Hey, all the other hacking forums have at least 1 thread on top about modding that console (or at least the wii, nds, and ps3 do). I've got two xboxs (a really old launch console) and a new elite. So I have no qualms about trying to hack my old one as it's just been sitting in the closet for the last year now since my wife bought me the new sleek one. The old one was finally crapping out and not reading a few games sometimes. So that leads me to my question, what guide(s) should I follow to hack my old 360?
Hacking how to mod my console?
- Thread starter claudekennilol
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A quick question- the old one sitting on the sidelines for a "year". If it has not been updated since August 11th 2009 (test https://docs.google.com/View?id=dnfmv5h_30dw33vpf4 ) then you can JTAG hack it which is good for you (quick and easy region free, USB loading, hard drive loading, hacked games, XBLA, DLC and much more). If it looks awkward to do I do encourage you to find someone that can do it- JTAG machines are valuable things indeed (although launch devices are less desirable for it due to RRoD risks).
If the old one was not doing well on the reading front chances are the laser is either dirty or dying. If it is dirty clean it and if it is dying then you might consider a POT tweak (short version there is a variable resistor/potentiometer going to the laser- change this to allow more power to the laser and it often starts reading again) but most consider this a stop gap measure and you will be replacing the DVD drive sooner or later (do not buy a laser assembly as they are a pain to fit especially if you are not versed in it).
There are a few hacks with USB/hard drives and injecting DLC to them (stuff that came with game of the year edition games and such can often be copied right to the hard drive and have it work right away- not sure what the list stands at these days), a few other things (one of the early versions of shadow complex you could bypass the block on in game) and I think there is still the shared profile hacks going on (if you have live and the machine is not banned you can inject profiles that have lots of GOD (games on demand- downloadable full games), XBLA and DLC games with them to play them) although I have never been a great fan of this method.
Either way though you will probably look to DVD flashing in the end. The general idea is you get the DVD keys unique to your 360 from the DVD drive (can be trivial or a right pain depending on model and firmware version), build a hacked firmware with those keys (a few clicks with a fairly simple program) and flash that hacked firmware to the DVD drive before putting it all back together. DVD firmware updates happen a couple of times a year these days and MS have recent got into making life ever so slightly more annoying for flashed DVD firmware users.
You can download isos or rip them if you mod a drive to do it, the program ABGX360 is used to check isos to make sure you have good ones ( http://abgx360.net/ ).
You can get a nice tutorial from http://www.jungleflasher.net/downloads.html but if you have any specific questions do feel free to ask. Edit: forgot to mention there are also somewhat self contained flashing kits these days if you do not fancy kitting out your PC with gear and your wallet is feeling too fat not to mention there are drive emulators supposedly appearing in the not too distant future where you hook up a USB drive to the device and it tricks the 360 into thinking there is a disc in there (might be worth considering if you are already deciding upon whether forking out for a replacement drive is a good idea or not).
Oh and just to round it out you can buy a replacement drive of the same model as yours and swap the PCB if you want. If you are already flashing things you it is up to you what you want to do (personally a simple bit of software poking beats having to fiddle with circuit boards for me).
If the old one was not doing well on the reading front chances are the laser is either dirty or dying. If it is dirty clean it and if it is dying then you might consider a POT tweak (short version there is a variable resistor/potentiometer going to the laser- change this to allow more power to the laser and it often starts reading again) but most consider this a stop gap measure and you will be replacing the DVD drive sooner or later (do not buy a laser assembly as they are a pain to fit especially if you are not versed in it).
There are a few hacks with USB/hard drives and injecting DLC to them (stuff that came with game of the year edition games and such can often be copied right to the hard drive and have it work right away- not sure what the list stands at these days), a few other things (one of the early versions of shadow complex you could bypass the block on in game) and I think there is still the shared profile hacks going on (if you have live and the machine is not banned you can inject profiles that have lots of GOD (games on demand- downloadable full games), XBLA and DLC games with them to play them) although I have never been a great fan of this method.
Either way though you will probably look to DVD flashing in the end. The general idea is you get the DVD keys unique to your 360 from the DVD drive (can be trivial or a right pain depending on model and firmware version), build a hacked firmware with those keys (a few clicks with a fairly simple program) and flash that hacked firmware to the DVD drive before putting it all back together. DVD firmware updates happen a couple of times a year these days and MS have recent got into making life ever so slightly more annoying for flashed DVD firmware users.
You can download isos or rip them if you mod a drive to do it, the program ABGX360 is used to check isos to make sure you have good ones ( http://abgx360.net/ ).
You can get a nice tutorial from http://www.jungleflasher.net/downloads.html but if you have any specific questions do feel free to ask. Edit: forgot to mention there are also somewhat self contained flashing kits these days if you do not fancy kitting out your PC with gear and your wallet is feeling too fat not to mention there are drive emulators supposedly appearing in the not too distant future where you hook up a USB drive to the device and it tricks the 360 into thinking there is a disc in there (might be worth considering if you are already deciding upon whether forking out for a replacement drive is a good idea or not).
Oh and just to round it out you can buy a replacement drive of the same model as yours and swap the PCB if you want. If you are already flashing things you it is up to you what you want to do (personally a simple bit of software poking beats having to fiddle with circuit boards for me).
it's on 2.0.9xxx so jtag'ing it doesn't appear to be an option--that means no usb drives for me?
Since I'm assuming that, I'm looking through the jungle flasher tutorial and I see this "NOTE: IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO – UPDATE YOUR XBOX DASHBOARD TO THE LATEST DASHBOARD BEFORE WRITING LT+1.91FW . A POST DASH UPDATE DRIVE WILL BE STOCK (04420 FW)" -- is that still current and I need to update to whatever is the current dashboard as of now?
Lastly, what are the "expensive" options (what's a drive emulator)?
Since I'm assuming that, I'm looking through the jungle flasher tutorial and I see this "NOTE: IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO – UPDATE YOUR XBOX DASHBOARD TO THE LATEST DASHBOARD BEFORE WRITING LT+1.91FW . A POST DASH UPDATE DRIVE WILL BE STOCK (04420 FW)" -- is that still current and I need to update to whatever is the current dashboard as of now?
Lastly, what are the "expensive" options (what's a drive emulator)?
You can still do the odd things with USB drives- save editing, using one to inject expansion pack DLC (the borderlands double pack and fallout expansions for instance) and if you are not banned the shared profile stuff.
The expensive options are all in one flashing tools- if you read through the guide you would have seen you are directed to certain models of sata card/chipsets (usually via 6421 but occasionally some now slightly older Nvidia stuff works just as well) and maybe some extra power and probe gear. These devices are standalone things that can do it all (although it still might call for probes for various models).
The drive emulators are just that- devices that sit in between the drive and 360 and make the 360 think a drive is there doing what it does but in fact redirecting read requests to a USB drive meaning you do not need to burn DVDs.
The latest dash stuff
For years MS did not touch the DVD firmware once it left the factory/repair shop and as a result the only reasons to upgrade firmwares were for bug fixes or to try to be a bit safer on xbox live. However in the May 2011 dashboard (and the betas for it) they upgraded the firmware for most models of DVD drive to support the XDG3 disc format and in doing so changed the base/official firmware meaning the custom stuff which was based on the old base/official firmwares now failed to function as it behaved differently where it mattered. Fortunately the custom firmware writers stepped up and hacked this new firmware (making LT+1.91) but all the people on older hacked firmwares are now forced to update to update to continue using a hacked DVD firmware on newer dashboards (we saw the first game to require newer dashes a couple of days back).
However I am not sure what key dumping methods are available for this new official firmware (if I were MS and could block a few holes I certainly would) so if you can get the keys before updating that would be a good thing.
The expensive options are all in one flashing tools- if you read through the guide you would have seen you are directed to certain models of sata card/chipsets (usually via 6421 but occasionally some now slightly older Nvidia stuff works just as well) and maybe some extra power and probe gear. These devices are standalone things that can do it all (although it still might call for probes for various models).
The drive emulators are just that- devices that sit in between the drive and 360 and make the 360 think a drive is there doing what it does but in fact redirecting read requests to a USB drive meaning you do not need to burn DVDs.
The latest dash stuff
For years MS did not touch the DVD firmware once it left the factory/repair shop and as a result the only reasons to upgrade firmwares were for bug fixes or to try to be a bit safer on xbox live. However in the May 2011 dashboard (and the betas for it) they upgraded the firmware for most models of DVD drive to support the XDG3 disc format and in doing so changed the base/official firmware meaning the custom stuff which was based on the old base/official firmwares now failed to function as it behaved differently where it mattered. Fortunately the custom firmware writers stepped up and hacked this new firmware (making LT+1.91) but all the people on older hacked firmwares are now forced to update to update to continue using a hacked DVD firmware on newer dashboards (we saw the first game to require newer dashes a couple of days back).
However I am not sure what key dumping methods are available for this new official firmware (if I were MS and could block a few holes I certainly would) so if you can get the keys before updating that would be a good thing.
