Hacking Xbox DVD Drive power without system

[Ericzander]

Okay sweet, thanks for all your help. Sorry for hijacking the thread.

.. Actually one more question. What are the dangers of something going wrong during the process?

 

[Sicklyboy]

Electrical issues, which you shouldn't run into (shorts, plugging in the power connector backwards). No issues while dumping the keys. If your data connection breaks, or if the PC or Xbox/power source turn off in the middle of the flash you'll corrupt the drive FW, though that should be recoverable. That aside it's a pretty safe process as long as you follow the JungleFlasher guide to the T. I plugged the power connector in backwards once, no idea how, but nothing happened outside of the drive not working for the time being. Flipped the connector and it worked. YMMV.

 

[DinohScene]

Other then messing up yer drive like sick said, nothing much.
As long as you have yer DVD key, nothing can go wrong as you can always recover.

No prob lad, good luck~

 

[Ericzander]

Alright cool. You're been a lot of help!

 

[yusuo]

Out of pure noob curiousity (in the Xbox scene) wouldn't Microsoft begin laying off the bannings now that they got a new flagship console.
(I guess it's all automated so maybe not)

 

[DinohScene]

No prob at all lad~

Unpatched ISO's (missing topology data, incorrect stealth files etc) old DVD drive firmwares n openly admitting you're pirating are things which can get you banned, automatically.
As well as throwing your JTAG/RGH on XBLive.

Other then that, MS isn't much active on the 360 section anymore, bans still happen cause of fools playing pre-release games, weeks before release.
Yes I'm looking at stupid kids playing Halo 4 whilst being connected to Live, one month before release.

 

[Ericzander]

Wait, playing incorrectly burned games can result in a ban? Like if you incorrectly burn a XGD3 game?

Or am I misinterpreting what you meant?

 

[Sicklyboy]

Yes. If you burn an XGD3 game without first verifying the ISO in ABGX and then verifying the burn quality post-burn with KProbe2, you put yourself at higher risk for a ban. Also for the love of god don't truncate your burns, get good Verbatim media and a burner compatible with the burnerMAX firmware or payload tool.

 

[Ericzander]

It seems to me that that would lead to a lot of bans for even legit games :/ Like if the disc is scratched in the right (or wrong) place or something.

Edit: I just noticed that my drive is a Phillips, not a Benq. I'm colorblind so I didn't see at first haha. Does that change anything?

 

[DinohScene]

Yes, exactly what Sickly said.
Truncated or overburned games won't install to the HDD and can lead to verification errors as well.

Games that are XGD3 should be burned with an iHAS burner or a burner that's compatible with the Burner Max Payload tool.


Yes, you need a probe to extract the DVD keys.

 

[Ericzander]

Ahh shit this is getting too much. After more prying it looks like he is even more clueless than I am lol. And I can't find anyone else who does it around here and I don't wanna spend all the money to do it myself. I may end up giving up.

 

[DinohScene]

Why not bring it to a modshop ;]
Then all of yer worries are gone.

 

[Ericzander]

Yeah I wish. I'm in the middle of nowhere right now and if they are around, they're not doing a very good job of advertising haha. Sorry if it sounds like I'm whining.

 

[DinohScene]

Ahah, I'm also in the middle of nowhere, modding consoles ;p
Neh, I'm used to worse complaints.

 

[Ericzander]

I wonder if it would be economically reasonable to send mine to you to do. I dunno what the shipping costs would be between our countries. I live in Illinois. I'm looking at modchipcentral and it looks like they would do it for $49.95. But now I'm wondering if I should just go and buy the Xk3y instead. I'd save money on discs that way. But that brings up even more confusion haha.

 

[Sicklyboy]

Xk3y is a little more involved to set up, plus you need to have an external hard drive too, but it's a lot easier in the long run. More expensive up front but no recurring costs. With burning it's cheaper up front especially if you have someone flash the drive for you, but Verbatim DVD+R DL disks are $50/50pk give or take a few bucks. It adds up. Not to mention you won't always get a perfect burn.

If you do the Xk3y you just need to get your keys dumped and then install the "modchip" (all solderless).

Shipping cost to Dinoh is probably gonna be quite expensive, speaking from experience. I can do it too here in the States, I live in NJ. A little cheaper to get it to me but still don't know how monetarily feasible it would be for you.

 

[Ericzander]

Alas I don't have a hard drive. Not really in the market for one either. But wow you'd do that? I'll PM you more about it then. Thanks!

 

[Sicklyboy]

I mean if you think about it, you're looking at ~$75 for the Xk3y and ~$70 for a hard drive, then that's it provided you have someone dump your keys and you do the Xk3y install yourself.

Burning/flashing, ~$25 for a compatible burner and ~$50/50pk for the DVDs. I've had one burner crap out on me for some reason, and the DVDs I usually burn with about 75% success rate, so I waste about a quarter of a pack on bad burns. Plus burning takes forever.

I've done both, I know the ins and outs of both, they're both viable options but I'd definitely say the Xk3y is worth it more if you plan to use it a _lot_. If not that much, maybe only once in a while, probably a flashed drive is the way to go.

 

[DinohScene]

I'd say take up on Sicks offer.
Shipping it to Europe is just not worth it financially.

I can vouch for Sick, helped him a fuck ton of times with 360 related things ;p

I also should invest in the Xkey.
Just run a game through ABGX, plonk it on yer drive and yer done.

 

[Ericzander]

Yeah we're talking via PM, that's what I'm going to end up doing. Shipping out on the 4th most likely (gotta buy the Torx 10 to take out the drive first). He's being really cool about it too xD. You guys from the 360 modding scene are really nice haha.