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[redwolf]

when the wireless usb adaptor didn't work, don't see why this will  

[hignaki]

All "official" Xbox 360 USB devices (so far, the controllers, memory cards, and wireless adapter) have a "verification" IC on them that says, in laymans terms "Hey, I'm a 360 product by/licensed by MS, my verification [whatever] is XXXXX, let me work".  

Naturally, normal USB products don't have this.  When people talk about third party products having to be licensed by MS, the company (Pelican, Mad Catz, etc) are paying not only for the privelege of being a licensed product, but also for the ability to use that IC.

Regular USB devices (MP3 players, etc) are allowed by MS to work unverified, but otherwise, nothing will work for the specified functions.

[mark_in_2k]

I tried this just last night.

I have a Logitech Webcam (not sure what the model is now, but I've had it for a while now) and I plugged it into the front USB and didn't get anything. Once I plugged it in I went to the System blade to see the Vision Cam settings, but it said that no camera was detected, so I guess Hignaki got it right in that is has to be an official release.

[twistedsymphony]

good luck trying to spoof that IC... AFAIK it actually uses the code on that chip to encrypt the USB data

it's on ever 360 device I've torn apart... wireless and wired controller, 1st and 3rd party. I haven't checked but I'm fairly certain it's also in the Memory Cards and the WiFi adapter.

it's a little 8 pin surface mount chip with the word "Xbox" and some numbers on it

You can see it here, in the lower left:


Photo is by RDC

The chip found in 3rd party devices is EXACTLY the same, meaning MS sells them the chip to put in their devices as part of the license agreement.

Good luck trying to spoof that, You'd probably have as good a chance of making a modchip to run homebrew then cracking that USB security.

[twistedsymphony]

Both the Firmware hack and the Bios hack came because:

A. They're features that work similar to PCs so some inherent knowledge comes along with them.
B. They were stripped down and heavily analyzed before any hacking/cracking began. Bunnie stripped down chips and monitored data lines to figure out the bios hack. The firmware hack came because we'd already cracked the Xbox 1's security so we know what the firmware security looked like from the other side.

Neither A nor B are available for the USB security. Its not similar to anything available on the PC or the Xbox 1 and we have ZERO knowledge as to how it works or what it does. I would imagine it would be a far greater effort to crack that then the firmware hack, and for only a fraction of the benefits.

Besides I'm sure once the console has been cracked to run unsigned code we'll be able to unlock USB devices from the console side of the security through software.

If you were going to try to crack it though it would require an approach similar to Bunnies when he cracked the Xbox 1. Striping down chips to see what they look like on the inside, monitoring data lines to see what information is being sent back and forth when the devices sync up and connect. You would also need intricate knowledge of how USB works.

I'm not saying it's impossible just that it isn't worth the time and effort. If someone were bright enough to crack that their efforts would be better spent on other things.

[alsybub]

You never know. Maybe some day we will have some kind of in-line adapter which has a cloned chip in it in order to use cheap pc peripherals.

Also seems interesting that on that control PCB it has a seperate surface mount for another one of those chips.