Hack the Xbox

With the price of the Xbox hitting an all-time low, I went out and bought myself one last week. Got the Xbox system bundle which come with the unit, a controller, Halo2 and Forza Motorsport. Imagine, Halo2 and Forza. What more can you ask for? Now, an Xbox is no good if it's not modded. The stock Xbox comes with a DVD drive, but it can't even play DVD movies out-of-the box, unlike the PS2. For that, you have to buy a DVD movie playback kit consisting of an IR receiver module you plug into the USB port and a remote control. One more way for M$ to make extra money. Well, not from this guy.

There are two ways to hack an Xbox: one, go to the dodgy shops and have a modchip fitted in, or two, DIY via a software mod. Being the cheapo geek that I am, I decided to take the 2nd route. Took me about one week's worth of trawling the forums, sifting through the vague/obsolete/incomplete information, and visiting some little-known sites to download all the software I need to execute the hack. Basically, what you need is UXE, which contains the Xbox exploits, and xboxhdm, which reformats your Xbox hard disk and installs a hacked dashboard. Extract both packages, copy UXE to xboxhdm's linux directory, and burn the whole thing onto a CD-ROM. This is what we'll use to hack the Xbox.

The thing with Xboxes is that its hard disk is locked. Upon boot-time, a 32-bit password (generated from a 16-bit key hashed with the hard disk model and serial number) is needed to unlock the hard disk. If you don't have the password (as is probably the case), you need to hotswap it to your PC before xboxhdm can do its work. Not for the faint of heart because you could fry your hard disk if you don't do it right. (For those unfamiliar with the term, hotswap means you transfer your Xbox hard disk to your PC, while it is powered on.) And you have to know exactly when to take out the Xbox's IDE cable, or else you might be risking a hotswap only to find out that the hard disk is still locked. Most guys on the forums recommend unplugging the hard disk right before the white Microsoft text comes up. Once you manage to get the hard disk unlocked, it should be smooth sailing from there.

So shall we start, gentlemen? Turn on your PC with the xboxhdm disc in the CD-ROM drive. Press ESC when the BIOS starts scanning for the hard disks. At this point, your Xbox should already be undressed, and the hard disk ready to go. Power on the Xbox. At the right moment, quickly unplug the IDE cable (NOT the power cable), and connect the hard disk to the PC's IDE cable. On the PC, press any key to continue the hard disk scan. If the BIOS can't see the drive, that means hard disk is still locked. If all goes well, the xboxhdm main menu will show up after the PC has booted. Choose Option 1 to boot to VGA console with xbox-drive utilities. Enter "xboxhd" when asked to log in. Choose Option 1 again to "Build a new Xbox HD from scratch". After everything is done, power down both the PC and the Xbox. Return the hard disk to the Xbox and power it on. Welcome to your newly soft-modded Xbox!