb
so you must be using a .06 bios
if not 137gb X 2 = 274gb (2X for 32K)
it should work.......
try NKPatcher it allways works

[ldotsfan]

Ndure softmods typically use nkpatcher kernel patcher for the LBA48 support. The PBL bios loader to load a BFM bios for LBA48 support belonged to the older family of softmods. Nkpatcher will support booting from F drive. Otherwise you can always use a shortcut XBE to point from E drive to F drive (The XBMC download has a tools folder with the shortcut XBE).

[piggymouth]

Thanks for the replys.

I have decided to call this quits.  If it wanted to work it would have when I turned on
LBA support. I'm going to put in my old 120GB HDD and put the thing back together.

There are more reasons than one why this won't work. It should. I can copy files and see them, so I don't
think I'm suffering from the corruption problem. If you format with 32K clusters it is reported that your max partition size can be no bigger than 512GB mine is 315GB. Makes no sense why nothing will boot from the F Drive.  I did get configmagic to boot and Xpartition but those programs are small, seems anything big won't run, just locks up.

I can see the drive.
I can see all the space.
Things copy fine.

Maybe my softmod is so old (Bert vs Ernie Reloaded Fonts) that this won't work no matter how hard
I tweak it.

I will have to go out and pickup a new Hard Drive if I want a big one now. In the fit of range I took this thing out for some air.  

[obcd]

I assume your softmod is using the PBL to load another bios.
Not all biosses work with a 32KB cluster size. Maybe that's your problem.

You might try a modern softmod with the nkpatcher as xman954 is suggesting. Try to ftp some large files to the partition, and ftp them back afterwards. Binary compare the results to see if the files haven't  changed.

regards.

[piggymouth]

Yes!!!
It is really old.

In order to get LBA48 support I took the xboxrom.bin file from C and used xbtool. I grabbed
my RC4 key from boot.cfg to use with xbtool. Xbtool allowed me to check LBA48>F Gets the Rest setting.
I put this file back on C and overwrote the old one. Before I did this I could only see 137GB on F, after I could see 315GB so I thought it was working until I tried to load things from F. As indicated from eariler postings, I have formatted F with 32K clusters from XPartition. This seem to have no affect and the problems were happening just the same before I ran the program.

In checking the XBMC log file it appears to freeze checking Drive F
In check DVDtoXbox it hangs when it's scanning partitions.
All of these problems seem the same.

I have no problem updating this old softmod. I was thinking about doing it when I started with these problems. I know that a F Drive can have a 315GB partition but if the bios doesn't support it what good will it do it..?  

I have a really old dashboard version 4920
My kernal is version 4972 (I think, not at home typing this) it is not listed in the ndure PC install setup.
For that matter neither is the dashboard.

Would "generic fonts" work for the kernal setting...? When running Ndure PC setup..?
I have used it to softmod a friends box that was newer than mine, so I know how it works. I just have never selected "generic fonts".

As far as the dashboard goes, I know I can update it using a live enable game. I've read to use Halo 2, unplug the ethernet cable, load Halo 2 & connect to live using the game profile, not the xbox live button on the dashboard. This will trigger the update.  Am I correct..?
Can I do this procedure on a softmod..? I don't really care if I break it since I want to update and get away from the Phoenix Bios loader & Bert/Ernie Fonts altogether. What version dashboard will Halo 2 update me too...?

Or do I have to restore my xbox back to retail to make this dashboard update happen..?  I still have the retail backup around that I ran from the hotswap using HDD Driver. It will take more work but maybe in the long run it will fix all this mess.

Thanks again for the help as I learn through this.  I have another friend of mine running this older mod, if I can get mine updated to standard maybe I can fix his too.

Appericate the help.

[ldotsfan]

msdash 4920 is the same dash that gave us the Ndure fonts  

Easy way to upgrade softmod: get CASH 1.1 boot disc. That will upgrade softmod to Krayzie's Ndure.

Harder way: manually install Kingroach Ndure 3.1. kernel generic fonts should work most of the time, failing which add the filler s.xtf. Search for the posts here that outline the steps. Quite a few as people keep asking for it - usually to do the HD settings.

Hardest way: http://xguides.xbox-...ure XBE Exploit and manually compile nkpatcher. Since you like to understand how things work, maybe you want to challenge yourself? But make sure you have eeprom backup to recover.

The CASH 1.1 disc will also have msdash 5960 which is recommended for Ndure retail setup (dual-boot, power to homebrew dash, eject button to msdash)

Have fun  

[xman954]

QUOTE

Would "generic fonts" work for the kernal setting...?

thats all i ever use along with s1.xtf s2.xtf, works fine with all HD settings
you can update using FTP and be running in 10 min's

[piggymouth]

QUOTE

Easy way to upgrade softmod: get CASH 1.1 boot disc. That will upgrade softmod to Krayzie's Ndure.

I'm having a tough time getting my hands on that disc.  So I thought I would do the TSOP and flash it.
This method seems to rule out all other things.

1. I can use my own Bios
2. Putting in a new HDD will be much easier
3. If it crashes I can just boot up a DVD and fix it like a modchip xbox does.
4. I don't have to worry about softmods

From what I understand this is the same thing as a mod chip.  Fully unlocks the xbox and you can do whatever you want.

QUOTE

Since you like to understand how things work, maybe you want to challenge yourself?

I will be doing just that but not tonight. My eyes are tired and not fit for soldering.  

I have a 15w soldering iron (pencil thin) so it should do the job, providing I have a steady hand.
I haven't solder since college when I put a AM/FM radio together as a project.


I will tackle this tomorrow.  I'll let you know how it goes.

[piggymouth]

BAM!!!!
It worked like a charm!!!!!

Only took me 4hrs but it was learning all the way.  Flashed the bios with Evox
and now I'm running a custom Bios and I can boot DVD's without a softmod or anything for that matter.

I screwed up the jumpers soldering. It was a little harder than I thought but I didn't break the box.
It still boots and functions the same.

I did the TSOP jumpering with a IDE cable.  This way you don't have to solder anything to the board.
The IDE cable is small enough to fix inside the tiny holes on the xbox motherboard.  It was simple to do.

1. Take an IDE cable from a computer that you don't want anymore. I used a 80-pin. Not sure if the 40-pin version is small enough.

2. Remove the IDE connectors from the cable. I used a screwdriver to snap the tabs off.  These connectors are what you would plug the drive into from your PC. They can be removed from the cable.

3. Take a Razor knife and cut yourself some strans.  Just take your knife and in-between each cable there is some room to cut. Start the slice and just pull the cable off.  Cut the cable at the end to remove it completely.

4. Using wire stripers, cut back some of the wire.  It is up to you how much you want to strip it back.

5. You can now (very carefully trying not to bend the wire) stick it into the jumper holes on the motherboard.

I used the ALT jumper tutorial to do mine.  I really had no choice since I screwed up the solder job.  Once your chip is flashed you can easily remove the wires.  I removed mine, I don't plan on flashing again.

I will let you know how this 320GB HD will work on this setup.

Thanks again for all the tips.

Curious, has anyone ever though of using IDE wire instead of solder...?  If no one has then I would like to take credit for it.  As big as this world is someone had to think of this.

[piggymouth]

So far so good.

The work has paid off.

I have copied stuff to the F Drive and it shows the correct space.  The programs that I run
from the drive also load.

So the trouble I was having was due to the old softmod.

Gotta run...my xbox is calling me and it's "finally" time to play.