XBOX Error Codes Explained- Go Here First!

OK, I have seen many times people ask about error codes and have to wait for someone to tell them what it means. To make everyone's life easier (Mods, Members, and n00bs), I am going to post a listing of all of the error codes with some explaination of what they mean and how to fix them. I hope this thread will help everyone with there Xbox error problems.

Also, I dont want to take credit for compiling the information (but I will take credit posting it!). I have to credit OCnewB and Superfro of the Xbox-Scene forums. He is the one who orignally compiled all the information, I just put it here on our forum, but I did clean it up a little, added some imput, and kept only the most recent updated fixes(the original had a lot of fixes that were out of date).

So with all that being said, Behold:

[bold]XBOX ERROR CODES EXPLAINED[/bold]

For those of you that don't know or are not sure if or when you have seen an error, you will see an error during the normal boot up sequence. Instead of your booting the M$ dashboard or Hacked Dashboard (Evox, UnleashX, Avalaunch, etc.), there will be an message on the screen that says, "Your Xbox Requires Service" and you will see a number on the upper left hand corner of the screen <- this is your error code number. The error codes are listed below

Beware, you wont see the bootldr error's because (thanks to: Lordvader129) : "when you see this" is not entirely accurate, you never see the bootloader errors, as they are one that cause the reboot/FRAGs


[bold]2 - bootldr - Eeprom check failed[/bold]

When you see this error most of the times you have flashed something wrong. Or you dropped solder on your eeprom chips.



[bold]4 - bootldr - Ram check failed[/bold]

Your Xbox ram chips are wasted.
Maybe you dropped a little solder on it (try to remove it CAREFULLY!). Note, if they are fried, removing solder won't fix them). Maybe you were static when you touched the ram chips. They are kind off sensitive. If they are, they are fried, sell your xbox for spare parts.



[bold]5 - kernel - HDD not locked[/bold] (The retail xbox bioses require the hd to be locked)

When you upgrade your hard disk drive for one that is larger, you most of the times use a new hard drive that you bought in the shop. Now, when you put this hdd in your xbox and you try to boot up with your chip off. It gives you error 5. Why you ask? Well i will try to explain it simple.

The original (also called "Retail") hard drive is locked by MS. Why did they lock the harddrive?

Well if it wasn't it wouldve been more than easy (in the start of xbox hacking)
for hackers to change content on it. Thats why MS locks it. It is just a security measure.

This locking proces uses information thats on the motherboard. The "Lock" on a xbox hard drive contains information that is based on the harddrive itself and the motherboard it came with.

One thing that makes this clear: You can not change a retail harddrive with another one from an other not modded xbox. With every xbox there is only ONE i repeat ONE compatible harddisk drive. That is, if they are locked.

If you don't mod your xbox (tsop or modchips) you can not change harddrives. Not even from another xbox. However when your xbox IS modified you can change your harddisk for almost every other harddisk (thats UNLOCKED). This means that even when your xbox is modified, you can not just put another (retail) XBOX harddisk in your xbox. However some smart people made programs that can lock or unlock your xbox harddisk on the fly.

So when does the error occur? The only time this error should occur is when you boot up your xbox in original mode AND you have a harddisk in your xbox that is not yet locked. So now you ask what do i have to do to make your xbox work again?

Well the answer is pretty easy. Boot up your xbox with the chip on. Preferably with a slayer evo-x cd. Now you choose "Eeprom management." Than you choose: "Lock hdd." It takes one second. After its ready it should say something like "Done"
When it is "Done" just turn off your xbox. Disable your chip and try to boot in original mode. Now there should be no more error 5.



[bold]6 - kernel - Cannot unlock HDD[/bold]

If you understand the above, you should be able to understand what this means. It means you are trying to boot up the xbox with an harddisk that is locked in combination with ANOTHER motherboard than you are using it with right now.

What can i do about it, you ask? Well place the harddisk back in the xbox where it came from. After that, UNLOCK the harddisk with the same procedure i explained above (see error 5). Now when the harddisk is UNLOCKED, put it in the xbox which gave you the error. Now when you boot up with the chip ON it should not give you an error anymore.

However when you put the xbox on with the chip OFF your xbox will give you an error. (error 5) So to make sure you can boot original and boot with the chip ON. Next do the same as above: "Boot up your xbox with the chip on. Preferrably with a slayer evo-x cd. Now you choose "Eeprom management." Than you choose: "Lock hdd." It takes one second. After its ready it should say something like "Done"
When it is ready just turn off your xbox. Disable your chip and try to boot original. Now there should be no more error.



[bold]7 - kernel - HDD timeout[/bold]

Most of the times, the IDE cable is not properly connected when you see this error. Please reattach the ide cable. Not only to the harddisk drive but also to the dvd drive. ALso try to reconnect the ide cable to the motherboard.

Press pretty hard so it goes all the way in. Make sure it is seated straight and proper in the drives and the motherboard. If you still have an error 7. Try another ide cable. If that won't work try another harddisk. If there is still no go, try to set the jumpers on the rearside of the harddisk drive. Set it to master or cable select. If still no succes, good luck and sell your xbox to me rolleyes.gif



[bold]8 - kernel - No HDD found[/bold]

Please make sure your xbox hdd is attached properly. Most of the times the Ide cable came loose, or isn't seated properly in the IDE port of your harddisk. ALso make sure the power supply cables are intact and working.

Make sure the ide cable is also connected properly to the rest of the hardware (dvd and motherboard).



[bold]9 - kernel - HDD parameters[/bold] (PIO/DMA/or size {debug}, certain size minimum is required for debug)

Not very common error, please try another harddisk.



[bold]10 - kernel - DVD timeout[/bold]

Actually its almost the same as error 6/7/8. But also make sure the yellow cables are properly connected to the motherboard and the dvd drive.

1. Make sure ide cables are connected good.
2. Make sure the yellow cables are good and properly connected.
3. Still no succes? Try another dvd drive of which you are sure it is working.



[bold]11 - kernel - No DVD Found[/bold]

Same as #10 So read up please!



[bold]12 - kernel - DVD parameters (PIO/DMA)[/bold]

Same as #10, only not very common.



[bold]13 - kernel - Dashboard launch fail[/bold] (due to missing/bad key, or anything else that would prevent it from running) and the dashboard didn't specify why it failed.

The error it gives is because of the incompatibility between the (older) dashboard (4920) that older slayer cd installs and the new dashboard/kernel versions found in some new xbox's and found in xbox's that have been connected to xbox live (when you go on xbox-live, it'll upgrade your dashboard file to i believe it is now 5659.03. This dasboard is incompatible with the dash that (old) slayer cd installs (for example 2.5 or lower) for you.

(In detail, in the eeprom chip there is a kernel which is incompatible with the dashboard (4920) that slayer installs.)

So what do you do to fix it? You can use the dashupdate found on most new xbox games! Be sure to 1st unplug your ethernet cable before you do so!!!

Besides that, just use a good installation disc and all is fine. Use a 2.6 slayer or something similar



[bold]14 - dashboard - Error loading dashboard[/bold] (dashboard generic error)

Same thing as above (error 13). This time it is also a little mistake from you on changing names or having played around with files on the xbox harddisk. Error 14 is most often because you changed boot orders or names of startup files on the harddisk. It can also happen when you are rebuilding your xbox harddisk with a slayer cd and the power was cut.



[bold]16 - dashboard - Clock cannot be set.[/bold]

Basically it comes down to this. Error 16 has to do with not finding the menu setting with which you can set the clock of the hdd. This happens to a lot of people that erase their hdd (original/upgraded) or MS dashboard files and after that they don't immediatly install the hdd but leave the xbox without power longer than 5 hours.

It's all about the hdd can't find the menu with which it can set the clock. This is mostly because the xbox hdd is empty (you removed dashboard or fux0red it via ftp). The problem arises when xbox searches for menu to set clock with, can't find it and voila: error 16. Well read on please!

So you have an error 16 huh? Don't worry "nothing" is broken!

You have an xbox hdd that is locked. And normally you can boot in original and modded mode. Retail or upgraded doesn't matter. You start playing around with xboxdash.xbe etc. using ftp programs. While doing this you "accidently" remove your MS dashboard and also your alternate dashboard (Evox, etc.) so there is no dash anymore on the xbox hdd.

You end the ftp session and after that you shut off your xbox. Normally when you would start up again it gives you an error 13/14 ( no dashboard found). No worries with a slayer Evox cd (and a hardmod), all is ok. BUT this is only WITHIN 3 hours or so.

This is because the internal clock of the xbox will only be kept alive by the capacitors for only 3 or 4 hours. So when you leave your xbox unplugged from electricity for over 5 hours after you have played with the .xbe's AND you have removed your (ms and evo-x) dash from your xbox than you are fux0red. Why do you ask?

Why can't I boot from disc?

Its as follows Xbox starts booting==> (almost 1st thing a xbox does is) searches for internal clock==> doesnt find internal clock because there hasn't been any electricity on the xbox for 5 hours so battery that kept clock alive is empty and clock is gone==> searches for the proper dashboard menu to set clock with ==> doesnt find msdashboard or evo-x dashboard menu becuz you have removed it from the hdd for whatever reasons you had==> xbox gives error 16: cannot set clock.

So what do you do about it? Two options!

1. There are some bios'es around that allow the chip to boot past the clocksetting. (do a search!). So how do you get that bios on your chip because you cant boot to a flash program or something? Well you need to have an external flasher.

It seems the m8 bios will take care for you of booting past the clocksetting. Or use the latest Xecutor bios


2. This is the more easy and newbie friendly strategy
-Get a friend with a modded xbox.
-Unlock his hdd with eeprom management from a slayer evo-x cd.
-Than, place his hdd in your xbox.
-Boot with your chip on.
-Now the xbox DOES find a dashboard when you boot in original mode and you can set the time in the msdashboard clock settings.
-Shut off xbox and remove your friends hdd
-PLace his hdd back in his xbox and lock it again
-Install your hdd
-(clock has been set) So boot up with slayer cd.
-Install normally whatever you wanna install
-lock hdd

If you get an error 13 after this, please read up on the error 13 explanation!



[bold]20 - kernel - The dashboard was attempted to load and failed[/bold]

It was a cold boot, and the dashboard didn't specify why it failed, but it
(for some reason) needed to be noted that the dvd passed the challenge/response authentication



[bold]21 - anywhere - [/bold]

This error says that the machine was booted to display a error, basically someone told the machine to reboot (or launch a xbe) with this flag, and the error code just means its been rebooted by the flag

This occurs frequently when the xbox is unable to boot due to dashboard changes being made (ie Gcue true blue hasnt been resigned, parts of the stock dash are missing - incomplete FTP backups copied to a new HDD for example).

____________________________________________________________

So there it is, the listing of all of the Error Codes. I hope this will help people for now on with there modding problems. I also hope nobody will need this thread, but it I know a lot will. I am not responsible for whatever happens to your xbox when following this advice. It's just what i found to be working so don't blame me when you kill your xbox. That being said, although I know a little about the xbox, modding, and the error codes, I am not an expert, but I do want to help. Also, feel free to add to this if there are any mistakes or if you feel you would like to add to this thread.

Good Luck to all, I hope this can help!

 

Good post deezp1! This will help out many of the noobs

 

Hiya ppl

i hope u can help me.

I softmodded my mates xbox, everything went fine, then he found sumthing in the dashboard, there woz i list, but he chose restore modded dashboard, now when he turns it on he gets error 16 and call customer support. He can't boot any games at all.

Is there anything i can do to put his xbox right.

I have a softmodded xbox, if that will help.

can i take his xbox hdd and stick it in my pc or is there sumting else i can do

Plz help

cheers from matt

 

NICE. Seeing it a little late after your post but it's a helpful tutorial. Good Job!!

 

I have the same problem as mastermjr but i removed the msdash.xbe by accident when I ftp'd into it. I now get an error 16. It is softmodded and locked. Could I hotswap it to unlock it. Copy the file back onto it and then lock it again with my pc?

Although even if that did work that would only solve the error 13 problem. How could I get the error 16 to error 13? I have another softmodded box. Could I unlock that hard drive and put it in mine to reset the clock. If so would that knack the other xbox, because surely the softmodded one won't boot if the hard drive is unlocked?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

No, Because what is locked is the actual HDD

Yes and No, you don't need to unlock the HDD, to set the clock. depending on what default dashboard you are using you can reset the clock straight from the dash. I believe most can do it except EvoX.

No, You are not going to do anything to that HDD, you are just "using it" in order to reset the clock. it wont damage it in any way

Once you get passed the error 16 problem, you will have multiple of options to fix the error 13 that you say you are going to have. Im not to familiar with softmodding (all my mods have been done with a chip), but Im sure the softmodding has nothing to do with the .xbe file, so if you do what is said in the Tutorial you should be fine.

 

Thanks.

So basically it is still fixable.

If I firstly take out my friends hdd from his softmodded xbox and place it in mine to reset the clock. Then you state that I can insert a new game that will be able to reset the dash. Can you tell me if this is most games. Any specifics? If so is it a simple procedure?

Sorry for all the questions.

 

yeah your fixable. As far as I know most games does this, I pretty sure most starwars games do this. dont forget to unplug your ethernet cable if your box is connected to the internet, otherwise you will be banned from XBL. Good Luck!

 

I will give it a go tomorrow. Could you tell me what settings im looking for within the game to reset the M$ dash. I appreciate that they will be different from game to game, but generally how would it be done?

 

Hi, I'm new to this site and I have a big problem with my xbox. I spent about two weeks trying to get my spiderchip to work on my xbox and finally I did. I flashed the bios on to it, and I'm guessing that at some point I unlocked my HDD. My chip will no longer go in because of a screw problem and the xbox when turned on always goes to the error message 05. If there is anything I can do please tell me.

 

I think I have a fix for your screw problem. Im not sure if you had the same problem as me, but I had a problem with my chip staying down on the board and eventually it wouldnt stay down at all. I noticed the screw that came with the chip was not a fat enough gauge so I just simple got a screw that was a little fatter and that did the trick, it hasnt popped out since. Hopefully, if you can get your chip to stay down, you can avoid your error code 5 problem.

hope this helped

 

Thanks, I managed to stop my error 05 by holding down my chip and then relocking my HDD. But my chip will not stay down still. I have bought new screws, but I do not have washers that fit them. Once I get the washers I am hoping that it will work.

 

i have the error 16 come up when i try to turn on my xbox. i dont have a mod chip or anything, my friend tried to mod it for my by hooking it up to his computer. im new to all of this stuff, if you couldnt tell, so if there is a way to fix it without a mod chip please help! thanks

 

It seems that you are in a tough spot. what most likely happened is that your friend was trying to do some kind of mod and failed then did nothing else about it. He probably accendently removed the m$ dashboard which is why you are getting your error code 16. since your box is not modded, it will be tough to get it back to normal without modding it. The reason you cant just insert a disk to do a dashboard update is because without the internal clock, the xbox will not boot a disk.

The only fix I can think of is to find a friend that does not have a modded, insert his HDD into your box. boot up your box and set the clock. Remove his HDD, the reinsert yours. reboot your box and most likely you will get an error code 13 (this is good). All you need to do then is just find a newer game and put it inside your xbox and reboot. Hopefully the game has a dashboard update and will reinstall your M$ dashboard and you should be good to go! good luck!

 

I have a modded xbox, and quite retardedly, began to think I knew what I was doing. My friend got his soft-modded and because I have a few games which required me to unlock my hdd in order to play them, I did it on his. Now it just gives me the error screen. can I re-lock it without losing his stuff? All I can find are ways to do this with the hdd password, and its kinda late for me to get that now. PLZ help me.

 

I have an error 23 but no budy knows want it is does anyone know?

 

First off, sorry for such a late reply, but I have been extremely busy lately and my email has be bombarded with messages and havent got a chance to reply to any aD posts. Il hope Im not too late with answers.

@alt255:

You did what? ulock the HDD? your xbox shouldnt require you to unlock the HDD to play games. The locking feature was just something M$ did to help keep the xbox secure (LOL). By locking the HDD, you wouldnt notice anything or it shouldnt prevent you from playing any game.

Is it giving you an error code number? maybe error code 5 or 6?

The best bet for you is to obtain a loader disk of some kind (Slayers, X-Disk, FireFuckers, etc.) Put one of these disk inside the disk drive and reboot your machine. it should boot the disk before it tries to boot your dashboard. If you are successful, within each of these bootdisk is an option to lock/unlock your HDD. it should take a second to do this. and you should be good to go

@133t:

I have been doing some research and I cant find info on error code 23 anywhere. when you get the error code are you getting the superfro page or the standard m$ page? Is your box modded? if it is chipped or softmodded?

 

ya it is moded a cheap 50 dolloar softmod so plaese countie and sorry for taking so long

 

oh nya it was fromated i am just saying this because i think it could be the problem