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
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?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.
if youre using a program to get your eeprom you can simply write the eeprom to another system and stick your drive inLooking 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?
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 harderYour 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.