Reading the original XBox eeprom in the modern age.
1,913
Published 2024-03-12
It is also included in both of these eeprom toolsets but it's easy to just grab & flash it. Also included a diagrams sub-folder to show pinouts, a Github menu to link you directly to the projects and a list of available options to use the same script with to get your eeprom.
Yes, I know, it was always a pretty easy process to get your eeprom through a serial reader through PonyProg, I actually wrote two Instructables about it a decade ago. But the convenience of these new methods are much welcome. Especially considering many PCs don't have a serial connection these days.
(Instructables previously written)
www.instructables.com/XBox-EEPROM-ReaderWriter/
www.instructables.com/XBox-EEPROM-Reader-Alternate…
With this method, run the installer portion of the program first. This will install Python then pyserial & wxPython prerequisites. After that, just run the eeprom toolset of your choice. One version makes a copy of the eeprom every step of the way to ensure you don't accidently overwrite your original file. These are all written to the desktop.
UPDATE:
Added the Arduino Nano to the downloads section, along with Carlos from Retro Upgrade's fix & diagram.
How does it work?
After the prerequisites are installed and the program script is opened, power on the console, put the wires in place as shown in the photo and follow the on screen instructions.
Note: adding the wires before powering on the console may cause it to spin the fan loudly and shut down after 10-15 seconds. This is normal. Just power it on first and then add your wires to the designated areas. The USB to reader can remain plugged in the entire time.
Once you've successfully read your key, you can make yourself a new harddrive by downloading FATXplorer (free trial for 7 days) and adding the MSDASH to the C partition and softmod files to the E partition, whatever else to the F partition, etc.
After you're done building, remember to visit the security tab and lock the drive with the hdd harddrive key from the extracted eeprom or add a personal password after this has been set up.
And that's it!
BIG thanks to grimdoomer, Ryzee119, maxpower5544 for making their code available to the community! Also thanks to Carlos from Retro Upgrade here on YouTube for pointing out the flaw in the ArduinoProm code while working with the Nano and providing a diagram of the pinout. Check out his video here for the changes he made to make it work: • Part 2: The EPIC Conclusion to Fixing...
Eaton-works is also pretty awesome and I encourage everyone to buy a software license for FATXplorer if they plan on messing with at least a few of these consoles. Totally worth it. This is very awesome to me still, being that I used to have to boot an old desktop into custom made images of the smallest possible version of slax I could put together just to get lock or unlock the drive and add files. This was hit or miss back then, depending on if the hardware detected the drive while booting up or if it were even capable of it. The old XBoxHDM on CD then later, the USB version that was extremely buggy. Thankfully, those days are long gone.
Note: This .exe was compressed with WinRar, so if you're having trouble opening it, you can always right-click and extract it as if it were just a .zip then load the PicoProm Toolset.bat (or view the code by dragging the extracted .bat into a text editor if you're paranoid and whatnot.)
Also, master801 for sharing the .uf2 [that he apparently acquired from Fringle on GBATemp?] in this thread here:
old.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/comments/16hmfs8/yes…
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DOWNLOADS
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Eeprom Toolset:
www.mediafire.com/file/x37q747jg9dna9n/Eeprom_Tool…
Eeprom Toolset (with Constant Backups)
www.mediafire.com/file/uyebdhlday8073p/Eeprom_Tool…
LiveInfo
www.mediafire.com/file/q21enqc93mfolg2/LiveInfo.ex…
PicoPi .uf2 (You can actually press an option in the program as shown in the video to copy this directly to the desktop from the script itself instead of downloading it separately here)
www.mediafire.com/file/iv3c9udr2bcl7n4/PicoProm.uf…
FATXplorer
fatxplorer.eaton-works.com/download/
PROJECTS
PiProm (Raspberry Pi)
github.com/grimdoomer/PiPROM
ArduinoProm (Micro, Uno)
github.com/Ryzee119/ArduinoProm
Pico-ogxbox-eepromdumper (Pico Pi)
github.com/maxpower5544/Pico-ogxbox-eepromdumper
Xbox-EEPROM-Utility (ESP32, ESP8266)
github.com/dx4m/Xbox-EEPROM-Utility
picoPromSD (Standalone)
github.com/dtomcat/picoPromSD
All Comments (7)
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Hi mate cool channel , you got your self a new sub :) and thanks for the mention appreciated. keep up the good work 😀
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When I try this all I get is an error "import serial ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'serial' The system cannot find the file specified. All the dependancies are installed
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Hi, I tried your method (with a pico) and I got the eeprom. I shut the console down and removed the wires, then I did it again to make sure it read the eeprom correctly but when I tried to do it again the console Fragged and now it just FRAGS (turns on, shuts off, turns on, shuts off, blinking red light) but if I connect the wire from my pico to ground on the port it sparks is that normal?
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I just cleaned up and tested a Xbox I got locally. It's from 2001, has a HDD or optical drive from 05 can't remember rn. Anyways I want to soft/hardmod it. But firstly.backup everything sort of a big project but can't wait. Was wondering your thoughts and input on a route to take. Personally I like unleashX dashboard. Just don't want anything to go wrong .I also want to dev a Java program to make things easier and better UI. Lmk. Discord???
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Keep getting an error 07, hear the disk spin up then stop after making a few ticking noises, then that error. I want to switch out the HDD with a new one, im certain that the hdd is basically dead. But i can't turn it on past getting that error. Isn't there a way to have the xbox boot from a burned cd before it gets to that error screen about the HDD and get the HDD key from there? Just wanna save this xbox, switched it out with a differen't xbox HDD and it gave me an error 06, it read the HDD quick and gave me the error quickly. Now im here thinking maybe i can add a mod chip to the system and read it on the computer. So dumb how they locked it, now you can't add a different drive it this one dies. I could just plug this new 3tb HDD i got into my computer, then run fatxplorer and format it from on the desktop then put it in the xbox but that still wouldn't get my the hdd key. I have an already modded xbox with the eeprom back up and that HDD key, would i be able to use that system to pump out new HDD and just keep swaping them in and out of that xbox?
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im back baybeee, got me a raspberry pi pico now... but im having troubles again even with this, im seeing people say it won't work because its 3.3v -- going to try it a 2nd time but plugging it into the pc the LED didn't light up, but i did get a random txt file to pop open showing me it's version. But arduinoprom won't read it, and the sudo codes are for linux. -- im getting so confused and frustrated i took my raspberry pi 4 model b out of it's canakit case and found the pin outs for it, and should just be able to use the tutorial through that. Weird to think that little pi 4 is a whole computer with video output and power in. (still wanna figure it out with this pico pi though!!) ❤ going to rewatch your video 1000 times.
