In part 1 of the Xbox Media Center article I explained the hardware modifications, basically the mod chip installation. The purpose of the mod chip installation is so that you can use unlocked hard drives in the xbox. The locking mechanism of the ATA specification was to stop people from poking around with the contents of the drive. Even after unlocking the hard drive the format of the drive is not FAT or any recognizable partition scheme. The second reason for a mod chip is to load an alternate dashboard or the software you see when you start it up. The third reason for the mod chip is large drive support, the original xbox comes with only an 8GB hard drive.
Tag Archives: xbox
How To Turn an old Xbox into an Xbox Media Center – Part 1
The original Xbox was released in November of 2001 by Microsoft and it created a new age of console gamers. Since the Xbox 360 came out the original Xbox has been thrown in the corner. However after 7 years this console still has a very important function for video junkies and ROM junkies. The Xbox Media Center is the ultimate use for the old Xbox console platform. The units can be purchased from GameStop for less than $50 dollars and for less than an hour of work plus a modchip, you too can have the ultimate media center. No other multimedia product can come close to the Xbox Media Center or XBMC.