**FLASHING** my idiots guide/shopping list so far...

[gooty]

I have a samsung drive (unknown if new m28 type or old type as my 360 has not been opened)

The connectivity kit I buy must be the older type as the new USB one is for hitachi drives only.

It is connected to the 360 dvdrom drive, and the other end needs to be connected to a SATA port on the PC.

The PC will have to have either a motherboard with a SATA port (nforce3 and nforce4 chipsets are best as via ones illiminate the need to solder on the samsung m28 DVD rom drive). I dont know what a SATA port looks like, or how to find what chipset I have, so I'll have to buy a SATA pci card from SVP as they are known to work.

I'll need a SATA hard drive connected to the secondary master port of the SATA pci card (NOT SURE WHY I NEED A HARD DRIVE there ????), with the 360 dvdrom drive on the primary master port. If I have a samsung ms28 drive, and buy the 1-int/1-ext SATA pci card from SVP, the hard drive needs to be connected to the external port.

I am not sure what soldering is required on the newer m28 Samsungs????

I'll need two standard SATA cables and a cable to power the SATA hard drive.

Power off your Xbox 360 and PC. Connect the Samsung drive to the PC using a SATA cable, but leave the 360 powered off. Insert your bootable mtkflash floppy/USB /NTFSDOS CD and turn on the computer, booting to a command prompt. If you boot to Windows, restart your computer and set your BIOS boot priority. If using the NTFSDOS boot CD, hit Enter at the "Select from Menu…", hit Yes at the NTFSDOS picture, and then move to your NTFS drive.
You should get to a command prompt. At this point, you can finally turn on your Xbox 360. Type the following command a few seconds after turning on your Xbox 360.
mtkflash w /m /sata /modified.bin
Press Enter
It should display your SATA chipset. DO NOT select the port yet. Leave it at the "menu."
If your SATA port isn’t showing up, you didn’t hexedit mtkflash correctly or you have an incompatible chipset.
When the flash is done, it will tell you to restart your pc. Disconnect the SATA cable and power off the Xbox 360. Put your Xbox 360 back together and test.





THIS IS WHERE I'M UP TO. ANY FURTHER ADVICE TO FILL IN THE GAPS IS MUCH APPRECIATED

[mp3boy]

If your 360 was made before 2006-06-01 then it's most likely an ms25 drive.

Both connectivity kits work for both drives, but the X360USB which is a seperate device and comes with a Connectivity kit bundled, only works for Hitachi.

The connectivity kit is for power to the dvdrom. The sata lead plugs directly into the dvdrom drive.

This is a sata port as seen on a motherboard (colour will vary):
http://img.ezguide.co.kr/spec_img/boa/GA-81PE1000MK-SATA-Port-O.jpg

The hard drive is required because the card from SVP won't boot up with only a dvdrom drive connected to it.

If you can find a motherboard/pci card with a VIA chipset you won't need to do any soldering - just needs correctly timed unplugging/plugging in of the drive on the ms28s.

The soldering on the ms28 is detailed here:
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=535222&st=0

[mp3boy]

flashing samsungs:

DO NOT USE THE SAMSUNG AUTO FLASHER
i've seen this brick so many 360s by erasing the drive key.

this is the exact method i use, tried and tested on 100+ consoles:

put mtkflash (hex edited for your chipset), kdx42 and xtreme firmware onto a bootable DOS usb drive or floppy disc
you can use this app to make a bootable usb drive - http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/fi...e/69_6073.html (http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/serveroptions/us/locate/69_6073.html)

for ms25
1) boot from usb drive, wait until DOS command prompt has loaded
2) attach and power on 360, plug in sata
3) run "mtkflash r /m orig.bin" to read the firmware
4) choose the drive from the options listed, firmware will be backed up
5) copy the key (kdx42 orig.bin xtrem42a.bin)
6) if the key looks ok (ie not FF FF FF FF FF FF..) press any key
7) "mtkflash w /m xtrem42a.bin"
8) if the drive is not listed reboot and try again

for ms28:
1) boot from usb drive, wait until DOS command prompt has loaded
2) set the switch on the drive to off. attach and power on 360, plug in sata.
3) run "mtkflash r /m orig.bin" but don't select the drive yet
4) put drive switch to on
5) select drive, firmware will read to orig.bin
6) copy the key (kdx42 orig.bin xtrem42a.bin)
7) unplug the drive's power, set the switch to off
8) plug in the drive's power
9) mtkflash w /m /sata xtrem42a.bin
10) set drive switch to on
11) choose drive from list
12) hacked firmware flashes to drive

[dvdsrus05]

I borught mine from here : w*w.shinyhardware.co.uk/products/product.asp?pid=1264
but the drivers that came with it dont work you need to grab the latest from viaarena

but this card works a treat with xtreme bootmaker & no need for edited mtk flash either


:bouncing:

[gooty]

thanx for all the time it took replying to my post.

my sticker on the actual 360 says "2006-02-10", so hopefully its a ms25 which is good news.

Is there a way to confirm this without taking it apart and invalidating the warranty?

Actually, I thought I'd seen the connectivity kits saying that they work without taking the xbox apart, but how can they if the sata lead must go into the back of the DVDrom drive? Surely you'd have to take the case apart to do this and so would be able to see the samsung model sticker anyway?

Also, dvdsrus05's sata card looks like its no longer available, but it would make sense to get one with via chipset, so I wont have to solder if mine is a ms28. Does anyone else have a link to one they know works with a via chipset?

Do u need to connect all SATA pci cards to a SATA drive, whether they have a via chipset or not?

[mp3boy]

With that date it'll definitely be a ms25

The connectivity kits don't work without taking the xbox apart. You need the case off to gain access to the dvdrom drive.

The only card i've seen with a VIA chipset is on an american website, but I'd also be interested if anyone knows of a supplier in the UK.

As for connecting a hard drive -chipset on a motherboard won't need one connected. The PCI card from svp will. Other PCI cards, I don't know.

[The Phone Guy]

Safecom ones from ebuyer are Via

[danman]

Got mine (Via VT6421A Sata) off ebay. Cost about £13 delivered.
Bizarrely enough I have a Asus Via Sata mobo as well as an Intel Sata and a Marvell Sata motherboards. Had nothing but grief for Samsung with the onboard sata, despite manually hex editing about 1,000,000 different configurations. The card was a paint to get going (cos I stupidly wasn't using the sata port on the back edge of the card) but it works a charm when it's set right.

[curlie]

Would you recommend the use of x360sam v0.4 or stick to the manual method to inject the key ?

[gooty]

do u have a link to the exact type u got, as they all seem to be honk kong imports and I cant find the ebuyer one?