Tutorial
written
by : -opjose
Important:
This document
is outdated.
It is
only kept
online
for historical
reasons.
**note:
this is
the original
, manual
way to
lock your
harddrive
- xbox
software
has now
been released
by Team
Assembly
(ConfigMagic
- no downloadlink
here 'cause
build
with XDK)
that can
do this
for you
automatically**
The
OEM Xbox
hard drive
comes
from Microsoft
in a “locked”
condition.
This is
a privacy
mechanism
which
was intended
to prevent
you or
hackers
from looking
at the
contents
of the
original
disk.
If
you place
the OEM
drive
into a
PC, the
PC bios
will be
unable
to unlock
the drive,
and the
drive
will not
enter
a “ready”
state
that the
PC can
deal with.
It
should
be also
noted
that if
the drive
were to
be unlocked
the PC
would
still
not understand
the drives
formatting
mechanism
so it
would
still
be unable
to display
its contents.
Even imaging
programs
such as
Norton
Ghost
will fail
to read
or duplicate
the drive.
Why
lock (or
unlock)
the drive?
If
you elect
to put
a new
hard drive
in your
Xbox you
MUST first
already
have a
“mod”
chip in
the machine
that supports
hard drive
swapping.
The
normal
bios and
first
and second
generation
mod chips
were never
designed
to support
drive
swapping.
The original
unmodified
bios code
for handling
the drive
is contained
on those
bios chips.
As
you will
see later,
locking
a drive
requires
that the
Xbox be
first
able to
utilize
an unlocked
drive.
As
a result
DO NOT
proceed
unless
you know
that your
bios/mod
chip already
supports
hard drive
swapping.
If
you have
a mod
chip and
replacement
bios which
does support
the “hard
drive
swap”
there
is no
immediate
compelling
reason
to lock
the hard
drive.
Your Xbox
will actually
operate
just fine
with the
replacement
drive.
It
has also
been found
that XboxLive
works
quite
well with
modified
Xboxes,
though
there
are some
dashboard
issues
which
I will
not cover
here.
This
being
the case,
why are
you still
reading?
Probably
because
you are
a bit
paranoid
and believe
that you
MUST put
the Xbox
back into
it’s
pristine
state
to get
XboxLive
to work.
You don’t
really
have to
though.
You
may also
have a
Matrix
type Mod/Bios
chip and
want to
utilize
the dual
boot function
that makes
your machine
revert
back to
the original
BIOS.
You could
merely
elect
to disable
this function
by setting
the chip
to “mode
2”
that always
keeps
the flashed
bios on.
What
does locking
accomplish?
Locking
the drive
permits
the Xbox
to utilize
a replacement
drive
in the
same manner
as an
OEM drive.
During
startup,
the original
“protected”
bios will
temporarily
unlock
the locked
drive
during
the boot
(flubber
animation)
phase
and be
none the
wiser.
When the
unit is
powered
off, the
drive
goes back
into its
fully
locked
state.
With
the original
BIOS enabled,
any additional
space
seemingly
disappears.
As far
as the
Xbox is
concerned
it is
still
running
on an
original
8 gigabyte
hard drive.
You do
not loose
the information
contained
therein
though!
This
may be
a very
good thing
down the
road if
the powers
that be
decide
to implement
something
new.
When
used in
combination
with the
Evolution-X
BIOS releases
such as
Evo 2.x,ybox
or Evo
2.x,evox,
locking
the drive
permits
you to
quickly
switch
between
a “virgin”
Xbox and
a wide
open device.
What
is ybox?
The normal
OEM Xbox
BIOS initializes
and unlocks
the hardware
upon startup
and then
attempts
to launch
a user
interface
from the
C:\ partition
on the
OEM hard
drive.
This
interface
is what
you see
once the
Xbox is
fully
operational.
It is
the “green”
control
panel
that comes
up if
there
is no
DVD game
in the
machine
after
it is
turned
on. This
interface
is referred
to as
“the
dashboard”.
The name
of the
file that
contains
this program
is called
“c:\xboxdash.xbe”.
An XBE
file is
an Xbox
Executable
program.
The ybox
bios has
an additional
modification
in it
which
causes
it to
instead
look for
and use
a file
called
c:\yboxdash.xbe
instead.
If you
have one
of these
bios/mod
chips
you can
then install
the Evolution-X
dashboard
to the
hard drive
with the
name “yboxdash.xbe”.
So if
you have
a hardware
switch
or a Matrix
Mod set
to enable
multi-boot,
it is
possible
to quickly
flip between
the original
protected
BIOS and
dashboard,
or the
unprotected
bios and
the evolution-X
dashboard.
Cool huh?
A
bug in
the ointment.
However
there
is that
one bug
in the
ointment,
your replacement
hard drive!
When
you boot
up the
Xbox using
the original
bios,
with a
replacement
but unlocked
drive
in place,
you will
inevitably
see the
“your
Xbox needs
servicing”
message.
This
is because
the bios
attempts
to unlock
the drive
with a
UNIQUE
code and
expects
a reply
from the
drive
indicating
success.
If it
does not
get the
reply
the Xbox
assumes
that something
is wrong
with the
drive,
shuts
everything
down and
issues
the error
message.
The
Lock codes
The OEM
bios generates
the unlock
key “on
the fly”.
That is
it generates
a unique
key or
password
which
is dependant
upon several
things.
This
password
is generated
by looking
at your
Xbox’s
unique
serial
number,
configuration,
revision
level
and the
information
obtained
from the
currently
installed
hard drive
itself.
This
in turn
means
that you
cannot
simply
use a
password
from another
drive
or Xbox
when locking
a new
drive.
Instead
you must
figure
out what
the Xbox
is going
to use
as an
unlock
password
for your
new replacement
drive.Fortunately
the Evolution-X
hackers
gave us
a wonderful
tool to
do this
very thing.
This
“tool”
is built
into the
Evolution-X
dashboards
“backup”
command.
The “backup”
command
figures
out what
password
the Xbox
will use
to unlock
the currently
installed
drive.
It places
the password/key
into the
C:\Backup
directory
in a file
called
hddinfo.txt.
This
is why
Evolution-X
must be
installed
and running
on the
Xbox and
drive
that you
intend
to lock
first.
What
do I need?
Before
proceeding
be aware
that you
will need
the following.
*
A working
modified
Xbox
with
a replacement
hard
drive
ALREADY
installed.
* The
Evolution-X
1.8.2xxx
dashboard
installed
to the
Xbox.
(note
if you
are
using
1.8.4xx
you
are
using
an old
version!)
* A
PC that
you
can
open
and
access
the
IDE
cables.
(not
all
PC’s
work
however!)
* Some
floppies
* ATAPWD.EXE
(found
here)
* HDDUNLOCK.ZIP
(found
here)
* FlashXP
* A
working
network
configuration
and
you
should
already
be able
to have
your
PC talk
to the
Xbox.
* Tools
to open
the
Xbox
and
remove
and
re-insert
the
drive.
* Berg
Jumpers
for
the
Cable/Select
Master/Slave
configuration.
Locking
the drive
Start
by making
sure that
you can
access
the Xbox
via your
Network.
Also be
sure that
you have
a working
bootable
DVD/CD-RW
that you
can using
to access
the Xbox
if you
make a
mistake.
If you
ever accidentally
make a
mistake
in renaming
a file
or in
the evox.ini
file you’ll
need this
disk to
recover
from problems.
You should
also have
a full
backup
of the
C: &
E: partitions
of the
Xbox’s
hard drive
for safety.
I can’t
stress
this enough!
Burn it
to CD
and put
it away.
Since
the new
password
file for
the hard
drive
will be
written
to the
same folder
Evolution-X
is initially
run from,
Evolution-X
itself
must be
booted
from the
hard drive.
You cannot
use DVD/CD-RW.
With
Evolution-X
installed,
select
the “Backup”
command
from the
menu.
You will
see a
sideways
smiley
face to
let you
know that
the files
were created
in C:\Backup.
Use FlashXP
to copy
over the
C:\Backup\hddinfo.txt
file to
your PC
and print
it out.
You’ll
need the
hardcopy
later.
The file
will look
something
like this:
Disk
Serial
Number
: "WD-WMA8C1313646"
Disk Serial
Number
: "WDC
WD1200JB-00CRA0"
HDD Key
: 65:fd:29:ca:25:4d:78:cb
f4:41:f7:b8:c3:69:15:0f
dd:dc:97:a9:00:00:00:00
00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00
On the
page you
printed
write
down the
HDD Key
numbers
in this
format:
65fd29ca254d78cbf441f7b8c369150fdddc97a9
omitting
the zeros
and the
colons.
This is
the actual
password
that the
Xbox will
use to
unlock
the drive,
and that
you need
to utilize
to lock
it with.
Shut
off your
Xbox,
unplug
it and
remove
the hard
drive
from the
machine
carefully.
You should
already
know how
to do
this.
The drives
arrive
from the
factory
jumpered
for “cable
select”.
Make a
note of
how your
working
drive
is currently
jumpered
as you
need to
restore
the Berg
jumpers
back to
the same
settings.
On your
PC create
a DOS
floppy
boot disk,
preferably
using
Windows
9x or
below.
Make sure
that there
are no
IDE/CD
or SCSI
drivers
installed
and that
Himem.sys
and any
other
memory
managers
are not
on the
floppy.
Copy
the following
files
to the
floppy.
ATAPWD.EXE
HDLOCK.EXE
HDUNLOCK.EXE
There
should
be ample
space
left over
for text
files
on the
floppy
when you
are done.
Connect
the drive
you removed
from the
Xbox to
your PC’s
PRIMARY
IDE channel.
You may
want to
remove
your existing
drive
from the
IDE cable
for safety.
If you
have no
other
drives
on the
primary
channel
cable,
jumper
the Xbox
drive
to be
“only
drive”
or “no
other
drives
present”.
If you
do have
another
drive
on the
IDE cable
jumper
your new
drive
to be
either
MASTER/with
slave
present,
or Slave
accordingly.
Don’t
forget
to provide
power
to the
drive.
With
the drive
installed
boot your
PC up
from the
floppy
you created.
ATAPWD
At the
DOS prompt
type ATAPWD.EXE
You will
see a
nice screen
listing
the detected
drives
on your
system.
At the
far right
you will
see a
column
with the
heading:
S E L
F X V
Under
each letter
you will
see either
a plus
sign “+”
or a minus
sign “-“.
Verify
that the
“S”
has a
plus sign
under
it and
that the
ALL of
the other
entries
are minus
signs.
If you
see a
plus sign
under
the “F”
this normally
indicates
that your
drive
arrived
“frozen”
from the
factory
and it
cannot
be modified.
This is
extremely
RARE.
If you
only see
a single
minus
sign under
the “S”
and nothing
else,
then your
hard drive
does not
fully
support
the ATA
command
set. E.G.
it is
not an
ATA66
or better
hard drive
and is
too old
to use.
Any other
combinations
indicate
that your
motherboard
may not
be communicating
with the
drive
properly
and you
may need
to perform
this procedure
on another
computer.
Exit
out of
the ATAPWD
program
and return
to the
DOS prompt.
HDlock
At the
DOS prompt
type HDLOCK.EXE
The detected
drives
will be
listed.
Select
your Xbox
hard drive
by pressing
1 or 2
accordingly.
You will
be asked
for the
PASSWORD
to use
to lock
the drive.
Enter
the password
in the
format
you wrote
down before.
Double
and triple
check
your work
before
you hit
the enter
key.
In this
case I
would
enter:
65fd29ca254d78cbf441f7b8c369150fdddc97a9
Note
that it
–IS-
case sensitive
and you
should
be using
all lower
case.
Also
if you
make a
mistake
DO NOT
try again,
read below.
If the
drive
accepted
the lock
command,
you will
receive
an acknowledgement
and will
be returned
to the
DOS prompt.
If it
failed
you will
either
see a
“drive
not ready”
message
or “command
not accepted”
or something
similar
as I do
not remember
the exact
error
message.
In any
case DO
NOT run
this program
again.
Each time
the program
runs it
creates
a new
text file
called
hddpw.txt
on the
floppy.
This contains
the password
that the
program
thinks
you entered.
Copy
or rename
this file
before
attempting
to run
the program
again!!!
After
locking
the drive
you can
run ATAPWD
again
and verify
the “USER
LOCK”
status.
Normally
the E
and/or
L will
show a
plus sign
if properly
done.
Note:
This procedure
seems
to be
very picky
about
the motherboard,
bios and
version
of DOS
you use.
I have
been unable
to get
it to
work on
some Intel
850 and
845 Pentium
4 motherboards,
while
others
report
success.
I ended
up resorting
to utilizing
an old
Gigabyte
440BX
motherboard
