I don't really have a preference on either system at the moment. I'm not to impressed with the game selection on the 360. I have probably 5 games I could say I really enjoy on it and they're getting few and far between. I haven't picked up a PS3 yet but I've played it and even though I prefer the 360's controller, I haven't found too much difference in game play but the PS3 seems to have more of a selection. Plus the ability to install Linux seems nice.

I've heard about 60 and 80 gig bundles having overheat problems. I'm not much into Blu-ray or HD-DVD when it was out. I more or less just want something to play games on. I've been using old school xboxes more than anything else.

I've been getting a lot of chipped xboxes coming in lately. Lot's of X2's. some soldered, some solderless. I'm surprised at how unreliable a lot of these are. Aside from the lack of LCD support, softmods always work great for me. I just have an Xenium Gold around in case I need to pull an eeprom from a dead box.

Error 21 is usually a dashboard issue. I'd suggest downloading one of the boot discs from this site and using it to redo your HDD. What events led up to it failing? Did you edit any files?

I'm in the process of getting one built and it's done for the most part, all I need left is a new video card and two 22" monitors I'm saving up for. I'll finally be making the switch from CRT and it can't come soon enough. Also, I did have another 750GB in the PC and a 320GB, but the 320 I put in my girlfriend's PC and the 750 I'm trying to get working in the Xbox.

Anyways, here's where I'm at right now:

Computer   
Operating System   Microsoft Windows XP Professional (never going to Vista. Absolutely hate it)
OS Service Pack   Service Pack 2
DirectX   4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name   APETH (Apeth)
User Name   Patrik
   
CPU AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+, 2613 MHz
Motherboard Name   Asus M2N4-SLI
Motherboard Chipset   nVIDIA nForce4, AMD Hammer
System Memory   2048 MB  (2xKingston 1GB DDR2-667 DDR2)
BIOS Type   Award (07/14/06)
Video Adapter   WinFast PX7300 LE(NVIDIA)  (512 MB)
3D Accelerator   nVIDIA G72
Monitor   Dell D1025TM  [17" CRT]  (55341CAS9049)
Audio Adapter   (Onboard) nVIDIA MCP04 - Audio Codec Interface
Keyboard   Logitech OfficePro
Mouse   Microsoft USB Laser Mouse 6000 (IntelliPoint)
PCI Philips SAA7135HL Multimedia Capture Device

Storage   
Disk Drive   ST3500630AS  (465 GB, Sata) 500gb
Disk Drive   ST3500630AS  (465 GB, Sata) 500gb
Disk Drive   ST3400633A  (372 GB, IDE) 400gb
Disk Drive   ST3500630A  (465 GB, IDE) 500gb
Disk Drive   Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 (4 GB, USB)
Optical Drive   HP DVD Writer 640c  (+/-RW, Lightscribe)
Partitions   
C: (NTFS)   37197 MB (14075 MB free)
D: (NTFS)   439732 MB (12854 MB free)
G: (NTFS)   476939 MB (1680 MB free)
H: (NTFS)   476939 MB (367491 MB free)
I: (NTFS)   381543 MB (77918 MB free)
Total Size   1769.9 GB (462.9 GB free)

Add an 80GB and a 250GB drive to that. Plus I just installed a GeForce 512MB 8800GT. I should've spent the money on a flat panel because I hardly use it for gaming.

I love dead threads!

I bought a chip from consolesource.com. Viper Extreme. When flashed with the Cobra 2.1 bios, it has the option to back up games but as of yet I haven't gotten them to work. I keep getting disc read errors. It could be a number of factors though, like the burning speed, the program I'm using and the media I'm using.

I'm pissed that there won't be a Goldeneye or Perfect Dark available on LIVE now.

Like ad a bunch of random files? lol

That's what I did once until I upgraded Nero (newest one lets me choose.) I just threw some music and Opie and Anthony shows on to fill it up.

You could also extract it, add a bunch of extra files and then redo the ISO with Craxtion.

lol yea you should not Mod for ppl  Unless you know for 100% it's going to be easy for you =)

my price is

20$ Softmod + all Emus/Roms

50$ softmod + all Emus/Roms + Bigger HDD/with whatever games i have or Movies they wont


time spent  4mins for softmod + emus/roms  about 10-15 mins for softmod + HDD but then the hole copying over movies or Games take alittle time But i just copy every thing all at once =)

I charge the same pretty much where I live. Some people *female dog* but I point out that tracking down Splinter Cell, a memory card, and splicing a cord to connect the memory card to the PC is worth more than 20 bucks. And the 40-50 for a new HDD is pretty fair too.

I've had the same problem with different USB drives, using a controller port to USB adapter. It could be as simple as it's incompatible. Check this list out to see some known working and nonworking devices.
http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/Xbox_USB_Compatibility_List

Edit:: I was using Kingston DataTraveler 2GB, 4GB and 512MB drives, and none worked. I also tried a 128MB Medion jumpdrive, and it also just flashed.

Thankfully someone said it. I'm pretty sure the "PLZ DONATE" thing was a deciding factor in calling bullshit.

I know it goes without saying but check the bios?

I was going to do a small guide on it but I figured it was overkill. I can still do it up tonight. What I did instead of splicing the controller was I removed one of the controller ports from the xbox, snipped the wires, spliced a USB cable and connected the wires.

There's a site on the net where you can download drivers for both the controller and memory card. Llama.com had some links. I'll include them in that guide if I get to it tonight. The great thing about using the controller port instead of directly splicing the controller is you can put it back in the xbox when you're finished. It doesn't need to be soldered, just twist the wires and tape them. I have a few broken xboxes so I just put the ports to good use.

Yup. everything works great!! Got some emulators on there too and it works really good.

Anyone find any good tutorials how to set up the free online gaming? I noticed there are none on here. I'm assuming I need something else installed because xbmc doesnt want to set it up itself.

You mean like xbox connect and xlink kai? They have tutorials on their own sites for the most part so putting one over here would sort of be like overkill. Check out http://xbconnect.com/