PC 2 Xbox Hot Swap Soft Modding

[Slimmmmmm]

I'm new to Xbox and have decided to get 2 and softmod into cheap media centres of sorts.
I've searched and read a bit, but am a total n00b with Xbox as I have never owned one before today.
Now to soft mod it I read a few guides last night and watched some really crap youtubes vids etc, and from the options the only one that seems viable with what I have here right now is to use the pc hot swap method.

So, have I got this right?
I get some form of bootable linux image prepared.
I start the Xbox and as I hear it make the first set of reads from the HDD, I swap the ide connector to a PC.
This pc has the Linux CD inserted and boots to linux and recognises the HDD.
From there I can add apps etc to the HDD.

So, is this right and can anyopne help with the info, as it's all very old and most links I find lead to pages that no longer exist cause it's such an old subject now.

I will continue to read and once I've got it sussed, will give it a go to one of the Xboxes which I've been able to remove the case no probs, the other, I'm stuck with 3 of the screws.

Is there a guide anywhere that describes what I need for the linux cd?, or any good advise?

I'll post how I get on so if I get it all good to go, no one wastes time trying to help through anything I've managaed, and once I do manage I'll reformat the posts and turn it into a small guide like build a media centre xbox for a tenner guide. (Yeah £10 these days)
+ remote and wifi = great deal (will search Ebay another day)

Info about the 2 Xboxs

Spoiler

the 2 xbox kernel and dash versions are...

K - 1.00.4817.01
D - 1.00.59.60.01
I can remove this case

&
----------------------
This one that 3 screws won't budge on

K - 1.00.4817.01
D - 1.00.5960.01

Looking through the saves etc (they were preowned) this one has some saves called things like...

DVD-X2 DongleFree DVD-Player (tried this, but when I put a DVD in it says attach dongle wtf??)
dvd2xbox
Px HDD Loader
Xbox Media Player (tried with an mp3 CD, and an Xvid data dvd both said nope etc)

Has this been softmodded before ? ? ?

Thanks for any help, advise or links to help me

 

[Armadillo]

Guide for softmodding a box using hotswap is here

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=496263

Follow that , tells everything you need and step by step on how to do it. Guide is up to date as well , except the ndure pc installer is 3.1 now , not 3.0

2nd box has been softmodded at some point before. They are various saves from hombrew apps.

 

[Slimmmmmm]

Thanks Armadillo.

I'll give that a read and post how I get on.

I've been trying to get the 3 chewed up screws out of the second xbox, but will give the guide a read and start on the open one.....

I read this...

Spoiler

1. Go to Music
2. Go down to one of your soundracks and select it.
3. Hit copy.
4. Hit copy.
5. Select New Soundtrack.
6. Type in (the ß is actually "beta" that looks like a B and is found in Accents)
7. Look at the picture below to make sure it looks exactly the same as that.
8. Hit done.
9. This should then take you to the Splinter Cell screen.

It took me to a screen (thanks etc), but I don't have splinter cell

do I need it for the eggsbox thing? (I think yes)

This is one the one I can't get apart so was hoping it would just launch into a new dash board or sumin.

I've prepaired a CD using Ndure.exe, for the one I can get into.
I'm gonna build up a quick pc out some parts I have here tomorrow o do the hot swap with, and try to figure out how to get the other Xbox apart.
I'll need to do more reading on what to do after it's soft modded. I'm guessing hook it up to my router or copy stuff from DVD's to it's HDD. Not sure yet, not that far. Plus I have no idea about the different dashboards and what has the best features. I did notice the one in endure had a skin jpg etc, so I'm guessing I could make my own skins, hmmm.

I'll take time to re-edit these posts and take out my blabbering

 

[Slimmmmmm]

Sorry for the bump, just had to smile and say....one down, one to go

Got one of them done quite easy using the HDD swap method, but still I can't even get the other open yet.

The one I just did has "Unleash" on it, I used Ndure3.1 for the instalation.

Now I just gotta figure out how to do some other stuff.

Can I copy Xvids and Mp3s from a Data DVD to the HDD ???, if so where do I put them (what drive)??? what app to play them???, emulators too (lol, I'm a n00b all over here), etc etc, am off to go educate myself a bit, suggestions of what to do next are of course welcome, and thanks to the peeps that encouraged me to go the free easy way, cause I cant find any of the exploitable games locally.

I tried playing a retail DVD, and a copied DVD but neither worked, also audio CD's originals wont play unless I go to the MS dash, hmmm. Then again I'm only 1 day new to this so I'll get there

Maybe my settings are wrong, hmmm

 

[FAST6191]

c:\ drive. Same for PCs, I tend to use a virtual C so that is out.
d:\ drive. Your DVD drive, usually iso9660 rather than UDF (which is either activated as needs be (or forced on some apps/dashboards) or set to t:\ or something like that)
e:\ drive. Standard xbox drive. Used for most replacement dashboard
f:\ drive. Usually used when you add a larger drive but can also appear when you tweak the stock drive (later xbox models have 10 gig drives formatted as 8).

everything else (probably just x:\ ,y:\ and z:\. Aside from the possible UDF drive (neogenesis will bring it up) the rest are system drives and you are advised to leave them alone (sometimes they have temp storage for things though so it can be interesting to poke around them).

Copying stuff: most people use FTP and a network. I posted in a thread a day or two back on the subject.

I have to run but find a copy of autoinstaller deluxe aka AID, it has what you need and if you set it up correctly you can add roms to the disc to copy over at your leisure.

 

[Armadillo]

Can I copy Xvids and Mp3s from a Data DVD to the HDD ???, if so where do I put them (what drive)??? what app to play them???, emulators too (lol, I'm a n00b all over here), etc etc, am off to go educate myself a bit, suggestions of what to do next are of course welcome, and thanks to the peeps that encouraged me to go the free easy way, cause I cant find any of the exploitable games locally.

I tried playing a retail DVD, and a copied DVD but neither worked, also audio CD's originals wont play unless I go to the MS dash, hmmm. Then again I'm only 1 day new to this so I'll get there

Maybe my settings are wrong, hmmm

Can use unleashX file browser to move stuff from disc to hdd , but it's quicker and easier to use ftp to shift stuff around the hdd. Where to stick them, up to you ,apps can browse the drives or be setup to look where ever you want , so really any where except c , or the x , y ,z (cache partitions). Just make a folder and shove em in. XBMC to play them , can either set it as a dash or application. If you want unleashx to auto detect the applications and list them , then they go in e:\apps or f:\apps. Emulators same deal , just stick them in e:\apps or f:\apps and unleashx will find them , or if you feel like messing around with configs , then you can make a listing for emulators and have them show there instead.

Retail and copied discs , either xmbc or dvd x2 dongle free will take care of them.

 

[Slimmmmmm]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'm gonna have a look at the file browser on unleash, but think I already did.

I just want a simple copy xvid, mp3 etc from dvd for now, as I have only the 1 ethernet cable, and I'm using that at the mo

Will deff need to go get anoter to make customising this a lot easier.

Coool, found the copy on file browser on unleashed, but lots of my DVD's look empty.

So, I'll google some apps too play xvids and dvds etc on it, and burn them as a data dvd, copy over and smile more

fingers crossed

sorted, thanks, still some optiions etc that the lingo dont mean squat to me, but I'll get there. I've copied a couple of roms and mp3's and xvids over, I'm googling apps now

Looks like XBMC will be the player from what I've seen on the web.
It also has SMB share, which I will be setting up for wii soon.
Wonder if roms and saves can be shared too, hmmm

Thanks for the tips here and the couple of helpful pm's too

FAST6191, I'm getting Auto.Installer.Deluxe.v4.01.Xbox-Hq (hmm might not be)
Will need to get XMBC, then google for other things to really learn more. I saw some posts about a slayer disc, so might grab that also.



Thanks a million peeps who pointed this out to me and helped, I've now got a media centre for a tenner w00000000t

I'm gonna ftp into it, and take out some files do a bit of customising once I get used to the filetypes and structure, but it does look very like a windows pc with temp user files, and temp app files etc. A lot easier than I thought it would be.