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[Terriff]

I'm wondering if anyone has successfully modded a Hitachi 0079fk (Elite) DVD drive with the Xeno-360 chip?
I attempted this afternoon with the following:

• Xeno-360 installed on Hitachi 0079fk drive
• Potentiometer left at original setting, also lowered to 3.12 kOhms (and other levels)
• 100% sure of soldering install
• Using Verbatim MKM 001 media
• Burning at 1x speed
• Orginal games boot fine (I thought they weren't supposed to as well)
• Turning on XBox with Eject held in turns off the power LED and the mod chip LED ON (red)
• Used NME Associator to convert an ISO (image.000 format)
• CloneCD 5.3.0.1

I'm using an LG DVD writer (HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H50N) or I have a BenQ DW1620 that I haven't tried yet. Is the Pioneer the ONLY burner that works?

Can anyone confirm whether or not you CAN play original games with the Xeno chip ON?

Thanks in advance

This post has been edited by Terriff: Jun 9 2007, 05:25 AM

[Terriff]

Modarea was kind enough to answer an email of mine and indicated that only the NME-360 1.2 was working for the Hitachi 0079fk.

Xeno-360 does not appear to be working for Hitachi 0079fk drives.

This sucks. I was hoping that since the Xeno is basically an NME-360 rip-off that it would work as well.

Oh well, I guess I wait for the Xecuter X79 Mod for the Hitachi 079.

I really don't want to attempt the NME-360 install as I nearly wrecked my DVD with the first attempt.  It's really tough to get an accidental glob of solder removed from the now fused firmware chip leads (but I did....phew!)

I hope that someone is able to prove my (an modarea's) experience wrong with the Xeno-360 and Hitachi 0079fk, but I'm not holding my breath...

[LIVE Prophet]

QUOTE(Terriff @ Jun 9 2007, 05:25 AM)

I'm wondering if anyone has successfully modded a Hitachi 0079fk (Elite) DVD drive with the Xeno-360 chip?
I attempted this afternoon with the following:

• Xeno-360 installed on Hitachi 0079fk drive
• Potentiometer left at original setting, also lowered to 3.12 kOhms (and other levels)
• 100% sure of soldering install
• Using Verbatim MKM 001 media
• Burning at 1x speed
• Orginal games boot fine (I thought they weren't supposed to as well)
• Turning on XBox with Eject held in turns off the power LED and the mod chip LED ON (red)
• Used NME Associator to convert an ISO (image.000 format)
• CloneCD 5.3.0.1

I'm using an LG DVD writer (HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H50N) or I have a BenQ DW1620 that I haven't tried yet. Is the Pioneer the ONLY burner that works?

Can anyone confirm whether or not you CAN play original games with the Xeno chip ON?

Thanks in advance

I can't comment with 100% confidence, but it does appear so far that NME v1.2 is the only one to work with Hitachi 79, mainly because of the added logic support for future versions.  I was assuming that the Xeno-360 is the same, since it is an NME v1.2 clone, but I am not sure now that someone has said otherwise.

Most, if not all, burners will work.  That is one of the main features of these chips, as stated on there websites.

Yes, you CANNOT play original games with the Xeno chip ON.  If you want to play original games, just power the system on normally with the ring of light power button.

[Terriff]

I had the following PM sent to me and I thought that I'd share the answer with the community.

QUOTE

i read your post about the Xeno 360 not working for the Hitachi 79FK and im glad i did because i was about to order one. can you please tell me if the Xecuter X79 Mod will definitely work and when its due out? Also which would be the easiest to install? I know how to solder but not sure about adjusting potentiometer settings and kohms...sounds pretty high tech. Or should I just Flash the damn thing? Really hope you can help! Thank you  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

Well, I'm glad I could help. The reason I went ahead and tried it was because I ordered the chip before realizing that there was a new DVD drive that may not be supported.

When I couldn't find ANY information about if mod chips would work with this drive (no one would answer or post anything...maybe noone had tried?), I decided to do it myself and tell everyone my findings.

Even if you know how to solder, these hardware mods are a BITCH to install. The DVD firmware chip has TINY leads. The install pictures don't quite portray just how little space there is to work. I consider myself an expert solderer (is that a word? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) ) and because I didn't have a magnifying glass, I almost ended up toasting my drive. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Do yourself a favour: wait for the Xecuter X79 Mod. Xecuter makes top quality stuff. If they say it's going to work, it WILL work. Then, you just plug in cables and go (I'm assuming this based on the pictures of the X79 mod, however, I do see a few possible solder pads)...no messing around with microscopic traces to potentially destroy.

CAVEAT:
The ONE thing to consider with the firware rewriting method (versus soldering in a chip) is that it seems that the hardware mods aren't being detected my M$ when using Live. The firmware overwrite DOES seem to be detectable. However, that isn't to say that the hardware mods will never be detected, it just may take some time.

As always:

BY MODDING YOUR XBOX IN ANY WAY, YOU TAKE THE RISK OF BEING BANNED FROM LIVE.

MOD AT YOUR OWN RISK.

You've been warned (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Thanks.

This post has been edited by Terriff: Jun 9 2007, 05:35 PM

[Terriff]

QUOTE(LIVE Prophet @ Jun 9 2007, 01:56 PM)

...it does appear so far that NME v1.2 is the only one to work with Hitachi 79, mainly because of the added logic support for future versions.  I was assuming that the Xeno-360 is the same, since it is an NME v1.2 clone...

This was my assumption as well. This serves as a lesson for me (and hopefully others) on why never to buy knock-offs. Clones exist to make money off of someone else's hard work. Usually, they are of inferior quality to the original (see the making more money point). This is quite apparent in the case of the Xeno products (look at the Blaster360 clone, Xeno-360).

The clone seemed to be a better option because of the whole NME-360 470 coil problem, but it's clear now that this one minor issue (fixable by removing the coil) does not mean that the software engineering on the chips is not superior to the clone (as it is at least somewhat future-proof, demonstrated by the 0079fk drive support).

QUOTE(LIVE Prophet @ Jun 9 2007, 01:56 PM)

Yes, you CANNOT play original games with the Xeno chip ON.  If you want to play original games, just power the system on normally with the ring of light power button.

Thank you for answering this definitively.

[sammytheman]

Guys I have Hitachi drive but how do I know the exact model number without opening it? Do different Hitachis require different modding methods or 1 size fits all?

[LIVE Prophet]

There are actually a few good reasons why to get a Xeno 360 instead of an NME v1.2.

- it was cheaper (when I bought it)
- its WAY easier to install on a Hitachi (6 wires required for Xeno360 vs 11 wire required for NME v1.2!)
- it didn't have any "non-working" problems (although the NME's are easy to fix, remove 470 and bridge with solder = done!)
- you lose the auto-detect feature of NME v1.2 when you remove 470 coil
- Xenos are made from Actel, one of the best chip makers vs NME made by who knows, I never saw a chip brand name on the ones I installed! (only NME V1.2 Team Underdog was on the chips, or something to that effect)

Those reasons were enough for me to get it (I had a Hitachi 78, and also installed for others who had various Hitachi models such as 46, 47 & 59)



If you had a Samsung drive, I would have gotten the NME v1.2, as I did for a few others who had Samsung drives.

But it seems the NME v1.2 have been discontinued...so the only one left is the Xeno 360, or the earlier NME chips such as V1.0 or 1.1 (but they have software problems like Media Detection, dvd burner support, ect.)