New to Xbox 360 and need advice.

Hi all, new to Xbox 360. I tried to read through as much as I can to figure things out, but looking for advice before I make a mistake.

I bought a used Xbox 360 with a 20GB and it had someone else's data, profile, games, avatar. It is on dashboard 2.0.9199. I played around a bit editing the avatar. It seems to have been serviced by microsoft, the tag says service date instead of mfgr date and it has a larger white/green seal under the face plate. It is non HDMI, has a 203 power and the DVD appears to be a liteon with yellow wires.

I also picked up a 320GB Xbox 360 S hdd and connected it using the cable from the older version's hdd tray.

I then transferred the contents of the 20GB into a memory stick and subsequently moved that to the larger hdd. But now the avatar is a silhouette, I made a new profile, but it does't let me edit the avatar anymore. It says I need an update to use that feature now.

I looked through the dashboard section here, but the information is over whelming. I configured the network and had it connect to Live. It checked and told me I needed an update. I told it to continue with the update, it went to resetting and downloading. That's where I canceled and came here to ask, before I do anything more.

One note, is that I will eventually want to use a kinect, that's where I assume I will be forced to update the dash. But up to which version should I flash, what should I avoid. I would like to update as far as I can and still be able to use kinect and possibly hacks/mods, once I figure out how to do them. I am not sure I would be using Live, unless I miss out on something, but I guess I'd like the option.

I want to avoid updating to anything that would close up any exploits that would be needed in the future if I can, to homebrew, play backups, etc..

Please advise, ask me anything, thanks for reading.

-CC

EDITED: I guess I will mostly be playing rented games and a few of the kinect games off ebay.

 

Update it to a 9199 dashboard with avatars which should be hosted on digiex and then when you get a kinect, download the newest dash version of here aswell & if you want to play hacks/mods you may need to RGH your xbox 360:-)

 

I have another console which does have HDMI, also 203 power supply. But it's DVD is broken. I tried replacing it with a Hitachi (won't read game discs, but reads standard DVD) and then a Samsung (attempts to read game discs, then shows the play on xbox 360 screen).

 

You will need the same drive model as the one with hdmi.Then swap the pcb boards, you might have to unsolder and solder some wires.

 

I don't understand what you are suggesting here.

You are saying I need to find the same model DVD that the HDMI one already had to replace it with for it to work? (I guess I was assuming that all DVD drives were interchangeable)

But then I don't get the next part about the reason for swapping out the pcb board and why would I have to solder anything? (Unless you're talking about the actual RGH mod).

The HDMI one was originally RROD, which I cleaned out and reset. Now it runs it's fans at high speed, and I am guessing it would be a good candidate for loading from storage to play..

Still learning..

 

I updated the HDMI one to this to test out the instructions in that thread on that unit as a learning experience. It went through the update without a problem. It was already running a kinect compatible dash anyways.

The nonHDMI I've not wanted to open up, since it's sticker says "service date 2009/06/18" and has a green MS certificate. I was thinking of just using this unit as LIVE/stock machine.

 

I have edited a picture below.
With the red boxes,(ribbon cables) you want to disconnect those just push the plastic holders back, for the blue box you have solder those cables off then solder it to the replacement drive.Make sure to solder them in the right order.


edit:
Each drive is assigned to one console only, replacing the pcb is the only way to have a replacement drive work on that console.