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[bninja]

dare, neomaximus2k, dare!
lol
well it turns out it wasn't a good read and i got a firmware full of (in ASCII)
!"#$%&'()*+,-./.123456789:;[email protected][.]..`abcdefghij...nopqrstu.w.y..|}~
and not much else - which leaves me pretty screwed...
so my steps, while working to get the drive recognised and the flash dumped, didn't result in a good dump for me...
i guess i should have dumped twice and compared them before going any further...
ah well... live and learn

[Pecker8u]

QUOTE(Pecker8u @ Aug 14 2006, 11:58 AM)

Asus Motherboard A7V8X-X with a PCI to SATA controller card. VIA 6421 chipset. I am booting off a floppy choosing option 2 as "via6421 primary master" I have diasbled every other drive except hard drive.

I acquired the MTKFLASH off xbins from a rar file called "Toshiba-Samsung_360_Auto_Flasher_v3.rar". Inside that there is a firmware folder, then a via folder, I used that as it is expecially for via chipsets.

I did the resistor mod with switch but will not work with wires disconnected upon bootup as DVD drive isn't recognised. The Green led on the front of the Xbox360 flashes green.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

After many hours of trying I hereby confirm the mod for the F/W=ms28 DOES work! but as many suggested it is very very touchy, you need to play alot to get it right. My apologies to the member who said it could be my hardware. The flashing green light is normal and what seems like a lack of power to the drive (wires disconnected) is also normal for reading/flashing the drive.

I have a cheap PCI to SATA card that I bought from a local computer store in Australia (and available worldwide) it has VIA 6421A chipset, I hereby confirm you dont need to have the 6421L chipset the"A" version is still ok. You must have a modified Mtkflash file, I acquired the MTKFLASH file off xbins from a rar file called "Toshiba-Samsung_360_Auto_Flasher_v3.rar" under firmware/VIA folder, works like a treat!

I got it working by ensuring the drivers were installed correctly for the PCI card and there were no conflicts.
I then followed this tutorial precisely, except  /m switch was added

CODE

http://sickmods.net/shared-directories/deakphreak/firmware-flash/

The trick is you need to get the PC and the Xbox perfectly is Sync i.e recognise each other through your new PCI card. To do this you may need to reboot the PC several times to DOS (via floppy disk) and vice versa with the xbox (wires disconnected) until the mod works. Also It is very important that you connect the SATA cable first then the Wires/switch as it wouldn't work otherwise. Leaving the PC/Xbox on without reboots can cause the card to halt and will never flash as it looks for the right code.

If you have tried the above and it still doesn't work, try it on another PC. The good thing is it can be an old crap PC it doesn't need much to run the PCI card and dos program, I got it going on a spare PC 733Mhz after my Primary PC would not do it.

Be aware that the wire mod is extremely dangerous, if the wires are left hanging around and shorted to earth it will destroy the drive, just ask me I bricked my drive (but I extracted the firmware luckily). I am extremely angry, so take advice.....be careful!



Pecker8u

[tonymfoley]

Thanks Mate Nice one

I had just ordered a new sata card and read this thread, it turned out i had one of the new drives
Used this thread did the wire trick and hey it worked

This has to be made a sticky  

[Mana]

guys, do u think this firmware can be flashed reliably without having to solder and open your dvd drive?

i got an m28 today and sadly i cant extract it with mtkflash

[llsTixll]

QUOTE(xboxto @ Aug 1 2006, 11:06 PM)

Yes no problem for flashing the way you see it in the pic!
I would advise doing it outside the dvd casing/chassis!

I would recommend making the switch useable for every drive you get!
So put 2 short wires coming of the dvd controller, and attach 2 long wires from your switch!
The short wires on the controller can be tied when done and put discreetly away.
This way you dont knock the wires with the casing! you can just close the wires once done nice
and neatly out of harms way, then put it all back together!

P.S Should be a sticky! but think the right people haven't noticed yet as its quite important i'd think!
      and enough correct illustrations!

regards
xboxto

So with the short wires coming from the controller points, do you connect them when you replace everything back into the 360?

[Pecker8u]

QUOTE(llsTixll @ Aug 19 2006, 03:46 AM)

So with the short wires coming from the controller points, do you connect them when you replace everything back into the 360?

When everything is normal and you are ready to assemble the 360, the wires should be connected permanenetly or the original resistor put back. As the resistor is Ohms a blob of solder across the two points will also do the trick

[Textbook]

I just flashed an MS28 tonight.  As soon as I saw that sticker, my stomach churned.  I had previously read this entire thread, getting knowledge.  I was still not too comfortable with trying MS28.  It was easy.  No harder than MS25.  Bad flash recovery mode worked perfect.  By the way, I had to do /sata or it wouldn't detect.  Make sure you notice that, it took me a few tries to remember the /sata switch.  As soon as I did that, my VIA VT6421L PCI SATA card (I used hex-edited MTKFlash) showed right up.  I turned off the Xbox 360, selected the Sata card, and turned the Xbox 360 back on ten seconds later.  Started reading immediately, just like it's suppossed to.  One thing you might want to realize is that the dumping is all done on one line that starts over.  Whereas with MS25, it dumps a bank, goes to next line, dumps, next line, etc...  The MS28 dumps banks on the same line, so it looks like it is looping, going from 0 to 100% and starting over again.  Plus, it seemed to take a lot longer than dumping an MS25.  Let it go, even if you think it's looping.  So I had the orig.bin firmware, and it was really easy, just patched it to Xtreme using Flash78.  Flashed it using the bad flash recovery method, works perfect.  I didn't have to solder a thing and it worked first try.

[Ygooral]

QUOTE(Textbook @ Aug 19 2006, 08:38 AM)

I just flashed an MS28 tonight.  As soon as I saw that sticker, my stomach churned.  I had previously read this entire thread, getting knowledge.  I was still not too comfortable with trying MS28.  It was easy.  No harder than MS25.  Bad flash recovery mode worked perfect.  By the way, I had to do /sata or it wouldn't detect.  Make sure you notice that, it took me a few tries to remember the /sata switch.  As soon as I did that, my VIA VT6421L PCI SATA card (I used hex-edited MTKFlash) showed right up.  I turned off the Xbox 360, selected the Sata card, and turned the Xbox 360 back on ten seconds later.  Started reading immediately, just like it's suppossed to.  One thing you might want to realize is that the dumping is all done on one line that starts over.  Whereas with MS25, it dumps a bank, goes to next line, dumps, next line, etc...  The MS28 dumps banks on the same line, so it looks like it is looping, going from 0 to 100% and starting over again.  Plus, it seemed to take a lot longer than dumping an MS25.  Let it go, even if you think it's looping.  So I had the orig.bin firmware, and it was really easy, just patched it to Xtreme using Flash78.  Flashed it using the bad flash recovery method, works perfect.  I didn't have to solder a thing and it worked first try.

Hi!. I understand that you hex-edited the MTKFlash just to be sure that you'll be right with your SATA config. If I'm fine with my MTKflash for ms25 version right now, i don't need to do anything with my MTKflash to support ms28, right?

Also, could you please describe a little bit more the "bad flash recovery method" you used. Just to be sure I've read the right docs ;-)

Thanks in advance.

[rodpad]

I finally got it to work WITHOUT any soldering.

I basically just did the "bad flash" routine.

For those having problems in regards to NOT having the 2 options/channels to select - follow my instructions below:

PC CDROM connected to IDE
X360 DVD connected to SATA.

Leave the 360 OFF
Turn the PC ON and boot from floppy/USB
Turn on 360
MTKFLASH r /m /sata orig.bin
At this point you should now have 2 options as the 360 is already on.
Turn OFF your 360.
Now, literally a millisecond after turning the 360 back ON, press the number on your keyboard that corresponds to the right controller (ie, SATA/VIA/8237 and NOT Ide). Be careful here to chose the right channel.
It'll go from 0%-100% a few times, don't worry

I then ran X360SAM 0.2 to inject the key into Xtreme30.bin and then flashed the drive using the same instructions above but using MTKFLASH w /m /sata newx30.bin (or whatever you call your injected/edited bios)

It seems for now that some motherboards just aren't compatible.

My main PC with a Aopen AK77-600GN motherboard would not read the 360 AT ALL. I wouldn't even get an error code, just a simple "drive not found" error. I even hex edited mtkflash and still no luck.
However, I finally found success on another PC that's got an MSI motherboard (don't know the make/model)

Both had VIA 8237 SATA onboard...

Hope this helps (and makes sense!)

[Realizt]

Okay I have tried every method uner the sun. VCC switch, dead flash recovery method and even every different timing method that i can think of as to when to push enter, etc

Have been trying for 3 days and still, all I get is status 00, 51 or 80 errors
Mind you these errors only come up when I hit escape as nothing is happening. What I want to know from all those who successfully flashed it, did you flash it with the controller board completely removed from the rest of the drive (ie: cables all unplugged from controller board) or did you just leave everything connected to the controller board still. This is the only other thing I can think of that may be causing the problem.

Any help greatly appreciated dudes

[Pecker8u]

QUOTE(Realizt @ Aug 20 2006, 07:30 AM)

Okay I have tried every method uner the sun. VCC switch, dead flash recovery method and even every different timing method that i can think of as to when to push enter, etc

Have been trying for 3 days and still, all I get is status 00, 51 or 80 errors
Mind you these errors only come up when I hit escape as nothing is happening. What I want to know from all those who successfully flashed it, did you flash it with the controller board completely removed from the rest of the drive (ie: cables all unplugged from controller board) or did you just leave everything connected to the controller board still. This is the only other thing I can think of that may be causing the problem.

Any help greatly appreciated dudes

I experienced the same problems and got it going trying various methods suggested by members here and some of my own methods. Check my posts above and 1 page beyond for my findings.

I assume you have a ms=28? What SATA chipset do you have? Is the hardware functioning correctly, did you check the hardware list on the PC? If you reckon all is good with the card try another PC, you will know after that. I had issues and when I switched PC's it came up straight away.

Pecker8u

[Realizt]

Yay, got it reading.

Thats more than just tempremental, its a pain in the arse. At least it will be worth it. Will be able to put my original copy of DOA4 away for safe keeping (Needs to be done when u got kids )

Hopefully writing the flash back wont give me soo much grief

[fozey]

how do you tell if you have a ms28?

[BILKO1]

QUOTE(Realizt @ Aug 20 2006, 11:23 AM)

Yay, got it reading.

Thats more than just tempremental, its a pain in the arse. At least it will be worth it. Will be able to put my original copy of DOA4 away for safe keeping (Needs to be done when u got kids )

Hopefully writing the flash back wont give me soo much grief

What did you do in the end that worked? i have exactly the same probs that you had and i have the ich5 chipset.

[Realizt]

QUOTE(fozey @ Aug 20 2006, 02:39 PM)

how do you tell if you have a ms28?

Says the fw version on the sticker on the top of the drive

Very hard to tell from just serial number. From what I have seen they all seem to be having the ms28 (at least here is Aust as far as I can tell)