As an intro... I just registered on this forum today, I'm a complete noob to modding xbox's or any other console, but I'm a PC tech, so I'm familiar with most of the terminology.
I have an Xbox that I've had for a few years now, that has seen very little use until recently. A few weeks ago it started making a clicking sound, and after about 30 minutes or so of that, a disc read error would be displayed (your disc is dirty, yada yada yada). At first I thought it was the dvd drive making the noise, so I had it cleaned by a friend who has a cleaning disc. The problem stayed. But, after it started clicking this last time, the message "your xbox needs service" popped up. Now it will not boot at all, the front light blinks orange/red while it turns on, and that message displays.
So, all ready being out of warranty, I figure it won't hurt to pop it open and take a look. The noise is definitely the hard drive, so I think, wow, it's just an IDE drive, I'll make an image, and replace it. As I'm sure you guys know...no dice.
I've done my research here, on google, anywhere I could find info on getting an xbox to use an unlocked drive.
So I've been reading up on what the simplest, most cost effective way to replace this HDD would be. I pretty much have all the IDE drives I could ever want, so that's not an issue. This is the simplest demo/instructions I could find:
Seems pretty easy....boot to the EvoX disc, configure a new hard drive, and be done with it. The one thing I'm missing is a mod chip.
So first off, is that a good representation of the easiest way to swap out an xbox HDD? (I don't care about FTPing into the box, saving anything, or any of that rubbish, I just want to throw another drive in to have my haxbox back :P).
Secondly, I assume I WILL need a mod chip to avoid having to deal with the HDD lock/EEPROM side of things. (I don't care about xbox live, I just want to have an xbox that will actually boot/play halo every now and then).
So what is the cheapest/easiest to install mod chip that will let me use an unlocked HDD? A 'no solder' chip would be required.
In summation: I need the cheapest and laziest way to replace a busted xbox HDD.
