This happened to my Xbox when I opened it up (do not do) if it has not been opened you can send it to microsoft and they will fix it if it is still under warrenty. for me it messed up my hard drive when it flashed like that so i got a new one and it worked, but i recommend that you send it to microsoft

Error 16 means that your internal clock has reset and the Xbox is trying to load the portion of MS Dashboard to set the clock.....but cannot load it for whatever reason (usually due to a modded Xbox and new HDD not being installed correctly). Reconnect your 'stock' HDD and power up. You should now get the prompt to change the date/time. Once done, switch off (don't unplug) Xbox and swap HDDs. You should now be able to boot. Suggest restoring the MS Dashboard to fix this permanently.

I have discovered something that i though might be of interest to ANYONE with error 16 on their x box. It's impossible to fix they say, unless the microsoft logo shows during bootup. I have discovered a very simple work around, that works very well. I fixed an error sixteen this morning. It all revolves around the hard drive lock problem. Anybody who has had this issue has found alot of people saying, "now it's just a paperweight. Buy a new one or hard mod it." Not true. You can use the hard drive swap method to reinstall your xbox, no matter if the microsoft logo shows or not. The trick (Posted Here First!!) is to simply unplug the cdrom drive from the ide cable, and boot the xbox normally, Instead of an error 16, you get an error 11, saying DVD drive not found. Interestingly, when you get an error 11, THE HARD DRIVE IS UNLOCKED BY DEFAULT!!! Now you can do the hot-swap method to read the hard drive on a computer. I downloaded xboxhdm and followed the instructions, after downloading the default dashboard files from another site. Worked like a dream. Now the xbox is exactly as it was when I took it out of the box. So don't throw out that Error 16 Xbox. It took me less than an hour to be up and playing again, and I couldn't believe it took me almost a whole day to figure it out!!

have a friend that has a hard modded x-box boot his system then after the xbox is on the dashboard go to file explorer and swap the HDD with yours and just copy the dash and the backup folders and make sure you transfer the MS Dash.

ahhh Can i fix my error 16 without opening my xbox and if no how do you open an xbox to replace the HDD......Can I just put in a say SLAYER AUTO INSTALLER DISC OR WHAT?

Again, i would like to ask if there is anyway to fix this error without having to take the Xbox apart again.

I get error 12 instead of error 11 what should i do