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[ColKurtz]

Just got Gears of War, my first game in months.   It gave me the "update required" message so I popped over here to see if it was a problem and just recently learned of fall 06 update problems.

I see in the pinned thread where Xantium says "Update2: Apparently MS has been storing drive info on consoles manufactured starting around end of May/begin of June 2006. Consoles made before that date will probably work with any drive model/version.".  

I have a Samsung drive and the mfg date of the box is April 06.  Can I read Xantium's comments to mean it is most likely safe for me to update dash via the Gears DVD?  I'm not exactly sure what verson of the C4E firmware I'm using, if that matters.  I flashed the firmware early June.... I still have the files but I don't see a version indicator.  

I read through several pages of posts but most of the problems are still about flashing firmware, not updating the dash of a succesful flash.

TIA.

[STICKY_BUD]

if you are actually asking about the fall update, and not simply the update which is on the gamedisc itself, then yes, you should be safe. however, an update from a new gamedisc your console has never played before is not the same as the major dashboard update required upon signing into the xbox live network.

[ColKurtz]

QUOTE(STICKY_BUD @ Dec 5 2006, 10:58 PM)

if you are actually asking about the fall update, and not simply the update which is on the gamedisc itself, then yes, you should be safe. however, an update from a new gamedisc your console has never played before is not the same as the major dashboard update required upon signing into the xbox live network.

Thanks.  I appear to not understand the difference.  When I put my (original) Gears of War disc in, it tells me an update is required and asks me if I want to upgrade.  I thought this was the same thing as the dashboard update.  I don't use xbox live.

So my main question is whether it's OK to say "yes" to update when Gears of War asks me to, and still be able to play backups?

[majik655]

Depending on what version dvd drive you have samsung  what?  ms25 or ms28.

The gears of war update on the dvd is for the game to run.  It is NOT the fall xbox live dashboard update that you download from or over xbox live.   No game as of yet has a fall update on it... at least none known ...  the game updates on disks are different.. they make it possible for the game to run.. the game itself is making the update say a fix in the game save area or something etc etc..

xbox live fall DASHBOARD update is exactly that ... it may add buttons to your dashboard.. or whatever.. it may add 1080i or p or whatever it is.. etc etc.

So with that said...here is where it gets confusing..
forget the game update it is safe...
the fall update error people get is because as you stated the quote..
Apparently MS has been storing drive info on consoles manufactured starting around end of May/begin of June 2006. Consoles made before that date will probably work with any drive model/version.".

Depending on what people have done is the problem..

Basically to be safe from a E66 error the xbox knows now what your drive originally came with the xbox.
if it came with a ms25 and you swapped it with a ms28 then you would get an e66 error
around this time of fall update alot of people were still using samsung hacked firmware 3.3 and some were using 4.0  

3.3 hacked firmware is based off ms25 firmware.. so if you owned a ms28 and flashed it with hacked firmware 3.3 their drives were reporting to the xbox as ms25  (which until the update was fine) so they would receive a e66 error...

the 4.0-4.3 hacked firmware is based off ms28 firmware... again if you have a ms25 drive and flashed it with this firmware  your drive looks and reports as a ms28 which again would receive an error after update.

So the hitachi owners do not really have this problem because THEIR hacked firmwares are really hacked PATCHES to the ORIGINAL firmware.   Samsungs are fully REFLASHED and hitachis are patched.. so the firmware version on hitachis do not change..   If the owner was hitachi and switched BRANDS of dvd to say a samsung and vise versa then they WOULD get a error after this update as the original drive BRAND has changed.

The fix for samsung owners so this does not happen is to get the UPDATE PACKAGE from the "usual places"
in the update package there are batch files which will hex edit the correct firmware version for you so everyone can use 4.0+ firmware even samsung ms25 owners.  Of course ms28 owners do not need to use these updates since 4.0+ firmware is based off this drive version.


Whew think that covered it lol

::Edit::
seems my long story took too long to write lol...
anyway yes you are fine ... since you do not use xbox live.  the game update is good to go.

This post has been edited by majik655: Dec 6 2006, 05:07 AM

[ColKurtz]

Thanks very much for that explanation, majik.  That explains a lot.  And good to hear I can go ahaed and update via the game.  I was finally going to check out live soon, but I guess I'll wait until this plays out a little more first.

How do I tell if I have a MS25 or MS28?   And just to confirm, since I have my original drive, and my box was made in April (and thus presumably doesn't even track drive info), I'd be ok to get the Fall update on xbox live, too, right?

Thanks again!

This post has been edited by ColKurtz: Dec 6 2006, 05:56 AM

[kowrip]

QUOTE(majik655 @ Dec 6 2006, 05:10 AM)

Basically to be safe from a E66 error the xbox knows now what your drive originally came with the xbox.
if it came with a ms25 and you swapped it with a ms28 then you would get an e66 error
around this time of fall update alot of people were still using samsung hacked firmware 3.3 and some were using 4.0  

3.3 hacked firmware is based off ms25 firmware.. so if you owned a ms28 and flashed it with hacked firmware 3.3 their drives were reporting to the xbox as ms25  (which until the update was fine) so they would receive a e66 error...

the 4.0-4.3 hacked firmware is based off ms28 firmware... again if you have a ms25 drive and flashed it with this firmware  your drive looks and reports as a ms28 which again would receive an error after update.

I think this is slightly incorrect.  From what I witnessed and read on the forumes, the firmware version check appeared to be making sure the firmware version was not DOWNGRADED.  Therefore, the MS25 drives work with any Xtreme firmware, but the MS28 drives would only work with 4.0 and higher.  There did seem to be some other oddball cases, which could have been due to a number of reasons such as a console being refurbished and having the DVD drive changed.