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[nabatson]

I installed the passkey properly,  I removed the epoxy with jasco stripper.  I put solder on the pads and on the tips of the ffc connector.  I soldered the paskey on.  Blue light turns on... I boot into windows.  I go and dump the firmware from the drive.

Dump is ok checksum is good.  Drive key looks good.

I go to smark hack patch the firmware.  Firmare patches I save it to a new directory with a new filename away from the original.

I go to flash, and this is where things get wierd.   I went to flash and I had problems getting the drive to read.  Finaly I get the drive to read and it tells me it saw alot of differences.  I flashed anyways.

I got concerned because of all the errors...   I did a dump of the firmware as it is on the drive and the checksum didn't come out ok.  So I get a little angry and I pull the thing out and hook it up to the tv to see if its e64'd.

No e 64, drive plays an original fine but not a backup.  (Backups confirmed to work on another 360) Tried backups of various mediums and I keep getting unplayable disc.

So do I....

A. Start from the flashing step again.
B. Remove the passkey to see if its the problem keeping the backups from running.
C. Buy a new drive and flash it with my good drive key.

Any help or thoughts would be appreciated.  

Oh and I've got the xbox grounded to the case, and I'm using an Asus nforce chipset.  no vias here.

This post has been edited by nabatson: Feb 14 2008, 06:25 AM

[Carlitosbaby]

QUOTE(nabatson @ Feb 14 2008, 12:24 AM)

I installed the passkey properly,  I removed the epoxy with jasco stripper.  I put solder on the pads and on the tips of the ffc connector.  I soldered the paskey on.  Blue light turns on... I boot into windows.  I go and dump the firmware from the drive.

Dump is ok checksum is good.  Drive key looks good.

I go to smark hack patch the firmware.  Firmare patches I save it to a new directory with a new filename away from the original.

I go to flash, and this is where things get wierd.   I went to flash and I had problems getting the drive to read.  Finaly I get the drive to read and it tells me it saw alot of differences.  I flashed anyways.

I got concerned because of all the errors...   I did a dump of the firmware as it is on the drive and the checksum didn't come out ok.  So I get a little angry and I pull the thing out and hook it up to the tv to see if its e64'd.

No e 64, drive plays an original fine but not a backup.  (Backups confirmed to work on another 360) Tried backups of various mediums and I keep getting unplayable disc.

So do I....

A. Start from the flashing step again.
B. Remove the passkey to see if its the problem keeping the backups from running.
C. Buy a new drive and flash it with my good drive key.

Any help or thoughts would be appreciated.  

Oh and I've got the xbox grounded to the case, and I'm using an Asus nforce chipset.  no vias here.

If it dumped properly the key means when you went to flash teh drive a wire had gotten lose thereof making passkey not work properly. Ive had this once a twice when im rushing on install. As long as you have the original.bin and you said it checksum dumped correctly then you are fine. Reinstall passkey and restore with the original.bin and then flash as you would have the first time.

[nabatson]

Well that's the thing.  I can read the drive just fine still.  And the passkey still goes into mode B properly.  So I think the install still checks out.

[Carlitosbaby]

QUOTE(nabatson @ Feb 14 2008, 12:38 AM)

Well that's the thing.  I can read the drive just fine still.  And the passkey still goes into mode B properly.  So I think the install still checks out.

I know from experience you are wrong

[nabatson]

Right o, Reinstall it is.  I'll let you know how it goes after I re-install the passkey and restore the original dump.

[podger]

If you can play origianls and not backups then you didn't flash anything...

The chances are if you load the orig and try to flash, it will say they are identical, You got all the errors coz it tried to flash, didn't work and the verify threw out lots of errors coz the file loaded didn't match what is on the flash.....

[nabatson]

Ah, that does make sense.  It also supports the theory that the connections on the pins went south after I got the original firmware and the drive key.   I must have jarred it loose or something while I was fumbling putting dvd's in and out.  Or my connections weren't that strong in the first place.

I also noticed an odd thing, where the drive wouldn't only go into mode B if it had a new disc in it.  May have been my wiring... but when I turned the 360 on the blue light would only come on for 2 seconds if there was a change in media in the drive.  Maybe I'm over thinking it.

Soon as I get home from work I'll re-install the passkey and see if i can flash it properly then.  I'll report on what happens.

[nabatson]

What does it mean when the passkey blinks when I'm trying to read from the drive?

[nabatson]

Removing and resoldering was the answer. It worked like a charm the first time.  I also ran into the same problem everybody else has.  I left the passkey in place and backups didn't run.  So I disconnected the FCC connector and power cable and put the drive back in.

Everything is A Ok, thanks for the help.  I'm glad everyone has posted so much about this drive or I would have been lost for days.  All in all it wasn't that hard after I did my homework.

Thanks podger and Carlitosbaby!

[LovePancakes1]

QUOTE(nabatson @ Feb 14 2008, 04:15 PM)

Removing and resoldering was the answer. It worked like a charm the first time.  I also ran into the same problem everybody else has.  I left the passkey in place and backups didn't run.  So I disconnected the FCC connector and power cable and put the drive back in.

Everything is A Ok, thanks for the help.  I'm glad everyone has posted so much about this drive or I would have been lost for days.  All in all it wasn't that hard after I did my homework.

Thanks podger and Carlitosbaby!

So your saying your backups will not run with the passkey chip installed or hookuped?

I am wondering if I can use my Xeno Top Gear (Blaster copy) with my 79FL drive. I haven't receive my passkey chip yet.

Does anybody here know if the Top Gear will work with the passkey drive? If not can a switch be added to the passkey? Thanks..    

[nabatson]

I did not solder the disable jumper on the passkey.  I had to remove it to put my drive back together anyhow.  The site says leave it in place and back up will work, but it does not.  I think the newer versions of the drive/firmware (that's unjustified) don't support that.

So it may work.   I suggest the epoxy stripper to get rid of the epoxy, I would have gone nuts using a heat gun or just zacto knife.

I think at the very least you have to solder the disable jumper to be able to run backups.  If you just disconnect the power to passkey it will e64 your drive.

You could put a switch between the disable jumpers if those let the passkey stay installed and still play backups.

[LovePancakes1]

QUOTE(nabatson @ Feb 19 2008, 12:30 AM)

I did not solder the disable jumper on the passkey.  I had to remove it to put my drive back together anyhow.  The site says leave it in place and back up will work, but it does not.  I think the newer versions of the drive/firmware (that's unjustified) don't support that.

So it may work.   I suggest the epoxy stripper to get rid of the epoxy, I would have gone nuts using a heat gun or just zacto knife.

I think at the very least you have to solder the disable jumper to be able to run backups.  If you just disconnect the power to passkey it will e64 your drive.

You could put a switch between the disable jumpers if those let the passkey stay installed and still play backups.

Thanks for the info I was thinking about a switch to just cut off the power going to the chip to disable it. Nice to know I would have gotten a big fat e64 error. I think I will just wire a switch to the J1 jumper to disable it.

I also read on the website that after you mod your drive that it will know it has been flashed and won't go into mode b again. So I don't see why the backups won't work with it still enable.

Anyway, a switch won't be that hard to mount.

[nabatson]

Nah you should be fine,  also... you'll have to mod the case on the bottom some to accomidate the fcc connector.  If you screw the case back in the way it is designed it will rip the connector off and break the leads.

Either cut a big freaking hole where the connector is soldered on or leave the bottom plate off and pray that not a lot of dust gets in there.

[rjaj67]

QUOTE(nabatson @ Feb 19 2008, 05:38 PM)

Nah you should be fine,  also... you'll have to mod the case on the bottom some to accomidate the fcc connector.  If you screw the case back in the way it is designed it will rip the connector off and break the leads.

Either cut a big freaking hole where the connector is soldered on or leave the bottom plate off and pray that not a lot of dust gets in there.

Do you have to leave the passkey installed for future flashes. some guys that perform the mod say you dont need it later other say you do thats why you have to go back to them.
which is correct.