Jolt Country

Hey there! Well lookie here... with all the mistakes Microsoft made with
the first Xbox, you'd think they'd have learned.. but they used off the
shelf parts once again. And off the shelf DVD drives have - flashable
firmware chips!!

The main security has not been cracked so no unsigned code. But you CAN
"preview" those $60 games before buying them on DVD+R DL.
I got kinda lucky here. The only hack is for the Toshiba-Samsung drive..
which I happened to have. I threw caution into the wind and decided to
rip open the "unopenable" case. Inside, the DVD drive has a stubby little
SATA cable, and plugs right up to the PC:



Then, you boot to DOS (I had to go to CompUSSR and grab a floppy, luckily
on sale this week!) and you can flash the firmware. I was lucky enough to
have a SATA chipset that actually works - apparently that's the exception
to the rule.



For the curious, here's a better shot of the 360 internals, and the little
SATA cable:



Now we're poppin. I even took a video for you fuckers.
here.


Gamefly, here I come :evilgrin:

If you like, I will happily host this on the article page for you, bud. I mean, there are no legal problems here, right? You can only play the games that have signed code? I don't want to get Jack Straw in trouble with the law, either you or the world leader guy in Britain.

If'n ya want. There should be no legal issues - the law says you're allowed to make one backup of any software you own.

If you wanted to make it an actual ARTICLE, though, i could rewrite it.. like a tutorial type deal? It's not that hard but I did dick around with it for a day or so.

edit: oh yeah, is there any way you know of to post a powerpoint presentation other than just take screenshots of it? I'm finishing up a report on prostitution for my class tomorrow and I've learned some pretty hilarious shit. Did you know penguins whore themselves out for nesting rocks or certain chimps prostitute themselves for food? Add a few shots of me strolling through the red light district in amsterdam and it's shaping up to be a pretty damn entertaining project. Hope I don't get ejected. But we're all adults here, right?
also edit:
Thanks for showing half an interest in my xbox project. I thought it was cool as shit and wanted to show people how easy it was.. and jeff gives me crap for even HAVING a fucking xbox (like I'm gonna wait till next November to spend $600), and the other board I posted it to basically just told me I was a dumbass who was gonna get my door busted in by Microsoft goons.
THANK YOU FOR NOT BEING A TARDFACE, i'm just a gamer who wants to PLAY. FUCK. ME. FOR MONEY.

Real quick as I am on my way to work -- I think CutePDF might be the thing you are looking for when it comes to that Powerpoint presentation? www.cutepdf.com. However, I think what you mean is that you want to in-line it to a post on here. That I am not sure of.

I'm assuming this voids the warranty?

Can the case be made kosher?

I'm waiting for the ability to run games off the HD. I mean, the PS2 did it and this system comes WITH an HD.

Neato.

It voids the warranty if you fuck up the case, or the microsoft sticker holding the 2 sides of the case together, in any way.
(My warranty was already gone as I've had it for more than 90 days, but they will refuse to service it even for pay if it's been opened)

The case isn't easy to open without breaking by any stretch, but it also isn't "impossible" to open as MS claims.

The sticker is actually the easiest part - it's not perforated like the PS2 sticker, I hear if you use a hairdryer you can peel it back with no issues whatsoever. I just ripped right into it, though, and some of the holographic crap stayed on the case. Also, taking off the bottom grill piece I snapped off one out of six hanging catch piece things. I just wanted to get it open, I'm sure someone with patience and a hairdryer could open it and reassemble without anyone being the wiser.

It may be awhile before you can run games off the HD - MS claims that they've put layers of security previously unknown in this console. They also claimed the console is unopenable and contains no screws.

As anandtech so eloquently puts it, a "long flat metal stick" and a torx t10 (or was it t12?) is all that's needed to get the party started.

It's posted. Thanks, Jack!

Jack Straw wrote: Thanks for showing half an interest in my xbox project. I thought it was cool as shit and wanted to show people how easy it was.. and jeff gives me crap for even HAVING a fucking xbox (like I'm gonna wait till next November to spend $600), and the other board I posted it to basically just told me I was a dumbass who was gonna get my door busted in by Microsoft goons.
THANK YOU FOR NOT BEING A TARDFACE, i'm just a gamer who wants to PLAY. FUCK. ME. FOR MONEY.

Sorry I'm a tardface, apparently. I'll give anyone shit for buying a next-gen when it's this new - hell, I'm still shocked that Jonsey bought a PSP. I just thought you were getting out of the console thing more or less, and hence my surprise at you buying a very expensive box with a very limited array of titles, most crap. (Like most new consoles.)

The whole "backup" thing I was confused by, due to your (understandable) caginess about it all. It wasn't clear exactly what you accomplished by it.

you bought a WRX, then traded it in for an STi. You have absolutely no room to judge other's purchases of videogame systems that cost as much as one gold wheel for the Scoob.

Jack Straw wrote:you bought a WRX, then traded it in for an STi. You have absolutely no room to judge other's purchases of videogame systems that cost as much as one gold wheel for the Scoob.

Again, please, in English?

--------------------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



...

1x
==

or

Jack Straw wrote:you bought a WRX, then traded it in for an STi. You have absolutely no room to judge other's purchases of videogame systems that cost as much as one gold wheel for the Scoob.

You have me confused, my good man.

I'm not judging the cost. OK, maybe slightly. But not in "you can't afford it" way (I know too well how that feels and never put that on others) but "man it costs a lot to only be able to play a couple games" way. I'd be cheering you on if you were dropping that much on, say, a mini-MAME cab.

But hey, whatever, it's your purchase and my opinion doesn't matter.

I do disagree on the PC gaming thing, of course. And your Xbox360 controllers should work fine on the PC; in fact, MS is making sure that their PC games (apparently including things like Solitaire and Hearts) play perfectly with the X360 controller.

I still don't feel comfortable with modern gamepads and much prefer kb/mouse (for FPSs, etc) or old-school joysticks. PC games are also obviously much more mod-friendly.

As for the car - those wheels are not STi wheels (at least not US ones) - only 16", not BBS, and the brakes are not big-ass Brembos. I don't know what the price for the stock gold wheels is but I can tell you that when I bought the WRX, to get 17" BBS wheels very similar to the factory STi ones (with 10mm narrower tires), it was a $3,400 option - NOT including tires. Needless to say, most people went aftermarket if they wanted 17"s!

Realistically, on eBay, you could probably buy maybe a couple stock STi wheels for the cost of the X360. For my winter tires, the X360 costs about what 1 1/2 of one wheel and one tire cost. Obscene, I tell you!