Softmodded Xbox died

[justinthegamer]

Can I softmod another xbox and put the dead xbox's hdd in place of it? The problem with the first xbox is bad capacitors

 

[ChiefReginod]

Nope. Stock and softmodded drives are locked with the HDD keys specific to each console. This key is stored in the EEPROM on the motherboard. A locked drive will only work on a system that has the same HDD key saved in the EEPROM.

If you have a backup of the HDD key or an EEPROM dump there are ways to unlock it on either PC or another modded Xbox, but it can get complicated.

 

[justinthegamer]

Nope. Stock and softmodded drives are locked with the HDD keys specific to each console. This key is stored in the EEPROM on the motherboard. A locked drive will only work on a system that has the same HDD key saved in the EEPROM.

If you have a backup of the HDD key or an EEPROM dump there are ways to unlock it on either PC or another modded Xbox, but it can get complicated.

Looking through my drives I was able to find my eeprom.bin and cfg file as well as the xbox info file. What steps could I take to unlock the drive and maybe change the HDD Keys to match the new xbox?

 

[MarioMasta64]

Looking through my drives I was able to find my eeprom.bin and cfg file as well as the xbox info file. What steps could I take to unlock the drive and maybe change the HDD Keys to match the new xbox?

if youre using a program to get your eeprom you can simply write the eeprom to another system and stick your drive in

you can use tools like piprom for raspberry pi if you cant afford a raspberry pi you can also use a serial cable an arduino a vga cable
if youre unable to write an eeprom and can only retrieve it with an exploit you can unlock and manage your hdd using xboxhdm usb 2.3 (beta 3) (beta 3 makes many things easier but also i think some people sometimes have issues with it, i had none vs having many with beta 2 so unsure) but you can get beta 2 here if you want you can also find alot of helpful info there to do things (here) if you need help using xboxhdm (ignore the booting it part as well as the floppy part what youd want is the linux part which is the same thing as the windows version, unless you have a really old pc with ide and floppy then go for it) here is a guide

note: im self hosting xboxhdmusb beta 3 because i cant find it elsewhere and the gdrive is blocking access since ~this year and the self github has instructions for using a pi 4 as well as clarifying that an xbox 1.6/1.6b does not in fact need more connections and everything needed to read/write the eeprom is available on the board without an lpc rebuild

 

[MarioMasta64]

basically all you need to do is unlock the hdd with the old systems key and relock it with the new systems key

you could also:
unlock the old hdd using the old key
softmod the new xbox and backup the eeprom using config magic or nkpatcher from rocky5's softmod tool
then relock the old drive and swap it into the new system

 

[Apex]

Your best bet is to solder in one of these to the new one:
https://www.amazon.com/Ximimark-Readable-Original-Suitable-Generation/dp/B07GWQXP62
$13 USD isn't too bad, and it's better than a softmod because there are a lot of recovery options.

I haven't worked with this modchip personally, but I believe it bypasses the HDD lock check, so it should be able to load the contents of the old Xbox's HDD. I've done the Piprom thing before, it's super fun, but unless you're taping wires to the mobo to rip the eeprom.bin, you're gonna have to solder anyways, and you need a raspberry pi on hand.

If you do end up needing to solder things, the Xbox mobo is pretty huge and easy to work with, but do try to practice on something else you don't care about first. Soldering is an amazing skill to have, but it's easy to screw up when you're still learning the ropes.

 

[MarioMasta64]

Your best bet is to solder in one of these to the new one:
https://www.amazon.com/Ximimark-Readable-Original-Suitable-Generation/dp/B07GWQXP62
$13 USD isn't too bad, and it's better than a softmod because there are a lot of recovery options.

I haven't worked with this modchip personally, but I believe it bypasses the HDD lock check, so it should be able to load the contents of the old Xbox's HDD. I've done the Piprom thing before, it's super fun, but unless you're taping wires to the mobo to rip the eeprom.bin, you're gonna have to solder anyways, and you need a raspberry pi on hand.

If you do end up needing to solder things, the Xbox mobo is pretty huge and easy to work with, but do try to practice on something else you don't care about first. Soldering is an amazing skill to have, but it's easy to screw up when you're still learning the ropes.

this is unless you have an xbox board revision of 1.6 or 1.6b in case youre gonna have to do alot more (fairly small) points on the board for an lpc rebuild, they make boards for this but its alot harder

i personally just use a raspberry pi and 3 breadboard wires and just lay something over the top to hold them to the pin holes (making sure they all face the same direction) then read the eeprom, ive had no problems in doing this on multiple xbox's and board revision doesnt matter if youre not worried about modchips

modchip do be looking nice tho but in most cases a persistent softmod is all you need and rocky5 makes doing this very easy and even gives many tools to fix it easily in case something messes up

if you have alright sautering skills and the money to buy a modchip vs a $10-$20 aurdino and pennies worth of breadboard wires (sometimes even $5) then go ahead

if you have a 1.6 or 1.6b revision youll also need to buy an lpc rebuild board (or do the wires yourself but itll be even harder than it usually is) would recommend you know what youre doing with a sautering iron

but yea there are cheaper methods and modchips nowadays arent as desirable as they used to be with the current state of softmods