Gaming Thinking about getting a Xbox 360

[Gaz777]

I've been wanting to get a xbox 360 elite for a while now, and I'll have enough spare money to do so within the next month or so.

I've been looking at getting the Elite with Pure, Lego Batman and extra controller for £200, from either GAME, gamestation or amazon.

Has anyone seen any better offers, from trusted UK sellers, preferably with a game or 2?
I have thought about ebay, but after a bit of research it seems most are console only, or over priced.

My next question would be how hard is it to flash the disk drive to play "backup" games?
I guess if bought new it will have the latest liteon.

I've read a bit about flashing the drives, and seems for the liteons some soldering is required, maybe even cutting? Im fine with soldering but no nothing about cutting.
Also does the easy switch for liteon by executer make life simpler for the liteon drives?

Can anyone point me to a good informative guide for the latest liteons? I've found some, but sometimes it doesn't all make sense, i guess i just need to do some more reading.

Thanks very much

Gaz

 

[PHALLIUS]

I had both the PS3 and 360. I have an original launch 60 gig PS3.
I had a launch 360. I changed out the 360 three time over 3 years. The warranty ran out and now it's in the closet, dead with RROD.

My PS3 has never had a problem.

I love the 360's games and support but I can't get passed the faulty systems.
I am a semi-religious person, and I swear on a stack of bibles that whenever I turned on my 360, I would say a little prayer.

You feel a little paranoid when you own a 360 because you are always wondering when the thing is going to die.
Buy a 360,,,I don't really care. I am bothered more by the fact that you aren't heeding the warnings that are out there.

I really just want to save you from the agony of wasted money and time.

 

[shadowwolf1579]

I had both the PS3 and 360. I have an original launch 60 gig PS3.
I had a launch 360. I changed out the 360 three time over 3 years. The warranty ran out and now it's in the closet, dead with RROD.

My PS3 has never had a problem.

I love the 360's games and support but I can't get passed the faulty systems.
I am a semi-religious person, and I swear on a stack of bibles that whenever I turned on my 360, I would say a little prayer.

You feel a little paranoid when you own a 360 because you are always wondering when the thing is going to die.
Buy a 360,,,I don't really care. I am bothered more by the fact that you aren't heeding the warnings that are out there.

I really just want to save you from the agony of wasted money and time.

don't listen to this, that was a launch 360, which as most of us know had a lot of problems, mainly e74 and the such. If your going to buy a 360 just make sure you get one that was manufactured as close to the current date as you can, and you shouldn't have to worry about the rrod.

On a side note, I find it funny how the rrod and e74 is like the only bad thing that I have ever heard about the 360 in a Ps3 vs 360 rant

.

 

[Gaz777]

I am bothered more by the fact that you aren't heeding the warnings that are out there.

I've read a lot about the 360 problems and in doing so have learned, even though the originals didn't last long, most if not all of the problems have now been sorted in at least the elites.
I have heeded the warnings, which admittedly put me off in the past, but now it seems the newer 360s are less likely to die on me so I thought I might as well go ahead and start thinking of getting one.


Thanks for the comments so far

 

[Maz7006]

don't listen to this, that was a launch 360, which as most of us know had a lot of problems, mainly e74 and the such. If your going to buy a 360 just make sure you get one that was manufactured as close to the current date as you can, and you shouldn't have to worry about the rrod.

On a side note, I find it funny how the rrod and e74 is like the only bad thing that I have ever heard about the 360 in a Ps3 vs 360 rant

.

Correct me if im wrong, but some NEW 360's have unmoddable drives, i dn't know the specific drive types but it's somewhere here on the forums.

The RRod is extremely random. You can't deny that it DOES happen, but to be honest i have had a 360 for 2 years and no issues so far.

In general, Jasper builds look seemingly "free" of the error.

 

[FAST6191]

That was the case Maz7006 but the last few weeks have seen them cracked and hacked firmwares appear.

RRoD discussion I have had at length elsewhere in this section and it is not a clear cut debate so I will leave that to a search.

@OP I have not been looking so much but try one of the supermarkets- there were a few instances of retailers reselling supermarket sourced hardware last year. Their game bundles if you are into that sort of thing can often leave a bit to be desired (as in no good games rather than a single good one and shelf fodder that game shops do).

Latest liteon- possible but check manufacturing dates (you can see if you look into the precut holes on the box) as 7 series and 8 v1 liteons still exist, I have not ventured out real world 360 shopping since November mind but what I hear says you can still find the odd JTAG hackable xbox (full homebrew which is very much worth it- manufacturing date in mid June is the approximate cutoff here). Game bundles are sometimes pretty good sources of such things as not all that many people buy them and you can get an older model but if you are truly interested in searching for models you are going to have pound pavement.

How hard- 8v2 and 9 series drives (appeared in late October) do have a way without cutting but it is harder than cutting. If you ever made a hardmod pandora battery for the PSP is actually approximately the same idea in method and what it accomplishes, personally I find the able to solder but not cut statement quite amusing.
Switch- if you have anything resembling electronics already around then no but it is probably easier and cheaper than a trip to maplins (maybe not a good electronics shop though).

Guide, I do not really rate guides and seen as you appear to be aiming for understanding the theory behind it rather than blindly following a guide I guess you do not either but I can give you the thread that started it all:
http://www.xboxhacker.net/index.php?topic=12956
As well as a post that refined it
http://www.xboxhacker.net/index.php?topic=...g88305#msg88305

If you must really have a guide then:
http://www.team-xecuter.com/forums/showthr...hp?&t=52057

 

[Gaz777]

Thank you for such an informative reply.

After having a look at what would be needed instead of the switch, I believe I would be able to do that myself, if I find a 22 Ohm resistor around. And 'cutting' seems much simpler than I first thought.

The links have also been of help, thanks again.


One final question is it possible to rip your own 360 games using a 360 liteon drive? I've read about ripping games with other drives using 0800 firmware or something like that but I don't think I've seen anything about the newer drives and doing it.

Thanks again

 

[FAST6191]

0800 firmware was a distinct firmware for a while but the 1.6 line (available to all but Hitachi drives) has it built in- you just need to have it in tray half open mode on power up to put it in 0800 mode.

Xbox Backup Creator works for me, xbins has it and here is an NFO which has a good amount of data in on the subject:
http://xbins.org/nfo.php?file=xboxnfo1717.nfo

 

[Gaz777]

Thank you once again!

I think you have managed to answer all my questions

Thank you very much