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[Dsj]

First, let me say that I've solved this problem (for now) by reinstalling the softmod. I'm looking for possible causes as to what started this to prevent it from happening again. Dashboard version is 5920 and kernel version is 5838 (if those numbers are necessary).

So, I followed the 'Softmod with NDURE through XBOXHDM' tutorial, and the process went flawlessly. After that was done, I tested the dual-boot feature by entering the MS Dash by powering on with the eject button - it booted into the Live Dash. Having no need for this, I changed it to boot into the standard MS Dash by using the NDURE toolset. I rebooted, and everything worked fine. Then I set up the FTP and copied Evox over to the apps folder. I ran Evox and ran the backup. Once finished, I rebooted the Xbox and copied the backup folder (located in the Evox folder) with the EEPROM information on it to my computer. Once that was finished, I played an original Xbox game for a while, and turned off the system when I was finished.

I returned to it a few hours (eight-ish) later. I turned it on (with the power button), and instead of loading UnleashX, it sits at the Xbox bootsplash for a while, the screen flickers and spits out an error 21; the ring is flashing red and green. Then I tried to power it on with the eject button - it booted into MS Dash just fine, and I could play the game fine.

After some frustration (and to no avail), I decided to just start over and pray for the best. I made a new XBOXHDM disc with my EEPROM on it and reinstalled NDURE. It threw out a few "no space left on disk" errors but the UnleashX Dashboard did boot after all. (Now, both buttons boot into UnleashX, but if the system is powered on with the eject button, and the tray is not closed before the Xbox logo appears, it will give me an error 21. Not that it matters as I've no need for the original dash, it's just odd.)

It's been running smoothly since, but I'm worried that I might involuntarily screw it up again somehow. I don't remember what Dash (either MS or UnleashX) I used when I played the game; if it was under MS, is it possible that files in the game had overwritten the UnleashX Dash files, thus resulting in the error? Or could it be something from the system clock battery (if one exists) that broke the mod after being powered down (and unplugged) for such a long time? It was bizarrely spontaneous. Any clarification as to what triggered this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

This post has been edited by Dsj: Sep 28 2009, 07:04 AM

[Dillmiester]

I have this same problem I would like to know an easy fix for it aswell.

[obcd]

It is very likely the clock that lost it's time setting. At that moment, the bios will launch the M$dash at the clock setting screen. Since your M$dash isn't running, it gives you the error message.

The ndure softmod creates a shadowc partition to protect your softmod.
It will also fill up the real c partition completly so that an attempt to alter files on it fails.
In order for the M$dash to work properly once modded, you need to copy the unmodded M$dash files to that shadowc partition. (Just make sure you copy them to an empty C partition.) You don't want to alter things on your real softmodded partition.

The xbox doesn't use a battery for it's clock chip. It uses a goldcap. This is a 1 farad 2.5V capacitor. The quality of that component is very poor. After a couple of years, they start to fail and even sometimes start to leak. That's the reason why it looses it's time when it's disconnected from the mains for a couple of hours.

regards.

[Dsj]

QUOTE(obcd @ Sep 28 2009, 03:23 PM)

The ndure softmod creates a shadowc partition to protect your softmod.
It will also fill up the real c partition completly so that an attempt to alter files on it fails.
In order for the M$dash to work properly once modded, you need to copy the unmodded M$dash files to that shadowc partition. (Just make sure you copy them to an empty C partition.) You don't want to alter things on your real softmodded partition.

Thanks. Will this help me simply recover the MS Dash, or will this prevent the system from booting to an error 21 if the clock resets? I don't have a need for the MS Dash, and even when it was working fine, I still had the error when attempting to boot into UnleashX. I assume that's because the power button triggers UnleashX to start, but the bios sees that the clock is not set, so it overrides the UnleashX boot with an attempt to launch the MS Dash?

The system is all set up and plugged in, so it should be good until the next hurricane (power goes out for days sometimes). I suppose there won't be anything to stop the inevitable death of the capacitor besides a bulky battery backup.

[obcd]

Yep, a battery would be a better way to do things. If you run the m$dash with the eject button, than it is the one on the real C partition that comes up. (The bios is unpatched again so that no softmod is working.) When the bios goes to the M$dash to let you set the clock, than the shadowc partition is already active. For that reason, you need the M$dash files on that shadowc for things to work.

If it works, it allows you to set the clock trough the m$dash. After that, you can perform an igr and the xbox will run the Unleashx dashboard. (IGR = Left + Right + Black + Back simultanously)

I am currently working on a small pcb with a CR2032 socket and a diode on it to replace the capacitor. It should fit under the dvd drive. I am just not sure how long it will be able to keep the clock going.

regards.

[Dsj]

QUOTE(obcd @ Sep 29 2009, 01:48 AM)

Yep, a battery would be a better way to do things. If you run the m$dash with the eject button, than it is the one on the real C partition that comes up. (The bios is unpatched again so that no softmod is working.) When the bios goes to the M$dash to let you set the clock, than the shadowc partition is already active. For that reason, you need the M$dash files on that shadowc for things to work.

The C folder located in the Windows XboxHDM utility determines what files/folders will be copied to the Shadowc partition and not the true one, correct? If so, can I copy the MS Dash files (from Slayer's installer) to that folder, and have the files already be there when I do the mod? I'm asking because I've decided to upgrade the hard drive soon. Also, what (sub)folders must I copy the MS Dash files to?

And just to clarify, can this be done on a single boot system? I plan to making a new NDURE installer disc - doing away with booting into the MS Dash when eject tray is detected to be open. As long as the dash files are on the Shadowc, then it will take me to the clock setting screen when the time setting is lost?

[obcd]

QUOTE

The C folder located in the Windows XboxHDM utility determines what files/folders will be copied to the Shadowc partition and not the true one, correct?

No, those files are copied to the real C partition. One of the files in there will be the shadowc.img. That's the shadowc partition. It exists on the real C partition as one file.

Xboxhdm doesn't do a thing with it. It normally is empty after you installed the softmod. It's even wise to format it from within your dash before you start to ftp stuff to it. In some cases, due to a bug in xboxhdm, the file is write protected. You can alter that by copiing it to your pc, changing those flags and copiing it back to the C partition.

Yes, you may use the Slayers M$dash stock files for the shadowc partition. They need to be ftped to the root of the shadowc partition. The folder structure of those M$dash files must remain unchanged.

Yes, even if you select a single boot, this setup will allow to go to the M$dash from within your other dash and will bring you to the clock setting screen when the goldcap lost it's power.

The M$dash contains the options to change the video settings. Some people still use it for that if they want to go widescreen and if they want to select the hires options.

regards.

[Dsj]

Okay, the Shadowc didn't appear to be read-only under Windows, but I read in another post that someone was able to bypass this by booting into the NDTS, deleting the existing shadowc, and copying over a new one from the NDURE install disc.

It seemed to work, as I could boot into the MS Dash from the UnleashX Dash. But I noticed a few files were missing from my shadowc (if that's what it really was at that point) partition - the bios folder, shadowc folder, and a few others. From the standard UnleashX Dash, it reported I had approximately 160 megabytes free.

I was a bit lost at this point - wasn't sure whether or not the shadow partition was enabled, or why certain files were missing. I decided to wing it, and just copy all the files in the C folder of the NDURE toolset, reboot to the UX dash, and copy them back to the C folder there -  a few files failed, including the shadowc.img. I rebooted and everything was still intact.

I doubt there is a way to clean up this mess I made, but can you provide step-by-step instructions so that I understand how to do this correctly? I'm sort of confused - assuming the file wasn't write-protected in some way, I cannot alter the files from the UX explorer, but I can via FTP? And disabling the shadowc (via NDTS) and copying the MS Dash would only copy them to the true C drive and not the shadowc? Hmm...if the files are on the true C and not on the shadowc, then perhaps this fix will not work if the clock were to reset?

I'd appreciate any help, thanks for your patience.

[kingroach]

Unleashx dashboard and NDTS see's different version of C drive. Unleashx see's the shadow C drive. The shadow c drive is supposed to contain a 1:1 copy of retail dashboard files. Thats why you did not see bios, shadowc etc folder.

what you can do is to boot into NDTS and delete C:\shadowc\shadowc.img. Now restart the xbox. Boot with both power button and eject button to make sure if both softmod and copy of xbox dashboard is working fine.  if they are good then boot into softmod and copy shadowc.img to C:\shadowc\ folder. Restart the xbox and boot to unleashx. Your C drive should be blank in unleashx. Copy original C drive contents there either from you backup (E:\backup folder) or get the files from a boot disk like slayers disk / Hexen etc.

dont get confused between files of real c drive or C drive generated by installer. xbox dashboard in real c drive is slightly modified and names of files and folder contents are different than retail c drive files.

[Dsj]

Looks like I was having a very stupid day yesterday and ended just confusing myself. It was working all along. For some reason, I was thinking that in order for the shadowc to be functional, it would have to be write-protected from the dash. After I copied the shdowc from the installer, it was functioning as it should by giving me write access, but not to the important files on the true C. Also, I could have sworn the bios, shadowc, and media folders were showing up in the shadowc...No, it was E:\backup I was thinking of, and for some reason I remembered it as the shadowc. So I simply deleted these folders from within UnleashX. To double check, I opened the NDTS, and they were still there. My shadowc (and the MS Dash) is indeed working correctly. Thanks.

This post has been edited by Dsj: Oct 1 2009, 02:32 PM

[Dsj]

One last question - since my eject button still boots to an error 21, I want to remove the dual boot and have both buttons boot into UnleashX. I read this can be done by opening the NDTS and selecting "Basic Bios", but I see no such option.

[Heimdall]

From memory (I'm nowhere near an Xbox at the moment) the option you need is NDURE basic (as opposed to NDURE Retail). It's somewhere near the top of the NDTS menu - a couple of seconds of searching will find it.

[Dsj]

Hmm...No luck. It seems to have reformatted the shadowc and changed a few menu settings. Booting with tray open still displays the error 21.

If it is easier to get the MS Dash to boot on eject, I'll just do that, as some relatives are having trouble playing DVDs with XBMC, and it would be easier to pop it in and play it from the MS Dash. The "restore MS Dash" option (or whatever it was called) in the NDTS gave a few errors and ultimately, did not work. On perusing the E:\backup folder, I see that all of the MS Dash files are present, however, the xboxdashdata.185ead00 appears to be empty (compared to the same folder in the shadowc, which has many .xip files) with the exception of settings_adoc.xip. Then I checked xboxdashdata.185ead00 folder in the true C, and it is lacking all of the files as well, including the settings_adoc.xip. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be that way, or if it was because it was missing the MS Dash files when I re-did the softmod. Do I risk breaking the softmod by copying the xboxdashdata.185ead00 folder with all of the .xip files (including settings_adoc.xip) from the shadowC to the true C?

This post has been edited by Dsj: Oct 5 2009, 04:33 PM