plea for help. lost dashboard!

[eternalist]

My first and only request for help out there!
I already softmodded my xbox.. had XBMC installed.. and attempted to upgrade by using Auto Installer Deluxe.
After formatting my hard drives, I tried to re-install the MS dashboard... and none of them worked.
Now I'm getting error 13.. which explained to me is this:
Dashboard launch fail (due to missing/bad key, or anything else that would prevent it from running) and the dashboard didn't specify why it failed

I'm told you can use the dashupdate found on most new xbox games.
But I'm not sure which ones would qualify or where to start!

Is my box dead in the water???

[Bomb Bloke]

Most boot discs are intended for use with hardmodded consoles (which can function regardless of the contents of the drive). Softmods require certain files to be in place, so formatting the drive... well, yeah. It can be done, it's just not a good idea unless you already know how to recover from such things. ;)

Error 13, in layman's terms, means the console simply can't boot the dash. This may be because the drive is badly formatted, the dash is corrupted, or the files simply aren't there. The later option is the most likely in your case.

To use a game in an attempt to restore the dash, you grab any Live capable game, boot it up and attempt to log on. You don't need an account (or even a network cable plugged in), the upgrader should kick in automatically. For the latest MS dash, use either Halo 2 or anything released later then that.

Note that if a system throwing error 13 forgets the time (say you unplug it from mains power), it'll switch to error 16 and refuse to boot game discs.