Gaming Brand new to xbox 360, where do I start?

[mrwienerdog]

I am sure that the answers I am looking for are on this site somewhere, but being an old guy with two young kids, I don't have much spare time to go searching. As such, I am hoping some kind soul will help a brother out. I received an xbox 360 yesterday, and I was wondering, where do I start? I understand you can (or could) flash the drive (right?). I would assume that this is a very new model, so I figure that the drive may not be flashable. What is this jtag business? If I can't flash the drive, do I get the bastard chipped? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[monkat]

You start by buying a freezer to hold the system so that it doesn't overheat.

Seriously though, you're looking to mod it for piracy, one would assume? Is it the new X360 Slim that just came out a little bit ago? I'm not sure if that one is flashable, but as far as I know, you can flash any xbox 360.

Here is a guide.

 

[mrwienerdog]

It's a straight ahead 360 arcade. Thanks for the guide.

 

[FAST6191]

At present the slim 360 can not be hacked in any real way but the others are still possible.

JTAG- the best way to hack a 360 (assuming you can live without live- see another post around here shortly for more on that though). All 360s that have been updated past the August 11th 2009 can not have it done and those there made from mid June 2009 or saw a repair shop in a similar timeframe can not be hacked either.
It is a bit outdated but covers the essentials:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dnfmv5h_186pp2zddm

DVD drive- aside from the slim all models of DVD drive can be hacked (this might change as some later models are built with slim drives but nobody has seen that yet).
Some of the latest models (late last year) known as a the liteon 8v2 and and 9 series (started appearing in late August 2009 if not a bit later) will take a bit more effort (you will have to fiddle around with the drive mainboard) but not that much.
Other 360 drives other than the 7 series liteon (which will require a probe* or the same method used by later model drives) can be flashed with nothing more than a compatible sata chipset (VIA 6421 works for all and later model Nvidia for most of them other than that) and 10 minutes work if you are slow (or have not done it before).
* homemade version http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=668247 and you can buy them in most mod shops.
http://www.jungleflasher.net/downloads.html has a nice tutorial and doubles as the go to choice for a windows based 360 drive flashing program.

At present for no hack should you have to touch a modchip and indeed never use them for a drive hack.

As some stuff for the 360 is dubious under various copyright laws Xbins is the place to look for 360 related stuff, it is an FTP/IRC thing but an automated tool exists in easy xbins:
http://www.360mods.net/index.php?name=Down...tails&id=29

JTAG 360s can not be used on live, DVD hacked ones can but once a year or so MS does ban users with hacked DVD drives (it is a bit more involved than that- I reckon if you settle for it will work but do not expect to get away with it forever especially if you do not play it safe (using unchecked/hacked ISOs and playing them before street dates) that will be a good mindset).

 

[mrwienerdog]

Another question (age old, I'm sure)....

I always use verbatim for my burns for pc, wii, anything else, but what are the best dual layers to use?

 

[fishykipper]

bollocks, scratch that! i should learn to read, lol!

 

[FAST6191]

Most of us stick with verbatim when it comes to dual layer as well (bad burns on single layer are one thing but at unit price of dual layer it is considerably less fun), TDK can be used in a pinch though as long as you pay attention (good drive for burning, low/no fragmentation of iso files, otherwise low disc activity during burn) although the same could be said of any media/burn.