Data Mikgration Kit for Xbox 360 60GB HDD

troubleshooting, 4 Comments

We just spend this afternoon trying to upgrade a Xbox 360 to a 60GB HDD with a friend, called “The-one-without-a-Web-presence”. Without success, yet. Somewhat frustrated, I started doing some research on this to understand. Some background information might be helpful.

I just upgraded my Xbox 360 to 120GB. That went quite well. After fighting an epic battle with the blister box, I obtained three essential pieces as reward: the HDD, some kind of odd cable and a green CD/DVD. One end of the cable to the Xbox, the other one to the back of the Xbox. There is only way how it fits, so its quite idiot-proof. Then you insert the disc.

Data Migration Kit

The next few steps are shown on the screen. Confirm the transfer and, depending on the amount of data on your old hard disc, the transfer might take up to 1 hours 30 minutes from the 20 GB disc. Transfer works from one way only. This means, once the transfer is completed, your old disc will be wiped out. It will be a plain disc, just with the XNE (or dashboard if not updated, yet) on it. No profiles, no save games.

The trasfer seems to work only from a smaller to a larger disc. This means

20GB –> 60GB
20GB –> 120GB
60GB –> 120GB

I was also told that the the same size of a HDD is supported. This means the following might also work (not confirmed):

20GB –> 20GB
60GB –> 60GB
120GB –> 120GB

Said that, my friend “The-one-without-a-Web-presence” bought the 60GB Live Starter Kit. That’s a quite fair deal including a 60GB HDD, a head set and three months of gold subscription and a Ethernet cable. He was never live before, so the three months of gold subscription was a reason to buy this kit as he wants to start playing live (Do you get it? Live Starter Kit? For those who want start being live?). Besides this, he gains much more reward for fighting the blister box.

What’s not included in this package is a Data Migration Kit (containing the odd cable as well as the CD/DVD). So he asked me, if we could use my kit. After several attempts we finally figured out: Yes, we could use my kit, however, it does not work. What went wrong at the end? Everything was connected properly, we tried several permutations in connection orders and we read through a whole bunch of support articles.

The simplest way is contacting Microsoft Support and asking for the Data Migration Kit. To do so you simply have to follow the steps indicated in this support article. Obviously we already have an Data  Migration Kit from my 120GB disc that does not work.

The answer seems pretty simple: At the time when the 120GB disc was released, there was no 60GB disc available.  That way, the software does only support the copy process to a 120GB disc. It seems this as a known issue and meanwhile Microsoft released a newer software that also supports this process to 60GB discs.

this means, the software only can process the following transfers:

20GB –> 60GB
20GB –> 120GB
60GB –> 120GB

However, you might be not in luck and you end up with a old software version indeed. Having a newer version this will be no problem at all. How can you tell what version you have?

Hard Disc Transfer Disc

Check out the number on the right bottom of the green CD/DVD being part of your Data Migration Kit. Does it end with “–01”?  Bad luck then. That’s the old version only supporting 120GB discs. Give a call to your local Microsoft support and ask for a newer version or ask your friends if anybody has the newer version. Now you should be able to identify the right disc.

Personally, I would recommend to ask if anybody of your friends has the disc and the odd cable. You’ll need this cable/software only once and ordering it for a single transfer is a waste of resources. As there is no way back now cable will be of no use after the transfer other than giving it to a friend.

Why this confusion? The 60GB Live Starter Kit does not include a cable/software as it is meant to be for Xbox 360 Arcade users who want to migrate. So It might be called “Xbox 360 Arcade 60GB Upgrade Kit” to avoid some confusion for those how want start with Xbox live using the “Xbox 60GB Live Starter Kit”.

NETCFv35.Messages.EN.wm.cab!?

.net, , 3 Comments

Today, I run into a quite annoying error message while developing a application for Windows Mobile 6.1.

“An error message is available for this exception but cannot be displayed because these messages are optional and are not currently installed on this device. Please install ‘NETCFv35.Messages.EN.wm.cab’ for Windows Mobile 5.0 and above or  ‘NETCFv35.Messages.EN.cab’ for other platforms. Restart the application to see the message.”

The required files are located at C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft.NETSDKCompactFrameworkv3.5 WindowsCEDiagnostics, assuming you have installed the Windows Mobile SDK. I copied the file NETCFv35.Messages.EN.wm.cab to my device and run the installation. So far it worked fine, until the same exception popped up again.

Using the .NET CF Logger, from Power Toys for .NET Compact Framework 3.5, I was able to track it down to the following error:

“Failed to load [System.SR, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=969DB8053D3322AC]”

To do so, you choose the device you want to log and select which logging options you want. The log files can be found then in your application folder on the mobile device.

.NET CF Logging Options

With this new input, I found Martijn Hoogendoorn’s blog entry. He came across the same issue some time ago and provided a solution to this miracle. If you have a look inside the .cab file, check the _setup.xml file.

NETCFv35.Messages.EN.wm.cab _setup.xml

Extract and rename the file SYCCFA~1.001 to System.SR.dll and include it into your project. Rebuild, deploy and debug it – it should work fine.

RSS Bandit meets dasBlog

tools,

Being my favorite feed reader, RSS Bandit seems to have a quite cool feature to share your feed list among multiple computers. Simply got to Tools / Options / Remote Storage and select dasBlog from the Protocol drop-down list.

RSS Bandit Remote Storage

Therefore, you have to enable the Edit Web Service on your blog configuration.

Enable Edit Web Service

Nevertheless, nothing happened. The Edit Web Service URL seems to be right, activated and RSS Bandit does not provide any error message. Looks like some more digging is necessary…

O2 Upgrade for Windows Mobile 6

gadgets,

Oh dear, last month all my colleagues did an upgrade on their MDA aka Hermes 9600 for a newer ROM version. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any upgrade for the Xda Trion at the O2 XDA website. Also the German O2 website does not provide any information about ROM upgrades. Here I finally fond some information about O2 taking their Windows Mobile upgrade quite serious and the most importing information: All the upgrades are hosted by HTC directly. They even adapted the O2 style on the Windows Mobile 6 Update for Xda page.

Windows Mobile 6 Update for Xda

All you have to do is to enter the serial number of your Windows Mobile device (right behind the battery) and download the corresponding 52 MB bits. Before installing make sure your ActiveSync connection is set up properly and running. And that’s currently the only drawback of the whole story: I tried to perform the ROM upgrade first with my Windows Vista machine. The upgrade process seems to run up to the point where the application tries to upload the ROM files. At this point the application does not work properly with either Windows Vista or the Mobile Device Center. Therefore, I did take my Windows XP backup machine. There you simply plug-in your device and make sure that the ActiveSync connection is established.

Diffrent SPL Versions

It looks like the SPL version (whatever this is) was not updated by my first attempt. Connecting via ActiveSync showed a different version (2.03 instead of 1.04). After confirming the setup procedure on your desktop machine, the screen changes then to a progress bar. After approximately 10 minutes the ROM upgrade is complete, the device restarts and shows up the new Windows Mobile 6 screen.

Xda Trion with windows Mobile 6

 

Bluetooth Hotchpotch

troubleshooting, 2 Comments

I literally fought an epic battle with my Toshiba m400 since the first day I got it. For that reason I was not surprised when my colleague Frank Prengel from Microsoft Germany had some trouble with his m400 while preparing a demo with the Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS).

His first idea was about some issues with the April CTP 1.5 of the MSRS. Indeed, he got some errors like

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
 <s:Fault xmlns:wsa="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/08/addressing" xmlns:d=http://schemas.microsoft.com/xw/2004/10/dssp.html xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope">
 <s:Code> 
 <s:Value>s:Receiver</s:Value> 
 <s:Subcode>
  <s:Value>d:OperationFailed</s:Value>
  </s:Subcode> 
 </s:Code> 
 <s:Reason>
 <s:Text>Unabled to configure Lego NXT</s:Text>
 </s:Reason>
</s:Fault>

Indeed, the error is a unfortunate result of a unhappy soft- and hardware combination. So, let’s see what we already have

  • A Toshiba m400
  • Windows Vista
  • Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 April CTP installed
  • A Lego NXT

Actually, the NXT documentation tells the NXT requires the Bluetooth stack from Widcomm or XP SP2. However, I know my m400 much much better than the people from Lego. Maybe you will realise that after installing the Lego software (either for RCX or NXT) you’ll get a message that the Lego software does not work with the Toshiba BT stack!? I.e. there is something special about the Toshiba BT stack… Fortunately, using the MSRS you don’t need any drivers or software to run the NXT. The build-in services provided by the MSRS are the one and only bits to run the NXT.

  1. Un-install the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack
  2. Install the latest Toshiba m400 BIOS
  3. Install the Toshiba BT Stack for Windows Vista
  4. Install the Toshiba BT Monitor.

Now you can easily pair your BT capable devices with your m400. In the following you can see a iRobot Create and a Lego NXT paired with my m400.

Toshiba Blootooth Settings

Frank confirmed that after following the steps above his demo now “works as a charm”.

SearchIndexer.exe makes my laptop being a Hairdryer

troubleshooting,

SearchIndexer.exe does all the indexing stuff on your Vista machine. Not bad at all it is not possible to schedule when the indexer is running as it was able using MSN Desktop Search. E.g., there you have been able to send the indexer to sleep for a 10, 20 or 60 minutes or to avoid running the indexer whilst working on the machine. it looks like the only way to calm the machine down is by switching of the service at all. Another work around I am trying right now is to got to Control Panel / Power Options and choosing the High Performance Change power plan settings. There chose Change advanced power settings Search and Indexing values to Power Saver or Balanced. This should lower the indexing effort of the Vista Search significantly.

Search and indexing Power Options

Bluetooth ActiveSync Issue

troubleshooting, 3 Comments

Due to some unknown reasons, Windows told me synchronizing with my Windows Mobile device was not able anymore. The error message told me some issues with the COM port. For some reason the COM port in ActiveSync was rest to port 3. Using the Toshiba Bluetooth Manager on my m200 I have to reset the port to 7.

Connection Settings

Afterwards, I had to update the partnership on my mobile device. After checking ActiveSync in the Bluetooth settings dialog for the specific device, the Bluetooth connection worked again.

Partnerschaftseinstellungen

Network Diagnostic Tool

tools,

I quite like the possibility offered by Mac OS with the detection of network errors when the system cannot connect to the network. Microsoft now also offers such a tool as Hotfix (KB914440).

“The Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool analyzes information about your network connectivity to help you troubleshoot network-related problems with your computer.”

After installing the tool, IE proposes to use the tool after a network error.

Diagnose Connection Problems

The Network Diagnostic Tool is accessible by the Tools / Diagnose Connection Problems … menu.

Diagnose Connection Problems

Network DIagnostics fpr Windows XP

Viewing the log file after the check allows to review the performed actions.

Towards UMTS

troubleshooting

Since I have the new XDA Trion am willing to investigate into UMTS. The first the UMTS coverage – as one can see, the right top corner appears in light blue and seems to be not covered.

3G Coverage

There was some trouble in activating the UMTS with O2. Actually they send a new SIM card with the phone. Until this card is activated, you can’t change the options (including UMTS). Activating the new card would lead to the deactivation of my multi cards. After asking the support (that’s the advantage being a “pay monthly” customer) it took only a few minutes to cancel the new card’s activation. Just adding the UMTS option within the portal is the secret.

Activation

Finally, it is not as easy as I thought: adding the UMTS option includes a pair of new UMTS enabled SIM cards. Even if your old ones support already UMTS. Now I have to wait until the new cars are activated.