Please help.

...which is why i said "electronically handy", i figured he could read between the lines since they don't like it when people talk about modding anything around here.

Your best solution would be to buy a used one either from gamestop, ebay, or pawn shops...you can probably find them for 40 bucks or less nowadays...or if you are electronically handy, you can try opening it up and replacing the hardrive since it uses a
regular pc hardrive.

Ok thanks for the link. I tried all that last night. And the video was for the xbox 360 not the original one. The original one does not have an option like that. Those button codes are what I think I need but can't get them because they are specific to each
serial number. If there is a mass list of codes that would be helpful or some sort of disc that automated the reset process. Thanks Endgamez.

No it doesn't, no error codes except for the message in my original post:

"Your Xbox needs service, please contact the customer service number located in your instruction manual."

And I didn't notice any change with the light. I think it stayed green. And thank you for helping me! I do appreciate it.

Ok, thanks. Yep that's why I'm posting on the forum. To see if anyone else has had this issue and how they handled it.