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[bpopilek]

Ok, I searched til 3am last night and was not able to resolve this issue. I just picked up a 2nd xBox yesterday and after opening it up, I found out that I have the TS-H943 MS25 drive in it. This was my first attempt at flashing the firmware on any xBox 360. After a few hours of reading and downloading I decided to start the actual flash.

I ended up using Xtreme Boot Maker v0.5.3 RC3 and Xtreme 5.2 (I could not get Xtreme 5.3 to import).

The steps I had to take to get it to recognize my drive was this.
1. DVD drive powered by xBox 360, and SATA cable running to SATA 0 connector of my PC.
2. Turned on xBox, then PC and booted off of my floppy disk.
3. Made a backup of the original firmware and rebooted.
4. Flashed my drive with the Xtreme 5.2 firmware.

At this point I disconnected everything and tested the xBox out. Everything seemed to work fine and it booted an original of Halo 3 perfectly.

After reading some more I found the iXtreme 1.4 firmware and thought that it would be better to have the newer FW flashed. So I proceeded to download an install of iPrep and and created a new boot floppy.

However this is where the problem comes in. I set everything back up how it was the first time I flashed the drive, but every time I now see 2 available drives.

1: Extreme Pri Master
2: Extreme Pri Slave

Mind you, this is the only drive hooked up to the entire PC. I tried to start the flash using drive 1 and I then see 1f0, Master/Slave :a0 and nothing happens. So, I rebooted and tried with drive 2 and then see 1f0, Master/Slave :b0 and the same thing, nothing happens. I get the same results if I leave the drive powered on, or by shutting it off, choosing option 1 or 2, wait 10-15 seconds and turn it back on.

So I next tried booting with the DVD-Rom disconnected from the SATA, once at the DOS screen, I plugged in the SATA cable and started the flash procedure again. However, I still get the choice for the same 2 drives.

1: Extreme Pri Master
2: Extreme Pri Slave

If I try to flash it this way, using option 1 I now get 000, Master/Slave :a0 or 000, Master/Slave :b0 if I choose option 2. Same thing here. Doesn't matter if I leave the drive on or power cycle it for the 10-15sec after starting the flash.

So as a last resort, I made a restore disk in Xtreme Boot Maker with my orig.bin file, and upon booting back up, the MTKFlash still shows me 2 drives, so that won't work either.

At this point I am at a loss. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why this is first of all seeing 2 different drives, and secondly why it just hangs when trying to flash. Thanks for your time!

This post has been edited by bpopilek: May 23 2008, 05:32 PM

[ntloser]

QUOTE(bpopilek @ May 23 2008, 12:28 PM)

Ok, I searched til 3am last night and was not able to resolve this issue. I just picked up a 2nd xBox yesterday and after opening it up, I found out that I have the TS-H943 MS25 drive in it. This was my first attempt at flashing the firmware on any xBox 360. After a few hours of reading and downloading I decided to start the actual flash.

I ended up using Xtreme Boot Maker v0.5.3 RC3 and Xtreme 5.2 (I could not get Xtreme 5.3 to import).

The steps I had to take to get it to recognize my drive was this.
1. DVD drive powered by xBox 360, and SATA cable running to SATA 0 connector of my PC.
2. Turned on xBox, then PC and booted off of my floppy disk.
3. Made a backup of the original firmware and rebooted.
4. Flashed my drive with the Xtreme 5.2 firmware.

At this point I disconnected everything and tested the xBox out. Everything seemed to work fine and it booted an original of Halo 3 perfectly.

After reading some more I found the iXtreme 1.4 firmware and thought that it would be better to have the newer FW flashed. So I proceeded to download an install of iPrep and and created a new boot floppy.

However this is where the problem comes in. I set everything back up how it was the first time I flashed the drive, but every time I now see 2 available drives.

1: Extreme Pri Master
2: Extreme Pri Slave

Mind you, this is the only drive hooked up to the entire PC. I tried to start the flash using drive 1 and I then see 1f0, Master/Slave :a0 and nothing happens. So, I rebooted and tried with drive 2 and then see 1f0, Master/Slave :b0 and the same thing, nothing happens. I get the same results if I leave the drive powered on, or by shutting it off, choosing option 1 or 2, wait 10-15 seconds and turn it back on.

So I next tried booting with the DVD-Rom disconnected from the SATA, once at the DOS screen, I plugged in the SATA cable and started the flash procedure again. However, I still get the choice for the same 2 drives.

1: Extreme Pri Master
2: Extreme Pri Slave

If I try to flash it this way, using option 1 I now get 000, Master/Slave :a0 or 000, Master/Slave :b0 if I choose option 2. Same thing here. Doesn't matter if I leave the drive on or power cycle it for the 10-15sec after starting the flash.

So as a last resort, I made a restore disk in Xtreme Boot Maker with my orig.bin file, and upon booting back up, the MTKFlash still shows me 2 drives, so that won't work either.

At this point I am at a loss. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why this is first of all seeing 2 different drives, and secondly why it just hangs when trying to flash. Thanks for your time!

Are you sure you didn't  have any other optical drives connected to your PC when MTK flash discovered 2 Extreme Drives? This is usually the case if  your other drive is a Liteon or has a media tek chipset.

This post has been edited by ntloser: May 23 2008, 06:54 PM

[bpopilek]

No, there isn't. I unplug the SATA cables from each of my hard drives, and I unplug the IDE CD-Rom cable directly from the motherboard. The only 2 drives connected at the time of the attempted flash in the TS-H943 and a USB floppy drive that I am booting from. That is why I don't understand why I am seeing 2 Xtreme drives to choose from.

[ntloser]

QUOTE(bpopilek @ May 23 2008, 01:54 PM)

No, there isn't. I unplug the SATA cables from each of my hard drives, and I unplug the IDE CD-Rom cable directly from the motherboard. The only 2 drives connected at the time of the attempted flash in the TS-H943 and a USB floppy drive that I am booting from. That is why I don't understand why I am seeing 2 Xtreme drives to choose from.

Assuming you have the most updated software, are you using via card? I understand the ms25 should be able to be flashed with other chipsets but perhaps that could be the problem.

[bpopilek]

No I am not using a VIA chipset. I am using the onboard SATA 0 port on a Gigabyte P4 motherboard. The chipset is an Intel ICH7 version. The first time I flashed it to Xtreme 5.2, it correctly identified a single Xtreme drive and only showed a Option 1. Since the flash, I see the 2 options for 2 Xtreme drives. Was the flash bad? Anyway to force it back to factory to try to start over? Thanks!

[bpopilek]

I have been trying to do some more searching on this. One site a user suggested using the 0800 boot disc to get the drive to re-flash. Is this necessary or even plausible? Thanks!

[OggyUK]

Am I missing something???

Your xbox is modded fine?

You just wanna update but cant as firmguard is stopping you as its now an MS28.

10sec trick wont work with NForce.

You can either, only play fully patched backups, or risk being banned easier

Use the enable 0800 disc to disable firmguard or get a via6421 card to enable bad flash / 10 sec trick.

[ntloser]

QUOTE(bpopilek @ May 23 2008, 04:00 PM)

I have been trying to do some more searching on this. One site a user suggested using the 0800 boot disc to get the drive to re-flash. Is this necessary or even plausible? Thanks!

Ah now I am starting to remember.
The firmware you currently have on the drive is based around the MS28 firmware. It has firmguard. I am not familiar with the 0800 disk but I believe you are going to need a VIA card  for this since now it is essentially an MS28 TS.

Can someone else confirm or elaborate?

This post has been edited by ntloser: May 23 2008, 09:15 PM

[bpopilek]

No, this is a MS25 drive on a ICH7 SATA controller. Yes it appears to have flashed correctly with Xtreme 5.2, but I wanted to re-flash it with iXtreme 1.4 and when I start mtkflash, I see 2 Xtreme drives listed, yet the only drive connected to the entire PC is my TS-H943. What I was reading on another site said I need the 0800 disc in the drive in order to get it to be flashable again. This is what I am trying to verify now. Thanks.

[ntloser]

QUOTE(bpopilek @ May 23 2008, 04:13 PM)

No, this is a MS25 drive on a ICH7 SATA controller. Yes it appears to have flashed correctly with Xtreme 5.2, but I wanted to re-flash it with iXtreme 1.4 and when I start mtkflash, I see 2 Xtreme drives listed, yet the only drive connected to the entire PC is my TS-H943. What I was reading on another site said I need the 0800 disc in the drive in order to get it to be flashable again. This is what I am trying to verify now. Thanks.

I understand it is WAS originally an ms25.. There is no physical difference between a TS 25 and 28 EXCEPT for the firmware. The extreme 4.x firmware and above is based around the MS28 in that it uses firmgaurd. Alhtough your drive came with ms25 firmware, you stated you flashed it with extreme 5.x which is based around MS28 it is using firmguard. This I am sure as I distinctly remember not going above  firmware above 3.3 for this reason.

The only thing I am not sure about it weather or not the easiest solution is the VIA card or the 0800 disk. I am also not sure why it is showing 2 drives.

This post has been edited by ntloser: May 23 2008, 09:24 PM

[ntloser]

What's new/fixed (since v3.3)
* MS28 core firmware. Also better and faster media detection.
* FirmGuard added. On by default. Firmware cannot be Read/Written by 360 console. Can ONLY be turned off (Read/Write enabled) via Enable0800 mode.



After looking at the tutorials it looks like you can turn the firmgaurd off with the 0800. But I wonder since the core firmware is based on the MS28 if you will need the VIA.
Err with all my crazy posting and editing, I missed oggyUKs post which sums it up

This post has been edited by ntloser: May 23 2008, 09:31 PM

[bpopilek]

Thanks for all the added info! Between that and the reading I have done today, I have a much better understanding of this all! I got way to used to modding the original xBox and trying to do my first 360 is definitely a learning curve! I'm gonna give this a whirl after I get home from work this evening and see if I can get this totally working. Thanks again everyone!

[bpopilek]

I got it working! I ended up booting from a 0800 DVD disc I made and low and behold the firmguard was shut off and now it is running perfectly with iXtreme 1.4 12x! Now if anyone knows why the drive door doesn't always open and close I'd appreciate it. The last/spinning mechanism will not always fully return the the up position when the tray slides in. Thanks again everyone!