last night my xbox received a little boost. it now boasts a 200GB hard drive and a little new hardware. the install process is actually drastically more complex than i thought it would be. the actual hardware install is a pretty delicate process which requires hands far more steady than my own. but even after the hardware is installed, the software setup is actually quite a bear as well.

it turns out that the only way to get certain things for a modchip’d xbox is via IRC. you have to go to a specific IRC server, look for a specific IRC channel, type a specific thing in that channel to get the ftp information that will then give you access to the bios for the modchip that you need to flash into memory.

once that is done, you then have to find another utility that will install the dashboard for the xbox and prepares your new hard drive for the new applications on your xbox. that utility was a little bit easier to find as there was a bittorrent file for it.

then you have to construct your own BIOS for the xbox.

then you have to create a dummy filler file because the xbox dvd drive has trouble reading small files burned onto media, so you make a 100MB dummy file, add that to your image and then you can burn your bootable bios flashing CD.

then you flash this new bios into the xbox.

are we done yet? no.

then you have to burn the CD that contains the other software that preps your newly chip’d xbox for its new life. insert that CD, format your hard drive with their utilities, and then finally, you are able to do something meaningful.

sheesh.

anyway, the process started at 7:30pm. there was a small mishap during the hardware install which required pulling the header pins out of the circuit board we just put in and finally resorting to using wires to get the thing working. we took a long break and then finally around 1AM the whole process was completed.

crazy…but cool.

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