Topic: Memory Card Dissection? (Read 1048 times)

Rustmonkey · « **on:** November 25, 2005, 08:57:00 PM »

Just a thought... has anyone given any time to the disassembly of a memcard to assess exactly what its running inside? Probabley just a flash memory chip... but my thoughts are that we might be able to make it compliant with some other form of flash mem, such as rewiring it to accept an SD card (kinda like the gamecube), or even a USB memstick of some sort... that way we (MIGHT) be able to upload our own gamesaves and have at it with exploits, or least see if original XBOX exploits might at least boot...

Haven't the money to blow on a mecard just to hack it up... plus, I'm not sure what I'd be looking into anyways, so good luck to whomever tries this route.

This post has been edited by Rustmonkey: Nov 26 2005, 04:58 AM

Dezro · « **Reply #1 on:** November 25, 2005, 10:50:00 PM »

The Memory Unit seems to be a USB card anyway. I mean, I don't have one yet so I can't test my theory, but the port looks to be the same five-pin USB thing MS used for the Xbox. I mean, different port but same pinout I bet.

But yeah, it might be better to do this before the hard drive. I mean, there's a possibility that the only thing distinguishing a memory unit from your thumb drive is the place it's plugged into, and popping your 300-gig USB 2.0 drive into an adaptor made from the Memory Unit will work? Of course, if we're talking about possibilities, there's also a possibility that MS is using Xbox Live for some kind of Last Starfighter-esque operation.

Okay, here's a good reason to do this first, though: The encryption (if it exists) and custom filesystem (if it's not FATX) are bound to be the same on the Memory Unit and the hard drive. But the unit is thousands of times smaller, so probably much easier to work with. And they're cheaper, so if you screw up you're not out a hundred bucks.

Rustmonkey · « **Reply #2 on:** November 26, 2005, 11:57:00 AM »

Going to try to decipher the pin out later today on the memcard slots... if I can get to them without opening the consloe... I'll see if we have a 5volt, a ground, and the data +/data - pins... but, if it is the usb ports, I can probabley figure the data pins by the position of the 5 volt... hopefully... but what pin was the YELLOW extra wire on the original xbox ports?

Thanks!

Dezro · « **Reply #3 on:** November 26, 2005, 01:35:00 PM »

On the original Xbox, from left to right (while facing the machine) it's +5, data-, data+, extra yellow, ground.

You can see the pins really well if you take off the faceplate and shine a light in there.

Rustmonkey · « **Reply #4 on:** November 26, 2005, 04:16:00 PM »

Well, did a little testing and, sorry boys and girls, but I don't believe its a modified USB port, unless its simply running at a lower voltage because ti powers only a memory card... might be more proprietary like Sonys memcard slots. The pins measure (voltage) from top to bottom with the 360 standing up:

Pin 1 = 0
Pin 2 = 0
Pin 3 = 0
Pin 4 = 3.27 volts
Pin 5 = 0

So there we have it... might be able to somehow figure out how to run a card reader off of it if we can figure out the data pin configuration, but I'm not sure if a normal USB memstick will run off of only 3.3v.

Anyone know?

EDIT:

Ok, after another quick test, I've discovered the outer pins are both grounds.

So theoretically the layout is probabley

Pin 1 = Ground
Pin 2 = Data
Pin 3 = Data
Pin 4 = Power
Pin 5 = Ground

The extra yellow wire from the original xbox controller isn't needed because we're only powering a memcard, not an entire controller?

Anyone know how to decipher which data pin goes to plus or minus? Trial and error I guess (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This post has been edited by Rustmonkey: Nov 27 2005, 12:27 AM

Rustmonkey · « **Reply #5 on:** November 26, 2005, 05:58:00 PM »

Ok, attempted to wire up a usb cable to a memory card slot and had no success... I know I had power and cable signals, but I couldn't get it to recognize a jumpdrive no matter which pin I chose as data- or data+...

So may not have enough power to run a memstick if this is the case... may try it later with my xD to usb converter as well... if anyone has an OPEN console, you might try soldering directly to the board instead... maybe MS deliberately lowered the power for the port so that USB devices aren't compliant. If we could bypass this limit, maybe we could get it to recognize... i might try pulling 5v from the front USB ports later, but right now I've got homework to do (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Good luck all

EDIT: Ok, only took about 5 seconds... tried it with power off of USB ports and still nothing... got the memstick to power up though (LED blinked)... so it might be that I'm not getting a good connection with the data pins, but I'm really not willing to crack the case on my box to figure it out

This post has been edited by Rustmonkey: Nov 27 2005, 02:07 AM

Boxgamex80 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 26, 2005, 11:10:00 PM »

well, i know usb power for like charging and stuff does run on 3.3v from building ipod altoids can.

willpower101 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 27, 2005, 02:40:00 AM »

had anyone tried the reverse of what you are discussing? getting a memory card busting it open, soldering up a usb cable and plugging it into the computer? then trying to dump the raw data for analysis?

I'll go buy a memory card tommorow if this hasn't been tried. can you reccomend any programs to dump the raw data in unix based osX or XP?

bcforn64 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 27, 2005, 02:08:00 PM »

If the thing is USB then the thing must have a usb controller interface chip and memory chip imbedded onto the card. I'm going to just assume that the usb controller in this case is what is allowing MS to lock out the majority of usb dongles. I'm assuming it's operating like a classic NES lockout chip. Has anybody posted any pictures of the thing dissected online yet? I'm going to bet you that desoldering the memory chip from the card and soldering in a drop in replacement chip of a larger size would work. I know it's tedious, but hey one step at a time.

s0ftm0d · « **Reply #9 on:** November 28, 2005, 08:25:00 AM »

willpower101, for your pc approach, don't forget about drivers for reading the card.

StepsAscend · « **Reply #10 on:** December 01, 2005, 09:26:00 AM »

The extra wire on xbox was a video sync signal, used for the light guns.

CattyKid · « **Reply #11 on:** December 02, 2005, 07:02:00 PM »

Can we get a transformer to step the voltage up to 5v, maybe, or maybe supply the 5 volts from some batteries outside the console? It might look big, clunky, and dirty, but get the job done, right?

Rustmonkey · « **Reply #12 on:** December 02, 2005, 08:22:00 PM »

Well, I did pull power off of the 5volt on the USB ports, but I still didn't get the stick to recognize... I'm thinkin of pickin up a mem card to disect and do some more integrated and indepth trials on it... or I'd gladly take a "donated" one

CattyKid · « **Reply #13 on:** December 02, 2005, 08:28:00 PM »

QUOTE(Rustmonkey @ Dec 2 2005, 10:29 PM)

Well, I did pull power off of the 5volt on the USB ports, but I still didn't get the stick to recognize... I'm thinkin of pickin up a mem card to disect and do some more integrated and indepth trials on it... or I'd gladly take a "donated" one

Sounds like a plan! Good lukc with finding/receiving a memory unit!

lukecalypso · « **Reply #14 on:** December 05, 2005, 03:36:00 AM »

Hi,

i succesfully connected memory card to my pc with a 3.3 voltage regulator, but xp doesn't recognize the usb device...can someone help me to find a generic flash ram driver?
Also i have connected to another system and it recognize as mass storage with some errors..i'll try with linux.

BR

LukeZ

Author Topic: Memory Card Dissection? (Read 1048 times)