we are currently installing an xbox into a customers car but he asked for a chipped one so he could upgrade the hd. we have bought an xbox from ebay which has from what the screen says xecuter2 chip and doesnt activate on normal power up you have to hold the power button in for 3 seconds and the light turns orange for it to activate, however we cant get it to play more than one or the backup disks nor will it play any of our backup dvds. we have read that sometimes the drives become faulty so we stipped it and gave it a clean to see if that helps but it did not. there is also some software installed for when it boots into xecuter mode called evolutionX + 3921, which has options for skins etc , this is the option we are using for playing dvds (play game or media from) there is also and option for xbox media player but this is not highlithed. sorry for the long speel but if anyone could clear the air and let us know what we have i would be gratefull then i can get it fixed and fit the bigger h/d.
It sounds like you don't have a dash loaded yet. Dashboards are like browsers for the xbox. When you boot a normal xbox there is a green screen that allows you to scroll through all the options on the xbox, this is the M$ Dash. What you are going to need to do is install a new dash. There are instructions on the homepage here that will help you do that.
Since the xbox won't activate on normal power up it sounds like the install was a little faulty. Since it's in a car I don't think there will be a big demand to go on xbox live but... these chips have the ability to be bypassed so users can still play online without fear of being banned from the service. Since it appers that your xbox cannot do this I would recomend going over the soldering points on the chip.
There are tutorials here and at xbox-scene.com as to what to look for and how to check it.
Lastly, the xbox has a pretty poor quality DVD-ROM and there are alot of brands od DVD-R's that won't play on most xbox's, that's why putting the game image on the HDD is so popular. Get a copy of the Slayer install disk. It's on xbins and there is a tutorial on how to get it and use it on xboxscene.com . This program will format the new xbox HDD for you, install the dash and load programs like DVD2Xbox that will make copying and playing games easy.
If you run into any more problems just post them.
Good Luck!
