Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 12:59 pm Post subject: eeprom, xboxhdm_v1.9 and locked harddrive help please.
First, I would like to thank you in advance for taking the time to read my post. I am new and trying to learn this Xbox stuff so it is reassuring to know that I have access to some very knowledgeable experts on this site, so thanks for your help.
I bought an unmodded, unchipped Xbox on eBay which had an error code of 6. So I use my eeprom reader and read the eeprom. However after decoding it on LiveInfo it said the Xbox was a version 1.1 but I had already identified it as a 1.4 from the motherboard. So I then realized that I did not have the HD hooked up. I hooked it up and got a read but LiveInfo could not decode it. I tried again, again and again still no decode from LiveInfo. So, I am new and I thought the HD key from the very first read without the HD hooked up should work which I saved as eeprom.bin. So, I booted Linux via xboxhdm_v1.9 and of course it did say the drive was locked. However, I could not unlock it. First of all I put the eeprom on a floppy and tried to use option 3 of xboxhdm_v1.9 to unlock it but it keep saying it did not know where to find password. So I play around with trying to figure out Linux syntax but never did. If anybody knows this would be helpful for future projects.
I tried ‘unlockhd –a’ it promped "do now know where to find password???"
I tried ‘unlockhd –p’ but it never prompted me for a password. So I then tried ‘unlock –p “1610F…….”’ where the 1610F is the long password nothing. it promped "do now know where to find password???"
I tried 'unlockhd –f’ it promped "do now know where to find password???", but I know it is in A: drive so I type, ‘unlockhd –f A:/’ nope same thing, it promped "do now know where to find password???"
Okay so I try option 4 instead of 3 and it is a little more user friendly simply because I am familiar with DOS syntax and can at least use some basic commands. However I was never able to unlock the hard drive. So here is my next question? The eeprom on the motherboard and harddrive are a match so if this harddrive was not the original which I can not confirm, then it doesn’t matter what I read from the eeprom i.e, with or without harddrive, locked or unlocked or will I still not be able to unlock HD because they are not a match?
I honestly, played and booted between linux and dos hooking and rehooked to PC hotswapping etc. for around eight hours and gave up and used the A-FF HDD Unlock Wizard. I was fighting to do this because I did not want to pay to get it unlocked because I believed I had all the tools and info I needed at hand; I just could not figure it out. But I was tired and frustrated and it was late so I bought a virtual card for just under three bucks and the damn thing worked! It did unlock the HD. So I booted Linux back up and installed my MSDash iso via xboxhdm_v1.9 and was now able to build hd from scratch. So I am in good spirits but when it is done and I boot up the xbox I get error code 12 which is the Phillips dvd. I put a known good working Phillips dvd in there and I still get error code 12. So I put a kinda messed up Samsung DVD drive, say kinda messed up because I have not completed diagnosed this one but I know it will not eject and I now get error code 5 with this Samsung no eject drive which means the hd is locked. I just spent three bucks and 8 hours to unlock it the harddrive so I think it might be a little stupid to relock it. Besides before it was locked on boot I got nothing on screen. At least now I am getting green flubber xbox and error screen instead of the black screen of death. So I figure something is better off. Another question, what does it mean that I get the xbox flubber; that the eeprom on the harddisk is a match and it can at least try to boot? I don't know?
So, I know this was long but could some knowledgeable guru pass along some much needed advice about eeprom and hd drives and what am I actually getting from my eeprom reader? Is it from the mother board or harddrive and therefore my harddrive has to be hooked up during the read. Why wouldn’t LiveInfo decode the read with the locked hard drive? Can a harddrive from a different xbox be configured to use in a different machine without a chip. If not then how can you buy a bigger drive to upgrade? Has anybody had success with unlocking a harddrive with xboxhdm_v1.9? What option 3 or 4? What is the correct syntax in option 3? Am I a dumb ass? Why am I getting a error 12 when I know for a fact I put in a good DVD drive and even tried switching ide and yellow power cables? Any bit of help with any of these questions would be helpful.
Thanks for your help, time and consideration,
Steve
Greven Xbox-Hq Genius Xbox Version: Xbox V1.6 Modded: Xecuter 3 CE
Joined: Jan 19, 2006 Posts: 2755 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:19 pm Post subject:
Hi Steve, thats quite a post but let me see if I can help.
First, I don't know if the eeprom you got was correct, perhaps the reader was not working. I don't know which one you built, but if it was the one here it notes that you should be able to find the serial number of the xbox in the eeprom. Were you? If you did you know for sure the read was good. If not it still doesn't mean the read was bad, as someone may have flashed a different eeprom to the mobo previously.
So, assuming the eeprom is fine, and you have a 256 byte eepom.bin file, you will need to lock your hard drive. Since you have the eeprom that will lock it, even if it is corrupt, you will still be able to unlock it. So put the eeprom.bin file in youe EEPROM folder in xboxhdm, burn a new ISO, choose 3 at the option menu, and "lockhd -a" will work. Then test it in the xbox. This should rectify your error 5. If you get 6 then the eeprom read was bad, but you can still unlock the hard drive with the same disk you locked it with by typing "unlockhd -a".
To answer some of your questions, the eeprom is entirely from your mobo, it has nothing to do with the HDD, so you don't need it hooked up. What the eeprom does is calculates, based off of information inside of it, what the password will be when combined with information from the HDD and lock the HDD with that information. But the HDD is not needed for reading the eeprom, as that calculation is done at boot time.
Liveinfo probably didn't work cause it sounds to me like the hard drive was from another xbox locked with a different password.
To get a bigger drive, you use the eeprom and xboxhdm. It will do the same calculations that the xbox does and generate the lock/unlock password based on the eeprom and the HDD info that the xbox would, thereby locking it so the xbox can unlock it.
I've unlocked tons of HDD with xboxhdm. In fact I have 2 running in my windows machine right now, one for ghost backups and one for my pagefile.
The correct syntax for option 3 is "lockhd -a" and "unlockhd -a" but these only work if you have a 256 byte eeprom.bin file in your EEPROM folder at the time of burn.
No, your not a dumbass Your learning, and we've all been there.
Error 12... could be anything. If you've tried different cables and a different drive though, I can't see it being anything but the mobo, maybe someone else can comment on that.
Hope that helps. If you have any other questions please post back. _________________ Hotswap|HDD Upgrade|X3 Guide
stevedls Xbox-HQ User Xbox Version: Xbox V1.6 Modded: Xecuter 3 CE
Joined: Aug 19, 2006 Posts: 12
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:30 pm Post subject: Thanks Greven
Greven thanks for the information and helping me out, I appreciate the time and consideration.
The eeprom reader I built and use is the exact same one that you referred to which is by Unicron. I have used this successfully with a different xbox so I know it works. I do believe you are correct in the fact that the harddrive is not the original match of the mobo.
Another quick question: you stated that the correct syntax for option 3 is "lockhd -a" and "unlockhd -a" but these only work if you have a 256 byte eeprom.bin file in your EEPROM folder at the time of burn.
Everytime I use the unlock -a, unlock -f or unlock -p the program returns a "do not know where to look for password?" So, even if I have the password I can not type it in or tell it to look for it on a floppy. Is this because it is not a 256 byte eeprom.bin or am I doing something else wrong?
Once again, thanks for all your help.
Steve
Greven Xbox-Hq Genius Xbox Version: Xbox V1.6 Modded: Xecuter 3 CE
Joined: Jan 19, 2006 Posts: 2755 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 10:14 pm Post subject:
If you have the password you could choose 4 and some some of the other utilities that come with it, like atapwd to unlock the xbox.
But yes, as far as I understand you will get that message if there is no eeprom.bin file, or it is named incorrectly.
If nothing else try download xboxhdm fresh from this site(make sure its 1.9) and reburn the disk with the eeprom.bin file in the right place. _________________ Hotswap|HDD Upgrade|X3 Guide
abadfish66 Xbox-HQ Newbie Xbox Version: Xbox V1.6 Modded: Xecuter 3 CE
Joined: Jan 16, 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Arizona
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:20 am Post subject:
Was this problem ever worked out, as I am having the same problems. My question is what is the 3 dollar virtual card being refered to in the original post. I have spent countless hours myself trying to get hdm 1.9 to work. My eeprom reader works great though. If you could post how you rectified the problem, many would benefit...Thank you
Adam
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