XBOX-EXISTENCE

Xbox Backup Creator

2009-10-01T21:33:00.060-03:00

The Ultimate Guide to Xbox backup Creator

Attention important: Anti-Piracy v2.5

This tutorial will help you Rip your X360 and Xbox1 Game's using Xbox Backup Creator. XBCr will also burn your X360 Game's using the XBCr burning engine or using imgburn by calling Imgburn for you with all the adequate parameters. Always Check out the New Updates and Fix's . If you require to install these applications see the end of this Guide. To Download this Guide in PDF format click Here goto File>>Download as>> PDF

Modified DVD Firmware

There are three version's of firmware including Secret-Service's that can boot Wave 4 or 5 Games Ok to rap this up if your using Team HyperX iXtreme v1.61 Samsung and BenQ FW Launched Oct 30 2009 You Can't Play Online God knows how long the C4E's iXtreme LT FW is going to last online then again I don't care for online, so you got C4eva Team Jungle LiteOn iXtreme v1.61 ix for the Liteon's that launched Dec 28 2009 not to long after C4eva started to see the Community modding his Firmware witch was iXtreme v1.6 Non-Stealth Patched to always act like if activate.iso was inserted, so blindly loads PFI DMI SS etc, Posted by Arakon on xboxhacker Plus Secret-Service's BenQ IX 1.41 Final Rev3-4 (SS) Non-Stealth 12X This firmware is based on the firmware from C4EVA. All credits to C4EVA.

What firmware to use well it's up to you, if it's a Liteon drive that's clear C4E's iXtreme LT FW what about Benq/Samsung well there's Team HyperX iXtreme v1.61 Samsung and BenQ FW that can boot Wave 4 and 5 games without any problems that I can say for sure because I got Team HyperX iXtreme v1.61 FW on my Benq witch I Highly Recommend you have if you got a Benq/Samsung and waiting for C4E's iXtreme LT FW. You don't care about Stealth you can try iXtreme v1.6 Non-Stealth Patched witch seems to work from what the community is saying, I wouldn't use it but supports all drives.

Now the BenQ IX 1.41 Final Rev3-4 (SS) Non-Stealth why the hell would you want to use this version if iXtreme v1.6 Non-Stealth Patched can boot Non-Stealth Games or for that matter Why use iXtreme v1.6 Non-Stealth if C4E's iXtreme LT FW can do Waveless booting, if you got a Benq/Samsung drive iXtreme v1.6 Non-Stealth Patched might be good because Team HyperX iXtreme v1.61 FW got Strict Wave 4 compliance means wave 4 games will only boot if they have correct PFI/DMI/SS and timestamp read the Readme that comes with everything for more info. This only applies to people waiting for a higher version of iXtreme Firmware witch there is from Commodore4Eva! below.

There are two versions of Firmware one for playing your game's and ix16-0800 being a dedicated "ripping" drive "Update" in the new Team HyperX iXtreme 1.61 FW for Benq and Samsung drives you can Rip and play your backup's using the same drive, but I Recommend you get two drives one for Ripping and one for playing your game's, Because future updates might not include 0800 like Team HyperX iXtreme v1.61 FW did and taking the x360 to your Computer to make backups of game's ant going to be fun, so again I highly Recommend you get a x360 drive for your Ripping needs and leave the one in your x360 for playing games. Samsung and BenQ iXtreme v1.61 or C4E's iXtreme LT Firmware To download iXtreme look in Xbox-existence Links or keep reading this Guide.

C4eva Team Jungle LiteOn iXtreme v1.61 Added support for waves 4 and 5 There's no NFO with the release, but unlike iX 1.6 'non-stealth' release I believe this release still has all stealth features but with modified checks to also allow/boot Wave 4 and Wave 5 Games. Dashboard v2.0.8955 Detects all consoles with any firmware version of Xtreme or iXtreme until 1.61. C4E's iXtreme (LT+) Recommend.

C4E's iXtreme Lite Touch Plus (LT+) in association with Team Jungle & Team Xecuter for Hitachi (phat) Benq (phat) LiteOn (phat) and LiteOn (slim) drives. Samsungs are still running LT v1.0 all versions of Samsung do not have AP25, therefore LT+ firmware for these drives is unnecessary. All LiteOn (phat) are running LT+ and LiteOn (slim) 9504 as well. C4Eva’s iXtreme LT+ for Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L Drives (32, 36, 40, 46, 47, 58, 59, 78, 79). There is no AP25 on older Hitachi Drives 32/36/40/46/47/58/59, AP25 checks are on the newer Hitachi drives (78/79). You can stick with FW 1.51 or update to iXtreme LT+. FYI iXtreme 1.51 still works just fine with AP25 (many are still using the older Hitachi’s on XBL – however we can’t guarantee that it is XBL safe so use at your own risk).

Hitachi GDR-3120L: iXtreme v1.51 FW or (LT+ v1.1 FW Recommended)
Toshiba-Samsung TS-H943: iXtreme LT v1.0 FW
Benq VAD6038: iXtreme LT+ v1.1 FW
LiteOn DG-16D2S: iXtreme LT+ v1.1 FW
LiteOn DG-16D2S (slim): iXtreme LT+ v1.1 FW

!!!!!! YOU CANNOT SPOOF LT+ TO ANY DIFFERENT DRIVE VERSIONS !!!!!! IT CAN BE DETECTED ON THE NEW DASH !!!!!!

Tip: When opening XBCr and the following Error POP's UP on screen image below don't Freak Out! you have a CD/DVD disc in the Computer drive, take out the CD/DVD in the Computer drive and restart XBCr then everything should be fine. If the Error continues when Ripping you may need Schtrom360Xtract because XBCr needs updating, XBCr can Rip everything From Sep/Oct 2009 back including Original Xbox Games.

Note: Due to an issue that affects the Liteon ix1.6 it is advised that you start XBCr without a DVD in the drive. Witch I recommend you do even if you got a higher version FW eject then start XBCr.

Open Xbox Backup Creator if you don't have XBCr download here or Xbins FTP Server. Select Options Tab and make sure ever thing is Set to default Click "Reset To Default" selecting your Drive and the Version for the Disc Xbox360 or Xboxone is ok, but you really don’t have to do this because it's Automatic. Never Change the Speed from 12X, "On Disc Read Error" just means how many times it try's to read after Failing the First time and make sure "Build SplitVid ISO" is Checked witch it should be after Clicking "Reset To Default". "Log Detail Level" Detailed watch your Running Log when Ripping game's and when done ripping go over the Running Log to see if everything went fine. Besides you don't have to Select anything because everything is Automatic and this Guide was put together for X-S + PowerUsers, so if you feel Overwhelmed by the settings just stick to your One Click Backup witch I don't Recommend.

Now select your Kreon drive flashed with Kreon Firmware witch I don't Recommend because of SSv2 or Toshiba-Samsung, Benq, Liteon Drive flashed with ix16-0800, if not already selected and Select "SPTI".

Place your Xbox 360 Game into your Kreon, Toshiba-Samsung, Benq, or Liteon drive. Confirm Image Style is set to "Complete Backup" and then hit the "Start" Button as per the picture below watch the (Running Log) for any Errors. After inserting a disk it may take a few seconds for it to be recognized. If it does not populate and enable the buttons after more than 30 seconds press CTRL-R to force a refresh. You can Press CTRL-L Show/Hide Running Log also CTRL-C to Cancel current operation...

Note: Using Wxripper and a hitachi drive Not recommended anymore. It seems the SS extracted with Hitachi drive should not be used because easier to detect. You should extract your backups with a Toshiba-Samsung, Benq, or Liteon drive using XBCreator/Schtrom. You would then be able to do a "Complete backup" so no point in extracting separate pieces and merging. (Search YouTube for Wxripper this way is not Recommend anymore, usually referred as Hot Swapping).

What is SplitVid?

Before Splitvid: Splitvid is in fact an adapted version of the traditional Xtreme format used up to XBC 2.6/Schtrom 3.3. The traditional Xtreme format backup have both part of the video partition on layer 0. Current hacked firmware will manage the request for the video partition sector of layer 1 such that they appear as being in their right place even if in fact recovered from layer 0 (thks to C4Eva) He's the man. As a result, if the disk is queried for the various sectors, they appear at their proper place.

Splitvid: The new splitvid format respects the format of an original disc by having the video partition on layer 1 as per the original. It also maintain a copy of the layer 1 video partition on layer 0 such that it respect the traditional Xtreme format. Both format are included so you lose nothing by using it. For more information Read this and the Rules before Posting. Note: Backups need to have SplitVid from now on to be safe for LT, official release of the iXtreme LT uses Split-Vid as default.

Save your Image file to a directory on your Hard Drive, also provide a name for the image accordingly (you will need at least ~8gb free space), once you are done, hit the "Save" button - Xbox Backup Creator will go ahead and Rip the game onto your Hard Drive....

Please be patient while the Software creates an image of your Xbox 360 Game and watch your Running Log when Ripping your game's..

When completed, you will get a 7 651 848KB ISO ( or 7.29GB) or 7,651,262KB depending on the x360 games.

If you do not activate the Splitvid then the files will be 7,395,392KB (or 7.05GB).

The .iso for Xbox1 will be 7,258,816KB (or 6.92GB without splitvid) (with splitvid 7.28GB) My Star Wars Episode III Revenge of The Sith came back this size.

To display the right information in the Running Log before Ripping Go to "Drive Tools" click Unlock drive to make the Running Log display the Size, you really don’t have to do this because everything is Automatic when using XBCr.

Note: Try not to use (dots .) before the last letter in the name example .x, .bat, .exe or anything like it second Example Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X not thinking I put a (dot .) before the x and there's changing it from ISO format to X format, after XBCr was done ripping the game the name the of it was Tom Clancy's H.A.W and placed Notepad icon on the 7.29GB file witch should of been in ISO format. As you can see in the image above Save as type: ISO should be selected by default, try not to use (dots.) in the names of your Games.

Tip: Make sure you File System on the drives are NTFS and not FAT32 formatted, as FAT32 has a 4gb file size limit, to fine out goto My Computer Right click on the drive your backing you game's up to and select Properties look at File System NTFS format.

Once Xbox Backup Creator has finished Ripping the contents of the disk - Please close out of the Application... then run ABGX360 to Stealth Check your Game before going ahead Read my Abgx360 Gui Guide in Xbox360 Archive. Stealth Checking verbiage/intent removed, XBC only does limited checking. Stealth Check got remove from v2.9.0.306. To burn the Game with Xbox backup Creator or Imgburn after running Stealth Check with ABGX360 read on...

Note: I Recommend you Stealth Check with ABGX360 just to be safe: because of the new Anti-Piracy v2.5 and current 0800 not extracting it, C4eva is working really hard on the New 0800 firmware for SSv3 that's IN PROGRESS for BenQ and LiteOn drives.

Open Xbox Backup Creator again - Now set your Drive to be your DVD DL Writer example I have selected my Samsung DVD Dual Layer Writer "NOT" your Kreon or x360 drive because it’s only for Reading (Ripping) not Writing (Burning).

Tip: Did you know Burning a CD or DVD heats up 400F to 600F, Put your hand on the DVD and feel how warm it is when your done burning your Game %100 on that Exam PC Repair.

Select the "Write" tab and check "Imgburn" as your Burning engine...leave all else at defaults...

Note: When used through XBCr do not set the layerbreak to manual, XBCr will manage this for you. In Image Burn goto Tools>>Settings >>Write>>Options >>Layerbreak should be “Calculate Optimal” just to be sure.

Place a blank DVD+R DL 8.5GB not a DVD 4.7GB Disk into your Dual Layer DVD Writer, wait for the application to recognize the blank DVD (can sometimes take up to 1 minute)....and select writing speed (slower is not better, typically burn verbatim 2.4x at rated speed and verbatim 8x at rated or 4x) If the start button remains grey, you have not selected the proper drive or do not have a DVD +R DL in the drive then hit the "Start" Button. Read about the Booktype DVD-Rom under Imgburn Install at the end of this Guide!

Select the .DVD file you have just created from the Ripping Section of this guide (NOT the .ISO which will make a difference) - Then click on " Open ". I have two Copy's of Borderlands for more information about this Read my Abgx360 Gui Guide and Schtrom360 Xtract S360X v4.1 Guide in Xbox360 Archive.

The .dvd file is created by Xbox Backup Creator the information in the file can be viewed by opening it with NotePad or NotePad++ download here or use one provided by Windows to open NotePad type notepad in the Run under the Start button drag the .dvd in notepad to view it, this is not need because XBCr creates one for you Automatic, what's in it? LayerBreak=1913760 and GameName.ISO. Quick Tip on layerbreak - it doesn't need to be set if you use imgburn through Xbox Backup Creator because XBCr will set it to optimal settings within the app itself.

LayerBreak=1913760
Mercenaries 2.iso

Imgburn will start the Writing process automatically - No more user input is needed. Please wait while your image is burned onto your DVD+R DL Disk....ImgBurn will provide you with an estimated completion time, Write Speed and much more....

Below ImgBurn is the Running Log as you can see in the image above Problems and Alerts can be viewed, keep a eye on your Running Log has it can give you info on the settings that where selected before burning and read Some Common Problems at the end of this Guide.

IMGBURN INSTALL
You can download Imgburn at imgburn , and use the installer.

When used through XBCr do not set the layerbreak to manual, XBCr will manage this for you. In ImgBurn goto Tools>>Settings>>Write>>Options >>Layerbreak should be “Calculate Optimal”. If you don't want to use ImgBurn through XBCr and just ImgBurn alone Select “User Specified” enter the LayerBreak number 1913760 in “Sectors in L0”.

With the latest x360 firmware the booktype setting at DVD-ROM is not required, but it does not hurt. You can set it in Tools>>Drive>>Change Book Type/'Your burner Brand' select 'Change For:' to a 'DVD +R DL MEDIA' and in 'New Setting' choose DVD-ROM + hit Change. Note this can only be done with a DVD + DL disc in the drive.

Book Type is Selected Automatic when using Imgburn look under "Write Tab" for the Option, also your drive might not be support by Imgburn for this. If the Drive in Tools are grey Press Ctrl+Alt+W Hover over the Icon's Under "Setting" Change Book Type then repeat the first step above.

XBOX BACKUP CREATOR INSTALL
You can get XBC from the Download Section and extract it in a directory, nothing more to do. Simply run “Xbox Backup Creator.exe”.

Imgburn (and Nero) if they are already installed on your PC will show in the scroll window when XBCr starts (Running Log)

1) If imgburn is not listed in the windows, you can open the selection window by using the button beside imgburn in XBCr.

2) and indicating the location of the “ImgBurn.exe”.

If you have problems loading XBCr make sure you have .NET installed (windows updater), and VB6 runtimes + mscomctl.ocx. Only do this step if you have problems. After installing .net your going to need the SP1 for .net Type "wupdmgr" in Run Under Start to update the .net to the last SP, Windows 7 has .net build in. Windows Vista/7 Please use the included installer, Some people had to turn on User Account Control (UAC) and make sure it was run as admin.

Not seeing your TS-H943A: Turn off the "FW Branding Check" on the options tab unless you need it (A hitachi branded as samsung or opposite). For those using a VIA6421 card, you should try using the version 5.2 of the Via drivers (here)

SOME COMMON PROBLEMS WITH SATA/ATAPI DVD-ROM AN ERRORS WHEN RIPPING

SATA/ATAPI CD-ROM or DVD Drive Runs Slowly
If your SATA/ATAPI CD-ROM or DVD drive performs poorly, check the following items:

Check the cache size in the Performance tab of the System Properties control panel. Select the quad-speed setting (largest cache size).

Check to see whether the drive is set as the slave to your hard disk; move the drive to the secondary controller if possible. Your PIO (Programmed I/O) or UDMA mode might not be set correctly for your drive in the BIOS; check the drive specs and use autodetect in BIOS for the best results Google it.

Check that you are using busmastering drivers on compatible systems; install the appropriate drivers for the motherboard's chipset and the operating system in use. See "Direct Memory Access and Ultra-DMA," Google it.

Ripping is extremely long (30+ minutes): Your Drive is probably not in DMA Mode (Went in PIO Mode). You can change that in Device Manager and can easily be found via Google it.

Getting an error during the Rip

You have this with all your games then it is probably a setup problem, if you are using a SH-D162C witch I don't Recommend because of SSv2 you can try moving it Primary/Secondary IDE and Master/Slave. You have that with only one game then clean your disk very well. If that does not resolve it could be your original is damage or marginal (see this post).

During the burn if you are getting “Session Fixation Errors”, “Optimum Power Calibration failures”, or “Invalid Write Address failures”, they are usually due to low quality media or a defective burner if you were using adequate media for more information read Best Deals on Verbatim +R DL and the Rules before Posting. NCIX has them Cheaper then Tigerdirect

This Guide was written for the Community & Members of forums.xbox-scene.com and no one else!

Abgx360 Gui Guide Version 1.0.5 RD 12/06/2010

2009-09-01T00:05:00.007-03:00

This tutorial will help you stealth check the x360 games offline/online using Abgx360 download here. Note: The GUI has not been changed and will still display version 1.0.2, don't worry about it as long as the CLI app displays v1.0.5 To Download this Guide in PDF format click here goto File>>Download as>> PDF

Please note that Abgx360 needs to go out to the internet to retrieve the latest stealth files for your games, and it will update your local (DB DataBase) accordingly it's a good idea to run this Verification Process while you are connected to the internet!

Note: I don't recommend connecting to online when running Abgx360 Disable your Network Connection goto Start Button Run type ncpa.cpl hit enter and disable your connection. You don't need to be connected to the internet when making backups of your Originals and verifying them your self after making two copy's using Xbox Backup Creator or Schtrom360 Xtract.

!!!!New AP25 games should be ran through ABGX360 because 0800 firmware can't extract SSv3!!!!

I Personally don't use Abgx360 anymore just off/on I backup with S360X or XBCr Stealth Check with S360X and if Not verified by Stealth Team I Save the first CRC32 ini to there DateBase witch is all Offline and Rip a Second copy then compare them my self and not have Abgx360 inject something that ant from the Original, Read my Schtrom360 Xtract S360X v4.1 Guide in Xbox360 Archive and Commodore4eva Explains Stealth Media for more info.

Why Abgx360 is saying Kreon Drives are Good Under "Quickstart" in Abgx360 is because the DataBase always get updated with new info from other people uploading and verifying with copy's made from someone else that got saved this can get Crazy! If your suck with a kreon drive I recommend you try getting a x360 drive, I can see future games been more of a problem with kreon drives and Fixing your iso image as they are now!

Open Abgx360 - Click on the "Options" Tab and make sure you check the options "Check for AnyDVD style game data Corruption" - "Disable all online Functions" - "Check Game Partition CRC when needed" - "Disable Writes" - "Uncheck Verify if Stealth Passes" and "Program Output to HTML." The 3 highlighted in green (have it Checked as in the picture) - leave all other settings at "defaults" besides the ones listed above.

AnyDVD is an app that runs in the background to remove DVD video protections on the fly. This is a nice feature when playing or ripping protected DVD movies but it causes problems when ripping Xbox 360 games because the video data (and possibly game data) will be altered in a way that is detectable.

Now click on the "AutoFix" Tab and make sure to set the AutoFix Threshold to "Level 0" and "Check Trust SS v2 angles" leave all other settings at "defaults" as per image below... DON'T USE Threshold: level - 2 or 3 unless it's a AP25 game or you just want to Verify, read Verification failed! at the end of this Guide for more information. Tip v1.0.2 they removed "Look for verified files in the local folder only (applies to AutoFix and Verification)" and added "Check Trust SS v2 angles" Hover your mouse over the Blue dot beside it for more information in the "AutoFix" Tab.

Note: The default settings are not recommended for people that have Original games, although you may change any settings and press Ctrl+S to save them as the new defaults or save them with a different name so that they can be loaded at any time by pressing Ctrl+L and selecting them. To delete any of your saved settings press Ctrl+D and select the ones you want to delete.

Then click on "Misc" Tab and select Your Console's Region Code: Mine is NTSC/U so it's 000000FF or enter 000000FF using your Keyboard, leave SplitVid: and Images "Default." Tip v1.0.2 added PayPal Donate and "Preferred Language" Hover your mouse over the Blue dot beside it for more information. When using HTML "Program Output" Images will be extracted to C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\abgx360\Images or you can Embed them in HTML aka Achievements Cool. v1.0.2 Added option to embed images in the HTML source code as data URIs for better portability (when using HTML output). Can't fine the Application data Folder goto "Start" click "Run" type "Application data" hit enter, also enable "Show hidden files and folders" goto "Start" click "Run" type "control folders" then click on "View Tab"

Now storing data files in the AppData folder to prevent errors related to permissions and UAC. You can open the GUI and hit Ctrl+F to find out where your StealthFiles are now stored and optionally have it opened for you. abgx360 will still check for Video ISOs in the old install directory first though, so you don't need to move that 3rd Wave Video ISO if you have it saved there already. For more information I highly Recommended Reading the "Quick Start Tab - Welcome!" and hovering your mouse all over the blue dots.

Then goto (File Tab - Save Settings, or Press Ctrl+S) to Save it Leave the name as "Default" if you plan to just use one Profile Setting hit OK.., Settings have now been changed and you will no longer have to modify each time you run Abgx360 just change your Profile. I use two Profile Settings

1. "AutoFix Threshold: level - 0 Do Not AutoFix" with "Disable Writes Checked" so noting downloads from there DB, it's just a Stealth check and AnyDVD style game data Corruption also "Verify if Stealth Passes Unchecked " - "Disable all online Functions" - "Check Game Partition CRC when needed" - "Embed them in HTML Checked to see my Achievements" and my Region selected with "Program Output" to HTML and leaving everything else at "defaults."

2. "AutoFix Threshold: level - 0 Do Not AutoFix" with "Disable Writes Checked" so noting downloads from there DB, it's just a Stealth check and AnyDVD style game data Corruption also "Verify if Stealth Passes Unchecked " - "Disable all online Functions" - "Check Game Partition CRC when needed" and my Region selected with "Program Output" to CLI Window and leaving everything else at "defaults."

Note: "Stealth is uncertain and fails Verification" If Stealth check passed! and Verification failed you don't need to connect to abgx360. Just verify the HTML files in your browser after you ripped the Game twice from the Original using Xbox Backup Creator or Schtrom read Verification failed! at the end of this Guide.

Note: Select "Disable Writes" if you just want to check the ISO without automatically fixing it, I did so but (GameNameLookup.csv) trys to Download something Disable your Network Connection goto Start Button Run type ncpa.cpl hit enter and disable your connection. The .dvd file is automatically created if it doesn't exist or fixed if it's invalid unless you disabled "Check/Create.dvd file" that's under the "Options" Tab or selected "Disable Writes", the .dvd file is created by Xbox Backup Creator or Schtrom Automatic.

Now Open your file in Abgx360 (from the File Tab - Open Input or Ctrl+O), v1.0.2 Added drag & drop support for the GUI Input panel, browse to your Image file you created using Xbox Backup Creator or Schtrom in the Ripping phase... For more information Read my Xbox Backup Creator Guide and Schtrom360 Xtract S360X Guide in Xbox360 Archive

Now in "Program Output" - "Check open file when done" click on the Launch Button at the bottom ^^^ Another Window will Pop Up - This is where you leave Abgx360 to work it's magic and check your game correctly so you don't encounter any problems on iXtreme Firmware - Please be patient while it goes ahead and does what it needs to...

.....Once abgx360 has completed it's verification process, please confirm your window reads the same as the screen shot above. You should get the following 2 messages which I have outlined in green above....

1) Stealth Check Passed!
2) AnyDVD style corruption was not found.

This confirms your image is safe to play on iXtreme Firmware, Once all OK - Please close out of the window, and also out of ABGX360 then Burn Using Xbox Backup Creator or Imgburn.

Verification failed!

This is because of the .ini files they have in there (DB DataBase) Hover your mouse over the Blue dot beside (Verify if Stealth Passes under the Options Tab) if your DMI or anything else fails you can Verify the (DMI, PFI and Video)by putting the "Program Output" to HTML, then verifying the HTML files in your browser after you ripped the Game twice from the Original using Xbox Backup Creator or Schtrom. For more information on (DMI, PFI and Video) head over to forums.xbox-scene.com read the fourth post and Rules before Posting anything that's why this is here.

Then compare them, you can Ignore the RawSS witch will be different every time for more information hover your mouse over the Blue dot beside (Verify if Stealth Passes under the Options Tab) and hover over the Blue dot beside (AutoFix Threshold: settings under "AutoFix" Tab) in Abgx360 witch will give you a bit more understanding about Raw SS and AutoFix. To me the AutoFix Threshold: Level 2 and 3 are for Pirate's that Download game's from the internet, so if you know that it's %100 from the Original and you compared them your self there is no reason to use AutoFix Threshold: Level 1, 2 or 3 because it will Download or Fix the .ini from there (DB DataBase) (GameNameLookup.csv) and replace your Original with something else from there (DB DataBase).

What it looks like with a Successful Verification witch you don't need to do if there from the Original and you compared them your self with "Program Output" to HTML, there is no reason to use (Verify if Stealth Passes under the Options Tab) First Backup of Borderlands and Everything came back Green witch will be deleted, I'm not Ripping my games twice that takes 1:30 mins to do and have something downloaded from someone else to change my games data that was from the Original don't go online when checking your game, if you see Checking for updates to GameNameLookup.csv Disable your Network Connection goto Start Button Run type ncpa.cpl hit enter and disable your connection. When Stealth Check Passed! AnyDVD style corruption was not found comes back Green it's safe to play on iXtreme Firmware. It just Got Easy To be Green! This guide was written for the members of forums.xbox-scene.com and no one else!

Schtrom360 Xtract S360X v4.1 Guide

2009-06-01T14:29:00.010-03:00

This tutorial will help you rip and burn your Xbox 360 - Xbox1 Game's using Schtrom360Xtract and ImgBurn. If you require to install these applications see the end of this Guide. To Download this Guide in PDF format click Here goto File>>Download as>> PDF.

You can download Schtrom360Xtract here or from Tools tab above. Open Schtrom360 Select "Misc" then "Options Tab" then selecting your Drive and the Version for the Disc Xbox360 or Xbox1 is ok, but you really don’t have to do this because it's Automatic. Never Change the Speed from 12X, - defaut XBOX360 drive speeds changed for better error correction TS-H943A, VAD6038 and DG-16D2S set to 12x." Read Single Sectors Error" just means how many times it try's to read after Failing the First.

Now Close up the "Options Tab" Save your "Extract File:" to a directory on your Hard Drive, also provide a name for the image accordingly (you will need at least ~8gb free space), once you are done, as per the picture below....

Note: Try not to use (dots .) before the last letter in the name example .x, .bat, .exe or anything like it second Example Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X not thinking I put a (dot .) before the x and there's changing it from ISO format to X format, after XBCr was done ripping the game the name the of it was Tom Clancy's H.A.W and placed Notepad icon on the 7.29GB file witch should of been in ISO format. As you can see in the image above Save as type: ISO should be selected by default, try not to use (dots.) in the names of your Games.

I have two Copy's of RESIDENT EVIL 5 for more information about this Read my Xbox Backup Creator and Abgx360 Gui Guide in Xbox360 Archive.

When completed, you will get a 7 651 848KB ISO ( or 7.29GB) or 7,651,262KB depending on the x360 games.

If you do not activate the Splitvid then the files will be 7,395,392KB or 7.05GB.

The .iso for Xbox1 will be 7,258,816KB (or 6.92GB) without splitvid (with splitvid 7.28GB) My Star Wars Episode III Revenge of The Sith came back this size.

Note: Backups need to have SplitVid from now on to be safe for LT, official release of the iXtreme LT uses Split-Vid as default.

Select your drive under "DVD-ROM Type:" My drive is VAD6038 and make sure "Task: whole disc (Stealth xtreme 3.0 SplitVid)" is selected, Then hit the "Extract Button" S360X will go ahead and Rip the game onto your Hard Drive Please be patient while the Software creates an image of your Xbox 360 Game.

What is SplitVid ?

Before Splitvid: Splitvid is in fact an adapted version of the traditional Xtreme format used up to XBC 2.6/Schtrom 3.3. The traditional Xtreme format backup have both part of the video partition on layer 0. Current hacked firmware will manage the request for the video partition sector of layer 1 such that they appear as being in their right place even if in fact recovered from layer 0 (thks to C4Eva) He's the man. As a result, if the disk is queried for the various sectors, they appear at their proper place.

Splitvid: The new splitvid format respects the format of an original disc by having the video partition on layer 1 as per the original. It also maintain a copy of the layer 1 video partition on layer 0 such that it respect the traditional Xtreme format. Both format are included so you lose nothing by using it.

When done goto "Tools" then "Stealth Check" Select the "Image Name:" ISO file you have just created from the Ripping Section of this guide or XBCr and run the "Stealth Check" image below.

You want to see "Overall Results: PASSED" then it is all good. (You can ignore the message about not being in the stealth list, any other DBase message). If you want to add CRC32.ini to the DataBase you can then Verify the game your self after Ripping a Second copy using Schtrom360Xtract or Xbox Backup Creator. Add the name of the game you Ripped then click "Save CRC32 to INI" to the DataBase then run "Stealth Check" again after your Ripped the Second Copy. To open INI look for the "Stealth Configuration Settings" File that's in Schtrom360Xtract folder. The file can be viewed by opening it with NotePad to open NotePad type notepad in Run drag & drop the Stealth file in notepad to view the INI you added.

!!!!New AP25 games should be ran through ABGX360 because 0800 firmware can't extract SSv3!!!!

After your done Ripping your Second Copy and Running Stealth Check again you should get the following message image below. If it's not verified after Ripping the Second Copy Try again and make sure your Ripping with a x360 drive not Kreon, from there you can burn your game using Imgburn Read on...

You can also Stealth Check with Abgx360 just to be sure but do so Offline! Read my Abgx360 Gui Guide in Xbox360 Archive for more info.

IMGBURN INSTALL
You can download Imgburn at imgburn , and use the installer.

When used through XBCr do not set the layerbreak to manual, XBCr will manage this for you. In ImgBurn goto Tools>>Settings>>Write>>Options >>Layerbreak should be “Calculate Optimal”. If you don't want to use ImgBurn through XBCr and just ImgBurn alone Select “User Specified” enter the LayerBreak number 1913760 in “Sectors in L0”.

With the latest x360 firmware the booktype setting at DVD-ROM is not required, but it does not hurt. You can set it in Tools>>Drive>>Change Book Type/'Your burner Brand' select 'Change For:' to a 'DVD +R DL MEDIA' and in 'New Setting' choose DVD-ROM + hit Change. Note this can only be done with a DVD + DL disc in the drive.

Book Type is Selected Automatic when using Imgburn look under "Write Tab" for the Option, also your drive might not be support by Imgburn for this. If the Drive in Tools are grey Press Ctrl+Alt+W Hover over the Icon's Under "Setting" Change Book Type then repeat the first step above.

Everything is good to go, open Source select your .DVD file you have just created from the Ripping Section of this guide (NOT the .ISO which will make a difference). select the Write Speed then burn your game.

Imgburn will start the Writing process automatically - No more user input is needed. Please wait while your image is burned onto your DVD+R DL Disk....ImgBurn will provide you with an estimated completion time, Write Speed and much more....

Below ImgBurn is the Running Log as you can see in the image above Problems and Alerts can be viewed, keep a eye on your Running Log has it can give you info on the settings that where selected before burning and read Some Common Problems at the end of Xbox Backup Creator Guide.

This Guide was written for the Community & Members of forums.xbox-scene.com and no one else!

Xbox-Existence News Archive 1

2007-08-01T21:30:00.002-03:00

Please note this is only a personal Archive about hardware, firmware and software updates and noting about JTAG systems. For more info and a bigger archive check xbox-scene.com or team-xecuter.com

May 28 2010, 12:26 AM

Team XBMC says Farewell to Original Xbox

From xbmc.org:

XBMC (XBMP really) started as a program for modified XBOX consoles. In the following years, XBMC has grown into a multi-platform, multi-architecture media center that runs on most standard hardware. The hardware and legal limitations of the XBOX were always a concern and the Team has instead focused on running on the hardware that most people already have.

The last official release for the XBOX by the XBMC team was Atlantis, over 18 months ago. Since then, one brave soul (Arnova) has been merging code from the main codebase into the XBOX branch in our repository. Because there were many users out there that took advantage of these updates, we had no problem with this.

But times have changed. The XBOX has hard limits for what it can handle. Some users are satisfied with these limits, and we encourage them to use XBMC there if they are happy. But it is a popular misconception that official XBOX development is still taking place by the team, so we have decided to set it free. We have enough on our plates already, and worrying about a deprecated platform just increases our workload. A few days ago the XBOX branch was finally removed from our subversion repository.

But loyal XBMC for XBOX users fear not! In addition to his role as an XBMC developer, Arnova plans to continue development on the XBOX -- just not here. You can find the new project's home at sourceforge. We're leaving it in his hands to decide how to handle the project's administration. How he manages the forum, bug tracker, scm, developers, etc. is up to him. In other words, don't complain to us ;-)

In order to help users to find relevant help and discussion, we will be making the XBOX section of our forum read-only on Monday, June 07. It may be moved in the future, but for now it will stay for reference. This also means the end of XBOX support in the wiki and IRC. Arnova has requested a snapshot of the wiki that he may host if he wishes as we begin to prune XBOX-specfic information from ours.

We wish Arnova and the project the best of luck as we bid a fond farewell to a big part of our past.

Official Site: xbmc.org
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

May 27 2010, 02:46 AM

Rumor: Natal To Cost 149USD?

Natal will launch in the US this October with a price tag of $149.

That's according to a trusted source, who told us that the motion sensing camera will also be bundled with the Xbox 360 Arcade console for $299. The figure for the standalone unit is significantly higher than a previous sub-£50 estimate, but less than pricing recently suggested by European retailers. It's also more expensive than Sony's Natal rival Move, which will be available later this year with a game for less than $100.

Our source said that the device has been pencilled in for an October 26 worldwide launch, although we were advised that the date could yet shift by a few weeks either way.

Full Story: edge-online.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

May 22 2010, 03:16 AM

JungleFlasher v0.1.74 (138)

Team Jungle released a new version (v0.1.74) of JungleFlasher(info).

What's new/fixed:
* Key Verification - thanks to C4eva
Routines will validate a key against the attached drive 100%
Routine added to:
- DVDkey32 Extract, also as key ver is 100%, 6 dumps no longer necessary
- LO83info Extract, also as key ver is 100%, 2 dumps no longer necessary
- Source and Target context menus

* IO port refresh
Extra checks to determine drive hardware type, as opposed the Inquiry info.
Key is easily queryied from Samsung and Hitachi pre 78, can grab key, verify and lookup KeyDB.
Lite-On Barcode uniquely identifies drive, look-Up Barcode in KeyDB and verify
Fancy icon on the Drive Properites group box and tooltip to display Key and KeyDB info.
Context menu on Drive Properties to peform KeyDb functions ( load files etc )

* KeyDB
Now index by Lite-on barcode, barcode will be added at next refresh for rapid Drive ID.
Added an new field call LastFile, this will point to file last used to update KeyDb.
Useful if you want to refresh KeyDb with all your Lite-On files.
This is used on Drive Properties Context Menu, to load an OFW.

* Dummy from KeyDB **New**
There are 3 parts to this
- for and identified Lite-On this will use the verified key and grab all other dummy data and build it
- for un-identified Lite-On, will test ALL keys in KeyDB and return on a successful hit, build dummy as above
- for non lite-on, will test ALL keys in KeyDB and return on a successful hit.

* USB Com Port Enumeration
Will properly report device types in Vista and Win 7 - FTDIxxx.dll dependancy removed

Official Site: twitter.com/TeamJungle | www.jungleflasher.net
Download JungleFlashe: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

May 1 2010, 02:48 AM

Xtractor 2 Remote Command Specs and Xtractor 2 Firmware v1.3

From 360xtractorpro.com:

We finally finished the Remote Command Specification document for coders, we are bundling it with the Remote Command Application (the one you see on the Feature Demonstration Video), we included also the Source Code of the Application as reference. If you are just curious and want to test without compile we included the executable ready to run (Requires .net framework 3.5 installed on your PC). You can find the Specification and Application on the Downloads Section or also Clicking Here.

Also we are releasing the Firmware Update 1.3 fixing some stability issues and adding new buzzer feature, this update can be obtained from the Downloads Section its also included on the above document for simplicity.

Official Site: www.360xtractorpro.com
Buy Maximus Xtractor2: divineo.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 26 2010, 03:06 AM

Surfer Girl: Slim 360 to be unveiled at E3... 360 rebrand inbound *Update: Fake*

From Surfer Girl's Blog:

MS will reveal a slim 360 natal bundle at one of their two (yes, two) press conferences at this year's e3.

What's more the 360 will be getting a subtle rebrand, with a new logo and black as the new primary colour of the console. They feel that the new system needs to be black because a white Natal wouldn't sit well next to the typical gloss black tv.

The new system design is pretty neat.

And Natal? Let's just say you'll probably be both very surprised and very pleased by one of the games revealed... what is it?
Might Get Shot if I were to tell.

!Update! - OK the rumor was fake - altho we're probably still gonna see a Slim 360 and Natal at E3.

News-Source: newsoftrockhallelujah.blogspot.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 23 2010, 01:58 AM

Xtractor 2 Manual and first Firmware Update Release

From 360xtractorpro.com:

We are releasing the very first version of the Manual (still work in process) for those users who got your Xtractor 2 units earlier. You can locate it on the Downloads Section. We are preparing now the sample applications and the Remote Command documentation for coders.

Also we had reports of Xtractor 2 causing problems with Spear not allowing reading keys with DVDKey/DVDKey32(info) in Jungleflasher, we traced the bug and we are issuing the first Firmware Update for Xtractor 2. You can find it on our Downloads Section. Its recomended you read the Manual (Section 6) to learn how to update the firmware of your Xtractor 2

Official Site: www.360xtractorpro.com
Buy Maximus Xtractor2: divineo.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 22 2010, 03:55 PM

Team Jungle: 'Samsung iXtreme LT on the way' and Key Vertification Routines

Team Jungle posted an update on their twitter page:

Sammy Lt on the way, no ETA. JF Team adding our key vertification routines More details about the key vertification routines was posted on their forums:

Recently, c4eva contacted us with a proposal for a key verification procedure.

Basically, with known key to hand you can check it against a connected drive. These procedures have always been been there, but now we can use them to our advantage. They are clearly visible in C4eva's live logs.

OK.... So we messed with the routines for a few hours as per C4eva's instructions and with a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, we got them to work.

As for a known key, you should have them in your database.
So we are adding a couple of routines.

1. Simply bang every key you have at the drive until it hits the right one.... Simples! It does a hundred keys in a couple of seconds.... Brutal, but effective.
2. Lite-on have a unique identifier in their Inquiry. So, on a port refresh, a lite-on can be readily identified and the key returned and verified - Uber Cool -
3. So we are adding an index to the KeyDB against the drive barcode, to take advantage of 2 above. KeyDB refreshes will also update existing entries..

The team are testing an bashing around ideas on what to do once you have the key...

Official Site: www.jungleflasher.net | twitter.com/TeamJungle
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 18 2010, 10:56 PM

Xecuter CK3-CP Jungle Flasher Navigation Demo

From team-xecuter.com:

The final development phase of the much anticipated CK3-CP is proceeding at full pace. We can't wait to release what will be THE defacto 360 firmware tool - and much more. Here's another video to give you a peak at how the LCD navigates some of the Jungle Flasher functions :)

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 18 2010, 05:40 AM

Video Demonstration of Main Features of Xtractor 2

From 360xtractorpro.com:

Here is a small video showing some of the Main Features of Xtractor 2, as you can appreciate after watching the video we have put lot of effort and hard work on this redesign. I would like to thank everyone involved. There is More to come !!

Official Site: www.360xtractorpro.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 16 2010, 03:19 AM

Maximus Xtractor 2

From 360xtractorpro.com:

We are proud to announce the latest member in Maximus product family, the new Xtractor 2, will preserve all functionality of the 1x series and add new and interesting features. This product is just a small taste of what it comes this year in Maximus. Thanks to all customers and resellers who support us. We will keep improving every day to satisfy your needs.

Base Functionality :
- Supplies Power to 360 DVD Drives including Eject function or all drives
- Compatible with All Xbox 360 DVD Drives (Hitachi, Samsung, Benq, including all Lite-on drives
- Selectable Mode-B for Hitachi Drives
- Serial Key Reading via USB or RS232 (serial) (for Liteon 74 series)
- Resettable PPTC Fuses
- Compatible with Vampire and Spear
- Power LED/Flash mode LED/USB visual activity LED
- Compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7 and DOS
- Electrically Safe, operate in the voltages required for the DVD Drive

New Features on XT2:
- Button Forces 0x72 mode on Liteon Drives with a single button press when used with vampire rebuild board
- Automatic Half Tray with a single button press
- New and improved main power controller.
- Onboard Firmware Updateable via USB or RS232 (which allows expandable functionality)
- Remote Commander feature, which can allow total control of the Xtractor 2 by a PC application (The application can now invoke drive commands, like Eject Close, Half Tray, Force mode 0x72, it will be possible to design a full automatic flashing procedure application with minimal or no user intervention for turning on/off the drive, etc.)
- Free remote command software available to application developers, which can be expanded with firmware updates as required
- Drive connector cable with color indication for proper installation
- Selectable communication port with the PC via Jumpers (RS232/USB)
- Audible feedback thru onboard buzzer.
- Unique Serialization / Genuine Checks

SHIPPING TO RESELLERS START NEXT WEEK.
RRP: $45 USD

Official Site: www.360xtractorpro.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 16 2010, 02:29 AM

Xecuter NAND-X JTAG Kits Update

From Team Xecuter:

I usually don't talk about JTag hardware or software because that can lead to a lot, but when something like this comes along it can't be over looked check out the JTAG Connection Kit.

Many users have asked us about the different JTAG kit designs that we mentioned yesterday. We are sending a bunch of different variations out to many different testers of varying skill over the next few days so we will have the perfect universal solution for you confirmed by next week. Not only are there versions designed for the top of the Xbox motherboard but we've also designed variations for the alternate points on the bottom of the motherboard, using BAT41 diodes where necessary and utilizing a 3 mode Multi-R resistor feature (0 / 330 / 470). Here's a couple of pictures of the various versions:

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Pre-Order NAND-X: mrmodchips
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 15 2010, 04:17 PM

Xecuter LT CLIP, LT SWITCH 2 and CK3-CP, NAND-X JTAG, CK3 Probe 2 Update

From Team Xecuter:

We have been extremely busy these past few weeks, so we figured we'd give you one big update to keep you up to speed with whats going on at the Xecuter factory.

1. Xecuter LT Clip
After a great deal of brainstorming we are pleased to finally announce the perfect solution for all Liteon DVD drives. Utilizing a completely innovative design we have been able to create a special clip that simply plugs onto the Liteon PCB with no wires, no solder and no conductive glue. Simply make your MRA hack trace cuts and connect the Xecuter LT Clip - that's it. We have even included a continuity tester into the circuit. Push a button and if its a Red LED = Bad Trace Cuts, a Green LED = Good Trace Cuts :) The Xecuter Clip has been designed to work with both the new CK3 Probe 2 and also the new LT Switch 2. Available at the end of April.

2: LT Switch 2
The latest design in the best selling LT Switch series of products. The LT Switch v2 goes hand in hand with the LT Clip. Once the clip is installed you simply plug the LT Switch v2 into the the DVD drive via its own special DVD Power cable. Note: This does not replace the LT Switch v1.5, it operates the same as the current LT Switch v1.5 which includes the essential Multi-R feature for those difficult 93450 drives - it is designed specifically for the users who don't want to do any soldering or have to take any major risks with their DVD drive. It doesn't get any easier than this !

3. CK3-CP Update
The long awaited CK3-CP is in its final stages of development. Now includes complete Jungle Flasher integration with full LCD output and its own custom designed menus. Imagine just a couple of button presses would connect to the Liteon drive, auto eject to half tray, auto power cycle to vendor mode and then dump / write the firmware. The first completely functional unit to be designed for all your 360 DVD needs - and much much more. This is the crowning jewel in the CK3 line of products so expect many more updates in the next couple of weeks. For more information on the CK3-CP, it has its own forums here.

4. NAND-X JTAG Update
We have been doing some further development with JTAG to improve the connections and stability on various different motherboard types and scenarios. After been given 37 different motherboards that all had issues of RROD or intermittent failures - we are pleased to tell you that after several revisions, additions and design changes to the JTAG kit (very different from the first pictures we showed you), each and every single one now works with no errors. We have put a lot of effort into making sure that any type of JTAG kit from us is commercial grade and tested as such, and not just a couple of pcb's with wires and diodes - that simply will not work on a universal scale.

We have put together a bunch of test kits for final analysis by several of the scenes best known JTAG'ers and they will put them through every scenario before they are given the GO for production. This is how its done when the product isn't rushed !

5. CK3 Probe 2 Update
After taking great care in its development, the new CK3 Probe 2 has been receiving rave reviews. thanks to the co-operation of the JF Team, it is the first and only product of its kind to offer Full Read and Write on all model Liteons (including the Winbond Chipset) without the need to solder in any rebuild PCB, the first and only one of its kind to have dual Probe v1 and MRA function all in one device, not to mention the essential Multi-R feature for stubborn 93450 DVD drives and a circuit protection system when in Probe v1 mode. For the bulk users who want a fast, all-in-one, reliable solution this is the only option for Liteon drives. You can either solder the MRA trace cuts or use conductive glue and have no soldering at all - its your choice.
The full review by Team Jungle can be seen here

6. and finally.......XFRAG Update
We get asked a lot about this :) Due to all the new projects the XFRAG got kinda put on the back burner. Apologies to those who have waited a long time for us to release. Just to let you know it was sent to our packaging partners for final retail design. Won't be long now lol :p
Xecuter XFRAG

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 10 2010, 12:33 AM

Maximus Vampire works with Winbond Chipset Liteon Drives

From 360xtractorpro.com:

About rumours from Vampire not working with Winbond flash Liteon Drives, here is a small proof in video that Vampire DOES NOT HAVE such issues. The Vampire tool was released 2.5 months ago and is the #1 seller on his kind.

As you should know there are currently 2 brands of memory chipsets embeded into the Liteon Drives, one is Macronix (Vendor ID 0xC7), other is Winbond (Vendor ID 0xEF), the read and flash procedure if you use the Vampire is transparent to the user for both cases.

Official Site: 360xtractorpro.com
Buy Maximus Vampire ($15): divineo.com | homebrewdev.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 7 2010, 11:02 PM

Canada: RCMP says modifying a video game console punishable by 10y in jail

From nationalpost.com:

Attention Canadian gamers: be careful if you decide to modify your video game console. The decision to do so could land you in prison.

Modifying a video game console such as a PlayStation3 or Xbox 360 is a crime in Canada and could result in a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, according to a recent release from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

"Modifying a console and computer is considered an illegal act under section 342.1 of the Criminal Code and is punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years," the RCMP said in the statement.

Full Story: nationalpost.com | rcmp-grc.gc.ca (thx to GaryOPA for the news)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 6 2010, 05:51 PM

Xbox 360 System Update Released - USB Memory Support, Un-Criple HDDs

Microsoft released the new system update (9199):

We've just released a system update for the Xbox 360 over Xbox LIVE. As previously announced, this system update contains support for USB Memory storage devices.

Sometime over the next few hours when you sign in to Xbox LIVE you'll receive a prompt to accept this mandatory update. If you are signed into LIVE already, you may be signed out and asked to accept the update and you'll be back online in a few moments.

Read the FAQ on Xbox.com which may answer some of your questions.

Of course jtagged 360s shouldn't update ... they should wait for a new version of XBReboot/freeBOOT. 360s with modified DVD FWs update at own risk, as always !Update! This update will also un-criple HDDs of banned consoles (but will NOT unban ur console of course)

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 2 2010, 10:18 PM

Xecuter NAND-X Install Pics Part2 – JTAG

From Team Xecuter:

We recently showed you how to easily install the NAND-X using the included quicksolder pcb system, now here is an image to show you how easy and clean it is to install the JTAG hack to the 360 motherboard.

For this example we have used the Xenon motherboard. There are a number of features to note:
* All component strategies based on hundreds of user reports
* Tested on all motherboards Xenon, Falcon, Zephyr, Opus & Jasper
* All diodes used will be BAT41 (Maximum compatibility and success)
* Points 4 and 7 on J2D2 has a switchable 330 Ohm resistor (many reports of RROD on certain motherboards without it, and also many reports that it is not required on certain motherboards)
* Option to disable JTAG completely. We have basically added an "OFF" switch for those that need to disable the JTAG hack for whatever reason (testing, debugging, returning to stock etc). This of course saves you the time from having to desolder anything.
* This is the cleanest and most solid JTAG install you will find. No need for any circuits to disable the JTAG after so many seconds - no messy installs or bad parts causing RROD's.
* We are providing 2 x Cables for J2B1 (1 for Xenon and 1 for all other motherboards. Cut to the perfect length for optimum signal)

Full Story/Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Pre-Order NAND-X: mrmodchips
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 1 2010, 05:22 AM

Xecuter NAND-X Install Pics

From Team Xecuter:

A lot of people were asking how the NAND-X tool was installed to the motherboard. Was it really as easy as we claimed ? Answer: YES :)

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Buy NAND-X: mrmodchips
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 31 2010, 01:09 AM

Xecuter: NAND-X In Production; LT Switch v1.5 On Sale

Team Xecuter released updates about 2 of their new products:

I usually don't talk about JTag hardware or software because that can lead to a lot, but when something like this comes along it can't be over looked check out the JTAG Connection Kit.

* Xecuter NAND-X Now In Production
Xecuter presents the NAND-X & JTAG Connection Kit. Based on the proven and excellent NAND PRO USB Programmer designed by illustrious scene member Tiros, we have developed a very tight package that gives you everything you need without having to use any other parts or self-made cables and kits - and certainly without breaking the bank! Not only do we provide one of the fastest 360 NAND programmers currently available, but we have designed a very simple connection system using our popular and much used quicksolder PCB breakout boards. Also as a bonus we have integrated an expansion socket and an update port so you are able to update the firmware of the ARM Controller to make sure you can keep up to date with future new features, upgrades and add-ons. We have also included an optional pin header cable system just like the old XBOX LPC Days :) - so you can connect the NAND-X via quick solder pcb, pin header or use the color coded wires and solder straight to the 7 easy points.

We have also designed an easy to install JTAG Connection Kit that works on ALL Xbox 360 Motherboards - From Xenon thru to Jasper. Naturally if you want to JTAG your console it has to have a compatible dash / kernel version (The JTAG Connection Kits will also be sold separately for those that already have NAND programmers). A full range of tutorials and walk thrus will be available on our forums shortly.

Here is a brief run down of the NAND-X's features:
* Fast USB 360 NAND Programming
* Rock Solid 60Mhz ARM Controller
* Easy Install System for both NAND and JTAG
* Includes Quick Solder Connection Kit For NAND
* Includes Quick Solder Connection Kit For JTAG Hack (All Version Motherboards)
* Includes Optional Pin Header Connection Kit For NAND
* Includes Optional Pin Header Connection Kit For JTAG Hack (All Version Motherboards)
* Built-in Programmer For Future NAND-X Firmware Upgrades (Windows App Available)
* Add-on Expansion Socket Included
* Proven Technology - Based On NAND Pro Design
* 100% Compatible with NAND Pro v2.0e
* Rock Solid Design - Tested by many JTAGER'S
* High Quality & Trusted Xecuter Design
* Complete with ALL cables required including USB
* Multiple NAND & JTAG Connection Kits Sold Separately for Bulk Installers (Will be cheap - like LT Switch)
* Affordable - We Provide You With More For Less !

Production has now begun so we expect delivery to arrive sometime in April. RRP is set at around £24.95 / $34.95 however a small number of resellers are offering a special pre-order promotional price of just £19.95 / $29.95 !!!
For those that have an interest in how projects like Nand-X evolve through the prototype stages - here is a fun chart we made for your reference - check out this image

* LT Switch v1.5 On Sale
This is the new Xecuter LT Switch v1.5 - the latest version in the best selling Xecuter LT Switch range.

Now Includes MULTI-R Function. It was discovered that a small number of Liteon drives would not dump the firmware with a 20 ohm resistor - but required an 18 Ohm or 22 Ohm resistor - so now you can select between 18, 20 and 22 Ohms ! (Default should be set to 20 Ohms - this will work 99% of the time)

The installation is very simple and takes about 5 minutes if you have some small experience with a soldering iron. It has been tested with the latest Jungle Flasher 0.1.73. All Liteon drive versions have been tested with 100% Success (Including the troublesome Winbond IC). There is no need to remove the LT Switch after it has been installed - simply switch to normal mode and you are good to go. Even if you have to upgrade in the future - you don't have to touch the switch again !

Don't be fooled by more expensive copycat products. This is the only solution you need to do a very simple job. Remember this product follows the K.I.S.S engineering principle (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID) :)
You can read a review by Team Jungle HERE

Features:
* The Only Liteon Solution Recommended By Team Jungle !
* Enables Read/Write on ALL Liteon 74850, 83850, 93450 DVD Drives
* Easy & Simple Install - Install Once & Forget
* Enable / Disable Switch
* Multi-R Switch (18, 20, 22 Ohms)
* Supports both Winbond & MXIC Chipset
* On/Off LED
* Completely Undetectable
* No Need To Uninstall
* Works with ALL tools including the latest Jungle Flasher
* Full Installation Tutorial - CLICK HERE

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Buy NAND-X: mrmodchips | modtraders.co.uk
Buy LT Switch v1.5: modtraders.co.uk | ck3.co.uk
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 30 2010, 05:42 PM

Official Xbox 360 USB Drives Over Priced‎

From ign.com:

Retailer GameStop has posted the price and release date for the Xbox 360-branded USB drives. It seems Microsoft hasn't exactly learned how to competitively price its accessories.

There will be two different sizes, an 8GB and 16GB version. According to the product listing, the 8GB size will retail for $39.99, while the 16GB will retail for $69.99. The USB drives will ship on April 6, according to the listings. Of course, if those prices sound too big for you, the new storage feature allows users to insert any 3rd party USB drive, but will only dedicate a maximum of 16GB for each.

Full Story: ign.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 26 2010, 02:46 PM

Microsoft Confirms USB Storage coming April 6th

From Mike Sharkey:

Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb confirmed today what the rumor mill has been reporting for a week: USB storage is coming to the Xbox 360 on April 6.

Via a system update over Live, Microsoft will allow Xbox 360 owners to use USB flash drives to store profiles, game saves, demos, and any other digital media that can fit on 16 GB -- Microsoft's USB storage cap. USB hard drives "may work," Major Nelson stated, but they will also be subject to the 16 GB cap.

Major Nelson also confirmed that two USB drives can be used at once for a total of 32 GB of storage, adding that enhanced memory management functions will allow for better control of digital storage.

Once the system update is downloaded, any USB drive over 1GB can be used. However, the drives will not be automatically formatted -- that can be handled in the console's Memory menu. Microsoft did announce it has partnered with SanDisk to offer a pre-formatted USB flash drive. In conjunction with the USB storage announcement, Microsoft confirmed it is phasing out its Memory Units.

Official Site: gamespy.com - majornelson.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 25 2010, 09:11 AM

It's Official: Standalone 250GB Hard Drive Now Available for Xbox 360

From Paul Lilly:

We've been hearing rumors that Microsoft would make available a standalone 250GB hard drive for its Xbox 360 console, even though it was just over a month ago that Xbox Live Product Manager Aaron Greenber denied any plans to offer the larger unit outside of special bundles. Greenbrier apparently didn't get the memo.

"Make sure you have enough space for the content you love," Microsoft announced on the Xbox 360 Dashboard. "The 250GB Hard Drive is the perfect storage option for your Xbox 360 Console, with plenty of space to hold all your downloaded games, movies, television shows, music, and more. Purchase one today at a participating retailer or visit http://www.xbox.com/accessories for more information."

We did just that, and sure enough, the standalone drive is now available for purchase. The 250GB upgrade comes with a data transfer kit so you won't have to worry about losing your saved data, and is also packed with HD game demos, videos, and an assortment of Xbox LIVE Arcade game trials - in other words, console crapware. The 250GB standalone drive sells for $130, while the 120GB has been cut to $100.

Official Site: xbox.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 23 2010, 06:25 PM

Xbox 360 250GB Hard Drive Released in the US

From the press release:

Available in stores today, Xbox 360 introduces the 250GB Hard Drive, which offers more space to store your favorite game and entertainment content. Available at the incredible value of $129.99 (U.S ERP), the 250GB Hard Drive offers more freedom to download the latest demos, Xbox LIVE Arcade games, full game titles with Games on Demand, TV shows, movies and more straight to your Xbox 360 console.

Xbox LIVE is the premier destination to download the best games and entertainment at the touch of a button, 24x7. With a growing library of more than 13,000 pieces of gaming content, and more than 25,000 movies, TV episodes and music videos available to download or stream instantly - you're bound to find something you love.

Want to express your personality and style on Xbox LIVE? With the added storage space of the 250GB Hard Drive, it makes it easy to download and save new Avatar clothes and props from your favorite clothing brands and games, including Roxy, Quiksilver, Adidas, tokidoki, "Halo," "Gears of War" and more. Or, download a pet to keep your Avatar company.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 20 2010, 11:36 PM

JungleFlasher v0.1.73

Team Jungle released a new version (v0.1.73) of JungleFlasher(info) compatible with the latest version of C4eva's iXtreme LT.

What's new/fixed:
* Lite-On, Benq LT ver 1.1 Support.
* General Support
Better support for 125% / 120dpi in win 7
Bad DevID trap, Message to disable MRA mod and continue.
Links in IRC browser tab will load to default browser rather than IE
* DVDKey32(info)
Reg setting Delay32 adjustable from GUI, right click DVDkey32 button.
This will delay key extract to allow time to position probe.
See ver 0.1.59 nfo.
* LO-Erase
ESC to cancel failing intro after LO-Erase
* Bad Sammy-Un-Lock Key fix
Will launch automatically on see symptoms... CTRL + SHIFt + F10 still works
Dummy from IX
Trap added to fail if key appears as regular inquiry data 05 80 00 32.......

Official Site: twitter.com/TeamJungle | forums.jungleflasher.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 20 2010, 11:36 PM

C4eva BenQ and LiteOn iXtreme LT v1.1

C4eva presents, in association with Team Jungle and TeamXecuter: BenQ iXtreme LT v1.1 and LiteOn iXtreme LT v1.1.

What's new/fixed (according to JungleJim):
* Liteon v1.1: improved media recognition for those with dirty disc error
* Benq v1.1: bug fix [KNOWN security vulnerability] ... this is a must update

Official Site: twitter page
Download iXtreme LT v1.1: n/a (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 18 2010, 07:45 PM

Xbox 360 gaining USB storage support in 2010 update

Documentation obtained by Joystiq - and subsequently confirmed with two separate sources - reveals that "USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360" will soon be a reality. The document, authored by a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to "increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices, a 2010 Xbox 360 system update" will allow consumers to save and load game data from USB devices. The update is purportedly coming in Spring 2010.

Once the update occurs, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC and Title Updates to the storage device. "USB storage devices may, however, have far greater memory capacity than MUs (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB), and may therefore support previously infeasible operations-such as installation of a full disc-based title." That's right, you can also store disc-based games to the USB device; however, it will require the disc to be in the tray for authentication, identical to the current functionality.

According to the document, the USB mass storage device must be at least 1GB and the system will do a compatibility check. "The system partition occupies 512 MB of space, and by default the consumer partition occupies the remainder of the device capacity, or 16 GB, whichever is smaller." Upon inserting a blank USB storage device, "consumers are offered two choices: 'Configure now' or 'Customize'." The "Configure now" option will use "the entire device capacity, up to the maximum of 512 MB plus 16 GB" meaning, regardless of the overall size of the device you're using, the Xbox will only enable 16 GB of usable, non-system storage. The "Customize" option will allow you to "preserve some pre-existing, non-console data on the device" such as music.

Full Story: joystiq.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 17 2010, 03:25 PM

Xbox 360 Valhalla chipset pictured, 360 Slim? *Update*

From hexus.net:

An image of what is believed to be a forthcoming Xbox 360 chipset revision has been leaked onto the Internet. The board, pictured below, is said to be the successor to the current chipset - codenamed Jasper - and features both the Xbox 360 GPU and CPU on a single die.

The combination of the two is thought to have been made possible by a die shrink, presumably to 45nm.

Thought to be codenamed Valhalla, the chipset appears to be a drastic redesign from current Xbox 360 boards. The Valhalla PCB (printed circuit board) appears to be smaller than all previous iterations, and a shuffle of I/O port positioning suggests that the board will surface in a new Xbox 360 chassis. Here's an image of the CPU/GPU 'combochip' with the heatsink removed below.

News-Source: hexus.net | bbs.a9vg.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 14 2010, 03:56 AM

Xecuter CK3-CP Update, XFRAG 360, CK3 Probe v2 and New LT Switch v1.5

Lots of news from Team Xecuter:

+++ Xecuter CK3-CP Update

The Xecuter CK3-CP is the crown jewel in the range of CK3 products. We have combined all the functionality of the CK3 Pro plus into a fully featured PC driven LCD Display & Control Panel, not to mention a slew of new automated features. Please note that the following image is a prototype. We expect to begin shipping sometime in April 2010.

* Fits into any 5.25″ PC bay
* 2×16 Custom Design LCD Display
* 4 x Button Directional Keypad (e.g Jungle Flasher No-Mouse Operation)
* 1 x SATA Port
* 2 x USB 2.0 Ports
* CK3 Power Connector for any XBOX 360 DVD Drive
* Xbox 360 DVD Eject Button
* IVM (Intelligent Vendor Mode) - Software can control DVD Power and Eject (inc half tray) for fully automated DVD fw access (vendor mode etc)
* 2 x Programmable LED's (Many uses with apps like Jungle Flasher)
* When not being used for CK3, the LCD can be used to display ANY information (Huge Possibilities)
* LCD Smartie open source software is fully compatible with the LCD. Includes custom driver.
* The LCD display is fully customizable from the PC, including the directional pad and the notification LED's.
* LCD backlight and contrast are software controllable.
* The simplified and robust protocol allows anyone from hobbyists to professionals to interface the CK3 CP.
* Great for displaying system statistics like temperature, cpu usage, and ram.
* Compatible with all versions of Windows. Most linux distributions and even PowerPC and Intel Macintosh systems.

CK3 Related (Sources and info available for 3rd party software developers)
* IVM (Intelligent Vendor Mode) - DVD Power and Eject (inc half tray) full software controlled
* The LCD display can guide you step by step when flashing a 360 drive (or other app functions)
* Any input inquiry can be done right on the directional pad - and also an OK/ENTER button.
* No need to keep looking to the monitor or fiddling with the mouse to control the PC for the next step.
* Metal frame means the unit is sturdy and reliable.
* CK3-CP works with all current 360 drives.
* Industry standard, PL2303 transceiver for communication. This means you get great stability and compatibility.

+++ Xecuter XFRAG 360 Launched

The Xecuter XFRAG 360 is the ultimate accessory for the hardcore gamer who craves the accuracy and freedom of using their beloved keyboard and mouse on an Xbox 360. We have looked at other products on the market and taken it to the next level by looking at gamers wish lists and then fine tuning every aspect of quality and performance and giving it to you at a price that doesn't break the bank. This device is not meant for the average gamer who likes to take pot shots at tin cans, this is for the gamer who loves to frag the living hell out of anything that moves - whether it be Call Of Duty, Gears of War, Rainbow Six or Halo - you will simply OWN anything that crosses your path. For the discerning Playstation addict - you can even connect a PS2 DualShcok2 controller to your Xbox 360 (though why anybody would prefer the PS2 controller over the soul-soothing goodness that is a 360 controller is beyond us) - we've added it anyway !

We have struck a deal that will see this distributed in several global high street retail chains so you can be sure to be able to get your hands on one of these for only $69.95! (Similar products sell for upto $100)

Features:
* Connect a PS/2 or USB keyboard & Mouse to the Xbox 360
* Connect a Playstation DualShock2 controller to the Xbox 360
* All Xbox 360 buttons including analogue can be mapped to any keys on the keyboard
* Rapid Fire and Auto Fire Function (8 Customizable Buttons)
* Adjustable X&Y Mouse Sensitivity
* Compatible with most PS/2 or USB Keyboard & Mouse combination's
* Compatible with all Xbox 360 Games
* Compatible with all Xbox 360 Console Versions
* Compatible with both CL & the new Matrix Xbox 360 Wired Controllers
* Connect any PS2 peripheral including Guitars, Dance mats, Light Guns, Racing Wheels etc
* Trusted Xecuter Design & Quality

+++ CK3 Probe v2 First Batch Available & New LT Switch v1.5

As previously announced the CK3 Probe v2 shipment was on hold due to the delay on the custom made conductive glue shipment. Due to the quantity it was not allowed to be flown on a airplane so had to be transported by ship (which has caused an 8 week delay). However we have been inundated with requests to release a batch of the stock without the glue as many of you are simply prepared just to do the trace repairs yourselves. Naturally we have instructed the resellers who are selling without the glue to give a discount and to make sure that you are made aware that the glue is not included. It is on its way so if you are desperate for the no-solder solution then you'll have to wait a couple more weeks.

The good news is that while we were waiting for the glue we had time to add a new feature called MULTI-R which is also a new feature that we have added to an upgraded version of the ridiculously popular LT Switch.

With the help of TeaJunkie on our forums who has become somewhat of a go-to guy for repairing Liteon PCB's that some of you had butchered in a frenzy of solder-hate, we discovered a very small number of DVD drives that simply would not switch to vendor mode. Now before a thousand of you who couldn't get 0×72 vendor mode start waving your hands, the number of returned drives with this error was 2 out of 63 drives. The majority of the time it was user error. However even if there is a small chance of an issue, we had to find a solution and implement it. After input from other experienced members and various articles on the same problem, we found that the LT Switch default resistor level of 20 Ohms could sometimes be too much or not enough for a small number of DVD drives (we found that the majority of drives that ever showed this issue were the Liteon 93450). So our solution once again lends itself to the process of K.I.S.S (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID) - We added a switch bank so you could choose your level of resistor :) Your options are 18 Ohms, 20 Ohms (Default) and 22 Ohms. We have called this feature "MULTI-R" and it has now been implemented on the LT Switch v1.5 and the CK3 Probe v2.

We have also made sure that unlike other products, the underside of the PCB is protected against shortages from any exposed PCB traces (as implemented on the LT Switch v1) The New Designed LT Switch v1.5 with MULTI-R. On Sale From March 28th £5.95 / $8.95 (Bulk Discounts Available As Usual).

....and the new design CK3 Probe v2 with MULTI-R Feature. Note we have also color coded the Probes so they can be easily identified. Remember that unlike other products, the CK3 Probe v2 also has Probe v1 Support (Liteon 74850 Key Dump with No Trace Cuts), has its own power isolator switch so you can be completely safe against shortages even if your CK3 is turned on and no rebuild PCB's to solder. The new custom made conductive glue is absolutely fantastic and as soon as that's ready to ship we will let you know. In the meantime you can buy the CK3 probe v2 without the glue for just £11.95 / $17.95 - Stock is expected to arrive before March 28th.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Reviews of LT Switch, CK3 Pro, Blaster CK3 by Team Jungle: here, here and here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 5 2010, 05:06 AM

JungleFlasher v0.1.72 (101)

A new version of JungleFlasher(info) has been released.

What's new/fixed:
* Benq LT support

Official Site: jungleflasher.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 5 2010, 04:18 AM

C4E's BENQ iXtreme Lite Touch (LT)

C4E's LT DVD firmware for BENQ drives has been released:

C4E's iXtreme Lite Touch (LT) in association with Team Jungle & Team Xecuter

After a long development and testing process we give you the first official release of the iXtreme LT
- Supports all BenQ Drives (62430C, 64930C)
- Supports all Liteon Drives (74850, 83850V1, 83850V2, 93450)
- Totally re-written code optimised for minimal patching
- Whole banks of firware now untouched
- New Drive response timing engine accurately mimics original drive timings
- Full disc stealth used by default
- Waveless booting , disc images are assumed to be correct!
- Split-Vid used as default

WARNINGS:
* Warning! Ensure all disc images are checked with abgx as LT assumes all stealth/ss/pfi/dmi is correct. Disc images must also be splitvid and preferred SS v2
* Warning! Lt will not save you from being banned if console is already flagged by using a previous firmware or non-stealth discs
* It is also advisable to apply all system updates before flashing with LT. All future console system updates (not game updates) must be applied with caution

THANKS:
* Thanks go to Team Jungle for their hard work and efforts in the development process.
* Thanks also go to Team Xecuter for their generous support to this project.

Official Site: n/a, by C4E, Team Jungle & Team Xecuter
Download: twitter.com/TeamJungle (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 2 2010, 12:11 AM

Run Jungle Flasher Win7 x64 With Perm Disabled Driver Signing – No More F8

From team-xecuter.com:

As you may (or may not) know, the new 64bit compatible Jungle Flasher requires you to disable the Windows 7 driver signing policy by hitting F8 every time you boot up as the 64 bit PortIO driver isn't digitally signed.

After a bit of digging we found a nice workaround that completely patches the Windows Patchguard system. No more F8 and rebooting and no more Test Mode - works 100%

All info and files were found on fyyre.ivory-tower.de - so full credits go to Fyyre (Follow his Twitter) The patch is a simple 3 stage process and is completely uninstallable. Takes just a few seconds to implement.

This patch is for Windows 7 X64. It directly modifies ntoskrnl.exe & winload.exe to remove Microsoft's "PatchGuard" and requirement of driver signing. This is accomplished by patching 6 bytes inside ntoskrnl.exe and four bytes inside of winload.exe. I originally made this for myself... wanting to again be able to hook inside of ntoskrnl like with X86 Windows.

Copy the files to your desktop. First run 1.cmd, then 2.exe and click patch, then run 3.cmd. After reboot select Patchguard Disabled option and thats it
http://fyyre.l2-fashion.de/projects/disable_pg_ds.rar

Full Story: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 27 2010, 07:35 PM

JungleFlasher v0.1.71 (98)

A new version of JungleFlasher(info) has been released.

What's new/fixed:
* No Lite-On LT spoofing
No longer says copied ID strings when target is LT
No longer Shows false spoof when LT is "spoofed" with older JF ver
- previous versions are not forward compatible with LT
- they may put spoof in place but LT will ignore it.

* Hitachi Support
Bug fix - master checksum now set when auto-spoofing Stock Hitachi
Master Checksum now set when spoofing stock Hitachi in firmtools.
Bug fix - JF no longer crashes when saving encrypted Hitachi.

* General Support
IRC tab that calls a Java IRC client in embedded browser window
requires 2 dll's... included

Official Site: jungleflasher.net
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 7 2010, 02:44 AM

Xecuter CK3-CP (CK3 Control Panel)

Team Xecuter sent xbox-scene details about one of their new upcoming products:

The Xecuter CK3-CP (CK3 Control Panel)

5 1/4" PC Bay Complete Control Panel for all Xbox 360 Connectivity Functionality and more !
Custom LCD Support
Integrated CK3 Pro (Rev D USB)
External SATA
2 x USB 2.0 Ports
Compatible with ALL Xbox 360 DVD Drives
Hardware Mode-B For Hitachi Drives
Hardware Eject For All Drives
4 Programmable Directional Keypad
Programmable LCD Output
Programmable LED Interface
100% Smartie LCD Driver Support
Power Switch For DVD Vendor Mode
Includes SATA Cable

More features and 3rd party software support to be announced soon.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 7 2010, 03:13 AM

Team Xecuter xDrive 360 – Black Edition

After many requests we have made the xDrive 360 Black Edition for those with the Elite consoles. The price is the same as the first xDrive 360 and will be available from all Xecuter retailers from next week. Note to current xDrive Users: Remember to switch to your internal stock (unflashed) DVD drive when performing system updates ;)

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 7 2010, 03:10 AM

iXtreme LT for BenQ completed - Testing - Coming Soon!

>> Team Jungle/C4Eva posted a new update on their twitter page:

BenQ LT complete, debugging and testing.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 5 2010, 07:48 PM

Xbox LIVE being discontinued for Original Xbox consoles and games

On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn't a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.

Seven years ago we laid out our vision for the connected console when we launched Xbox LIVE. We believed then that the power of the Internet to connect people would revolutionize living room entertainment. It started with amazing multiplayer games, and we've since seen that bet pay off again and again with the launches of Xbox 360, Marketplace, Netflix and powerful social features like Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. None of this would have been possible without the success of LIVE as a multiplayer gaming network.

There's no greater example of the power of the Xbox LIVE community than the "Halo" franchise. "Halo 2" has had an amazing run on LIVE, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play video games. And while it's difficult to see that run come to an end, the "Halo" franchise continues to act as the benchmark for multiplayer gaming in this generation, with "Halo 3," "Halo 3: ODST" and soon "Halo: Reach" on Xbox 360.

Your Xbox LIVE community has grown to 23 million strong. And as we look down the road, we'll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games. We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.

We'll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox LIVE. I believe we'll look back on 2010 as a landmark year in gaming and home entertainment, and I couldn't be more excited about what we have in store with "Project Natal" and LIVE. The LIVE community is the driving force behind everything we do, and it's because of the community that ground-breaking experiences on Xbox continue to be possible.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 2, 2010 04:56 PM

Xecuter Ck3 Probe V2, The First No Solder Liteon Solution

After the amazing success of our LT Switch solution, we are pleased to launch the latest addition to the CK3 family of products – the CK3 Probe v2. This is targeted to installers who require a multi-use no solder solution to the new Liteon drives.

Still retaining the original CK3 Probe function of dumping the 74850 key, but now also enabling full firmware access of the new 83850V2 and 93450 drives – you can easily switch between PROBE and LT Switch Modes – A complete solderless solution ! The CK3 Probe 2 connects to both the CK3 Lite and CK3 Pro connectivity kits and includes full status LED's and an extra protection circuit against accidental shortages on the DVD PCB. Stock is expected to ship within 2 weeks. RRP $17.95

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 1, 2010 04:25 PM

MS now selling standalone 250GB HDD ... in Japan

Microsoft is bumping up the size on the external hard drive accessory for the Xbox 360 to 250 GB. The downside? It's only available in Japan...so far. Normally only sold as a part of a bundle with a new Xbox 360 gaming console, interested gamers will have the option to buy the larger hard drive as a stand-alone accessory. Set to be release in Japan on March 11, the new storage space key will cost ¥15,540 ($172.10)

Full Story: zdnet.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 1, 2010 04:09 PM

Maximus Xtractor Addon: Vampire

This device will help to professional installers to do the Firmware reading on the latest Liteon drives (83850V2 & 93450). Its based on the MRA concept and 100% compatible with all Xtractor units, it connects directly on the Xtractor pin port. It came with 2 visual indicators, one for polarity check and other for Vendor Mode.

This device release could confuse some people because we just released Litekey (click here).But the reason is simple, Litekey is intended for end users who want to install a device on their drives that simplify their lifes on future updates without having to re-open the drive, their main worry is about enjoying the console, they should not be bothered about plugging, wiring, switching, every time they update.

Now for the Professional Installers market, some installers could adopt Litekey for their regular daily mods, and they could simply pass the Litekey cost to end user (who ends with a more quality job). But there are other Installers who can feel leaving one Litekey soldered for every drive they mod is an un-needed expense, so basically they are 2 different markets, the vampire will cover the market that does not accept litekey as a choice and preffer a re-usable tool even when could require some more care and some extra steps to do the updates on the future.

But more to add to the confusion, Vampire didn't came alone !!! What is this small board that seems similar to litekey !!! Its Maximus trying to confuse us ?

This board is a rebuild board, do you remember having to wire up the traces that you cut at the beginning of the MRA method to read the Liteon Firmware? well, this board can be used to avoid doing that re-wire, while the use of this board IS NOT REQUIRED to use the Vampire, we are sure that the use of this board will simplify the full mod procedure, and it has a couple of extra features like making easy access to the probe spots for the vampire and at the end of the job you can choose route the PIN 101 to the power connector of the drive for future updates without re-open (with an upcoming tool). Simply use the rebuild board from the beginning of the installation and we are sure you will find it useful.

We have placed on our Downloads section 2 manuals, one for the use of the "Vampire with the rebuild board" (recomended) and other for using the "Vampire Standalone". We really want you give a try and we have bundled 2 Rebuild Boards for free on every Vampire sale (till new announcement). More rebuild boards can be acquired in affordable packs on your favorite reseller's store if you end adopting the concept.

Picture of the Kit Contents. Suggested Retail Price: 15 USD

Official Site: www.360xtractorpro.com/360xtractorpro/index.html
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 27, 2010 08:11 AM

Benq iXtreme LT almost completed!

Not really much more to say ... Team Jungle posted on their twitter page that the next iXtreme LT firmware we can expect will be for the BenQ drive: Benq LT almost complete!

Official Site: TeamJungle's TwitterPage
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 27, 2010 07:35 AM

Maximus 360 Litekey

Maximus introduced a new device for 83850V2 and 93450 Liteon Drives: This small device will put you at ease for those for those hard to do 83850V2 and 93450 Liteon Drives Maximus 360 Litekey.

Below you can see a video demonstration of an earlier prototype wich is mounted OUTSIDE the drive, the final version (very similar to the one above) its designed to mount inside the drive.

Feature List:
original design based on the mra concept
*Smart mtk mode, no need to open drive to flip any switch, just boot your drive with tray open
*Rebuild board at 100%
*Zero intrusion to the drive when in "normal mode"
*Undetectable when placed in disabled mode
*Allows disable/re-enable without opening your drive case again !!
*Compatible with latest dosflash and jungleflasher
*Visual mode indicators
*Permanent-enable mode
*Minimal current consumption
*Quicksolder pads (noob friendly)
*High quality materials

Led Indicators:
* Green: drive booted with tray closed, litekey sleeps and allow normal drive operation
* Red: drive booted with tray open and litekey started mtk vendor mode
* Green-Red: the drive started with tray open but litekey is disabled, allow normal drive operation

Official Site: maximusgames.net (thx to GaryOPA for the news)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 25, 2010 07:11 AM

New Xecuter CK3 USB Drivers v1.1.0

From team-xecuter
The CK3 Pro / Blaster CK3 drivers have been updated to include official Windows 7 x64 support and other minor changes. This installer is now a complete all-in-one driver package for all supported OS.

From the Readme:
CK3 PRO / BLASTER CK3 Driver Setup Installer
Release Notes:
CK3 Pro Driver Installer v1.1.0
Changes from Installer v1.0.6.26:
Driver Changes
* Windows 98/ME Driver: v2.0.0.19
* Windows 2000/XP/Server2003(32 & 64-bit) WDM WHQL Driver: v2.0.13.130
* Windows Vista/7/Server2008(32 & 64-bit) WDF WHQL Driver: v3.3.10.140

Installer Changes -
* Fixed cannot run installer program in Windows 2000 SP4.
* Change version numbering format based on Installshield 3-digit format.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 24, 2010 02:26 AM

C4eva presents iXtreme Lite Touch (LT) in association with Team Jungle and Team Xecuter

After a great deal of development and anticipation we are pleased to announce for the first time that Team Xecuter are giving direct support to C4EVA to help his development capabilities and to make sure that the scene get's the best work from the scene's #1 360 firmware coder - for absolutely no cost at all times. Naturally donations are always welcome :p

Our thanks goes to Commodore4eva (C4EVA) and Team Jungle for their hard work in giving the scene these fantastic products. From The iXtreme LT NFO:

C4E's iXtreme Lite Touch (LT) in association with Team Jungle & Team Xecuter After a long development and testing process we give you the first official release of the iXtreme LT
* Supports all Liteon Drives (74850, 83850V1, 83850V2, 93450)
* Totally re-written code optimised for minimal patching
* Whole banks of firmware now untouched
* New Drive response timing engine accurately mimics original drive timings
* Full disc stealth used by default
* Waveless booting , disc images are assumed to be correct!
* Split-Vid used as default

###### WARNING ######
Warning! Ensure all disc images are checked with abgx as LT assumes all stealth/ss/pfi/dmi is correct. Disc images must also be splitvid and preferred SS v2 Warning! LT will not save you from being banned if console is already flagged by using a previous firmware or non-stealth discs It is also advisable to apply all system updates before flashing with LT. All future console system updates (not game updates) must be applied with caution!
###### WARNING ######

Thanks go to Team Jungle for their hard work and efforts in the development process.

In association with Team Jungle and Team Xecuter Also from Team Jungles' Twitter Page - news of the latest version of JungleFlasher In anticipation to LT, JungleFlasher v0.1.70(85S) has been released! Includes full support for the upcoming iXtreme LT firmware.

From the Jungle Flasher NFO:
**Lite On Support
Auto-Load Lite-Touch firmwares Calibration data
*spoof copies calibration data if present in source
*dummy from traget will place calibration data in dummy v2 at same location
Secret Inquiry
*performed before LO83info to identify 83 v2 and abort sequence
*performed for DVDKey, Lo83info and Dummy from iXtreme and added to dummy v2 to differientiate 83v1 & 83v2
Legacy cross spoofing
*bug fixed, now working, sorry ;
New key locations
*long suspected 74 f/w's with 0x1a000 and 0x1b000 key sectors,
*both found recently, support added.

**Gerneral Support
EXplorer contexts fixed for start in JF.
EXplorer contexts fixed for Win 7.

Thanks go to Team Xecuter for their generous support to this project.

Xecuter CK3 Pro: team-xecuter.com
Download JungleFlasher v0.1.70(85S): jungleflasher.net
Download C4E's iXtreme Lite Touch (LT): twitter.com/TeamJungle (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 18, 2010 01:16 AM

iXtreme LT will release shortly as promised for free!

We have supported C4E and Team Jungle for some time now and it is so ridiculous to us when we see so much garbage and drama being posted around on different forums. First we see some sites trying to sell iXtreme LT for stupid amounts of money, then the price goes in half then it doubles then it shows as out of stock? Then of course everyone bitches about C4E even though this wasn’t his idea and these guys also forget that the iXtreme firmwares are his work and no one else’s – he owes nothing to no one. He should be lauded with credits and support not with bitching and whining, I’m surprised he even bothers any more but we also know how much he loves to do this work. It really is pathetic to see some fools post crap like that, but i guess the console scene never changes does it.

Now we see attempts at “cracking” a pre-release demo version of the LT firmware and people trying to gain credits and “pats on the back” for this work. All we can say is – we’ve looked at both firmwares – the real Lt and the leaked one, This is real from Geremia over at XBH got a 'demo' version of LT from a reseller, cracked it, and released it for all. Take our advise – don’t use the leaked incomplete version and connect to Xbox Live. Google X360 GX-Mod and translate that page.

We developed bios’s for many years and know how much time and effort it takes to do this kind of work – we support C4E in all the work he does and as members of the scene we thank him for it. Anyway the guys at Team Jungle have updated their Twitter page with this info:

iXtreme LT will release shortly as promised for free. Unofficial files are incomplete and unsafe. Protection was to prevent unofficial use!

Official Site: twitter.com/TeamJungle
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 14, 2010 12:32 AM

Xecuter CK3 Pro (Rev D)

The CK3 Pro has become the largest selling and most popular Xbox 360 connectivity kit in the world. Naturally we receive many thousands of emails giving feedback regarding likes, dislikes, feature requests, problems, and bugs. After reviewing many scenarios and after much testing we have released the 4th version in the history of the CK3 Pro (since 2006) - the Xecuter CK3 Pro (Rev D).

CK3 Pro (Rev D) Upgrades:
* Fully redesigned PCB to allow cleaner USB communication
* Protection circuit to solve any RS232 / USB Overheating issues that some users had with certain PC configurations
* Serial / USB Override Switch
* Two color power cable to show correct way around (helps people who have Liteon drives and sometimes have the drive upside down and inadvertently connect the power cable the wrong way around. One row of cables is Green to show the correct way UP and one row is red.
* Tested extensively with the latest version of Jungle Flasher & the Liteon LT Switch
* New designed packaging for retailers

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 9, 2010 03:55 AM

There's no need for a new Xbox, says Microsoft

We all know that the games business goes in cycles and that a new generation of consoles always comes along to replace whatever is popular today. In fact, we should now be talking about the Xbox 720, Sony PlayStation 4 and Wii II, or whatever they might be called, because game developers need a couple of years to create new games to exploit the new hardware capabilities that justify the launch of a new generation. But we aren't, and Microsoft doesn't want us to.

"I think it's important to say that the Xbox 360 is the console of the long future for us. There is no need to launch a new console, because we're able to give this console new life either with software upgrades or hardware upgrades like Project Natal," said David Hufford, senior director of Xbox product management in a briefing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "The Xbox 360 was designed for a long life, and I don't even know if we're at the midpoint yet."

Full Story: guardian.co.uk
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 8, 2010 03:50 PM

Xecuter LT Switch - Enhanced Version

A few days ago we announced that we had designed a simple circuit to enable full firmware read/write on all versions of Liteon drive up to the very latest 93450. The response was unprecedented - especially from installers who were given generous wholesale discounts by all of our resellers.

After reading an enormous amount of feedback we made some extra changes to the design in time for shipping to resellers next week:
* Redesigned circuit to give a cleaner filter when switching to Vendor mode. No more read errors !
* Enlarged solder points to give an easier flow to the Liteon PCB points - Noob friendly !
* Added Read/Write Mode LED (RED)
* Added Normal 360 Mode LED (Green)
* Upgrade the switch to a stronger more robust model
* Changed location of LED so they can be viewed when Liteon PCB is installed to its case
* Slight improvement to the PCB shape so it sits firmly and accurately in place when soldering.

Thanks to MRA for the idea of dumping 83850v2 and 93450 key, original post on xboxhacker.net.

Liteon 83850-v2 and Liteon 93450 DVD Key Can Now Be Dumped?

Easier Method For Complete Lite-on Firmware Dump

Diygadget's Solderless 83850 V2 And 93450 Key Dump

Liteon 83850c Hardware And Software Support Thread

Liteon Ixtreme V1.61 For All Lite-on's

Bricked Liteon? JungleFlasher Can't open bin files? No Com Ports in JungleFlasher?

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 5, 2010 09:41 PM

Xecuter LT Switch – Easy Switch For Liteon 94850, 83850 and 93450 DVD

After a great deal of requests we have designed a simple switch for all the Liteon drives that enables firmware full read/write. We have also included an On/OFF Led to show correction operation when switching to 0×72 vendor mode.

The installation is very simple and takes about 60 seconds if you have some small experience with a soldering iron. It has been tested with the original DOSFLASH methods and also the new Jungle Flasher 0.1.69. All Liteon drive version have been tested with 100% Success. There is no need to remove the LT Switch after it has been installed - simply switch to normal mode.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 30, 2009 01:18 AM

JungleFlasher 0.1.69 (75)

A new version of JungleFlasher (info) has been released.

What's new/fixed:
* Firmtool Engine
Finally re-coded firmtool engine correctly
* full support for encrypted lite-on, source and target
* easier support for cross spoofing
* Port IO
Using Schtrom's driver portIO driver, which includes 64bit support.
* iXtreme 1.61 for lite-on
Will autoload iX 1.61 for Liteon
* Hitachi Support
Added new spoofing method for Hitachi. "Auto Spoof", will spoof inquiry and key on the fly directly from source buffer. Will use existing file or request for load if empty.
* KeyDB Viewer
New keyDB, right click source tab.

Official Site: jungleflasher.net
Download: Here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 29, 2009 11:45 AM

Diygadget's Solderless 83850 V2 And 93450 Key Dump

Thanks to MRA for the idea of dumping 83850v2 and 93450 key, original post on xboxhacker.net.

Inspired by his great idea, diygadget have found a way to do the trick without soldering witch should be good news for people that can't solder that great.

Xbox 360 Connectivity Kit V3 and Liteon 83850-V2 / 93450 Solderless Key Extractor Combo. If you already have the Connectivity Kit V3 from diygadget you could make the following Parts your self from this Basically, you need to connect the top via to GND via a 22 ohm or lower resistor, and connect the bottom via to a 3.3v line.

Instead of soldering the wires to the PCB (in order to access GND and 3.3v line), you could use 3 wires, one end of the first wire permanently connect to a 3.3V pad on DVD power adapter by using an alligator, and the other end connect to a pogo pin (let's call it pogo pin B ), so you can hold it on the bottom via to make the connection, this is similar to the 73x firmware key extracting.

For the second wire, one end can permanently connect to the GND pad of DVD adapter, and the other end connect to a 22 ohm or lower resistor. Use 3rd wire to connect the other end of the resistor, and connect other end of the 3 wire to a pogo pin, let's call it pogo pin A.

Official Site: diygadget.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 28, 2009 04:14 PM

C4eva Team Jungle LiteOn iXtreme v1.61

From the Team Jungle twitter page:

C4eva presents, in association with TeamJungle: LiteOn iXtreme v1.61 - Added support for waves 4 and 5 There's no NFO with the release, but unlike yesterdays 'non-stealth' release I believe this release still has all stealth features but with modified checks to also allow/boot Wave 4 and Wave 5. However that doesn't mean it's safe to use on LIVE, it's NOT.

Official Site: TeamJungle
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 27, 2009 03:01 AM

iXtreme v1.6 Non-Stealth

A modified non-stealth version of iXtreme v1.6 has been released:

Patched to always act like if activate.iso was inserted, so blindly loads PFI DMI SS and goes on.

ix16-benq_nostealth.bin
ix16-samsung_nostealth.bin
ix16-liteon838_nostealth.bin
ix16-liteon-repack_nostealth.bin
template_ix16-liteon83850V2_nostealth.bin
template_ix16-liteon93450_nostealth.bin

Note: in case you wonder, no it's NOT safe on Xbox LIVE.

Download: iXtreme v1.6 Non-Stealth (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 25, 2009 05:33 AM

Microsoft Banning Homebrew 360s from LIVE

It looks like Microsoft started banning homebrew Xbox 360 (running freeBOOT or XBReboot) from Xbox LIVE. This was of course highly expected to happen any time soon. There are many ways for Microsoft to detect these modifications, no stealth or anything was implemented (nor is there any will from the dev community to do this considering it would even be possible). Homebrew and Xbox LIVE don't go together, nor should they probably.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 23, 2009

BenQ modified iXtreme 1.41 Final Rev3-4 (SS) Non-Stealth 12X

A modified version of BenQ iXtreme v1.41 has been released:

(1.41 REV4 (SS)) Secret Liteon MS Inquiry cdb support - Samsung and Benq
(1.41 REV3 (SS)) Drive Serial added like the original firmware
(1.41 REV3 (SS)) Disc speed fixed
(v1.41) Read Sector fix
(v1.4) Disc jitter fix
(v1.1) Extra compatability for some DVD movies
(v1.0) Boots ALL Stealth or non Stealth Xbox 360 backups
(v1.0) Boots ALL compatible Stealth or non Stealth Xbox 1 backups
(v1.0) Boots all Xbox 360 originals
(v1.0) Boots all compatible Xbox 1 originals on Xbox 360

Use Rev. 4 to spoof BenQ as a Liteon drive
If you use the old Rev 4 or 5, just upgrade to the Final rev4. If you use Rev 3 you do not do anything.

Use on Xbox Live at own risk.
Thanks to all testers and C4EVA for the Non-Stealth firmware.
This firmware is based on the firmware from C4EVA. All credits to C4EVA.

More details about the development of this modified Non-Stealth FW is available in this x-s forum thread.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 13, 2009 06:30PM

The Xbox 360 Security System and its Weaknesses

Microsoft explains security to others and how to make there hardware more secure witch they failed many times to do there self even with the Xbox360. This video is over a Year old but I think it's really important to watch and to see how far we came especially to the people that have hacked it, Then letting the hole world know of this backdoor that was left open plus I though it would be good to know what c4e is going through but one thing is for sure there will always be a backdoor left open.

Dec 5 2009, 08:14 AM

Better Method For Complete Lite-on Firmware Dump

First off all credit goes to MRA for the original concept.

The only difference between syntaxerror329 method and MRA's is that he instructs people to cut "pad101" away from the trace. The problem is that this is not that easy for most people. After you do it his way the pad is very weak. Many people broke the pad off while cutting it from the trace and others damaged it after when they heated it up to solder. So syntaxerror329 came up with a 3 cut & 2 jump method that I think is much safer for the average user. Also he has the Ground point going to a tiny pad when most of the circuit board is Ground.

Also syntaxerror329 have included some very high quality pictures that show every step in great detail on forums.xbox-scene.com.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 2, 2009 05:13 AM

A Memoir, Team Hyperx. Liteon Encryption

A overview of the history behind firmware modification & the creation and conclusion of the team formerly 'Team jungle' and the story of an unsuccessful extortion. All views expressed are documented between several members of Team Jungle,THX and the scene and are not opinions expressed by Xbox-Scene.

A great amount of work has been put into the xtreme, and now current ixtreme firmware. commodore4eva, now simply known as 'c4e' came upon the scene to bring changes to the xbox360's firmware that lead to new innovations and progress to a section within the xbox360 hacking scene.

These changes have been for the most part very positive, and in 2009 I formed a group who became known as 'Team Jungle' who spent 8 months working in unison to crack the first LiteOn drive. It was a very very big achievement, and kudos is deserved all around for each member that did their share. It was a very bleak dismal long process that did not look so promising for many many months. The conclusion of Team Jungle/Team HyperX has arrived, and will be documented in this story. It is also my intention to notify everyone of facts previously withheld from the public, and to clear the air with some people unfairly accused of fraud and elitism/heroism with malcontent smile.gif

With the cat and mouse game of almost all modification scenes, with hackers vs vendors, technologies are constantly updated and secured against new vulnerabilities. As the ixtreme firmware was released for the LiteOn, it was apparent to that specific vendor that they needed to step up their game once their secure platform was defeated. It WAS a very brilliant design, for in the simplicity of basic hardware it becomes difficult to secure a platform without the host being entirely integrated into the overall security. We see the PS3 as a fine example of this: A hardware platform that has proven very secure from top to bottom!

Unfortunately, as the securities increased, known vulnerabilities decreased and new methods needed to be found. Alas, they were smile.gif Some of these vulnerabilities were hardware based, and some software. Some were vendor commands (cdb's) that were intentionally placed within the firmware for diagnostic purposes! A large part of firmware 'hacking' is disassembling the firmware and discovering all of the hidden cdb's for alternative usage (piracy, homebrew, etc).

In order to hack the LiteOn, a team was necessary. c4e's talent was the final step to a very long process. You need experts on the physical/hardware side who are capable of extracting the firmware (since known software methods were locked out). Sometimes several hardware guys are needed for different area's of talent. One might be skilled in decapsulation and extraction methods and the other has xray and microscopes and is excellent at detailing smile.gif The bottom line is 90% of the work was NOT associated with the firmware and the job preformed by c4e. The firmware modification was the easy part! Of the 8 months spent on that project, only 24hrs was needed by c4e to complete his part of the project smile.gif

With every release of xtreme and ixtreme firmware different methods of hacking that particular hardware platform became apparent through documentation (tutorials), software (JF, sending cdb's, etc) or specs/technical information released. Speculation is always a key player whether methodology is apparent, released or not.

When the 83850c hit the shelves, the public quickly figured out that there was a flaw: serial output was not working. So the team found a few 83850c's through our usual channels (distributors), purchased them (despite what you think, we usually buy our materials, most dont ever make it back. donations are very 'final'.) and got them shipped to one of our hardware specialists that is capable of decapsulating and reading eeprom's. It takes a rather talented and unique skillset to decapsulate and dump eeprom's with microfiber smile.gif Infact, the 'micro' is a understatement: Its so small its practically invisible to the human eye! Imagine trying to solder that!

Our hardware genius successfully dumped the firmware. Since our crypto (software) genius already cracked the encryption algorithm of the original drive's firmware (which was one of the most difficult tasks of hacking the drive!!) it was just a matter of having him decrypt it for us. Once decrypted, c4e can start doing his patching routines, aswell as analyze the firmware for security changes. For a month I sat in the dark as c4e and the rest of the group 'worked' on getting the drive to output key/serial data. At the time it was presumed impossible. On the 5th week I was brought full circle and informed that the team had been coordinating decisions outside of my knowledge. Apparently the team came to a decision since there was no way to retrieve the key via software. The only hardware method at the time was full acid decapsulation, with the exception of the pin lift method. I would like to take a moment to explain the following with an analogy:

Sir Alex Ferguson is the manager of the world famous Manchester United football(soccer) club. He does not play soccer (he used to). However, he is essential to the success of the the football team. He uses his managerial experience to bring together players that would not normally play the sport together. When the team starts playing, he uses his decision making skills to combat changes within the field. Without him, the team can still play and successful at that! However, without him the team will eventually die, as they will become stale and not progress or get fresh blood into the roster. I use this analogy for myself. I created Team Jungle, which I renamed to THX due to a fallout between me and one of the developers who I had start the project we now know as 'jungle flasher'. He was not a team player(several incidents), so I removed him from the team. Instead of changing the name of his application to disassociate himself from the team, I decided to change the team name! While I created the team, and organized it and made decisions, the essential process (hacking) can obviously be done without me. The team made that choice when they went outside of my circle to discuss the future of LiteOn in regards to the team.

The decision that the team had come to was to integrate a piece of hardware(a modchip) into the process that would make end users capable of modding the new LiteOn drive without us giving away our only hardware 'dumping' method, the pin-lift method recently disclosed by geremia. We did not want MS and LiteOn/MTK to patch the only known software hole(pin-lift method) as that would defeat our capabilities in the future to dump the firmware. While we can always try to decapsulate, there are methods to combat it, and its a very risky process that destroys the hardware. I am also experienced enough to understand that multiple avenues of hacking must be present in order to secure the *future* of this project! The reason the team did not disclose their decision, or the decision making process to me was simple: Greed. They wanted to bargin with the chinese to get the maximum money possible out of each chip sold, and I was one less pie cut. And hey, im not a hacker right? I dont do any work (other than creating the group and making the ENTIRE process possible!) so why should I get paid? Well, no loss on my end, and only theirs(the groups) because I would have been, and argued very strongly against ANY money-based process.

At that time c4e came to me and told me that they had been meeting behind my back and had come to a decision, however c4e in the 5th week after obtaining the fw found out how the serial key output had changed, with a encrypted key data. He had already contacted foundmy and made the key decryption services a reality. He had already consulted with the other group members who (due to legal risk) said they did not want to be a part of it. Everything was ready to launch by the time I was told about it, and asked whether I wanted to be a part of it.

I did the only thing I felt I could do: I told c4e that what he was doing was wrong. I told him it would destory the team. I told him the legal rammifications was a distaster.I told him that the scene would rebel against it, that this was a FREE hacking scene and that no one would pay. I told him that I wanted him to consult with a lawyer before doing ANYTHING. But, most importantly.....I said yes and joined. Even now, as im getting "Iriez is a thief!" thrown at me left and right, I still do not regret joining the process. The reason is simple: The fundamental choice to join was so that I could gain control of the process, as I had control of the group and it was my natural place to coordinate the process. From within the drivers seat, I had more decision making power. With that power, I could do things such as: LOWER THE PRICE. Before anything became public, before any details were disclosed to me, I voiced not only the opinions above, but also that if he was going to extort money from the end users of this scene, that he would have to do it within reason. I told him that if he absolutely was going to go forward with the process, that it should be *no more* than $10 or $15.

At that time, I asked him the details of the security. How the key encryption worked, at what level, etc. He withheld information from me, such as the fact that it was a meager 128BIT AES. I specifically asked him the key rate, and c4e, typically himself - a socially dysfunctional anti-team player who ignores anything that he does not feel like answering - refused to answer my questions. He knew his security was pitiful and did not want to hear my objections. Im glad he did withhold it. Im glad he didnt make it a higher security, so that we could crack it at a later time.

What I do regret out of the entire process is this: I paraded the entire process for c4e. I chose 'swim' in a sink or swim situation, and tried to make the best out of it. Instead of notifying the public of a grand scheme, infact ...more so, a *extortion* scheme. c4e was the only person who actively was hacking. As far as we knew, the changes he found were irreversible. Yes, he had the decryption key, as he was the person who cracked it in the first place! He had to know the key in order to setup a decryption process for foundmy. Foundmy would then pay c4e (foundmy made a 10 thousand dollar deposit into c4e's bank account. They were projecting millions in $$) for every key sold. The way it was setup c4e handled the decryption process through a advanced and secure remote process. It was not given to foundmy or anyone else.

Since the situation forced every single person who wanted to modify their liteon to pay, I would consider it "extortion". I regret that I tried to convince people to use the service, but there was rationality behind my decision: I completely believed that the key was using the same encryption as the entire base firmware. That encryption scheme is much more advanced, and to this day only 2 people have cracked it. I believed no one could defeat encryption. You must understand, we had tools and extra very important non-public data in regards to previous hacking, such as a pre-liteon hardware with the new LiteOn securities embedded, *without* the encryption! This greatly aided the cracking of the encryption, and is something no one else has! So my belief that it could not be cracked led me to accept c4e's dictatorship, because if it was uncrackable, no one else would be able to defeat it. What else could I do but try as hard as I can to move the situation in a positive direction. To my credit, towards the end I aided several people and groups in the effort to crack the encryption. I did not agree with releasing the decryption process, but I did see that *something* had to be done, and holding the power to crack the process gave leverage to make decisions.

He also was planning ANOTHER pay-for-key licensing program with ixtreme 1.7. Here is logs of some conversation:

1.7 will have new one shot boot and anti ap25, MS has been readying the routine in the new liteons, it is ready to use and is very accurtae
wholesale modders ship new drive pcbs to us, we mod, send back but this can include older liteons if they wish, no fw released ever, no public released, but wholesale modders can sell modded systems or drives
1.61 fw is only for benq and sammy
1.7 will be for liteon only
1.7 has some extra features and the drive key is encrypted
new features are anti-ap25 and one shot boot session (until power off)
in the end their drivekey will not work in 1.7 unless it is our encrypted version
1.7 will be for all liteons
the liteon will have 1.7
it will have an encrypted drive key, customised by us, normal drivekeys wont work no release to the public for now either probably never

There he is not only planning on letting 'distributors' *control* the process (which was the problem with foundmy, c4e let FOUNDMY *control* the pricing!!!!), but also saying that the firmware will NEVER be made public (free)!!!!!! How could he NOT learn from the disaster last time???

The release of the decryption process is bad for this reason(this is a shortened timeline of the 360's drive hacking process:
Scene -Xbox360 Drives get dumped, firmwares modified.
Result(MS): After various attempts at vendor changes, new securities, plus the removal of specific vendor commands (cdb's).
Result(scene): All securities bypassed, modified firmware goes public.
Reaction(MS):New vendor, LiteOn. Drives have firmware encryption, no serial security.
Result(Scene): THQ created and Firmware encryption defeated, modified firmware goes public. (12/22/08)
Reaction(MS): Cracks barbed wire whip at LiteOn and likely threatens to nullify contract. Liteon encrypts serial output
Result(scene): c4e creates foundmy agreement, goes public 8/03/09 and geremia releases decryption routine to combat foundmy agreement within 48 hours (08/05/09)
Result(MS): 93450 released, all serial output vendor commands removed.

When you condense the life timeline of the firmware hacking you can clearly see the reaction from Microsoft, and how it affects 'the scene'. The pattern is very clear, and the logic behind business circumstantially proves the facts of the pattern. I did not bother with the samsung hitachi days as it would be alot of typing, and I've surely done enough of that here?? smile.gif smile.gif With each release of defeated securities, a new security is added, along with *the removal* of vendor commands specific to each individual process that allowed hackers to modify and publicize the hack. If the vulnerability is not made known to the public, then there is no patching. This is 'guesswork' and it can happen in any scene with regards to security, we do not see any pattern of it in the xbox360! People like c4e and others involved within our former group, or others within the scene who have done similar work (firmware modification). It is a fact that there are several people who modified their hitachi, with security/dmi support - before c4e hit the scene and released his modifications!!

Now that the pin lift method is out of the bag, the next release will have that patched. With serial key data output patched after Geremia released his decryption tool on August 5th, named FreeKey. The 93450's started showing up several months after FreeKey.

RIP THQ, formerly known as 'Team Jungle'. I said straight forward "you are destroying the group" with a foundmy key solution. I was wrong. It was destroyed the moment the topic of LiteOn's needing a hardware addon....a benefit to the chinese! Solutions were found, and if I had been present I would have opted for time and work. That work would have found the software key output that was encrypted, and the decryption, and a system I envisioned: A public encrypted key decryption server(s) that handled users key output requests efficiently, immediately, and free. This would have not required distributors time and labor costs, and would have allowed the public! The "Team Jungle" twitter going on is being done by the developer of Jungle Flasher, who is communicating c4e's progress. While c4e did the firmware mods for THQ, he unfortunately helped push forward the demise of the group and has gone his own way.

At this time I would like to state that I have unfairly accused Geremia with heroism. Just as I cannot expect people to justify my actions regarding foundmy, prior to knowing the complete details as described above, Geremia would have to know the details of our situation in order to do something portraying an antagonist. While I firmly believe the above *evidence* supports my theory of consistent vulnerabilities patching and that his release of FreeKey got the 93450 released, his pin-lift disclosure will cause a new 9xxxx series that, while regardless would have come out, will *now*(key word. context implies change)come with a modified MTK that patches routines that allowed for the pin-lift trick to work.

While in spirit, what Geremia is doing is the most pure positive hacker behavior. His spirit is absolutely commendable. I appreciate this very much from him. What I heavily critisize is his decision making process. If he would work with the former team, instead of against (and this goes both ways c4e!!!! ugh!), then methods would be easily found using what vulnerabilities were still present. With bypasses used, the track record of patching holes that were not publicized is excellent : It doesnt exist!!!! This means MS has to patch bypass first. This gives us much longer lifetime for each series, or the extention of hackable series within that product family. So, to Geremia: Work with! The sky is the limit. This *should* kill all greed and everyone should be on the same side now that the 'gig is up' so to speak!

I would also like to say that regardless of c4e's actions, this scene as a entity should always remember the history and positive efforts of time after time after time of c4e straight forward "following through" with his promises. He is on point for hacking all the new drives, doing his part with lightspeed (alot of time is on the other members tasks!!!) and usually flawless!!!

I have had the pleasure of working with c4e for over 3 years now. As a hacker and using a hackers mentality, was the most positive and selfless of personalities that you could ever ask for. He preformed the duties and spent the time scouring that firmware for each drive that was released, trying to find each and every hole, securities, dangers and featuresa possible and providing the scene time and time again with ixtreme series! If you can take someone with such a incredibly positive personality, who for 3...THREE YEARS...provided for free, what software engineers are doing on a daily basis for their companies. With the exception of *most* of them not doing a boatload of Reverse Engineering smile.gif

So while c4e and geremia have both done good and bad (relatively speaking!), they are both good people at heart. We know they are very very good programmers smile.gif Their work is flawless! Lets all work together and make the decisions with a team mentality! With great minds thinking alike, then there is recourse! Not all is lost on one poor soul's decision!

There is one lesson to everyone that I would appreciate taking the time to learn out of all of this hard work, sweat, and frustrations.

Everyone that is good at heart may eventually be corrupted through the stressful frustrations of repeated lack of appreciation through the expression of verbal complaint, combined with the lack of income for what is realistically long, hard, work.

Asking for donations now might appear as if this was some money making scheme. Therefore I will not propose to do so. However, I will interject that rewarding someone for their efforts over years of a time table, might relieve some of the stress associated with this type of work. A little here and there might prevent the illusion of wealth by a projection of generosity to outweigh the often overwhelming annoyance of apathetic non appreciative people.

-Iriez *reserved for the trolls*

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 01, 2009 10:27 PM

iXtreme v1.6 for Liteon 83V2 and 93450 - Better Dumping Method

carranzafp/Maximus released a modified version of the Lite-On iXtreme v1.6 to work with the 83850-v2 and 93450 drives:

Just finished hexediting and testingHere are templates for Ixtreme 1.6 for 83V2 and 93450 liteon firmwareswhat you need to do is place your keys/serials on it and flash
use Jungleflasher or Hexedit, whatever, keep you original stored for future upgrades

Dont ask why you got banned if you play Online with this firmware, its 1.6, also I just tested with 2 consoles so its your call the fws are based on the 83v1 ixtreme 1.6 I could have do it based on the 74 but Its the first I saw, dont think based on the 74 would make them safer anyway.

Download: n/a (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
News-Source: carranzafp on XBH

In related news, MRA released a new and better method to dump/read those Lite-On 83850-v2 and 93450 drives:

No pin lifting or epoxy removing needed anymore! Just solder anything on the back according to this picture. Also if you got status 0x52 instead of 0x72 with the "1,8V-method" this should do it. I already dumped 4 drives with this method without any issues.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 29, 2009 05:51 AM

Liteon 83850-v2 and Liteon 93450 DVD Key Can Now Be Dumped?

There have been several news reports on Xboxhacker.net of users having success in dumping the entire firmware including the important keys of the newest un-moddable Liteon DVD drives. The methods posted so far are not for the beginner so do so at your own risk. The method seem crude at the moment, no doubt some easier methods will surface shortly. Remember with that DVD key you can install any flash-able DVD drive to that once un-moddable Xbox 360. Good job to all involved !

* Lift pin 101 and 122 (The MT Chip)
* Solder a cable to pin 100, pin 101 and one to 3,3V
* Use a 2-way switch which either connects 101 to 3,3V or to 100
* Put the switch into the position so that it connects 100 to 101
* Power drive
* Start Dosflash, it will recognise the SPI with Status x72
* If you read it out now, it will just give you a .bin full of FFFFFFFF, but thats OK, this is how we tricked the Flash Controller to think the SPI is empty
* Put the switch in the other position (so that 101 is connected to 3,3V)
* Now read the flash

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 23 2009, 05:05 PM

Team Jungle Tweets About The iXtreme LT Firmware

Team Jungle have been updating their Twitter Page regarding development of the forthcoming iXtreme LT firmware from C4E. Looks like they are having a great time with it, kinda reminds us of XB1 BIOS development in the old days :)

Here are some direct quotes - you can read the full posts on their Twitter Page - some interesting points, particularly regarding SplitVid.
* Lots of performance data put into fw!
* Note: backups need to have SplitVid from now on to be safe for LT
* LT is not only Lite Touch, lots of great new code making this version the most accurate fw eva! :)
* New code looking good, lots of new code!
* iXtreme LT for all drives, in dev/testing and going well. No ETA!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 16 2009, 06:05 PM

Xbox-scene on Twitter and Facebook!

Twitter.com/scenyx and we're on FaceBook too facebook.com/scenyx currently it's just running as a test. Might add it to frontpage somewhere once I know it all works right.I hope this work out for the best because keeping up on the New Update's from the X-Scene can be challenging, become a Follower of the Scene!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 11, 2009 08:54 AM

Abgx360 v1.0.2 released! Features/Functions...

- Added support for 4th Wave PFI/Video
- Added support for SS v2
- Added the new check for DMI corruption which the database has been using since 2009/06/14
- Added ability to at least try to verify the game data when no Xex/SS ini is available and we're not going to AutoFix
- Added support for Avatar Awards
- Added option to select your preferred language to use when displaying strings from the Xex title resource
- Added drag & drop support for the GUI Input panel
- Added option to embed images in the HTML source code as data URIs for better portability (when using HTML output)
- Added JavaScript to HTML output that allows you to check off achievements and see the achieved text (especially useful when the how-to text is vague)
- Added a Donate button to the GUI so you can help me pay the bills and continue working on improvements :)
- Fixed a bug where folders would be considered files when parsing the ISO filesystem on some recent games
- Fixed a bug where default.pe (a temporary file used when decompressing a compressed default.xex) wasn't being deleted automatically
- Fixed a bug where unicode code point 160 (no-break space) would be displayed in a CLI window as " ?" instead of " "
- Small changes to the way some messages are displayed (harder to miss)
- GameNameLookup.csv is now optional (the csv was eating 50% of our bandwidth and you probably don't need it anyway since the game name can be retrieved directly from the Xex)
- Removed "Look for verified files in the local folder only" option from the GUI. I can't tell you how many people have checked this box without reading it because they saw it in a tutorial or someone else told them to do it, and then they can't figure out why abgx360 says you need to enable online functions. Please stop writing/following tutorials! Just read the Quickstart topics, the tutorial is right there.

Changes affecting Windows:

- Now storing data files in the AppData folder to prevent errors related to permissions and UAC. You can open the GUI and hit Ctrl+F to find out where your StealthFiles are now stored and optionally have it opened for you. abgx360 will still check for Video ISOs in the old install directory first though, so you don't need to move that 3rd Wave Video ISO if you have it saved there already. Using libcurl 7.19.6 which should hopefully fix some strange connection problems affecting a small percentage of users

Changes affecting Linux/BSD:

- Fixed a bug on 64 bit systems which made it impossible to read PFI/Video exceptions from abgx360.dat
- Added code to the unix version of kbhit() to prevent hanging when abgx360 is launched as a background process

Changes affecting Mac OS X:

- Fixed a bug where abgx360 would fail to launch if you supplied a filename that contained an apostrophe
- Changed the dark gray text used for things like achievement type to normal gray since it was actually showing up black (invisible on a black background)
- Removed GUI option to "Use Terminal font characters" (this refers to a Windows font which replicates CP437 characters and not Terminal.app)

Special Note: It's recommended to wait for iXtreme LT (Lite Touch) before you play any more backups or originals on an unbanned console flashed with.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 9 2009, 09:43 PM

New DVD FW in dev/test - iXtreme LT (Lite Touch)

C4Eva announced he's working on a new firmware on IRC:
"[c4eva] new fw in dev/test - iXtreme LT (Lite Touch) - more efficient , minimal patching , all aspects of fw indistinguishable from orig, no more bans, No ETA!"

We do not have more details atm. As far as we know the 3 'test boxes' C4Eva has running are still fine (not banned). So there's NO ETA for the firmware yet (don't ask) but it should come out for Lite-On drives first.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Oct 29 2009, 06:53 PM

Team HyperX IXtreme v1.61 FW for Samsung and BenQ Drives Updated!

A new version (v1.61) of the iXtreme DVD Firmware for both Samsung and BenQ DVD drives has been released. A Lite-on version is still in development and will be released later (NO ETA).

These were released without any type of readme or NFO, but early user reports claim they work fine like v1.6 with added support for 'Wave 4' discs.

* Update Team HyperX now officially released the new firmwares and the readme/nfo confirms it comes with 'Strict' Wave 4 compliance.

* Strict Wave 4 compliance! hybrid (modified disks) will not boot!
Strict Wave 4 compliance means wave 4 games will only boot if they have correct PFI/DMI/SS and timestamp for wave 4

Note for unofficial releases:
It is highly recommended that you do not flash unverified or unofficial releases. We often do not implement specific security features in beta firmwares that are neccessary precaution's to help keep everyone as safe as possible on Xbox Live.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Oct 18 2009, 11:14 AM

Schtrom360Xtract v4.1 released! Features/Functions...

Schtrom360Xtract is used to backup XBOX360 and XBOX1 game discs in one step.

* Support for iXtreme V1.6.

* Stealth check updated to work with wave 3 and wave 4 games, the wave type is now displayed.

* New Correct SS V1 option added in options dialog for XBOX360 discs This option is deactivated by default, you need to enable it in the options dialog. If activated this option does correct the security sector at disc extraction, image extraction/injection and also during the stealth check. Pay attention that the stealth check will already fail if one challenge/response byte starting at offset 0x200 has a different value than the calculated ss V1. Keep in mind that this will only correct the security sector based on version 1. At the moment no ss version 2 games are out. But if MS is changing to ss V2 it is recommended to deactivate this option until an update of S360X is released. On iXtreme V1.6 firmware and XBOX360 backup disc extraction the Correct SS V1 option is always used no matter what is selected in the options dialog. This is because I haven't found a way until today to read the ss with C/R data from a XBOX360 backup disc on the new iXtreme V1.6 firmware.

* Defaut XBOX360 drive speeds changed for better error correction TS-H943A, VAD6038 and DG-16D2S set to 12x. During tests with the new iXtreme V1.6 it seems that scratched discs have less read errors with increased speeds on XBOX360 drives.

* Send Custom CDB dialog buffer size field changed to support also hexadecimal values The cdb cmd presets are now changed to hexadecimal values. Three new presets for LiteOn DG-16D2S iXtreme V1.6 fw added.

* Inquiry detection of retail XBOX360 drives added This gives you the opportunity to test cdb cmds on retail drives if your atapi.sys is patched. The patching of atapi.sys has to be done by yourself.

* Fixed bug in directory listing for XDVDFS dialog on newer games like Damnation and Batman: Arkham Asylum, games can now be viewed and extracted correctly.

* Stealth.ini updated.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Xbox-Existence News Archive 2

2007-07-01T09:30:00.198-03:00

Please note this is only a personal Archive about hardware, firmware and software updates and noting about JTAG systems. For more info and a bigger archive check xbox-scene.com or team-xecuter.com

May 8 2011, 11:46 PM

x360Key Interview with ModControl.com

The guys over at ModControl.com made an interview with the x360Key team behind the the upcoming ODD Emulator Device:

Q: Who is x360Key?
A: TA, one of the founders and maindeveloper of the WODE (wii optical drive emulator) Modchip quit his work on the WODE Project last year to be a part of the legendary Wiikey team and create a new project called x360key, an Xbox 360 drive emulator which allows you to load legal backups from an usb device.

Q: x360Key Drive Emulation?
A: x360key is 2nd generation Optical Drive emulation tech with a brand new Emulation Engine (x360 is very different to Wii, from the hardware interface to the drive commands). We took all the experience from designing Wode and started again from the ground up to bring you the 2nd generation of ODD emulation technology on the xbox 360 console.

Q: Why you add the DVDKey Extraction Method from Maximus?
A: Some commands the console sends, and reponses from the drive are encrypted, we need the key to be able to communicate with the console. Automatic DVD Key extraction will be added later thx to the deal with Maximus to use their key extraction methods. In x360key software v1.00 you have to add the dvdkey manually into a txt file on the sd card.

Q: Why will Xbox 360 slim drive support will be added later?
A: There are additional checks on the drive firmware. We need more time to do that properly, of course it works, but we want to give you a perfect solution, so we have to do some more work to make sure everything is perfect.

Q: Why not all games running?
A: The emulation code for 1.00 is complete now and we are testing like crazy for a release at the end of June. AP25 is working and we expect xgd3 will be working in V1.00 to - but that still needs testing. All tested games are working perfectly (including games with AP25), but not all released games have been tested by us, this is the reason why we state "most xbox 360 and xbox 1 games supported", when we have tested all of them (and this may take a while) then we will let you know that x360key is 100% compatible.

NOTE: Only supported xbox 1 games a working due to the xbox 360 emulation routine for xbox 1 games, so where is no possiblity to let all Xbox 1 games work.

Read the full interview: ModControl.com (scroll down for the english translation)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

May 7 2011, 03:20 PM

C4eva: BENQ 0800 v2.0 and LiteOn 0225 LT2.0 Complete - In Testing

From C4Eva on #fw@EFnet (via c4evaspeaks.com):

[c4eva_] benq 0800 v2.0 complete – full support for xdg3 and ap2.5 backup creation for upcoming LT v2.0!
[c4eva_] lt 2.0 for 0225 also complete, testing!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

May 7 2011, 03:08 AM

360Lizard Standalone Mode: GECKO 1.11 Available

We are releasing the GECKO OS version 1.11 and Toolbox 1.23 today with Standalone Mode. Currently 1.11 supports Phat and Slim Liteons, we want to thank all the beta testers for their support and input. We are working hard on adding support for the rest of the drives, luckily the basics are set and the other drives will not take long to be incorporated into Standalone.

In order to start using the Standalone Mode we have prepared this PDF Guide that covers the setup and the usage of the Standalone features. We strongly encourge you to read it.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

May 6 2011, 03:08 AM

Team Xecuter: MOLEXT - Molex On The Move

We would like to give a big shout out to the guys to our friends over at XCONSOLES.COM who sent us a brand new product from the USA called the “MOLEXT” which will be right up your street if you are a mobile modder with an X360USB PRO The scene has been crying out for a portable Molex device that is both high performing and high quality at the same time without busting the bank balance.

Designed and Made in the good ‘ole USA, this unassuming little gizmo knocked our socks off at Xecuter HQ with its outstanding performance ! We expected to get maybe 5 or 10 good flashes of a drive (including a full eject cycle just to give the 12v a solid workout). Boy, were we wrong. With just 2 alkaline 9v batteries we were able to do 112 drive flashes before the battery indicators started to go red !!!

Out of all the DIY portable molex devices we have ever tested – this is the first professionally manufactured product that is as good as it gets and is a must for any serious mobile modder, because lets face it if you are a pro and you are mobile, in all probability you own a laptop or netbook already and you want to be flashing 10 drives in 10 minutes – not 2 hours, right ?

We can’t wait for these to be on sale to the public. We’re told that Radio Shack are looking to pick these up and there are will also be a distribution program setup for other wholesalers and retailers. We will look at buying a large quantity for our X360USB PRO customers so we will be able to save you a few $$.

Features:
* Portable Molex Power Supply
* 2 x 9v Alkaline Batteries
* AC/DC Pass through (Wall socket / Car Adapter etc)
* Dual Battery Power Level LED indicators (Green:Good, Orange:OK, Red: Change Battery)
* High end circuit giving outstanding battery performance
* Power Status LED
* Made In The USA
* ….and of course Xecuter tested and approved

We will let you know as soon as production starts – and it looks like the RRP is going to be around $29.95

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

May 3 2011, 11:06 PM

New DVD Drive Found: Liteon DG-16D4S 0401

Paintball9 reported on our forums he found a new revision of the Liteon DG-16D4S drive in his 4GB Slim Xbox360 console. The drive is manufactured in March 2011, comes with firmware version 0401 and hardware version A0A0

So, Hooked up jungleflasher, to see what it would do, and nothin plain nothin. Shows up in bios (even as a boot option although i havnt actually tried booting from it) but jungleflasher reports nothing in any of my ports, just the main os drive. I've even used this machine to do my hitachi earlier and it worked fine, so maybe this is another mode-b kinda setup on this drive.

Xbox360 info:
Canada
TEAM: FSHE
Lot: 1114X
MFR date 2011-04-01

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

May 2 2011, 01:06 AM

xkey360 Update: Maximus 360 Lizard partnership announced

We are very pleased to announce that x360key has licensed the key extraction technology used in Maximus Lizard. This means that x360key will be able to extract the unique key from all Xbox 360 drives; Samsung, Hitachi, Benq, Liteon, and Slim Liteon - including the latest 0225 model. Xbox 360 DVD Drive firmware flashing is *NOT* required to use x360key. However, this is a feature that may be added in a future x360key firmware update.

Official Site: x360key.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

May 1 2011, 01:18 AM

Lizard360 Standalone Mode Preview Part 3 and SD/SDHC Support

Here you have another Small vid of the Standalone Mode, this video shows how to backup your Jobs done "on the road" with Lizard to your PC for permanent Storage. With all the Standalone features added you can now enjoy "on the road" flashing without losing compatibility with the regular "on office" jobs.

Also we have added support for SDHC cards (last beta just supported standard MicroSD). This will wide the range of brands and model of SD cards that you can use with Lizard.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 30 2011, 05:34 AM

Team Xecuter: New Fake AP25 Patches – Still Unsafe For Xbox Live

We have already commented on the fake AP25 patches but recently there has been some false claims by the makers that needs to be addressed.

They incorrectly claim that their patches are safer than C4EVA’s. C4′s patches are made with responses from an original disc which will always be safer than the fakes.

There have been several types of fake patches in a continued failed attempt to produce “safe” or “full stealth” patches as they put it. The fake patches are made from data in the dae.bin file and ISOs of an unverified origin.

1) The first version of these fake patches used hardcoded angles with blank response data.Result: Unsafe for Live.

2) The second version continued to use hardcoded angles with added response data from ISOs of unknown origin.Result: Still unsafe for Live.

3) The third version has an option to apply random jitter to the hardcoded angles using some software.Result: Still unsafe for Live.

Each supposed “improvement” is fruitless because they are not obtaining responses from an original disc. Any future releases will never be safe as long as they are based on data sources other than the original disc.

A correct response can only be obtained with an original disc which is how C4EVA has always done it. A public method is in development which will allow you to extract the correct responses from original discs with a new 0800 FW.

These fake releases are made for you without any regard whatsoever for the safety of your consoles and XBL account. Every official fw of patch ever released is done so after extensive testing to be as sure as possible that they would function fully using the XBL network.

Do not ever trust an unofficial fw or an unofficial patch. These people do not use or understand the methods implemented by C4E and any counter claim they make now and in the future should not be believed in any way shape or form. remember – they DO NOT CARE about the safety of your console and XBL account – they only care to have their name in lights with some software release that is both dangerous and irresponsible to the Xbox firmware community.

News-Source: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 30 2011, 01:57 AM

Team WODE Announces XODE - X360 Optical Drive Emulator

X360KEY is coming... ETA end of June we can only say this: "XBOX OPTICAL DRIVE EMULATOR aka XODE" is coming... For now we can not release specific information or images, which would benefit x360key after seeing the features and prices x360key we can say that:

1- Fortunately x360key follows the "old" approach of Wode... XODE instead introduces a new way of working really original... we will surprise you.
2- XODE will work on XBOX SLIM since its launch with a 100% support of AP25.
3-Half price then a X360KEY in production!!! thanks the new "original" concept of point 1...

We plan to release a first proof of working at middle/end of may with a nice video working on a X360 SLIM console... and a detailed review near the release of X360KEY... Production will be ready on JULY.

We advise all to wait before place BIG pre-orders from WIIKEY/X360KEY team, it is wise to don't risk too much... after not tell us that there were not warned...

PS: we found time also to update WODE platform, finally the WEB interface is almost ready, we plan to release this feature next week.

PPSS: official website of XODE is www.xodejukebox.com ;) soon online...

Official Site: www.xodejukebox.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 27 2011, 05:40 PM

C4Eva: 0225 progress - LT2.0 with XGD3 Support, x360key

Some updates from C4Eva about the Slim 0225 CFW that will directly be 'LT 2.0' with XGD3 support (the new disc format MS will introduce with the new fall dashboard, and currently being tested by the Beta Preview Dashboard). He also said something about the x360key and apparently there's more to come...

From c4evaspeaks.com:

[G***] c4eva has there been a roadblock on 0225 progress?
[c4eva] no
[c4eva] x360key: something better will be out around the same time :)
[c4eva] 0225 will feature LT 2.0 – support for XGD3 backups!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 27 2011, 01:48 AM

360Lizard: Standalone Mode Preview Part 2 and new Basic Kit

We have recently posted the 2nd preview video of Standalone Mode. The Standalone Mode will be undergoing rigorous testing throughout the week and we anticipate releasing to the public by end of next week (if no major issues arise).

As many users are aware the UPDATE server has down the last days; we have fixed the problem and have restored the full functionality.

On another note we have posted Links in the download section for the FTDI USB drivers because some of the links in the manual’s where no longer valid, if you have problems getting the drivers please go to our download page by clicking the link above.

Lastly, there has been some claim’s about Lizard has been "way overpriced", the competitor’s are trying to compare against other tool around that "claim" to be cheaper, but when you do the math you end paying more by individually purchasing all the parts that are already included with a FULL Lizard kit. In order to have clear view on the price of both items on the market we are now offering a BASIC KIT; which consists on the Lizard unit, a USB cable and a SATA cable for a bargain price of $69.99 USD. The rest of the items can be purchased separately if desired BUT we are still offering the full 360 Lizard Kit (which includes the Scorpion Tool and the DVD Drive power adapter) for $99.99 USD.

** Note: The above prices are MSRP and may vary from reseller to reseller. Please contact your nearest reseller to see if they have basic kit available using the reseller link above.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 25 2011, 10:14 PM

x360key - ODD Emulator Loading Games from any USB Media

Running a custom Linux system, x360key is capable of immaculately emulating the optical disk drive in Xbox 360, allowing you to play all your Xbox 360 (and Xbox 1) games from any USB media. It is compatible with all Xbox 360 models, both Fat and Slim, and offers advanced features such as emulation of the AP25 protection. After more than a year in development We are proud to announce one of the most sophisticated backup loaders the world has ever seen. Backed by a team of hardware experts and some of the most renowned and respected members of the Xbox hacking community We have no doubt this will be an instant success! We are now taking preorders and the first shipments to distributors are expected to be sent out in mid-July.

Features:
* Right here, right now
-User friendly: intuitive interface, no soldering required
-Compatible with all fat (and soon slim!) Xbox 360 models
-Supports most Xbox 360 and Xbox 1 games
-Supports most file systems, including NTFS, EXT2/3/4, and Mac OS X Extended
-High speed USB2 interface
-Stylish USB control pad for selecting games and controlling your x360key
-Powerful embedded Linux system running from Micro SD card (included)
-Linux firmware fully updatable from USB media
-FPGA fully updatable from USB media via built-in, in-system JTAG programming
-Recovery mode - it is always possible to recover from a bad flash
-No drive flashing or JTAG hack required
-AP25 protection emulation

* In A Firmware Coming To You Soon:
-Support for all slim Xbox 360 models
-Web Control Panel (Requires WiFi dongle (sold separately))

* Work in progress:
-Loading games from NFS and Samba shares (Requires WiFi dongle (sold separately))
-Xbox Live support
-Backup original Xbox 360 games to USB hard drive

How it works:
x360key consists of 2 parts, a motherboard and a remote.
The motherboard connects to the SATA bus inside the Xbox 360, and sits between the drive and the Xbox 360 motherboard. x360key is a full-fledged computer system running embedded Linux. It is capable of many things such as
- Emulating the Xbox 360 DVD drive
- Reading USB hard drives and other USB media with various file systems
- Updating itself and other hardware from USB media
- Communicating with the remote and other external USB devices
- And a lot more! (embedded Web server and Wifi connectivity for exampe)
The remote is a simple yet stylish piece of hardware that features an OLED display and 3 buttons. It connects to the x360key motherboard via a high speed USB2 connection. It also has USB for connecting USB hard drives and other devices. The OLED and buttons are used to control various aspects of x360key. It is also used for browsing attached USB media devices and launching games.

Official Site: x360key.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 24 2011, 04:39 AM

Maximus 360Lizard Standalone Mode Preview

We are proud to announce a sneak preview of the 360 Lizard Standalone Mode. This is truly the results of a long development and research road and will serve to set the difference against other tools wanting to be considered as competitors.

This update will be available for beta testing shortly then in a few days we will release to the public. The battery pack shown on the video is a prototype; the final version is near completion and we will also give out simple schematic for it for DIY (do it yourself) Kit. Many thanks to the many beta testers who will be very busy testing this new gecko OS.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 23 2011, 08:00 PM

XECUTER X360USB PRO HDD Hacker Tool Released

The last four weeks have seen an unprecedented response to the new X360USB PRO product and the feedback has been nothing short of sensational. Stocks have been wiped out time and time again, the production lines are working 24/7 and resellers have reported record sales – outselling any competitors products by up to 100:1 !

Well, development is always ongoing and we are happy to announce the next level of features and capabilities with the release of the new X360USB PRO HDD HACKER TOOL. Not only is the X360USB PRO able to communicate with DVD Drives by utilizing built in PortIO and WinAPI functions giving a level of speed and access never seen before, but it can now also connect to Hard Drives and manipulate the data for the first time over USB using any Windows 32bit or 64bit operating system with just a few simple clicks.

What does this mean for you ?

You can now convert any off-the-shelf 2.5″ SATA Hard Drive and convert it to be 100% XBOX 360 Compatible, saving you a TON of money !

The X360USB PRO HDD HACKER TOOL currently supports the entire range of Western Digital 2.5″ SATA Hard Drives, however we will be able to add a range of other manufacturer’s and models in future updates.

All you need is the HDSS.BIN file from an original XBOX360 Hard Drive (which can be easily extracted using the X360USB PRO) and use it to convert your WD SATA Drive. The following guide will show you just how easy it is.

Note: The size of the drive is limited to the size of your HDSS.BIN file (e.g. if you have a 250GB HDSS.BIN and you flash it to a 320Gb Hard Drive – then the drive will recognize in the Xbox 360 as a 250GB drive)

To support the the new HDD capabilities of the X360USB PRO, we have begun to manufacture a range of new products to give you a clean and professional Hard Drive update experience.

The X360USB PRO HDD HACKER TOOL is sponsored by www.xconsoles.com so we are happy to direct you to their website for special offers on these new products including great deals on WD 2.5″ SATA hard Drives.

Requirements
* XECUTER X360USB PRO (Minimum v18 Firmware)
* XECUTER HDD ADAPTER PRO (you can also use the HDD Adapter that comes with the CK3 Pro for Phat drives or a SATA power adapter for Slim drives)
* Windows 32bit or 64bit
* MAC OSX Compatible (When using Bootcamp or VMWare to run Windows)
* Original HDSS.BIN File

OK let’s begin…..

This image shows you the simple GUI and a short explanation of each button. The app has been kept purposely simplistic to make this as easy as possible.
* DUMP
To extract the HDSS.BIN from an original XBOX 360 Hard Drive
* FLASH
Flashes a HDSS.BIN to your 3rd party Hard Drive and saves a copy of the drives original sectors to UNDO.BIN
* RESTORE
Restores the Hard Drive’s firmware and Max LBA to it’s original state using the UNDO.BIN
* PARTITION
Partitions and formats the drive to XBOX 360 specifications

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Download: here
Guide/Tutorial: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 14 2011, 01:07 AM

JungleFlasher v0.1.82 (234)

Team Jungle released a new version of JungleFlasher.

What's new/fixed:
* Minor release to tighten up error handling..
* An unforseen issue with slow drives ( seemly with Winbond Spi)
* SlimKey support
Added: Delay added following Drive authorisation, small % of drives seem slow and were failing on fwcrt cmd 21, others return empty data
Added: Total abort for failed fwcrt cmd 21 error
Added: Total abort on Key sector verification failure
* Firmware File Parser
Added: Parse abort on key sector verification failure for Slim dummy.bin
Added: Serial area fixer support for Slim.. to repair data for "others" ;)

Official Site: www.jungleflasher.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 11 2011, 02:32 AM

Beta Dashboard Flashing DVD Drives, XGD3 Halo Reach Discs, Russian AP2.5 Patches

As you might have read on our forums or elsewhere the last few days, the Beta Dashboard Microsoft released to members accepted into the System Update Preview Program is indeed flashing the firware of some DVD drives (only fat/slim lite-on and fat BenQ afaik). The new beta dashboard, which has also been leaked online already, seems to be 13141/13142 for those who updated through LIVE and 13140 for those who got the green update disc. Besides flashing these drives with a new Original Firmware, it also has a new set of AP2.5 challenges.

While there's still much to find out and analysed, Defosho posted a nice FAQ/Round-up of some findings - make sure to read his thread for the latest info, but here's what's in it at time of writing:

1) The physical DVD drive is flashed with new firmware
Some drives are being flashed during the initial update process. This is overwriting your current drive firmware, whether it is custom or original. This is the reason why all backups are failing to boot for some people after the update, because you no longer have custom firmware. Re-flashing back to a CFW will allow current backups to start working again, except for the 4 AP25-active titles listed below that have a new challenge set in 13141/2.

Flashing back to a different drive firmware could result in unknown consequences as the kernel/hv may be expecting to be communicating with a drive with updated OFW. In the newly flashed drives, you may find that you can't retrieve your drive key. More information to follow...

The new OFW flash files from the $SystemUpdate are in the $flash_oddupd[<]x[>].xex files.
The new firmware versions are as follows:
Slim LiteOn: PLDS DG-16D4S 0272
Phat BenQ: PBDS VAD6038 04421C
Phat LiteOn: PLDS DG-16D2S 02510C
Please don't post speculation about other drives, please PM me if you have verifiable information.

2) A new AP25 challenge table
Data from 13141/13142 dash:
- 4 known games are in the table - all known language versions of AC:B, Fable III, NFS:HP and Halo Reach.
- These 4 games each have a new set of challenges so the current available patches will not work with a LT+ CFW.
- Call of Duty MW2 and Black Ops have been removed from the table so unpatched and patched backups should work with a LT+ CFW. Confirmation to follow.
- Read my AP25 FAQ for more information about the table.
AP25 continues to be a successful anti-backup measure. Do not dismiss it.

What's next?
New CFW versions based on the new OFW is likely to be needed. Don't expect anything for some time, this won't be affecting anyone with a retail dash for a while yet.

There's also some information from C4Eva on IRC:
[c4eva] currently beta dash will flash benq, phat liteons and slim 9504!
[c4eva] hitachi is ignored!
[_w*****] is it for protection or for the new disc format?
[c4eva] w*****:unsure maybe, could be just ensure stock drive for xgd3 testing, will know more soon!
[c4eva] there is no problem in dumping/key extraction for any of the new fw from beta dash!already looked at them all! will wait and see what is used for public release!

Members who got accepted in the System Update Preview Program also received a XGD3 Halo Reach disc (a silver one for those who got the dash upgrade through LIVE and a green one of those who have to update with the disc). Team Xecuter has some info about the new XGD3 format:

The data reads larger than a DVD+R DL – but that may be faked / new protection so we will see.
The disc updates dash to 2.0.13140.0
Testing begins…….

Russian hackers have also released a set of AP2.5 patches for all regional AP25-protected-games on both the current 12625 and 13142 beta dash. They have been confirmed to be working indeed, but according to Team Xecuter they are unsafe to use on LIVE:

Also….There are some Russian guys who released fake Ap2.5 patches. These are not real patches but data from the full range of the DAE table and NOT the disc which is where they should come from. The disc will boot yes but they are EASILY detectable. If you use live DO NOT USE these fake patches. If you do not care about live in anyway and will never connect to live then go for it. C4E has already confirmed that he is going to release a live safe Ap2.5 ripper very soon – it’s in development amongst a TON of other things. If you want more info about how AP2.5 works, I suggest you read this great FAQ by Defosho.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 9 2011, 06:38 PM

360 Lizard: Gecko 1.07 and TBX B016, to support C4E 9504 LT release

We are releasing an update to Gecko OS (1.07) and Lizard Toolbox (B016) to support the C4E 9504 Slim LT release. You can get the Toolbox on our download page and the Gecko update using the Lizard FW Updater application.

In order to be able to generate the CFW files it is MANDATORY to update your Fileset Templates (those file need to be placed in the "CFW_Templates" folder). Visit the Official Fileset blog to download them as they are not included with the Lizard Toolbox Software Releases.

Please NOTE in order to successfully flash your 9504 Drive you need to go to the "Read Key from Slim Drive" option under Slim Liteon Menu on lizard, this will dump a full serial and key area.

** IMPORTANT !!: If you did a dump already with previous Gecko Releases (for example to change the drive for a phat model) you need to re-dump the original drive using the latest Gecko OS (1.07) as this new dump required portions of the firmware not included in previous releases (Key area and full serials).

The Procedure to Flash your drive is as follows (We are doing a proper tutorial)
a) Get the Key using the Read Key from Slim Drive option on the Slim Liteon Menu on Lizard (this will generate all required files and will send to PC)
b) On the Lizard Toolbox application go to CFW Generator tab and then to the Easy view and load the source_dummy.bin file just created.
c) Select the type of firmware to make (original or CFW) and Save As.
d) On Lizard enter on MTK icon follow onscreen instructions
e) Go to Write option on Lizard and when prompted send the Generated File (default Liteon_CFW.bin) in the Toolbox.

Currently the Lizard toolbox will not allow you to open the generated firmware on the Advanced Tab, only on the easy view tab, the main reason is because Advanced tab is mainly for spoofing and 9504 release don't allow spoofing. We will work on a fix on the couple of days to enable opening the file on the Advanced tab; but for now it’s not really needed.

Also we have got reports of people that have Drive’s labeled as 9504 but that are reported as 0225, well this is a known issue and it just happen that are 0225 drives that were not re-labeled by the factory, it’s not a TBX, nor Lizard nor Jungle flasher problem.

Also we had a support request from a guy who just did his first bad flash (he accidentally lost power on the drive while flashing). Since the flashing had gotten to the 2nd bank the drive was no long detected nor being able to enter on MTK mode again (he used all tools available, dosflash, JF and lizard). So we just did a Quick Tutorial for Recovery from a bad flash using our friend The Scorpion. It’s not required every time, its similar to Benq Brick and is only required when the flash pass certain stage of flashing and it can happen with any flashing tool.

Last but not least, we want to express many thanks to c4e for his fair play of this release and keeping his word about not locking the release to any specific hardware, that means allot to us and all our customers. Full credit on the Slim LT firmware goes to c4e.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 8 2011, 06:52 PM

JungleFlasher v0.1.81 Beta (226)

As always with a new C4E iXtreme release (iXtreme LT+ LiteOn DG-16D4S 9504), Team Jungle also comes with a new version of JungleFlasher to add full support for the new firmwares.

What's new/fixed:
* PhatKey support
faster responce reading key with x360USB ***f/w update required***
* Slim f/w support
9504 stock/LT+ parseing, LT auto-load and key/serial spoofing... cross spoofing not supported
* SlimKey support
Slim 9504 and 0225 key and serial info extraction - x360USB ***f/w update required***
Note: 0225 support is limited to x360USB and other compatible chipsets
Note: via and Nforce not supported
* slim/Phat selection
MTK tab has selection for Slim/Phat MTK commands
Selection is automatic based in inquiry info etc.
Slim MTK commands added to support 9504 read/erase/write funtions

Official Site: www.jungleflasher.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Apr 8 2011, 06:52 PM

C4E iXtreme Slim LT+ Firmware for LiteOn DG-16D4S 9504

C4Eva (in association with Team Jungle & Team Xecuter) released the iXtreme LT+ for LiteOn DG-16D4S 9504 drives:

World first backups for XBOX 360 Slim
- For Liteon Drive 9504

New protection measures for slim:
* Realtime checks of drive firmware and ram by dashboard - Rootkit technology used to pass several realtime check types. These checks on the drive are open ended so as to make replay of the answers impossible. Will pass any check on any part of the drive
* Hardware flash modification check - The 1335 chip performs a hardware check on powerup for modified firmware. Chip fooled into thinking firmware is stock
* Slim drive locked to read pressed game discs only - Enabled reading of DVD+R DL media for game discs

All features of current LT+ also included
- Optimised PFI code to accomodate AP25 SS data
- Defeats current AP25 protection
- Protects console from logging AP25 violation
- Full disc stealth used by default
- Waveless booting , disc images are assumed to be correct!
- Split-Vid used as default

If booting an AP25 title without AP25 SS game will not boot but will still be protected from logging AP25 violation on current dash 12625
If LT+ encounters an unknown AP25 challenge, game will not boot but console will still be protected from logging AP25 violation on current dash 12625

AP25 SS are region specific for region locked games

Thanks go to Team Jungle for their hard work and efforts in the development process.
Thanks also go to Team Xecuter for their generous support to this project.

Official Site: C4Eva, jungleflasher.net team-xecuter.com
Download: n/a (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 30 2011, 05:41 PM

More about New Disc Format (xgd3) and C4Eva Comments

From eurogamer.net:

A highly placed development source has confirmed to Digital Foundry that the new disc format being beta tested in a new dashboard upgrade adds 1GB to the storage of Xbox 360 game discs.

The maximum space allocated to game data on the current disc format is just 6.8GB out of a maximum of 7.95GB on a standard dual layer DVD, with over 1GB dedicated to a DVD-Video partition that also contained anti-piracy security sectors. It seems that this video partition has either been drastically reduced or omitted completely in the new format Microsoft is looking to roll-out.

Beta testers of the new dashboard get a free copy of Halo: Reach once they are accepted into the new preview programme. We can assume that this isn't just a generous gift on Microsoft's part - more likely it is a disc pressed using the new format, and Microsoft is looking for data on performance on as many different systems as it can.

From C4Eva on EFnet via c4evaspeaks.com:

[Z****] so what do u think about new disc format [http://c4evaspeaks.com/new-xgd3-disc-format-and-dash-preview]?
[c4eva-] MS will introduce xgd3 – this will add more ap checks, cvi (content integerity) checks, increase the disc size and adds a new layer for protection issues – all in the 20500 sdk! bring it on! :)
[J*****] C4 will this effect the launch of Slim lt? will it be delayed for some reason?
[c4eva-] j*****:No
[c4eva-] will know more once we get one of these new discs!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 29 2011, 08:44 PM

Xbox 360 System Update Preview

I am happy to announce that we’re doing an Xbox 360 System Update Preview program for our next release, and the opportunity to sign up is now available. We are conducting an open call for US based participants* for a public preview to help us prepare for an updated Xbox 360 disc format. This is an important update as we continually strive to improve our products and we could not do so without the help of our great Xbox community. As part of the preview program, you will receive a copy of Halo: Reach along with other possible rewards.

Much like we did last year, you’ll need to visit the Microsoft Connect site from this link and sign in with your Windows LIVE ID that is connected to your Xbox LIVE Gamertag. Once you complete the survey that is presented to you, the Connect site will provide program related updates and you will receive a mail once the selection process is completed.

A couple of points before you head off to register:
* We’re looking for multiple thousands of participants, so your chances of making it in are good.
* This opportunity is open to Xbox LIVE Members in US region only(*).
* To avoid any problems, read the survey carefully and double check all the information you provide.
* While both Xbox LIVE Gold and Silver members can sign up, priority will be given to Gold members in the selection process.

(*)Due to disc distribution limitations, this beta it will be limited to residents of the United States only.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 27 2011, 09:39 PM

Maximus 360Lizard: Gecko 1.06 with 2x Read Speed

We are releasing Gecko 1.06 with an improvement on Firmware Read Speed, we have reached 2X reading speed, that means half of the time of Firmware Dumping. The update require you download the latest TBX B015 as by default the Gecko 1.06 will still boot on standard speed, when you do click on Get Device Details will negotiate with Lizard and will set it for 2x speed.

Also we added a function on TBX to rename your Lizard, this will allow you some personalization, the name will be shown on the boot screen of Gecko 1.06. Many Thanks to all beta testers for his help testing this new Gecko 1.06, we will keep working on this Device upcoming features.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 27 2011, 05:59 PM

LiteOn Slim 9504 LT+ Final Testing, New 0800 FW Soon, 0225 Progress

Not long now. Final stages of testing :)
Full Video of Dumping Key / Flashing 9504 LT+ :: CLICK HERE
Thanks to C4E for another gem :)

Final Slim 9504 fw sent out to all testers! creating nfo file for release! Also some updates from C4Eva on EFnet (via c4evaspeaks.com):

[c4eva] 0225 write not a problem! working on it now!

[c4eva] nope, 0225 write all good, just verifying
[c4eva] 0225 fw shortly
[******] the emperor made another critical error
[c4eva] yep :)
[c4eva] tnx to ******* 0225 write fine :)

[c4eva] new 0800 fw soon with support for ap25 extraction!
[c4eva] new 0800 not for sammy!

[K********] c4eva give info about 9504's rootkit, what this rootkit doing?
[c4eva] rootkit is made by me, to counter realtime checks on the drive!
[s****] the rootkit included with the same drive fw?
[c4eva] rootkit is part of the LT code!

[s****] c4, can u get 0225 into vendor mode already?
[c4eva] setan:yes
[Mo******] C4, how many time`ll take CFW for 0225?
[c4eva] 0225 is next! wont take too long :)
[c4eva] all good so far!
[Mr******] C4E how long do you reckon
[c4eva] testers are all around the world, so have to wait for their reports, timezones etc!
[l*****] I hope 0225 isn’t trace cutting
[p*******] 0225 method is not known yet
[c4eva] 0225 wont be a problem!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 24 2011, 07:23 AM

Small Changes on Maximus 360Lizard Batch 2

At this time you should be getting your Lizard Units from batch 2, we have made some small changes on the kit contents that we want to comment on.

Changes on the Scorpion 2: We included a plastic case with it, this will help you to do a more safe job and to preserve the probe tip of the unit. Also we have changed the grabbers for a new type "jaw" that allow a stronger and easier connection as now the Grabbers can be placed side by side (check picture bellow). We will update the tutorials to include reference to this new grabbers but meanwhile here you have them for fast reference.

Changes on the Kit: We have removed the minispear from the main kit as the scorpion covers the key read functionallity of all phat liteon drives. The Minispear will be still available as separate item on stores for those who might need them.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 18 2011, 03:18 AM

C4Eva: LiteOn Slim 9504 W.I.P. - Total Stealth Achieved, 0225 next

Updates from C4Eva on EFnet (via c4evaspeaks.com):

[c4eva] more code added to lt slim, added ram stealth via rootkit also, total stealth (fw and ram) achieved

[c4eva] i have an unopened 0225, will look at it over the weekend

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 18 2011, 03:04 AM

Maximus 360Lizard: Gecko 1.05 Update available (With Phat Hitachi Write)

We are releasing today the Gecko 1.05 Firmware update for Lizard and also Lizard Toolbox B013, both with Write support for Phat Hitachi Drives. It took longer than we expected and we apologize for the delay, in the meantime we worked ahead on some new features that we will unveil soon.

In order to start writing on Hitachi Drives make sure you get the Gecko 1.05 using the Fw Updater application. And also download the Toolbox B013 from our Downloads page.

Also we have created a Video Tutorial so you can start using the Updates right now, here you have the Video Tutorial with English Subtitles. Alternatively you can get the Video in Spanish Here.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 16 2011, 01:28 AM

C4Eva: LiteOn Slim 9504 W.I.P. - 'RootKit' Implemented to boot on 12625

Updates from C4Eva on #FW@EFnet (via c4evaspeaks.com):

[c4eva] final portion of slim lt code a success!fw stealth implemented via rootkit technology! 12625 dash booting fine!

[c4eva] slim console will do realtime checks of fw!
[c4eva] hence rootkit used on slim lt !

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 10 2011, 01:33 AM

X360USB PRO Shipping To Resellers Begins and IRC Support Channel

We missed our target shipping date by just 3 days, but we got there eventually. The first batch of X360USB PRO is in the process of being quality tested and packed and is expected to leave our factory in China (+8 GMT) on Thursday March 10th.

We have paid for the fastest shipping service possible, but even so, several hundred kilos will take more than just a day or two

Our main resellers have given us an order so they each get a quantity of the no-case "early adopter" version, and then of course they will get the rest of their orders which will include the complete unit including case. We expect those to start leaving the factory on March 25th (This is a conservative estimated date. It could be a few days before or after). Please bear in mind that not all resellers have put early orders in, so some of them probably won't have stock at the same time as others. That is through no fault of our own and we can only cater to those who made their orders well in advance. We suggest you check with your preferred reseller to make sure they have placed their orders in time.

Resellers have also asked us to remind you that they will be shipping to their customers on an date-ordered basis. So as always with a pre-order type product it is first come, first served. So those who were lucky enough to order from day one will be first on the list.

Bear in mind that there are tens of thousands of IC's to program and we have strict quality assurance procedures in place where each and every unit is run through a serious of tests individually to make sure you receive the best quality product.

We worked real hard on this one and are very excited to see everyone's reaction as to how simple it is to use. Thank you for your patience, not too long now. After months of use as a development and beta test channel, #X360USB has now gone live on EFNET as a public support channel for the X360USB PRO. Feel free to drop by.

Official Site: www.x360usb.com
Order Now: mrmodchips
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 9 2011, 04:02 AM

Maximus 360Lizard: Slim Liteon Key Read and BENQ UnBrick tutorials

We have had a few requests from users to provide them with a way to solve their software bricked BENQ drives. We have arrived at a simple solution to Unbrick with with the help of the Maximus Scorpion tool. As you may have remembered in the past we showed you how to use the Maximus Scorpion tool to Unbrick Samsung Drives. This combination its becoming the number one tool for software unbricks; and yes we are sure the "other" team will just copy the method as a feature of their product soon, just remember where you saw it first. Below is a video showing you this simple solution.

Also we have posted a video tutorial to retrieve the keys from the Lite-on SLIM DVD drives, its a feature that has been built into the Maximus 360lizard since launch. Video is listed below:

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 5 2011, 11:44 PM

C4Eva: LT+ for LiteOn Slim - 9504 Testing Going Fine, 0225 Coming Later

Updates from C4Eva on #FW@EFnet (via c4evaspeaks.com):

[p*******] so when will be flash to 225
[c4eva] when its ready!
[c4eva] 9504 is in testing! cod:bo playing fine on 9504 slim!
[S******] will be 9504 released together with 0225 or will 9504 released first ?
[c4eva] 9504 first, 0225 later with write solution!
[c4eva] testing will take longer due to the serveral realtime check routines to overcome.need to ensure realtime stealth is covering our tracks! :)
[D*******] is the fw of the 9504 similar to the 0225? or did you need to start from scratch on the 0225?
[c4eva] only a slight change from 9504 to 0225!
[p*******] so the problem is writing
[r********] i have ordered x360usb, would it be enough for a 0225 fw writing solution? or would i need something more?
[M****] c4eva 0225 writing soon ? thanks
[c4eva] more on 0225 writing solution will come later!
[c4eva] for now lt+ slim needs thorough testing!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 4 2011, 06:57 PM

HDDHackr v1.30 Build 20110303

Team MODFREAKz released a new version of HDDHackr, a tool that allows you to use some Western Digital HDDs as Xbox 360 HDD.

What's new/fixed:
* SATA and IDE port scan improved (The ports are now enumerated with the CONFIG_ADDRESS and CONFIG_DATA register instead of using interrupts)
* PATA and SATA controllers list updated
* Automatic Device Reset
* Code optimization to work with modern SATA2 controllers added (Remember to set SATA controllers to IDE and not AHCI mode)

Official Site: n/a, by Team MODFREAKz
Download: here
News-Source: xboxhacker.org
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 4 2011, 01:12 AM

Xecuter CK3 Probe 3 Images and Info

As promised here is the professional version of the CK3 Probe 3. Speaks for itself. The easiest, safest, most flexible “PMT” no-cut/no-solder probe for Liteon drives. No capacitors, no discharging, no power clips, enhanced extraction code built into X360USB and Jungle Flasher to give instant key extraction with no need for prolonged probing of the PCB or timing your power cycles or any other waiting around or messing about.

Also tested working with the Samsung Bad Flash Recovery Method (mostly not required with X360USB Pro as it will recover 99% of Samsung recovery / Bad Flash situations – but its a working backup all the same)

We have also designed the CK3 Power Cable so that it can be used to convert any CK3 probe (v1 / v2 / v2.1 / Mini probe) to a fully functional PMT capable probe. Naturally the cable is a lot cheap than buying a Probe 3 so YOU save money !

It’s this simple (Connect using X360USB PRO & Jungle Flasher of course):
1. Press the PhatKey button, then click Yes
2. Hold Probe 3 Button down (LED OFF), connect probe to MPX01, release Probe 3 Button (LED ON)
3. Extract Complete will be instantaneous when using X360USB PRO, now remove probe from MPx01
4. Press and release the Probe 3 button again then click OK
5. Done!

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Mar 2 2011, 07:17 AM

Maximus 360Lizard: Gecko Beta 1.04 - PHAT Hitachi Full Dump

We have been very busy preparing new features for Lizard and also working hard on Phat Hitachi full support, we are still testing the write feature but meanwhile we choose to do a intherim release for the full read of Phat Hitachi. The write feature is being tested in deep as we want to be rock solid, it will require some days more to release.

You can find the Gecko 1.04 using the Firmware updater application, please read the Setup Manual for directions on how to get the Update.

*** THIS UPDATE REQUIRES ALSO THE FLASH UPDATE ***

Also Thanks to Javi, Candojo and Victor for new tranlations of the Tutorials in Spanish and Portuguese (available in the Forum/Help) Tab. We will keep working we are working on some new features for the next gecko release.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 25 2011, 05:02 AM

Non-English AP2.5 and Rumor Kill: Slim FW not Exclusive or Hold Back

After a long wait we have finally been able to create AP2.5 patches for Non-English titles – in this case we have started with Italian.
Our first test is COD: Black Ops so if you can report back to the #fw channel to confirm its success then we will continue with the rest of the titles.
It was also made sure that ABGX had the correct SSV2 information, and as soon as the patches are confirmed then the AP2.5 data will be uploaded to the database also – this will be done with each and every Non-English title.
More details on team-xecuter.com.

We understand it has taken a long time to start getting Non-English title patches ready, but it’s a very complex process that is insanely time consuming and not to mention, quite expensive.

We also had to evolve to a different AP2.5 challenge capture process which also delayed things by several weeks, but thanks to C4E we have figured out all of the problems and are back on track again.

Please be patient with the time scale of these releases. Some may have thought that we had forgotten about our European friends and that there may have been animosity towards the English side of the scene as they took preference (and in turn some animosity toward Xecuter which we hope to correct today). This couldn’t be further from the truth, in fact there are several members of our team who are Non-English. We have Italian, German, French, Spanish….even Scottish comes to mind

Of course many of you may wonder why there is no public method so you can simply do this yourself. Well, for starters the method is not simple, it involves many processes it isn’t just a case of popping in a disc and ripping – those days are long gone I’m afraid. We have had many discussions with C4E about this and the fact is, if this method was public it would be blocked permanently and that would be the end of AP25 patches for everyone – possibly forever. So as inconvenient as this is, it’s the only way to keep the process safe. If there is ever a method that can be released to the public which does not compromise the process then OF COURSE it will be released. Trust me when we say that we are busy in many areas of our work and daily that takes much higher priorities than having to chase down a dozen different languages of game from around the world and have people flaming and bitching at you all the time thinking that you are holding something back on purpose.

Another point we would like to address while we have your attention, is that there are still persistent, and silly rumors that C4E is holding back the release of the Slim FW so that our X360USB PRO can be released first. We have responded to this MANY times on the forums but let us make one thing very clear and on the record. C4E is NOT holding back the release of the Slim FW for Xecuter or for anyone. It is a very, very difficult and time consuming hack and he has been working on it solid for the last 6 months. The guy has a job, he has a life, just let him do his thing. It IS and WILL be released, but even we don’t know when, and we are on the same team.

Another dumb rumor is that the Slim FW is being locked and made exclusive to the X360USB PRO. We have even seen so-called smart people suggest this. Well if our 10 year track record in the Xbox scene has shown anything – it’s that we have ALWAYS given masses to the scene with regards to Bios’ and Hacks and various methods for free and without any exclusivity. Yes we design products that are hardware add-ons and that is a business and yes there are those that don’t like that and that’s fine. However, we’ve been at the core of the Xbox scene since day #1 and we didn’t change our principles back then and we’re not going to change them now. Don’t listen to silly rumors, or bullshit flaming or lies spread by childish fanboys. There is no deal to lock ANYTHING to the X360USB PRO. To be honest it doesn’t need any deal like that, it’s fantastic on its own, which quite a large amount of you will find out for yourselves next week, we know you are anxious ! Anyway, we hope that clears everything up. Don’t forget to leave test reports in the #fw channel and we can then get a bunch of other titles ready in the next day or so.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 23 2011, 01:00 AM

Pogo Mo Thoin Goes Wild – Free X360USB Pro Competition

In only 48 hours the PMT method has taken the Xbox scene by storm with thread views approaching over 100,000 and thousands of posts on many many forums with users showing their own inventive ideas and methods to perform the PMT hack.

We have guys making PMT probes using Microsoft wireless receivers, Remote Controls, AA Batteries, and there are now methods without using any capacitors at all :) – just a CK3 and a switch across the 3.3v cable and a wire GND.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 23 2011, 12:53 AM

360Lizard Gecko Beta 1.03: Improved validations on BENQ, overall tune-up

We are Launching today GECKO 1.03 to beta stage and we are moving last 1.02 to release stage. You can find the new 1.03 using the Firmware Updater application, please read Setup Manual for directions how to get the update on your Lizard. Remember every update is specific for your Lizard

*** REMEMBER UPDATE THE APPLICATION AND ALSO THE FLASH ***

Changes on GECKO 1.03:
- Overall Tune-up
- More validations to prevent common procedure mistakes
- Screen at boot shows the FW version of the GECKO
- New screensaver (Thanks Daniel Barham)
- French Language added to the Menu Options (Thanks Sephirothff)

New Tutorials:
We have uploaded New tutorials for Firmware Upgrade, also we build a new version of the FW Updater to solve connection problems to the bootloader. Please download this application from the Downloads section Also we added User translations to French (Sephirothff and Xavbox versions) and to portuguese (Victor of cursosgames).

Credits and Kudos to who deserve them, to those who work hard and love what they do, to those people that has the potential to create new stuff. Disrespect to those who only know how to copy other people's job and pretend to take the credit for it.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 21 2011, 03:00 AM

Jungle Flasher v0.1.79: Includes PMT, X360USB PRO Support - PMT Guides

PhatKey Support
Support for Lite-On key extraction, Using Pógó Mo Thóin DIY probe or Xecuter Probe III.Thanks to Maximus & Co for the un-released original concept. Full PMT Guides: here

Hitachi Support
Gui changes in Hitachi:rive area.
[Refresh] in Winapi no longer scans for new hardware
[Scan] added to scan for new hardware separately
[Remove] removed, but added to context menu for convenience
JF will accept system message about new drives added, JF will auto refresh list for new ODD.

x360USB Support
Initial support for x360USB added – More to follow at release
LibUSB is required, if you dont have LibUSB installed, LibUSB0.dll is required to run JF. Correct file is included and should be copied to JF folder if needed.

PortIO and other DLL’s
We followed schtroms lead and embbed the Portio .sys files to load from temp folder. Other required DLL’s have been embedded also. For those using Test signed drivers in x64, PortIO load function checks JF folder for existing files and uses those if present.

Also: PMT (Pogo Mo Thoin) Tutorials
Now anyone can use this method, you’re not tied to just one device or manufacturer so thanks again to the guys at Team Jungle for releasing the schematic for everyone to enjoy. Includes updated step-by-step how to make your own guides and how to use with the new Jungle Flasher v0.1.79 so you can now easily extract your liteon 83850V2 and 93450 DVD Key without cutting traces and no soldering required.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com | jungleflasher.net
Download Jungle Flasher v0.1.79: here
Download PMT Tutorials: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 19 2011, 07:43 PM

Team Xecuter POGO MO THOIN – Homebrew Liteon Probe – No Cuts / No Solder

We are happy to present the “POGO MO THOIN” homebrew Liteon Probe to the scene. Make your own Probe that will require no cuts and no soldering for all Liteon DG-16D2S DVD drives.

Naturally we have already developed a professional version and the CK3 PROBE III will be available at the same time as the X360USB PRO.
* DVD Key extraction on ALL Liteons (74850, 83850v2 & 93450)
* Homebrew – Easy / Cheap To Make
* 100% Compatible with latest Jungle Flasher
* Tested with X360USB PRO / VIA 6421 etc
* No more trace cuts or soldering

Here is a guide to make your own from old XBOX 1 Parts

Full credits goto all the Jungle Boys. These last few weeks coming up with new features for the X360USB PRO and Jungle Flasher have been a blast – so much more to come !Now we go back to Slim work.

Update: Hack your CK3 Probe to be a POGO MO THOIN – No Power Clips Required :) Via

Take the feed from the CK3 Probe Power Cable so no need to use potentially dangerous power clips.Presenting the SUPERFLY PROBE HACK lol :)

Official Site: team-xecuter.com(1) | team-xecuter.com(2)
Download Schematics: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 18 2011, 11:15 PM

Team Xecuter: X360USB PRO Production Begins

Finally, after several months of development and thousands of hours of testing and improvements (17 Firmware updates, 5 PCB revisions, countless software features and additions etc), with a BETA team of 18 members hammering the crap out of the X360USB PRO to make sure it is as rock solid as possible, the X360USB PRO has finally been green lit for production. The fact that we kept our heads and made sure that this wasn't a rushed project, that was developed and tested correctly by a huge team of experienced individuals so that everything worked in full on it's release to the public, will not only prove to everyone that this was most definitely worth the wait, but when it comes to our products we truly care about anything that has our name on it, and if you are willing to spend your hard earned money then we better damn well do the best job that we possibly can. You will never get half-assed from us !

We will run a batch of PCB Only versions and make sure a whole bunch of resellers get their hands on them so those early adopters can have a play before an official retail release. The full retail package will be shipping in force in the next 2-3 weeks.

If you would like to get your hands on a PCB Only version (will simply come without the case - functionality will be 1:1 retail), then let your reseller know so they can request how many they would like.

There are also other goodies in development as add-ons to the X360USB PRO which we will reveal soon. We will also (maybe, finally!) have time to actually push a retail release of the CK3-CP :p

Also, keep any eye out for a whole bunch of new retailers that have signed up to be direct distributors. If there isn't a dealer in your country then give them a poke and let them know what they are missing out on !

Official Site: team-xecuter.com(1) team-xecuter.com(2)
Download Schematics: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 14 2011, 05:42 PM

C4Eva: Write Solution for 0225 Slim LiteOn drives Coming, Slim FW Progress

Updates from C4Eva on #FW@EFnet (via c4evaspeaks.com) about the iXtreme LT+ for 'Slim' LiteOn drives (9504 anmd 0225):

[A*****] is there any method to extract the key to swap drive on a Slim 0225? Tarablinda not working…
[c4eva] A*****:yes :)
[s*****] tarablina isn’t for 0225
[s*****] 9504
[A*****] so what is for 0225?
[s*****] ask c4
[A*****] lot of sites says 0225's key can be extracted but nowhere say how
[c4eva] a****:x360usb/jf,very easy!
[a****] can you write slim fw also using x360usb/jf c4eva ? or will we need additional hardware
[d*********] now do you have to eject it first and then power off to avoid being flagged or will powering off before 3 minutes be enough?
[c4eva] a****:9504 yes, 0225 write solution is forthcoming!
[d*********] so if i boot an unpatched ap25 game on lt+ 1.1 do you have to eject and power off or will just turning it off within 3 minutes be ok to avoid the flag?
[c4eva] d*********:ok
[b********] c4eva: can i use a extra 9504 liteon drive on my 0225 liteon, flashed with the upcoming 0225 fw?
[b********] cause is the same model
[s*****] sounds like alot of work to spoof slims
[d*********] does anything happen after the 3 minutes with the blank screen or does it just stay blank because i think i got it off before 3 minutes
[c4eva] b********:yes
[d*********] c4eva, does it go back to the dash after the 3 minutes or anything like that?
[dj******] c4eva: will both versions of slim come along or separately?
[dj******] I mean, liteon slim, not hitachi
[c4eva] currently debugging extra slim fw stealth features, looking good so far, more soon!as i said x360usb to dump 0225 key very easy!
[b********] so the problem is flashing
[yf******] so you can avoid ap2.5 failed challenges flagging you if you just power off fast enough?
[b********] Brand – Philips: Lite-On
[b********] Model – DG-16D4S
[b********] FW Version – 74850C
[c4eva] yf******:yes if using lt+
[b********] i saw that at ebay
[b********] the new liteon with a old fw
[c4eva] 0225 write solution is coming!
[b********] we can swap the 0225 liteon with that one
[b********] i hope so :p
[c4eva] b********:no, will need 9504 or a 0225!
[b********] hmm
[b********] yeah
[b********] but i mean using the upcoming 0225 fw on that drive
[b********] cause is a dg-16d4s model
[c4eva] b********:no,must be 9504 or 0225!
[c4eva] drive

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 11 2011, 06:51 PM

Maximus 360 Lizard Manuals and Scorpion Details

Just an update and an announcement on the status of the guide for the Maximus Lizard. As you all know we have been very hard at work before the Lizard launch with preparing & testing the hardware and testing the Lizard Toolbox to make sure everything was working perfectly. Now we are working extremely hard on a full manual / tutorial database for the Lizard.

At this stage we have completed the first section of the manual which shows you how to install the drivers and Lizard Toolbox software on the PC and show you how to make sure the PC & Lizard Toolbox is setup correctly to communicate with the Lizard, we have uploaded v1.1 of the manual to our downloads section. The current manual does also contain information on the flashing process using the Lizard & Lizard Toolbox but has been written briefly and intended for people currently familiar with the flashing process, we intend to re-write this and also have some other plans as we start to talk about below.

We have now just started work on doing individual guides for each drive type and will supply them in single PDF format for each drive type, for example once you have followed our main manual and have the Lizard successfully connecting to your PC through the Lizard toolbox you will be able to download a guide for which ever drive type you are about to flash. Let’s say for the 93 drive, this PDF document will guide you through the steps to take on the Lizard device itself along with images of the process you need to take with the Scorpion on the drive and of course images and explanations of what needs to be done in the Lizard Toolbox itself. We plan to prioritize the Lite-On 74, 83, 83 v2 & 93 guides at first; once they have been completed and released we will move onto guides for the older drive types such as the BenQ, Samsung & Hitachi.

While the current manual does cover most of basics needed and most people that know the flashing procedure will be able to use the information covered in the main manual, we are committed to producing individual manuals for each drive type to make it even more clear for new users and to just simplify it even for the professionals. We here at Maximus wish to thank you all for your support and to let you know we are committed to building an extensive manual / tutorial database for the Maximus Lizard, we just ask that you be patient with us while we work very hard to get all this information documented and published for you all to use.

Finally the video of the scorpion in action will be listed up later today, this will show the professionals exactly what needs to be done for a no cut no solder solution on the 83 v2 & 93 drives. As mentioned above we are working around the clock to have complete PDF manuals for these and the other Lite-On drive types listed on our site ASAP.

Now as promised here is it the Video Tutorial for using Scorpion, and get the keys of the drives without cuts, nor solder nor glue.

To use the Scorpion you will require to apply the GECKO 1.01 fw update on your Lizard, please go to our downloads page go get the FW updater application and read the first sections on the Manual to understand how to update.

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Downloads/Manuals: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 4 2011, 04:02 AM

360Lizard: The Wait is Almost Over - No-Cut, No-Solder Solution for (phat) Lite-on

The 360 Lizard device is in its last stage of completion, we have the production completed and all materials have been received. We are currently setting up the inital firmware and testing every unit to ensure the end user receives a top quality item. The reseller shipments will start early next week.

We also are proud to announce a major break-through, The NO-CUT/NO-SOLDER solution for (phat) lite-ons is here and built into the 360lizard device. This is the real deal, NO CUTS, NO SOLDER, NO GLUE-SCAM, this is a complete and tested solution, we will be posting full details really soon. (you know the copycat and mouse game) is why we will not give details until resellers have stock.

This feature will require an extra accesory that will interact with the 360Lizard , please contact your reseller to find out their plan on providing this tool. Since the accessory was not originally part of the standard 360Lizard kit some resellers may or may not include it while others will charge an additional fee for the add-on tool. Thank you for your patience, we apologize for all the delays. Many thanks to the people who chose to support us.

Thanks to all people involved on this project, such as the research team, factory, the production team amd the many helpers we had to assit in the setup and testing. This is been a very long week spending several hours to ensure you get a perfectly working 360Lizard.

Official Site: 360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Feb 3 2011, 04:27 AM

JungleFlasher to fully Support Xecuter x360USB PRO

The JungleFlasher Team are proud to annouce we have been embedding full support for the upcoming Xecuter X360USB Pro. This it the most exciting thing to happen on the flashing scene since JF hit the scene over 2 years ago.

The neat device will simplify flashing for all users. It integrates seemlessly into JF. It shows as I/O port 0x0000, nothing else changes, everything else works as it always does.

The real advantage as we see it:
* Compatibilty: one device, not 1000's of different vendors.
* Support: it works, if you have issues, it has been seen before.
* Installation: Plug it in, ta dah, you're ready.
* Interoperability: works on all current windows OS, signed drivers, no messing.
* Portability: you can take it with you, it's tiny, smaller than a credit card.

This device has been a pleasure to work with. We couldn't have done it better ourselves.

Official Site: x360usb.com | team-xecuter.com
Pre-Order Now: mrmodchips ($64.59/€46.73/£39.94)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 24 2011, 11:11 PM

360 Lizard Toolbox Beta Release

We are glad to anticipate the release of the Lizard Toolbox, the PC application that will be the companion of Maximus Lizard when used attached to a PC. The functionality of this application is to receive the files that are read with lizard and also serve the patched files (custom FW) to lizard for drive writes.

We have added a tab "CFW Generator" whose function is to generate the patched firmware from the file you read with the device, pretty much all that is needed for a really quick job. Please read the attached readme.txt file for general information on how to use it. We will post proper tutorials really soon.

Lizard Toolbox (from now on TBX) will be very useful in the meantime while the Stand-alone mode is released. Its important to consider the Stand-alone mode will be releasing in stages after launch date. We will go 1 drive and 1 feature at a time, we will start with the most popular drives at the moment. Remember lizard will have the possibility to upgrade anytime its firmware so your investment is protected. People worried about 0225 key reading, I guess they missed our launch video long time ago :)

Consider the TBX application as Beta and even when you don't have a lizard yet you can help us testing the CFW Generator, we will appreciate your feedback and suggestions, error reporting, etc. Last but not the least we want to make clear we are not taking credit for custom firmware at all, all credit its and remains to c4e.

Download the TBX on our downloads page

Official Site: 360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 20 2011, 11:17 PM

Team Xecuter about New Dashboard: No New FW Needed, Patches Coming *Update*

After New Dash Update 12625 the following games do not boot (Black Screen):
Black Ops
Modern Warfare 2
Halo Reach

This is an AP2.5 Update so naturally this does not affect non AP2.5 DVD drives (Early Hitachi & Samsung).

If you had LT+ flashed then you will NOT be flagged for a possible ban (good Job c4eva !). If you did not have LT+ flashed and you tried to boot these games as backups then you are probably flagged for a ban.

AP2.5 Data both PAL and NTSC have been extracted (thanks to c4 and k3) and c4 is now working on the patches and testing will commence.There will be no need for a firmware update.

We recommend you do not update yet until there is a working method tested and released. There is no ETA on release so do not ask. if you ask then other members have my permissions to facepalm the offender and ridicule them until they probably start crying.

*Update* Patches have been released via ABGX360 - use the latest version (v1.05)

Official Website: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 19 2011, 01:14 PM

New Dashboard 12611 - Fixes 'Boot to Disc', New Protection

On Wednesday, January 19th we will issue a mandatory dashboard update that (re) enables the ‘Boot to Disc’ option in the Xbox 360 dashboard. After you accept the update, you’ll be able to set the option to boot to the Xbox 360 dashboard OR directly to the game you have in the tray when you power up your console. This option can be found in the System Settings.

Additionally, on Thursday January 20th the Xbox.com team will ship an update that contains a small update to the Gamercards. We’ve updated the Gamercard look and feel a bit and removed gamerzone from the card. Other than that, the same amount of information is on the card. Here is an example:

It seems Microsoft also included a new protection to the update - certain backups won't boot anymore (like: Halo Reach, COD Black Ops and COD MW2) on certain drives (probably AP2.5-capable drives). Microsoft might have been able to activate AP2.5 on some older games.

Booting these games on 360 consoles with AP2.5-enabled drives can possibly result in a BAN (certainly if not using the LT+ FW). If that's indeed the case, SSv3 for these games will have to be released for them to work on LT+. #fw hello, looking into new dash,more soon.

Full Story: majornelson.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 19 2011, 03:08 AM

Final version of X360USB PRO Finished and Tested 100pct

We are pleased to announce that the final version of the X360USB PRO has now been completed and every function tested perfectly.

A great deal of testing and development has gone into make this not only the most powerful tool in any 360 modders toolkit, but also the most affordable.
* Connect ANY 360 DVD Drive thru USB (laptop or Desktop)
* No more PortIO Drivers required – Its all embedded
* No more SATA required
* Fully Upgradeable On-Board Firmware for new features and new drives (we are currently on firmware v0.9)
* X360USB Pro Update Tool for easy firmware updating (Click Here To View)
* 100% compatible and custom developed with Jungle Flasher
* No More Driver / OS / SATA / Compatibility Problems
* Supports Mass Storage Mode As Default
* Dual Mode PORTIO & WINAPI
* Protect your original games with Fast Ripping Using 0800 Firmware (12 Mins!)
* Power, Status & Activity LED’s
* Team Xecuter’s Superior Manufacturing Quality
* Team Xecuter Backed Warranty

Here is the v3 final prototype. We are finishing up the design for the case and should have full product launch soon after Chinese New Year. We will be shipping many samples before Chinese new year and will give a number of lucky customers the chance to actually buy a prototype so they can claim bragging rights.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 18 2011, 05:27 AM

Maximus 360Lizard Accessories Details

We have received the full first batch of accesories for lizard, those will be included in the launching kit. The accesories are:
a) Mini-spear probe
b) Power Extension Adapter
c) Long Power cable

The combination of the Power Extension Adapter and also the long cable will allow you lots of freedom on your configuration, you can use your current drive power solution and use the "b" and "c" accessories like extension. Or you can use them also to make easy to power the drive directly from the console while flashing (even when this kind of use is polemic, remember some competitor's product use that method)

On the plastic case topic, we will get factory samples this week and we will show you once we have them. Its looking very sexy !

On the Mainboard of lizard, we are assembling this week, we have had some delays mainly for a feature we are adding to it. Pictures will be ready of the assembled board in a couple of days. Good things are coming !

Official Site: 360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 9 2011, 06:31 AM

Xecuter X360USB PRO Update: Price, JF Integration, Slim 0225 Key Dump

Just to give you guys a heads up, at this stage we are looking at a maximum RRP of $59.95 / £39.95 / €44.95 We hope to be shipping the first samples to exclusive testers and review sites at the end of next week, then full retail shipping will commence soon after that. X360USB PRO has been successfully integrated into Jungle Flasher. Here is a sneak peak of screenshots with a bunch of different drive versions.

Liteon Slim 0225 - Successful Key Dump.

Our goal was the make this the easiest possible way to connect your 360 DVD drive to your PC with full access to all features with No gimmicks. No fuss. Just plug it in and go. That's it, end of story.

* 360 DVD Drive Progress:
Hitachi (All Versions) Read: Done
Hitachi (All Versions) Write: Done
Samsung (All Versions) Read: Done
Samsung (All Versions) Write: Done
Benq (All Versions) Read: Done
Benq (All Versions) Write: Done
Liteon 74850 Read: Done (CK3 Probe (v1 or v2) still required)
Liteon 74850 Write: Done
Liteon 83850 V1 Read: Done
Liteon 83850 V1 Write: Done
Liteon 83850 V2 Read: Done (MRA Hack still required: CK3 Probe 2, LT Switch or LT Clip)
Liteon 83850 V2 Write: Done
Liteon 93450 Read: Done (MRA Hack still required: CK3 Probe 2, LT Switch or LT Clip)
Liteon 93450 Write: Done

* We are also testing the new Slim LT Firmware with the X360USB. Can anyone else claim that?
Slim 9504 Read: Done (No Probe / No Cutting / No Soldering Required - Confirmed)
Slim 9504 Write: Done (No Probe / No Cutting / No Soldering Required - Confirmed)
Slim 0225 Read: Done (No Probe / No Cutting / No Soldering Required - Confirmed)
Slim 0225 Write: In Progress
Slim 0500 Read: In Progress
Slim 0500 Write: In progress

* 0800 Game Ripping:
Tested 100% with Samsung, Benq & Liteon. It's pretty fast too

Tested on various desktops and laptops. No drivers required. No SATA required. All Windows Versions (That JF Supports anyway)

This chart should help clarify all your connection options and comparisons against SATA. Note that you have MANY options to power your drive. We understand that most users already have a CK3 Pro or a Blaster CK3 so we do not include this option with the X360USB Pro - why pay more if you already have paid for it in the past ? We will of course include CK3 Power options built into the X360USB on a separate version for new customers.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jan 6 2011, 03:24 AM

Microsoft CES 2011 Keynote

The MS Keynote at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show is now over. Here is the Xbox360 related news in short - official Press Release below.
* Netflix will be Kinect-enabled later this year
* HuluPlus will be Kinect-enabled later this Spring
* Microsoft announces Avatar Kinect
* New Xbox Live milestone: 30 million members. A new member joins Xbox LIVE every 2 seconds.
* Xbox 360 has been the #1 selling console in the U.S. for the last 6 months
* Over 50M Xbox360 consoles sold worldwide.
* In the 1st 60 days, MS sold 8 million Kinect sensors worldwide (beating the expected 5M!)

From the press release (edited to mention just Xbox stuff):

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, giving his annual keynote speech to kick off the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), thanked Microsoft’s 1 billion customers for making 2010 a special year.

"(It) was a very, very exciting year for our customers,” Ballmer said. “We launched Windows Phone 7, Office 2010, and Kinect, and we introduced Internet Explorer 9 and Office 365. We saw great growth in our Bing and Azure services, and with the amazing success of Windows 7, it’s truly been a year like none other."

New Kinect-enabled entertainment experiences and historic sales figures led the Xbox team’s announcements at CES.

The last two months of 2010 belonged to Kinect. In its first 60 days on the market, 8 million Kinect sensors were sold, the company announced at CES. That figure significantly outpaced the 5 million units the company had expected to sell in 2010.

Overall, last year was the biggest year ever for the Xbox brand, said David Dennis, group public relations manager for Xbox. “Over the holiday season, console sales for the Xbox 360 hit 50 million, making it the No. 1-selling console in North America for the past six months,” he said. “The Xbox LIVE community continued to grow in leaps and bounds last year, adding a new member every two seconds. Xbox LIVE has more than 30 million active members.”

At CES, Microsoft also announced new Kinect-enabled experiences that aim to transform entertainment in the living room. A new experience called Avatar Kinect will bring a player’s avatar to life in a whole new way, using facial recognition technology to let a person not only control their avatar’s movements but also their expressions; when they smile, frown, nod and speak, the avatar will do the same.

Microsoft will continue to take Kinect’s controller-free experience beyond gaming and into entertainment throughout the year. This spring, Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers will be able to use Kinect to control their Netflix experience. Viewers will be able to pause, rewind and fast-forward their streaming movies with only their voice or gestures.

The company also announced that this spring, Hulu Plus will come to Xbox LIVE as a Kinect-enabled experience. As with Netflix, subscribers will be able to use controller-free motion and voice capabilities to instantly watch full screen popular TV shows anytime in HD.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 25 2010, 04:02 AM

JungleFlasher v0.1.78 (182) *Update: Build 183*

As always with a new C4E iXtreme release (LT+ v1.1 for 'Fat' Hitachi GDR-3120L Drives), Team Jungle also comes with a new version of JungleFlasher to add full support for the new firmwares.

What's new/fixed:
* Hitachi LT + v1.1 support

*Update* Build 183 has been uploaded which fixes a small bug (thx to team-xecuter.com for the news)

Official Site: www.jungleflasher.net
Download: here (x-s mirror of English JungleFlasher v0.1.78 (183))
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 25 2010, 04:02 AM

C4Eva's iXtreme LT+ v1.1 for Hitachi (FAT Models) 360 DVD Drives

C4Eva (in association with Team Jungle & Team Xecuter) released the iXtreme LT+ v1.1 modified FW for all retail revisions (32, 36, 40, 46, 47, 58, 59, 78, 79) of the "phat" Hitachi DVD drives (GDR-3120L):

Official release of the iXtreme LT+ for Hitachi (FAT Models)
- Supports AP25 backups for Hitachi 78,79
- Other Hitachis (32,36,40,46,47,58,59) updated to conform to LT spec
- Optimised PFI code to accomodate AP25 SS data
- Defeats current AP25 protection
- Protects console from logging AP25 violation for a period of 3 minutes, turn off/on console on black screen bootup before your 3 minutes is up
- Full disc stealth used by default
- Waveless booting , disc images are assumed to be correct!
- Split-Vid used as default

If booting an AP25 title without AP25 SS on 78 or 79 game will not boot but will still be protected from logging AP25 violation on current dash 12611 for approx 3 minutes. If LT+ encounters an unknown AP25 challenge, game will not boot but console will still be protected from logging AP25 violation on current dash 12611 for approx 3 minutes.

AP25 SS are region specific for region locked games

LT+ for slim 9504 and 0225 is progressing, soon.

Thanks go to Team Jungle for their hard work and efforts in the development process.
Thanks also go to Team Xecuter for their generous support to this project.

Official Site: C4Eva, #FW@EFnet, jungleflasher.net, team-xecuter.com
Download FW: n/a (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 24 2010, 04:02 AM

C4Eva: 'Fat' Hitachi iXtreme LT+ Imminent, LiteOn Slim Progress 'Looking Good'

Updates from C4Eva on #FW@EFnet (via c4evaspeaks.com) about the iXtreme LT+ for 'Fat' (GDR-3120L) Hitachi drives, his progress on LiteOn Slim drives and more:

[c4eva] merry xmas, hitachi lt release imminent!

[st****] any news on ap25 for international gamez (pal ger , pal spa, pal ita etc..)]
[c4eva] st****:ap25 for other countries games soon!

[al**] c4eva is there any thing new about PS3 ?
[c4eva] not yet,after slim!

[Cl*****] c4eva, All software method for 0225 Liteon drive?
[c4eva] 9504/0225 looking good!

[Ch*******] c4va, LT still safe on xbl? any bans?
[c4eva] no bans,LT doing its job! :)

[st****] did u find some hidden protection (activable in the future) in slim fw? (the same happened with ap25, u knew it months ago)
[c4eva] st****:no,they have added enough this time

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 20 2010, 07:45 PM

C4Eva: 'Fat' Hitachi iXtreme LT+ Delayed Due Bugs but Ready Soon

C4Eva's iXtreme LT+ for 'Fat' (GDR-3120L) Hitachi drives was planned for this past weekend but was delayed because of bugs they found in the last round of testing. However these have now been fixed and the FW is once again in private testing and should be released soon.

From C4Eva on IRC via c4evaspeaks.com:

[c4eva] made improvement to hitachi, tested now for over 12 hours, no open tray
[c4eva] ok, have hitachi 1.1 ready [Editor's note: meaning ready for the beta testers/final testing].

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 17 2010, 02:25 AM

More on Hitachi-LG DL10N Slim Drive: 360 MFR date, Tray Compare, ...

We got some more details about the new Hitachi-LG DL10N DVD drive found in recent Xbox360 Slim consoles.

Heezer reported on X-S forums he also got a Hitachi-LG DL10N drive in his Xbox360 Kinect 4GB Bundle he bought in Germany. He posted some much requested information about the MFR date and factory details of the Xbox360 console:

MFR date: 2010-10-09 [that's October 9th 2010]
Xbox 360 S console, M$ corporation, Model 1439, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA
serial number: 46XXXXXX 04105

This means:
production year: 0 (2010)
week: 41
factory code: 05

Follow our full DVD detection guide

Of course at this moment we don't have enough data to know if 2010-10-09 is the first Manufacture Date with these drives, neither to know exactly in which factories or production lines these new drives are used. But if you have a 360 made on or after 2010-10-09 in factory 05, line 4 chances are you have a DL10N.

X-S also updated our Xbox360 DVD drive brand/model detection guide to include the DL10N. As many of you probably already noticed the Hitachi-LG DL10N has a different DVD-tray from any other Xbox360 DVD drive, so it's easy to find out if you have one without opening your 360 case. I added a picture of the tray posted by Soloyo next to the 3 other types of trays so you can easily compare them.

Soloyo also posted a few new pictures of the DL10N internals which you can see here, here and here.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 16 2010, 02:33 AM

C4Eva: 'Fat' Hitachi iXtreme LT+ Coming This Weekend

New IRC-transcripts from earlier today of C4Eva in #FW@EFnet via c4evaspeaks.com:

[*****] any eta on the Hitachi LT+
[c4eva] Hitachi LT+ this weekend! [note x-s: that's of course about the old/'fat' Hitachi GDR-3120L]
[c4eva] in celebration of the new Hitachi :)

[*********] what do u make of what u have seen of the new Hitachi?
[c4eva] Renesas chip, similar to blu-ray!

[*******] c4eva, was there security vulnerabilities in lt+ 1.0 for liteon seen update for PFI scanning came quickly?
[c4eva] pfi to give better reading of disks, no security holes!

[*********] I could boot ssv1 on LT but not on LT+ v1.1. Is that correct? LT+ v1.1 preventing ssv1?
[c4eva] *********, no, ssv1 fine

[*****] c4eva did you hook us up with the lt+ slim in this year or in the new one?
[*******] can anyone comment on flashing hardware for the new slim drives? ie 9504?
[c4eva] working on slim fulltime now, more soon!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 12 2010, 10:56 PM

New Hitachi-LG DL10N DVD Drive Found in Slim 360 FW:0500

Soloyo posted some interesting info on X-S forums about a completely new DVD model he found in his Xbox360 Slim console. It looks like Hitachi-LG is back with a new DVD drive model (DL10N) for Slim consoles using a Panasonic chipset:

H-L
Model: DL10N
LGE-DMDL10N(B)
Rom Ver:0500AA

The console, sold in a Kinect Bundle Pack, was bought in South,TX USA. The drive itself was produced in September 2010, but atm we do not have the manufacturing date, factory or production line of the 360 console itself. If anyone else found this drive in a 360, please let us know in the forum thread!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 12 2010, 10:56 PM

JungleFlasher v0.1.77 (179)

As always with a new C4E iXtreme releases (LT+ v1.1 for LiteOn and BenQ), Team Jungle also comes with a new version of JungleFlasher to add full support for the new firmwares.

What's new/fixed:
Lite-On LT + v1.1 support
Benq LT + v1.1 support

Official Site: www.jungleflasher.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 12 2010, 08:55 AM

C4E's iXtreme LT+ v1.1 for LiteOn and BenQ - Hitachi 78/79 LT+ News

C4E released a new version of the iXtreme LT+ modified FW for ("phat") LiteOn (74850, 83850V1, 83850V2, 93450) and BenQ DVD-drives.

What's new/fixed:
- xbox 1 backup support (iXtreme compatible, DVD9 only)
- improved pfi support

There's also some WIP news about the LT+ FW for Hitachi-LG drives on team-xecuter.com:

Plus after much work and heavy testing, C4E has finished the LT+ for Hitachi 78 and 79 and it is confirmed that they now boot AP25 backups ! We are currently testing and hope to announce the official release shortly.

There are also plans to make LT firmware for the older Hitachi drives but without Ap25 as it’s not required. LT+ for Slims is the priority at the moment. FYI iXtreme 1.51 still works just fine with AP25 (many are still using the older Hitachi’s on XBL – however we can’t guarantee that it is XBL safe so use at your own risk).

Official Site: n/a, by C4E
Download FW: here (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 8 2010, 10:31 PM

Hitachi 46-59 Don't Have AP25, 78+ Do - AP2.5 Patches for Int'l Titles

We already knew that the older 46, 47 & 58 Hitachi drives did not have AP25, however after further tests we can confirm that the 59 drive does not have AP25 either. Also confirmed by C4E. <@c4eva> just had a look at 59, no ap25, so its >59 which is 78,79.

The Official LT+ & AP25 FAQ Page has also been updated

And they also have a news article about AP2.5 Patches which are different for each language versions of the game:

As you are aware the games have to be patched with an AP25 challenge response in order for them to work with LT+ and the new version dashboard. However, it seems that the responses vary between different language versions of the game. It is currently impossible to grab these challenge responses without having the original game in hand.

We are not able to reveal the current method to grab the data due in part to its complexity and also because it would reveal a protected security hole that has to be kept secret to safeguard the ability to hack future drives.

So until we are able to develop a safe, public method we propose the following: In order to help the scene, specifically it’s non-English speaking members, Xecuter have provided a cash fund to buy all original non-English AP25 titles so we can then grab the response codes and release the patches to you via PPF and/or through ABGX.

News-Source: team-xecuter.com/3974/|team-xecuter.com/ap25-patches-non-english-titles
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 6 2010, 04:57 PM

abgx360 v1.0.5

A new version of abgx360 has been released!

What's new/fixed:
* Fixed a bug when AutoFixing or manually patching Video that would cause an AP25 replay sector to get blanked out (some functions were still using the old hardcoded value for Video padding size)
* Improved Game CRC progress indicator to prevent poor formatting if "Time Left" became more than 999 minutes
* Added progress indicators for Video CRC, SplitVid and SplitVid padding checks
* Now using bigbuffer when checking SplitVid which results in much faster performance when comparing L1 Video on L0 to L1 Video on L1 (especially when checking a burned DVD)
* Note: The GUI has not been changed and will still display version 1.0.2, don't worry about it as long as the CLI app displays v1.0.5

Official Site: abgx360.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 6 2010, 08:17 AM

Xecuter X360USB PRO - 360 Slim Drives Update and New Prototype Image

As part of our process we like to give regular updates on our projects. We’d like to confirm that the X360USB Pro now reads keys from the Xbox 360 Slim 9504 and 0225 Liteon drives – this is now verified and complete. Next job – Bypassing all the new protection for writing the new LT+ Slim fw to the drives……heavy progress being made by the entire Team and you will get an update very soon.

Here is a new unreleased prototype image (this is actually the second revision – we are currently on the 4th revision which has 2 more IC’s for fun stuff).

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 4 2010, 03:58 AM

Maximus 360 Lizard Update

The last touches on the Maximus Lizard took a lot of hard work and many days to ensure that our exciting add on features will be compatible with what you order today. Available in just a few days will be the list of features the Lizard will sport at launch.

Meanwhile, we can confirm the following facts:
a) Launch date: January 14!! That gives us time to implement some awesome hardware changes and, believe us, it will be worth the wait!
b) Lizard Suggested Price: $99.90 if you preorder, giving you savings on the regular $110 price.
c) Lizard will be bundled with cables and goodies -- details coming soon.

The doors are now open for wholesale orders. Please contact us at wholesale /AT/ 360lizard.com ONLY SERIOUS INQUIRES PLEASE!

Now here's a sneak preview!! Feast your eyes on the final board with our cool 3D engineering view!

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Dec 1 2010, 12:03 PM

Maximus officially Announced the 360 Lizard

More than a year of research and development was poured into Maximus Lizard and today this bad ass lizard has seen the light and come packed with really cool technology. The Dream of every DVD Firmware Tester has come true. And Do you Know What That Means?
No more:
- SATA Drivers
- Win64 Problems
- PC Hanging
- PC Forced Reboot
- Multiple Computers to cover all drives

Its time to start in the Lizard Way. Your PC fades into the dark as you enjoy freedom like never before! Lizard equals FREEDOM. With Lizard, you are investing in a professional TOOL that will not be limited to a few quantity of drives. Also there is NO RESTRICTION on the kind of file you can open, read or write.

At Maximus, we take engineering seriously. You can trust that Maximus Lizard rely on a deep research and lots of time prototyping. and will offer you RELIABLE FREEDOM LIKE YOU'VE NEVER HAD BEFORE !! LIZARD FEATURES ARE TRUE FEATURES! With Maximus Lizard, you won't have another tool in the background doing the real flashing work, this is because the Lizard features are built right into the hardware device itself.

Feature List (Non extensive)
- Hardware Flasher with Unlock, Read, Write, Erase and Key Retrieval
- Support for all 360 Drives, Samsung, Hitachi, Benq, Liteon, Slim (yes it also UNLOCKS and READ KEYS on the latest 0225)
- Support is built in for MANY PC DVD SATA drives too
- Support Onboard AES128 Key Verification
- Several Modes of Operation - with PC conectivity or as Standalone Entity!
- Expandable internal flash memory
- Upgradable onboard firmware
- Accesory Port (several very useful accesories already on the design bench)
- Sexy Graphical Screen Display
- Friendly Navigation Menu with simplified button count
- Multilingual Support
- Free UNRESTRICTED companion software

Some notes about the features:
a) Some features may not be available at launch but will be later with a secure firmware update
b) Some features may require additional accessories that will not be available at launch - but they're coming very soon!

Credits:
Long live to all scene pure hart contributors, some of them my friends and really nice people,lots of their effort and knowledge its also embedded on Lizard. kai schtrom, geremia, c4e, team modfreakz, seventhson, tiros, the specialist, redline99, xorloser, MRA, podger, garyopa, birdy

Official Site: www.360lizard.com
News-Source: psx-scene.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 30 2010, 02:47 PM

Two Kinects join forces to create better 3D video

Oliver Kreylos impressed and shocked us by showing that a single Microsoft Kinect could create some remarkably stout 3D video. He's back at it again, this time blowing minds and demonstrating that two Kinects can be paired and their output meshed -- one basically filling in the gaps of the other. He found that the two do create some interference, the dotted IR pattern of one causing some holes and blotches in the other, but when the two are combined they basically help each other out and the results are quite impressive.

News-Source: engadget.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 26 2010, 10:42 PM

Xecuter: X360USB PRO Update, xDrive Plus and xFan Cooling System

* Xecuter X360USB PRO Update
It’s been a very busy week of testing with the recently announced X360USB PRO device. We can confirm that various members of the scene including Team Jungle have received working samples to help make this the ultimate affordable hardware aid for 360 DVD Firmware from beginners right through to advanced users.

Team Jungle reported to us this morning that they absolutely love the device and are 100% committed to fully supporting it. As Jungle Flasher is the most advanced, secure and feature rich 360 Firmware Tool available we are also committed to enhancing the features of the X360 USB PRO to make sure that every eventuality is covered.

There is still a very nice part of the hardware that we have not disclosed that will truly make it a true multi-function device, but what we have added this week is the ability to upgrade its firmware for future expansion and further enhancement with Jungle Flasher. Oh, did we forget to mention that amongst the new goodies the X360 USB PRO can do, it can dump the 360 Slim 9504 DVD fw and key ? ;)
Here is the latest scan of the X360 USB PRO device. In the immortal words of Michael Jackson we’re “Working Day and Night” so much more to come………

There are few case designs that we are debating. here’s the the favorite so far….

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 26 2010, 05:43 AM

Maximus iXtreme LT+ UART Enable Patch for LiteOn

Maximus released an UART Enable Patch for C4E's iXtreme LT+ FW for LiteOn drives on psx-scene.com that will allow you to read the DVD-key again on LiteOn drives flashed with LT+ without having to cut/repair extra traces.

WHAT IT IS:
Silly patch to re-enable the READ KEYS OVER SERIAL On LT+
This will save you from having to do (or re-do) the cuts on the drives or also will save you of being FORCED to install board clips of any kind on your drive to do later reads. (of course if its a 83V2 or 93 stock drive you still need do cuts the first time)
Since the releases are based on the 93450 its possible with a really quick patch re-enable that functionality. It should work for all LT+ releases of liteon as all are based on the 93450 fw.
Please note will not work on non-93450 based firmwares.

HOW TO APPLY
a) Prepare your LT+ file (with the spoof, keys, etc) but dont flash it just yet.
b) Open LT+ file with ppf-o-matic and apply the attached ppf file.
c) After ppf applied just flash your drive and you will have later the option to read keys over the UART port (just like old Liteon 74) using spear or Usbxtractor, whatever

Alternatively you can also patch the template files to avoid doing each time. If JF complains about opening the patched firmware just use an older (without restrictions) version or better use dosflash

Thanks to geremia for the firmware descrambler. The software is being distributed with an "I dont care" license so use at your own risk.

*Update* C4Eva said on IRC (#fw) the patch is "less secure", Maximus (carranzafp) said it's as safe as the unpatched LT+ - you decide.
[c4eva on #FW] btw, avoid the mamimus patch for lt+,less secure!
[carranzafp via forums] The hack is as safe as LT+ can be, if we remember a bit the 93450 had the uart serial removed with simple hex edit, so this just revert back the functionality doing the same.
Unless of course the console had a small hand and put a probe on the spot by itself to check if its enable. Wich is not likely happen

Official Site: maximusgames.net
Download: here
News-Source: psx-scene.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 24 2010, 04:07 AM

abgx360 v1.0.4

With the release of C4E's iXtreme LT+ for LiteOn and BenQ drives with 'anti'-AP2.5 the guys over at abgx360 also released a new version of their software.

What's new/fixed:
* AntiPiracy 2.5 (AP25) replay sector for iXtreme LT+ firmware is checked for when a game has the AP25 system flag in the Xex set or when its media ID matches a list updatable through abgx360.dat (Fable III is the only game so far that uses AP25 but does not have the AP25 system flag set)
* AP25 replay data is Verified/AutoFixed according to your settings, albeit separately from the normal INI based Verify/AutoFix, so make sure to read the entire abgx360 output
* Video padding size changed to support the new AP25 replay sector using a variable which is updatable through abgx360.dat in case additional stealth sectors are needed so that the video padding check will not blank them out
* Removed short explanations of ISO filesizes (unnecessary, hard to keep updated and misleading in terms of SplitVid; just because an ISO has the space for SplitVid doesn't mean it has valid SplitVid data in that space)
* gzip compression is now supported when abgx360 downloads certain files
* miscellaneous small changes
* Note: The GUI has not been changed and will still display version 1.0.2, don't worry about it as long as the CLI app displays v1.0.4

Official Site: abgx360.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 23 2010, 10:58 AM

Xecuter X360 USB Pro - All Version 360 DVD to USB

From team-xecuter.com:

What a busy day it’s been for the scene :) We have been working very hard on a number of products these last few months, one in particular that we have been very excited about. You may have read our news the other day that one of of our more popular products had been copied in China. We hear today that another group are releasing a product whose vague description sounded strikingly similar to ours. As this is a cat and mouse business these days we figured that we’d let this particular cat out of the bag and give you a sneak peak at one of the big products we have been working on these last couple of months.

The Xecuter X360 USB PRO – The World’s first ALL 360 DVD to USB Adapter!

As part of the team who are extensively involved in the programming of DVD firmware, we have been able to develop the most stable and solid 360 DVD to USB converter that you could ever possibly wish for. Gone are the days of Sata cards and disabling VIA drivers and messing around with x64 issues. Simply plug in your drive to your USB port and go. Supports all Hitachi, Samsung, Benq & Liteon DVD Drives ! Finally this is now open to all from beginners to hard core enthusiasts.

The prototypes we have been working with are obviously very roughly made – but we are about a week or so away from a final test prototype and production should begin soon. There will also be custom software which is also in development.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 23 2010, 01:45 AM

JungleFlasher v0.1.76 (166)

As always with a new C4E iXtreme releases (LT+ for LiteOn and BenQ), Team Jungle also comes with a new version of JungleFlasher to add full support for the new firmwares.

What's new/fixed:
* Lite-On LT + support
* Benq LT + support

Official Site: www.jungleflasher.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 23 2010, 09:47 PM

C4E's iXtreme LT+ for LiteOn and BenQ

C4E released the iXtreme LT+ modified FW for ("phat") LiteOn and BenQ DVD-drives:

Official release of C4E's iXtreme LT+
- Supports Benq and Liteon Drives (74850, 83850V1, 83850V2, 93450)
- Optimized PFI code to accommodate AP25 SS data
- Defeats current AP25 protection
- Protects console from logging AP25 violation
- Full disc stealth used by default
- Waveless booting, disc images are assumed to be correct!
- Split-Vid used as default

If booting an AP25 title without AP25 SS game will not boot but will still be protected from logging AP25 violation on current dash 2.0.12611.0
If LT+ encounters an unknown AP25 challenge, game will not boot but console will still be protected from logging AP25 violation on current dash 2.0.12611.0

AP25 SS are region specific for region locked games (Current Example NFS: Hot Pursuit is both PAL and NTSC - 2 different AP25 Patches)

If you boot the AP25 titles without LT+ you will probably be flagged for a ban.

You cannot spoof a different model drive as that can now be detected. With this release of LT+ you HAVE to have an original Benq or Liteon.

LT+ for slim 9504 is next followed by LT+ for slim 0225

Thanks go to Team Jungle for their hard work and efforts in the development process.
Thanks go to Team Xecuter for their generous support and input to this project.

Official Site: n/a, by C4E
Download FW: n/a (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
AP2.5 Patches: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 22 2010, 04:43 PM

C4Eva iXtreme LT+ 22-11-2010 Updates - SSv2+AP25SS = SSv3

Latest updates about the upcoming iXtreme LT+ modified DVD FW from C4Eva on #FW@EFnet (IRC-transcripts):

[******] LT+ working great -- just played AC:B -- XVal still clean!
[c4eva] great to hear, ******!
[******] What fw is in testing atm c4eva? liteon, benq... ? all?
[c4eva] liteons, benqs!
[c4eva] just a few things more to test!
[*******] c4eva, have there been any changes to LT+ besides from the antipiracy stuff?
[c4eva] *******:yes, some major code changes!
[****] c4eva, does the new slims require additional hardware to flash?
[c4eva] ****:orig slim no
[*********] so if you are already banned and have lt+, you don't have to use ap2.5 ss right?
[c4eva] *********biggrin.gifo you want the ap25 backups to boot?
[c4eva] banned or not,if on latest dash,you need it
[****] what is the difference in this XBOX360 Fable.III.AP25.READNFO.XBOX360-iND and the one we already had, just says tested working
[******] the new rls contains the ap25 ss
[*********] [c4eva] once m$ have pushed the button on a slim 225 can you still flash the drive
[c4eva] *********:yes
[*********] [c4eva] so if m$ has pushed the button on your slim 0255 will that stop us reading the data eg key and so off if
[c4eva] *********:no
[******] +c4eva: 0225 locked flash... Is that stock? or does the lock happen when drive is detached/connected to a pc etc...?
[c4eva] ******:stock
[*****] c4eva: old games with wave 6 with ssv2 is it safe to play on LT+ ?
[c4eva] *****:yes,lt+ will protect you from ap25 violation ie wont happen
[c4eva] ssv2 to ssv3 was changed to ssv2+ap25 ss to accomodate more ap25 data if needed!
[******] c4eva: Is it possible for a your software to unlock flash for 0225? (i think i'm asking too much here :p)
[c4eva] lt+ will protect you from ap25 violation ie wont log any violation!
[******] is it possible they add additional ap checks?
[******] that the fw doesnt know how to handle
[******] or would that require another update
[c4eva] in all cases ,lt+ will protect you from ap25 violation
[c4eva] ******:more time will be spent on 0225 when I have it!
[*****] +c4eva is there a 0800 updated firmware in the making for our drives to rip games with our PC's?
[c4eva] *****:team is working on it
[*****] c4eva, how confident are you that you could do some good with the ps3fw ?
[c4eva] *****:confident
[*********] Will lt+ allow games to run, even without ssv3. Or will they need rerippin. i don't us xbl so stealth isn't an issue for me.
[c4eva] *********:you will need ap25 ss still!
[***] any news on doing the slim drives
[c4eva] 9504 first,0225 later!
[****] ****** how long have you been playing LT+ online?
[******] several hours
[*********] What I still don't understand though, will you be able to create 'ssv3' from games that aren't ap2.5 atm, such as Black Ops? I mean i'd rather have ssv3 BO if possible, just in case a TU makes it ap2.5, or am I talking shizzle?
[******] played NFS for a few hrs yesterday and today, and AC:B
[c4eva] *********:lt+ will protect you anyway from ap25 violation anyway!
[c4eva] i moved ssv3 into ap25 ss, left ssv2 alone!
[c4eva] ssv2+ap25ss=ssv3 basically
[******] c4eva, ssv3 will released into abgx 360 datebase?
[c4eva] new abgx will support ap25ss
[*********] is the beta testing going as planned?..ni hiccups right?
[*********] no^
[c4eva] *********:none
[*****] c4eva, does our profile gpd's have any info written to them that flags the 360 for a ban or is it pourely the 360's NAND only?
[*****] i mean prior lt+
[c4eva] *****:there are better people to ask than me about that, but nand is the main target
[******] when will come LT+?
[c4eva] more testing is being done across regions, then good to go!
[********] so whats with the ap2.5 copy of fableIII that just par'd
[c4eva] it has ap25 ss included and tested with lt+ i'd assume!
[*****] so this was real? [==== http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I5zGCgJQcc...player_embedded
[c4eva] *****:yes
[*****] c4eva have you looked at the SOny Blu-ray drives enough (as in for a long enough time) to notice if Sony are a little less cautious than MS is with their DVD drives?
[c4eva] *****:i have looked at them, obviously they are more advanced!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 21 2010, 04:43 PM

Latest updates about the upcoming iXtreme LT+ modified DVD FW from C4Eva on #FW@EFnet (IRC-transcripts):

C4Eva iXtreme LT+ 21-11-2010 Updates

[******] does anythign special need done to AP 2.5 isos before burning
[c4eva] ******:yes, they will need the new ap25 ss for lt+
[******] So with the new dash just having the flash will put you at risk even if the copy of the game is the original
[c4eva] ******:orig is fine
[******] +c4eva: i know you may not know the answer, or may not even want to answer this. But, do you think we will need to do a hardware mod (cut traces etc) for slim drives, including 0225? there are a few$
[c4eva] ******:0225 is special!
[*******] c4eva: benq lt+ will be out same time as liteon one?
[c4eva] *******:yes
[c4eva] liteon will be finished today and be given to testers!
[***] c4eva: beta testing wont be as lenghty as for lt will it?
[c4eva] no
[*****] just wondering if the ap 2.5 only on thoses games with that dash or any game tryin to boot with that dash
[c4eva] *****:only those 3 games so far! [note x-s: Fable 3, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Need For Speed:Hot Pursuit]
[c4eva] new abgx will verify ap25 ss!
[******] you know, you could just not care about XBL, then ap25 has no effect on you =D
[c4eva] ******:if on latest dash,ap25 will still stop backups working offline!
[*******] will new 0800 firmware support samsung-ms25/28?
[c4eva] *******:not to begin with!
[*******] c4 can i swap my liteon for a sammy and play ap 2.5 games i dont care about banning
[c4eva] *******:no, need liteon lt+!
[********] c4eva: Any complications with LT+ testing so far?
[c4eva] ********:none!
[*********] c4eva, is Jungleflasher where you want your donations to go?
[c4eva] *********:yes
[********] c4eva: Anything to expect in a near future for the lite-on found in the Slim units?
[c4eva] ********:havent worked on slim for awhile, thats next!
[c4eva] its all good,sooner rather than later!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 20 2010, 10:38 PM

Team Xecuter: Testing LT+ Firmware Video

The Xecuter and Jungle teams are now in the heavy testing stages of C4E’s upcoming LT+ firmware and things are going VERY well. Here is a quick video we made booting Need For Speed Hot Pursuit on a box with the new dash (2.0.12612) and of course LT+ flashed to the drive.FU AP2.5 ;)

News-Source: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 18 2010, 04:43 PM

C4Eva: iXtreme LT+ coming first for 'Fat' LiteOn, Later for Slim Drives

New update about the upcoming iXtreme LT+ modified DVD FW from C4Eva on #FW@EFnet (IRC-transcripts):

[*****] just a thought, is lt+ coming for slim, or is that to follow as a different version?
[c4eva] slim comes after liteon
[*********] c4eva is the live testing going well ?
[c4eva] testing is going very well
[c4eva] all testing successful on all ap25 games on live, in hands of testers now!
[******] did anybody get ACB to play on their lite on?
[c4eva] ******:yes

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 18 2010, 04:43 PM

iXtreme LT+ Update from C4Eva: new 0800 and SSv3, Kreon, No Stock FW before Upgrade, TU and AP2.5

More news about the upcoming iXtreme LT+ and AP2.5 from C4Eva via IRC-transcripts on #FW@EFnet:

[c4eva] testing backups on live!
[******] +c4eva: you had any hiccups along the way?
[c4eva] ******: not really :)
[*********] Morning c4eva, there's a title update for Black Ops, is this the kind of thing you'll log for new checks or do we assume that because a BO backup still works after the TU, that ap2.5 isn't active?
[c4eva] already checked bo update, looks good, clean xval
[*********] can i ask again about nfs?
[*********] is its playable with lt+?
[c4eva] *********:yes
[*********] C4eva the new lt+ will report like original fw against live checks?
[c4eva] *********: yes
[******] c4eva im sure you may have been asked before, but should we worry about back security? as in ap2.5 being implemented into older games and most anticipated, black ops?
[c4eva] ******: you will be protected with lt+
[******] @c4eva: c4eva, before upgrading to the new dash and put the new LT +, we must first put the stock fw, update the dash and then put the new lt?
[c4eva] ******: not required
[*****] So what I'm wondering is this: If the box is already flagged on new dash, IE not playing AP2.5 games, will the new upgrade to LT+ then enable playing these games again?
[c4eva] *****:yes
[*******] what's the drive firmware coded in anyway?
[*******] how do you code for it
[*******] asm?
[c4eva] yes
[*******] C4eva, will a new 0800 and SSv3 be required?
[c4eva] *******:yes, eventually
[******] c4eva: did sb from MS contacet you offering a job?:)
[c4eva] ******:no :)
[c4eva] fundamental changes were made to lt code to accomodate ap25 data, hence extra testing!
[*******] C4EVA, can the shitty kreon be used? using abgx360 gui to inject ssv3 in future.
[c4eva] *******:use kreon to dump game data only
[*********] @c4eva - will the new lt+ compatible with all slim drives available ATM?
[c4eva] *********:later

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 18 2010, 05:24 AM

Xecuter CK3 Pro - Fake Copies Warning

It has come to our attention that a small factory in China is making cheap, low quality copies of the hugely popular CK3 Pro 360 DVD Rom connectivity kit. They do say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, however these came through our retail channels due to a high number of faulty returns and there were attempts at having them replaced on the official Xecuter Warranty. Not only are they poor quality, but they are wholesaling them for the same cost at what we are wholesaling the genuine products to our wholesale network, so it’s pointless buying them in the first place.

If you are looking to buy genuine Xecuter products through wholesale channels then simply contact Supreme Factory or China Distribution and they will take care of you. If you are looking for genuine Xecuter retailers then they are listed on our Official Resellers Page.

Remember that when you buy fake copies, even though you are paying the same price as the genuine product you will get no support, and no warranty. If you have bought a fake CK3 Pro or have any questions please use this thread on our forums.

Here are some comparison photographs to see if you have a fake or genuine CK3 Pro.

Official Site/More Compare-Pictures: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 14 2010, 09:53 PM

New Updates from C4Eva: LT+ WIP, Slim Checks, AP2.5 Info, OSIG Spoof Checks

Some new #FW@EFnet IRC-transcripts from the last 2 days with some updates on the iXtreme LT+ progress and AP2.5 findings:

[2010-11-13 Updates]
[*****] is it possible to spoof our current drives to appear as samsung drives and bypass ap25
[c4eva] *****:osig is checked as part of ap25
[********] I spoofed 4 o 5 Slims to diferent drives, and only 2 times it don't works with Kinect (Play DVD) However, other slims read all (unless Fable 3 xD)
[c4eva] ********:new dash at some point checks slim drive fw, once it has spoof will cease to work
[*****] c4eva will LT+ firmware be available to hitachi v79 drives?
[c4eva] *****:maybe
[******] C4eva have u tested AC brotherhood?
[c4eva] yes, i have ac:b, all is good!
[c4eva] lt+ testing begins this weekend, not long now!
[******] unless u have a hitatchi drive or a sammy, but sammys seem to be hit and miss, works for some and not for others
[c4eva] ******:ap25 is checking osig
[******] +c4eva - what is osig?
[c4eva] original drive signature for motherboard
[c4eva] osig is interesting, they took out kernel check due to rrod repairs, now ap25 had to have it,otherwise everyone would be a sammy, now rrod repairs may not boot if osig wasnt updated!
[c4eva] its gone past just live, they want no backups booting period!
[*******] I read somewhere that this ap 2.5 can be different for each game ... so every new game might not work the same way as the previous one and may need a new fw update?
[c4eva] fw will be fine!
[******] it'll work for any AP2.5 challenge he said
[*****] c4eva fable3 and asasin have same ap25 checks ?
[c4eva] ap25 checks are game specific
[*********] c4eva do u know why samsung does not have ap2.5 ]
[c4eva] because it doesnt have the code for it :)
[******] c4eva, AP2.5 - thats a name you came up with or does it show in the dash binary somehow ?
[******] that's what the specification is actually called, ******
[*********] c4eva, i suppose we will need new software/hardware aswell, to dump the new sectors and inject them in iso ?
[******] ******, specification that came from MS to game developers ?
[*****] New 0800 and xbc would be liky
[*****] Likely
[c4eva] yes
[****] c4eva, so if ap2.5 is game specific. Could ms implement new checks with an update and render the new drive FW useless again ?
[c4eva] ****:fw will be fine
[*******] c4eva original slim now can be updated to new firmware and after that it can be LT+ flashed with no problem?
[*********] how do you dump and test ap25 games for now? is it a secre? :)
[c4eva] *******:yes
[c4eva] *********:yes
[*********] [+c4eva] thanks for all your hard work man, we love you. Maybe consider putting out a non-LIVE version of the FW for those that dont care about LIVE. It would have to be easier on ou.
[*****] C4s always been committed to stealth
[*****] And im
[*****] Sure he is busy enough
[c4eva] ap25, live or no live, doesnt matter
[*********] my fable 3 doesnt show AP25 in ABGX???
[******] *********: Fable III doesn't have that flag
[c4eva] with new dash xex flag is irrelevant!
[******] yeah, so that becomes an unreliable method to determine

[2010-11-14 Updates]
[c4eva] testing code, so far so good!
[******] is black ops as safe as any other game before the dash update?
[c4eva] ******:yes
[***] for slim what kind of real time checks are we talking about?
[c4eva] ***:realtime fw check,realtime ram check!
[c4eva] they are checking for our code/data in drive!
[*********] c4 can we expect lt+ this side of christmas?
[c4eva] *********:yes

Discuss this news item on forums.xbox-scene.com: 2010-11-13 Updates | 2010-11-14 Updates

Nov 12 2010, 08:02 PM

Kinect Hacking: Prizes, MAC OSX drivers, App Contest, BOM 56USD, Picture-Browsing App

Since the release of the open-source PC drivers for the Kinect (LibFreenect), for which Adafruit Industries paid out the 3000USD bounty to Marcan/Hector and gave/donated an extra 2000USD to the EFF, there's been some more Kinect hacking progress:

* Here's what Marcan/Hector is planning to do with his 3000USD bounty:

Hector has decided to invest this bounty into hacking tools and devices for a group of people he works with closely (e.g. iPhone Dev Team members, Wii hacker team Team Twiizers, and a few others). They don’t have much expendable income to buy tools and devices to hack, and sometimes this hobby can be a bit expensive, this will be a good investment that will allow them to hack more and newer devices.

* MAC OSX Drivers
The LibFreenect sourcecode has been modified to work on Mac OSX. You can download the MAC OSX modded LibFreenect here

* Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam team announced a 2000USD Open Kinect App/Lib Contest:

I want to kickstart neat projects, so I’m starting my own contest with $2000 in prizes. There are two $1000 prizes. The first $1000 prize goes to the person or team that writes the coolest open-source app, demo, or program using the Kinect. The second prize goes to the person or team that does the most to make it easy to write programs that use the Kinect on Linux.

* Kinect's BOM roughly $56, teardown finds - From eetimes.com:

Microsoft Corp.'s Kinect motion-gaming add on for its Xbox 360 gaming platform carries a bill-of-materials (BOM) of roughly $56 and features chips made by PrimeSense Ltd., Marvell Technology Group Ltd., Texas Instruments Inc. and STMicroelectronics NV, according to a teardown analysis performed by UBM TechInsights.

Of the roughly $56 BOM, about $17 is attributed to the cost of the PrimeSense reference system, including the cameras, microphones and processor, UBM TechInsights said. Microsoft is planning to retail the Kinect system for $149, and stands to make a healthy profit on each unit, UBM TechInsights noted.

* Proof-of-Concept Kinect application by floemuc - a multi-'touch' picture-browsing tool running on Ubuntu Linux using libfreenect and libTISCH:

Here's my proof-of-concept HD video of using a hacked Kinect camera for multitouch-like interaction. Written using libfreenect by marcan42 and libTISCH (http://tisch.sf.net/) by myself.
I thought I'd get the mandatory picture-browsing stuff done so it's out of the way and everybody can focus on more interesting things :-)

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 10 2010, 06:32 PM

LibFreenect - Open Source PC Drivers for Kinect

Marcan released the first Open Source Drivers for Kinect: Horribly hacky first take at a Kinect Camera driver. Does RGB and Depth.

main.c implements a simple OpenGL visualization. Hopefully it should be mostly self-explanatory... You pretty much just open the USB device, call cams_init(dev, depthimg, rgbimg), and your depthimg and rgbimg callbacks getcalled as libusb processes events.

TODO:
- TONS of cleanup. I mean LOTS.
- Proper buildsystem (CMake probably)
- Determine exactly what the inits do
- Bayer to RGB conversion that doesn't suck
- Integrate support for the servo and accelerometer (which have already been reverse engineered)

BIG TODO: audio. The audio chip (the Marvell) requires firmware and more init and does a TON of stuff including the crypto authentication to prove that it is an original Kinect and not a clone. Who knows what this thing does to the incoming audio. This should be interesting to look at.

Official Site: www.marcansoft.com
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 8 2010, 12:41 AM

abgx360 v1.0.3 A new version of abgx360 has been released:

Changes affecting all platforms:
* Added full support for all current PFI/Video waves and the ability for future waves to be fully supported through updates to abgx360.dat
* The SplitVid check is now mandatory when checking an ISO/DVD and the "Check Stealth" option is enabled (iXtreme LT requires SplitVid for XBL safety)

Note: The GUI has not been changed and will still display version 1.0.2, don't worry about it as long as the CLI app displays v1.0.3

Sorry for the long release interval but v1.1.0 is taking much longer than expected and hopefully this interim update will address the main concern people were having, even though v1.0.2 was designed to support new PFI/Video waves as long as the game was verified, v1.0.3 gets rid of the yellow text and also allows you to check SplitVid on newer games that haven't been verified yet. It does not, however, add automatic searching/patching of SS v2 files. That's something that isn't even finished in v1.1.0 yet, and there's still the matter of SS v3 to deal with.

Note 2: XBL safety is very uncertain at the moment... The latest LT firmware for Samsung drives is considered by many to be fairly safe (since the TS-H943A ms25/ms28 original firmware doesn't support AP 2.5) but owners of other drives need to be very careful and upgrade to LT+ when it becomes available.

Note 3: Just because the source code for abgx360 is made available, it does not imply a right to make changes and/or distribute source or binaries. Permission to do so is granted on a case-by-case basis. This is necessary to prevent people from distributing buggy code or binaries which may adversely affect the online database, or distributing potentially virus infected binaries on sites that appear official but are not. If you only need to make a small change to enable compilation on your system, permission is hereby granted to do so, as long as it does not affect the way abgx360 communicates with its online database in any way.

Official Site: abgx360.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 5 2010, 05:24 AM

Open Kinect Project: 2000USD Bounty for Open-Source Kinect Drivers

Adafruit Industries - a NYC based company that sells kits and parts for original, open source hardware electronics projects - is offering a 2000 USD cash prize for whoever is first to release an open-source PC driver for the Kinect:

Hi from team Adafruit, we’re going to do our first ever “X prize” type project. Hack the Kinect for Xbox 360 and claim the $2,000 bounty!

What do we (all) want?
Open source drivers for this cool USB device, the drivers and/or application can run on any operating system – but completely documented and under an open source license. To demonstrate the driver you must also write an application with one “window” showing video (640 x 480) and one window showing depth. Upload all of this to GitHub.

How get the bounty ($2,000 USD)
Anyone around the world can work on this, including Microsoft :) Upload your code, examples and documentation to GitHub. First person / group to get RGB out with distance values being used wins, you’re smart – you know what would be useful for the community out there. All the code needs to be open source and/or public domain. Email us a link to the repository, we and some “other” Kinect for Xbox 360 hackers will check it out – if it’s good to go, you’ll get the $2,000 bounty!

CNet already has a response from Microsoft and they love the idea... Oh, wait, no... Actually:

“Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products,” a company spokesperson told CNET. “With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.”

Official Site: adafruit.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 5 2010, 01:09 AM

See Kinect's Thousands Of Points Of Invisible Light

Kinect works by projecting infared light throughout the room it's situated in. Under normal circumstances, it's invisible, but switch to night vision mode and you can actually see the dots floating around your living room.
Enter the realm of fantasy land around 1:00 in.

Full Story: kotaku.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 4 2010, 05:31 PM

First Pictures of the x360SED v1.0 'Stealth Eject' Chip

Logic-Sunrise released the first pictures of the x360SED v1.0 'Stealth Eject' Chip for Xbox360 DVD drives. It will allow you to bypass the new AP2.5 protection in new games with the new Fall2010 (12611) dashboard and it'll allow you to play multi-player games on several consoles using just 1 disc of the game. It's not LIVE-safe however, so for non-LIVE consoles only. More details about the chip in our previous news.

Official Site: consoles.librasoft.fr
News-Source/More Pictures: xbox-360.logic-sunrise.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 3 2010, 05:13 AM

More Info from C4Eva: AP2.5 Trigger, SSv3, Activate AP2.5, Retail AP2.5 Games, Old Games, x360SED

C4Eva talked a bit more about the new AP2.5 (Anti-Piracy v2.5) protection and answered some questions in #FW@EFnet.

[+c4eva] just a word of warning on the sed "disc swap" [note x-s: see our x360SED v1.0 news], although this passes the timing check, ap25 also returns data from its check which will be wrong with the wrong disk and will get you banned!

[+c4eva] the trigger for ap25 is still being investigated, but assume a list of titles of some sort or some check, not the xex!
[+c4eva] no ap25 traffic was ever logged with fifa 09

[**] c4eva, it is known yet whether AP2.5 can flag you in an offline state?
[+c4eva] **:yes it can
[+c4eva] console flag

[***] SSv3 just for ap2.5 games or all others?
[+c4eva] ssv3 will be required for any game that activates ap25

[****] c4eva: does that mean old games that dont have ap25, that we burned, as ssv2 are safe?
[+c4eva] ****:yes

[*****] c4eva do you think it is possible that they activate ap25 with a title update on old games?
[+c4eva] possible

[*****] c4eva is it a bad idea playing a retail ap25 game on current fw too ?
[*****] well obv. for new dash
[+c4eva] *****:should be fine

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 3 2010, 01:10 AM

x360SED v1.0 'Stealth Eject' Chip - AP2.5 ByPass and 1Disc Multi-Consoles MP

SoulHeaven of consoles.librasoft.fr announced the x360SED v1.0. This chip between the DVD drive and Xbox360 motherboard requires 1 wire and has 1 solderpoint on the Xbox360 motherboard. It will allow you to bypass the new AP2.5 protection in new games (like Fable3) with the new Fall2010 (12611) dashboard and it'll allow you to play multi-player games on several consoles using just 1 disc of the game.

The chip is compatible with both the original ('fat') and S(lim) Xbox360 (note x-s: and we assume all DVD models?).

The x360SED v1.0 is actually a 'Stealth Eject' chip for your 360 DVD drive. It allows to open the DVD tray without the console really 'noticing' it (or resetting to dashboard) by pressing the controller synchronization button for 5secs.

For games that can install on HDD this will allow you to remove the disc once booted and launch it in another console and thus allow to play multi-player games on several consoles with just 1 disc of the game (mostly useful for system-link parties I guess).
Instructions for Multi-Console MP:
* Install game on your HDD using the Y-menu of NXE
* Launch the game from the dashboard
* Once launched, press the the controller synchronization button for 5secs.
* The DVD tray will open, remove the disc and launch it in another console
* Press the controller synchronization button for 5secs again and the tray will close.

By swapping discs it will also allow to boot HDD-installed AP2.5 games on the 12611 dashboard (note x-s: doesn't mean it's LIVE safe tho, but AP2.5 games will boot as shown in the video below) on BENQ and Lite-On drives.
Instructions to bypass AP2.5:
* Install the AP2.5 game on your HDD using the Y-menu of NXE
* On dashboard, insert the AP2.5 game and wait for the game to authenticate (picture of game appears in dashboard)
* Press the the controller synchronization button for 5secs.
* DVD tray opens, remove the disc and swap it with ANY ORIGINAL Xbox 360 game.
* Press the the controller synchronization button for 5secs again, the DVD tray will close.
* Once the tray is fully closed, Press 'A'

Official Site: consoles.librasoft.fr
News-Source: xbox-360.logic-sunrise.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 2 2010, 11:51 PM

Load to Disc/MCE' Broken in New Dash - Will be Fixed in Future Update

Major Nelson confirmed in his news post about the Fall2010 Update that the 'Boot to Disc/MCE' feature is indeed broken. When you turn on your Xbox 360 console, the Xbox Dashboard appears even when you have changed your startup settings to load a Disc or Media Center extender.

This issue occurs after downloading the latest System Update from Xbox LIVE and will be resolved in a future System Update.

Full Story: support.microsoft.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Nov 1 2010, 03:06 PM

Updates from C4E on New Dash: Update Process Seems Safe, AP2.5 Titles Not, LT+ WIP

C4E posted some updates about the Xbox360 fall2010 dashboard security on #FW@EFnet. He reports the Update Process itself seems 'safe' atm, however that doesn't mean you can go ahead updating and booting everything you want. AP2.5 games are a problem/unsafe for sure (and we don't know exactly which titles all have or will have AP2.5 active). For the rest nothing is 100% confirmed safe atm.

[c4eva] ap2.5 already defeated, backup fable 3 running fine on beta dash! more data required for analysis!
[**] C4 are you planning on releasing the new LT+ for the old consoles? ie. not slim?
[c4eva] **:yes

[***] c4eva, is it confirmed that current FW and older games will be safe in the new dash?
[c4eva] ***:unknown at present!

[c4eva] dash out?
[c4eva] version please?
[c4eva] so it begins,dash version please?
[****] c4 2.0.12611.0
[c4eva] very good, thx, same version im already working with!

[*****] C4 are you still working on hitas? Will they eventually be released =)?
[c4eva] *****:was working on it , not for a while now!
[*******] c4eva so there will be a LT+ for lite-on and benq drives
[c4eva] yes

[c4eva] ok, have logged the update process, analysing!
[c4eva] logged entire update process, no vendor packets, only standard inquiry and key exchange, so update process safe!
[c4eva] fable 3 not safe! ap2.5 active for that title with new dash!

[c4eva] as soon as we have enough data on ap25 then there will be something
[c4eva] testing more game titles soon for ap25!

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Oct 31 2010, 08:27 AM

Fall 2010 Update Coming Monday Nov 1st

The date is now official! The new Kinect/Fall2010 Update is coming tomorrow (Monday Nov 1st). Microsoft announced this via e-mail [xbox.com]:

On November 1, 2010, there will be a mandatory service update to Xbox LIVE. This update will both add new features to your service and also enhance the interface, navigation, and responsiveness of Xbox LIVE.

Q: Is there anything I need to do to start the update?

A: Beginning on November 1, 2010, you will receive a notification that an update to Xbox LIVE is available as soon as you start your Xbox 360 console. Use your controller to accept the update according to the on-screen instructions.

Q: What if I decline the service update?

A: If you decline the update, you will not be able to connect to Xbox LIVE until the update is accepted. You will still be able to use all of the offline features of your Xbox 360 console. Xbox LIVE features will be unavailable until the update is complete.

X-S Note: With the confirmation from C4E that the latest beta fall2010 dashboard has new AP2.5 checks and SSv3 with new games, we 'suggest' anyone with a modified FW stay away from the update and these new games (Fable3, ...) for now if you don't want to be part of the 'MS November 2010 BanHammer' ;) JTAG 360s (do I need to remind this?) should of course also not update, it will break the JTAG/SMC hack forever. You will have to wait for a new rebooter (freeBOOT/XBReboot).

Full Story: xbox.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Oct 30 2010, 01:09 PM

C4E Confirms New AP2.5 Checks on New Dashboard with New Games

Here's a chatlog from C4E about the new protections ["AP2.5 Checks"] added to the (beta/leaked) fall 2010 dashboard with new games:

[c4eva] New AP25 checks confirmed on new dash with fable 3, LT+ coming for required drives with SSv3 and anti AP25 included!
[c4eva] there are 5 ap25 checks done when xex is launched!
[c4eva] samsung doesnt have ap25
[c4eva] 360s LT+ will include this now
[c4eva] samsung and some old hitachi dont have ap25
[c4eva] samsung wont do ap25, it will be skipped (safe)
[c4eva] they will detect your drive changing to a samsung! [if you spoof to Samsung]
[c4eva] confirmation will need to be done on released retail kinect dash!
[c4eva] at this point, only new games check ap25!
[c4eva] kreon=fail!

The new final fall2010 dashboard is still expected to hit retail consoles on or before Nov 4th (Kinect release date).
News-Source: #FW@EFnet
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Oct 27 2010, 02:38 PM

MS: Fall 2010 DashBoard Update Won't Happen Today

Daniel Maher, Xbox LIVE Editor for the EMEA region, tweeted today that we won't see the Fall 2010 Xbox360 dashboard update today: Apologies to everyone who's contacted us about the new dash launching today - it's actually coming sometime in November.

While Microsoft never officially confirmed a release date for the new dashboard there were growing rumours it would happen today. Not so it seems ... it's coming in 'November'. Probably on or before Nov 4th as the Kinect will require the new dashboard to operate.

For those who missed the news yesterday, we highly recommend to NOT update your console whenever MS releases the new dashboard if you have a modified DVD FW until we know more about possible new protections.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Oct 25 2010, 11:44 AM

New Protections Added to Leaked 12606 and Fall2010 Dashboard?

A new beta version [build 12606] of the Fall 2010 [alias 'Kinect'] dashboard has been leaked on the internet a few days ago and it seems like Microsoft added new protections to it. Several users seems to report problems booting certain games from recordable media on 360s with a modified DVD FW.

One of the titles affected seems to be Fable III. The game boots fine from any media on the current dashboard on a 360 with modified FW, but fails to boot from recordable media on the leaked/12606 beta dashboard ["This disc is unreadable"] - while the retail disc will work just fine according to #FW@EFnet.

Right now it's unclear which games, DVD models and/or modified FWs are exactly affected.

The new fall 2010 dashboard might get official released tomorrow [Tuesday Oct 26th 2010] (unconfirmed date, but it will be before Nov 4th anyway) to all 360 owners, so we suggest you do NOT update if you have a modified FW until we know more about these issues. JTAG users should of course not update at all (will lock-out old CB and make the JTAG hack impossible), they should wait for a new rebooter.

News-Source: #FW@EFnet, gx-mod.com, xboxgen.fr, logic-sunrise.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Oct 16 2010, 12:43 AM

TeamJungle/C4E Working on LTplus FW for DG16D4S 360 Slim Drive *Update*

TeamJungle/C4E confirmed on their twitter account they are working on a modified DVD firmware for the 360 Slim drive (LiteOn/Philips DG16D4S): LT+ for slim is coming with firmguard+ to overcome real-time checks.

*Update* More info about the new update from C4E on IRC:

<+c4eva> no eta, LT+ is for slim only, new checks are for slim only
<+c4eva> jf will also be updated for full support for slim including 0225 key dump!
<+c4eva> LT is still good for current liteons
<+c4eva> benq LT is fine
<+c4eva> there are several real-time checks in slim to overcome but should be ok
<+c4eva> current LT is fine
<+c4eva> terablinda is great, it all stems from fw unlock routine in slim which we have known for sometime now, jf will be updated to have improved support for slim
<+c4eva> realtime ram check,realtime fw check,realtime buffer check, are just some of the new checks for slim, we will cover our tracks with LT+
<+c4eva> it shows the current LT is doing its job for these new checks to be implemented!
<+c4eva> alot more info will be released in the coming weeks on all the MS checks

Official Site: twitter.com/teamjungle
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Oct 11 2010, 02:54 PM

Benheck's Xbox 360 Slim Portable

You knew this was coming – the Xbox 360 Slim Portable. Big differences compared to my older models:

* About 1.5″ inches narrower left and right, 1″ narrower front to back.
* Internal power supply.
* Uses stock Xbox 360 Slim fan so it’s much quieter than my older 3 fan models.
* Touch sensitive power and eject buttons of the Slim have been preserved.

Not so big differences:
* Pushbutton control audio amplification.
* Gateway 1775W 17″ widescreen LCD display @ 1280×720.
* Fan grate design copied from PS3 Laptop design.
* PVC plastic routed case.

Full Story: benheck.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Oct 5 2010, 06:03 AM

Xecuter CK3-CP News Update

Yes we have not forgotten about the CK3-CP. Maybe we have been a little distracted lately with various AVR USB work (however we have certainly been busy with our own actual XECUTER AVR USB work – this is for sure ;) )

Anyway as many of you in the scene who have been talking to us on IRC in the last few weeks will know, that we ripped the CK3-CP design apart and made some major “under the hood” changes to make it as slick and as solid as possible (Credits to many of our Beta testers who really jumped the hell out of this and poked every single design flaw in the ass).

This really is a fantastic piece of kit and with there being so many variables with everyone’s computer systems / psu’s we wanted to make sure that it was as spot-on as possible. Anyway after a brief hiatus we rolled out the latest prototype and just for fun – in honor of our friends at Team Jungle including C4E we made this fancy pants Jungle design lol :p

Many are also asking us about the 360 Slim progress since we posted a video of it booting backups a while back. Soon kids, soon ;)

NAND-X v2 AVR Edition with various goodies coming soon :)

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
More Info about CK3-CP: team-xecuter.com/ck3-cp/
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Sep 29 2010, 05:19 PM

A Letter from Marc Whitten: The Fall 2010 Xbox LIVE Update

From the MS press release (letter from Marc Whitten - corporate vice president of Xbox Live):

Just three months ago at E3 2010, I shared with you the latest entertainment experiences coming to Xbox LIVE, including ESPN and Zune music. Today, I’m excited that tens of thousands of you will receive an advanced look at these new experiences through the Xbox LIVE Preview program.

What you’ll find is that we’re continuing to bring you amazing content to enjoy on Xbox LIVE, we’re making your entertainment social and interactive, and we’re continuing to refine and build on our best experiences.

With this update, we are adding 3,500 live and on-demand sporting events per year, including out of market games, from ESPN3.com and 11 million music tracks from Zune at launch in the US. We are also adding Netflix search to existing features like movie parties to ensure Xbox LIVE continues to be the best way to enjoy Netflix.

With ESPN on Xbox LIVE, available to members in the US, we’re building in interactive features that will let you keep up on the latest scores from around the sports world without leaving the game you’re watching, follow your favorite leagues, predict a winner and see how the rest of the community voted on a particular game. The social nature of our LIVE platform will let you voice chat with up to seven friends on the other coast while watching the big game as if they were sitting next to you in the stadium.

Last year, we delivered tens of thousands of videos instantly in up to 1080p HD to Xbox 360 for the first time, and this fall with the expansion of the Zune music experience on Xbox LIVE, members in the US, U.K., France, Italy and Spain can enjoy unlimited, instant streaming of millions of songs via a Zune Pass music subscription and see what their friends are listening to on the largest screen in the house. What’s better is that you’ll be able to enjoy Zune music and video across your Xbox 360 console, PC and, this holiday, Windows Phone 7.

Also included in this Xbox LIVE update is the launch of Netflix on Xbox LIVE in Canada, a refreshed Xbox LIVE dashboard and updated Xbox LIVE Family Settings so you can help choose the right play and viewing settings for your family.

But this is only the beginning. With the launch of Kinect for Xbox 360, I truly believe that the best of Xbox LIVE will become extraordinary. This amazing technology will allow you, your friends, and family to navigate ESPN, Zune, Sky Player, and Last.fm on Xbox LIVE with just the sound of your voice and the wave of your hand.

I’m also excited to confirm that Video Kinect will integrate with Windows Live Messenger at launch, so Xbox LIVE members can video chat with hundreds of millions of PC users around the world. Video Kinect will use Kinect to bring the people you care about right into your living room without a headset, and adjust automatically to capture everyone in the room.

Every year we’ve pushed ourselves to deliver the best games and entertainment, and I’m incredibly proud of my team, and what we’re delivering to Xbox LIVE this fall. Our goal is to continue innovating and delivering experiences that are meaningful to you. So you can enjoy the entertainment you want, with the people you care about, in a simple way. Keep playing, keep sharing, and keep pushing us.

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Sep 24 2010, 10:35 PM

Maximus Xtractor 2 Firmware Update 1.4

Maximus released a new FW for the Xtractor Pro v2:

Looong time without update, here is it the 1.4 Firmware, it fixes some issues using LO83 that require several reboots, we will update the Remote Command Spec to 1.4 in a few days, the guys at Jungleflasher already have the new commands so dont worry they are already implemented on Jungle Flasher.

Between the new commands implemented:
Command 0x0A TURNOFF DRIVE
Command 0x0B TURNON DRIVE
Command 0x0C RESTART DRIVE
Command 0x35 DRIVE_ATTACHED_STATUS
Command 0x36 SPEAR_ATTACHED_AT_BOOT

Official Site: www.360xtractorpro.com
Download: here
Buy Xtractor Pro v2: .divineo.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Sep 19 2010, 10:41 PM

Xbox360 S Diagram for NandPro

MODFREAKz released the diagram to read/write the NAND of the Xbox360 S (alias v5, Valhalla, Vejle or Trinity - whatever codename you prefer ;)) with NandPro via USB SPI. This is currently not useful for end-user as all Xbox360 S consoles come with new&locked CB, so the JTAG/SMC hack is not possible on these consoles. But this is of course useful for new research and who knows what the future will bring...

News-Source: xboxhacker.org
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Sep 18 2010, 02:34 AM

Hddhackr V1.24 Build 20100904

Team MODFREAKz released a new version of HDDHackr, a tool that allows you to use some Western Digital laptop HDDs as Xbox 360 HDD.

What's new/fixed:
* Fixed issue with LBA 28/48-bit address comparison
* Confirmed HddHacker supports hard drives manufactured 2010
- WD Scorpio Blue Series BPVT
- WD AV-25 Series BUDT

Notes:
Q. I heard lot of people having problems with the new 2010 models. Does it matter wich moddel I have?

A. The 2010 drive are the same, lots of people have hacked them perfectly. 99% of problems appear to be SATA chipset or BIOS configuration.

Official Site: n/a, by Team MODFREAKz
Download: here
News-Source: xboxhacker.org
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Sep 16 2010, 05:49 PM

Insomnica released a new version of Mousepatcher v2.0

What is Mousepatcher 2.0?
Mousepatcher aims to keep your Xbox 360 safe online by patching the Security Sector data on the ISO with version 2 SS/DMI data, which has been recommended by c4eva.
Mousepatcher 2.0 is a complete rewrite from the original, and now automatically patches the ISO with SSv2 data without you having to traverse the internet to find files for yourself.

No Fuss, No Hassle With the autopatch function, all you have to do is drag and drop the ISO image into the program. Then the program will find the required SSv2 files and automatically download and patch them. You'll no longer have to track down SSv2 files on the internet beforehand!

Intelligent Patching Controls But if you have your own SSv2 files, Mousepatcher 2.0 is here to help manually patch. With it's safety mechanisms, you can drop the SS or DMI file in a random order and the program will decide which file it is!

Official Site: mattryder.wordpress.com
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Sep 15 2010, 06:08 PM

MS fixing Reach campaign co-op issue with Xbox360 S 4GB

Microsoft has reassured Halo: Reach fans that it's trying to fix an issue that prevents 4GB Xbox 360 owners from playing Reach's campaign cooperatively, Eurogamer has been told.

Owners of the 4GB Xbox 360 (that 4GB is internal memory) who try to join a co-op campaign are greeted by this message: "One or more players do not have the hard drive required for this game type."

This morning Microsoft insisted the limitation is "temporary", but could not say when it will be fixed. A Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer: "We are aware of the issue and are quickly working to resolve it."

Full Story: eurogamer.net
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Sep 12 2010, 02:44 AM

Xbox 360 Kinect Dashboard Update 2.0.12416.0 Leaked

The (beta) Kinect Xbox360 dashboard v2.0.12416.0 with avatars has been leaked on the internet. If you want to install this on your Xbox360, keep in mind it will disable your Xbox Live access until the dashboard is officially released. MS will only give LIVE access with this new dash if you are actually a beta-tester, anyone else will be refused access. And of course don't run this update on a jtag'able 360.

How to install:
1.) Extract the contents of 20124160_BETA.rar
2.) Put the $SystemUpdate folder in the root of a CD or USB Stick (Must be FAT or Fat32 formatted)
3.) Insert the CD or USB Stick into your Xbox 360 console.
4.) You will be automatically prompted to update with a USB stick, with a CD / DVD it should say Mixed Media Disc, power down the 360 and power it on again. You should be ask to update before the 360 boots to the dashboard.
5.) Once the update is complete your Xbox 360 will restart then boot up to the new dashboard. Enjoy!

News-Source: digiex.net
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Sep 3 2010, 03:22 AM

Xbox 360 S Repainted in Glossy White

This seemingly repainted Xbox 360 250GB has been lovingly put together over in China and really makes us wonder why Microsoft is depriving us of such snowy good looks.

Full Story: bbs.a9vg.com (via engadget.com)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Sep 1 2010, 06:07 AM

Pachter: Xbox Live Likely to See 100usd 'Platinum' Service

This week Microsoft officially announced a $10 increase to the annual Xbox Live Gold subscription. In a special Pachter's Podium last year, Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter correctly predicted the $10 increase.

As for Xbox Live's future, the great thing about the $10 increase is that it will enable Microsoft to reinvest in the service to then offer even more enhancements. "The extra $10 translates to around $100 - 150 million per year in additional revenue for Microsoft. I think that they will reinvest at least this much in developing other new applications, and will roll out a premium service with $100 - 200 million worth of enhancements," Pachter told IndustryGamers. "If they can get 2 million users to switch from the $60 plan to the $100 plan, they'll make an extra $80 million a year, and can keep investing to try to grow that business."

Full Story: industrygamers.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 31 2010, 05:54 PM

New 360 Controller with Transforming D-Pad - Nov 9th for 65usd

The new controller with a 'transforming' D-Pad has now been confirmed by Microsoft:

We've just made the Xbox 360 Wireless controller even better with a brand new version that includes a transforming D-pad. The engineers have come up with an ingenious solution with a d-pad that can go from a plus to a disc with the twist of the wrist.

In addition to the new d-pad, the matte silver controller also features concave analog sticks and gray A,B,X,Y buttons for added style. The controller will only be available with the new Play & Charge Kit that will launch on November 9th for US $64.99.

More Pictures: flickr.com
News-Source: majornelson.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 30 2010, 05:29 PM

Xbox LIVE Gold Price Increase in USA, UK, Canada and Mexico

Microsoft announced the price of the Xbox LIVE Gold subscription will increase for users in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States starting November 1st 2010:

Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same. We're confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry.

However, we do want to thank our loyal members and give you the opportunity to lock in your current price with an additional discount, so now would be a good time to renew your subscription. The prices change as follow (unlisted packages do not change in price):

- USA
1M Gold: $7.99 (now) - $9.99 (starting Nov 1, 2010)
3M Gold: $19.99 (now) - $24.99 (starting Nov 1, 2010)
12M Gold: $49.99 (now) - $59.99 (starting Nov 1, 2010)

- UK 1M Gold: 4.99 GBP (now) - 5.99 GBP (starting Nov 1, 2010)

- Canada 1M Gold: $8.99 CAD (now) - $9.99 CAD (starting Nov 1, 2010)

- Mexico 12M Gold: 499 Pesos (now) - 599 Pesos (starting Nov 1, 2010)

News-Source: majornelson.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 28 2010, 03:13 AM

Xbox 360 S 4GB Internal Memory PCB Pictures and 4GB vs 250GB

We received pictures from an "X-Scene friend" of the 4GB internal memory in the new Xbox 360 'S' 4GB model. Unlike the old 'Arcade' units the memory is no longer located directly on the motherboard, but instead Microsoft uses a small addon-on PCB with a 4GB flash memory unit [3.2GB usable]. This probably makes production easier (afaik) as all motherboards are now exactly the same ... for the 4GB model they add the internal memory pcb-addon, for the 250GB unit they add the internal HDD. As always, hit the pictures of high-res ;)

I also added a picture of the Xbox360 'S' 250GB and Xbox360 'S' 4GB next to each other so you can see the glossy vs matte finish of both units. This hasn't been covered much, but the 4GB model has a matte finish (vs glossy) and black borders (vs silver for the 250GB model). Which look do you prefer?

Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 27 2010, 07:16 PM

Kinect beta kits going out, Dashboard update live for participants

That email purportedly sent out by Microsoft a couple weeks back inviting its recipients into a Kinect beta program? Yeah -- it was legit. Joystiq has received corroborating evidence confirming the program, including pictures of the promised Kinect-enabled Dashboard update running on a participant's retail console. In them, you can clearly see the flatter presentation, new mini-guide and revamped Avatar editor -- complete with a re-proportioned Avatar.

Full Story (with lots of pics): joystiq.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 27 2010, 04:00 AM

Xbox Live Voice Chat Quality to Improve: Better Codec

The quality of sound that comes through Xbox 360 headsets will be significantly improved when Microsoft updates the Xbox 360 this Fall.

The refresh, designed to coincide with the launch of Kinect, will upgrade the codec and audio infrastructure that underpins the quality of voice communication from Xbox 360 to Xbox 360, and should make for clear chat between gamers when they play online, Xbox Live Studios boss Jerry Johnson said at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival this afternoon.

"The codec we used when we first launched was a low bit rate codec and we stuck with that," Johnson explained.

Full Story: eurogamer.net
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 24 2010, 03:23 AM

Lifting the veil on the hybrid processor-graphics chip in the new Xbox 360 S

The company's engineers created a chip that combined the machine's microprocessor and its graphics chip on a single piece of silicon. In the past, different versions of the console have all used two separate chips for those tasks. The code name for the project was Vejle, named after a city in Denmark. (It's not Valhalla, as some thought).

The new chip takes the exact same 3.2-gigahertz, three-core microprocessor and 500-megahertz graphics chip design and puts them on the same chip. In order to create this, Microsoft and IBM engineers had to work together to build the necessary connectivity within the chip to route electrical signals in and out of the chip. You can't just glue the two designs together. Rather, IBM had to get rid of its main communications channel between the chips, dubbed the front-side bus, and build a substitute for it.

The main chip is packaged with a separate 10-megabyte embedded memory chip. So the two chips are packaged in a single module. The combined chip uses 60 percent less power than the original 2005 pair of chips, and it uses 50 percent less space. Robert Drehmel, senior technical engineer at IBM, said that one of the big challenges was to marry two chips that were built by different companies, designed by different engineering teams, and created with different chip design tools. IBM had to learn more about the unfamiliar ATI design, design specific tools to adapt it, and then recreate an overall design that did the same thing as the prior designs.

Full Story: venturebeat.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 22 2010, 04:47 AM

Microsoft Releases 250GB Hard Drive For Xbox 360 S Models

The new 250GB hard drive for the new "Slim" Xbox 360 S units begun appearing this week in some online retailers. As the tech blog circuit started getting excited over "OMG leak", Microsoft spoiled their fun by confirming it via Larry 'Major Nelson' Hyrb video. The new 250GB hard drive is the biggest Microsoft has offered yet, and will set back Xbox gamers $130.

Full Story: nexus404.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 15 2010, 09:00 PM

Team Xecuter: New Xbox 360 S DVD-drive Hacked

Team Xecuter have been working closely with Team Jungle & C4E for several weeks now on the new Xbox 360 250GB Model (some call it 360 S or 360 Slim). We are pleased to officially announce that the team has successfully patched the DVD Rom to be able to play backups.

This is the first successful step and there is much work still to be done for the general public's consumption. Never Say Never ;)

Full Story: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 12 2010, 04:33 AM

x360ce v2.0.2.76

ToCA released x360ce v2.0.2.76, an Xbox 360 controller emulator (a wrapper library that translates the xinput calls to directinput calls).
"Xbox 360 Controller Emulator" allows your controller (GamePad, Joystick, Wheel, ...) to function like "Xbox 360 Controller" on a Windows PC. For example it allows you to play Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game with Logitech wheel.

Official Site: http://code.google.com/p/x360ce/
Download: here
News-Source: x360.gx-mod.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Aug 5 2010, 05:42 PM

A Look Deep Inside Xbox 360 Kinect

Raghu Murthi, the general manager for Natural User Interface Hardware, is holding a Kinect, stripped naked, as a dozen people gawk at its innards. The exposed metal seems cold. He's telling us about the optical system - how it sees with the three holes in its head that seem like eyes.

Without the plastic housing they look like they're bulging out. We're at the beginning of day-long tour of Kinect, gathered in the Great Room, the living room you wish you had, but tucked behind a sliding wall inside one of the many food courts on Microsoft's sprawling campus. 3D sensing has been around for 15 years, Raghu explains. What Microsoft has done, he says, is taken 3D depth-mapping technology that typically costs $US10,000 to $US150,000 and made it at volume, for cheap.

The way the optical system works, on a hardware level, is fairly basic. A class 1 laser is projected into the room. The sensor is able to detects what's going on based on what's reflected back at it. Together, the projector and sensor create a depth map. The regular old video camera is held at a specific distance away from the 3D part of the optical system in a precise alignment, so that Kinect can blend together the depth map and RGB picture for dynamic, on-the-fly greenscreening.

Full Story: gizmodo.com.au
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jul 30 2010, 06:06 AM

Xbox 360 S 250GB Hard Drive to be sold separately?

The 250GB hard drive supplied with the new 250GB Xbox 360 S will be available to buy separately, GamerZines can reveal. The reveal came via a box shot released by Microsoft this afternoon of the upcoming 4GB Xbox 360, which states in the accessories section that the new style hard drive is 'sold separately'.

Full Story: gamerzines.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jul 23 2010, 05:19 AM

Shops To Check 2nd Hand Xbox360 with Halo3 DVD+R DL?

News from French Xbox website logic-sunrise.com tells us the French retailer Micromania is now checking each Xbox360 with a Halo3 "DVD+R DL RW" (whatever that is lol) disc before buying it back from customers and putting it on the 2nd-hand market.

According to their source at Micromania this discs is coming from Microsoft itself (!?). This is a quick test to see if the DVD FW has been flashed with a custom firmware - and would avoid the 2nd-hand buyer to be banned at a later time not knowing his FW was flashed. Of course you can still flash your DVD FW back to stock FW before selling it ;) Wouldn't really detect already-banned consoles either, but I'll assume they do a different check for that.

If other shops out there received a similar disc or got instructions from MS about how to detect flashed DVD FWs and banned consoles for 2nd-hand 360s, feel free to email ;) xantium /AT/ xbox-scene /DOT/ com ;)

News-Source: logic-sunrise.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jul 22 2010, 04:45 PM

Microsoft canned PC vs Xbox cross-platform gaming

The latest interesting gaming rumour we've spotted revolves around Microsoft, and the idea that once upon a time, the company was going to implement cross-platform gaming so PC players could take on Xbox'ers online in games like Unreal and Gears of War.

According to the Founder of Voodoo PC (now CTO of HP's gaming business) Rahul Sood, the idea was tested at MS, but reliable sources said that the PC players beat the console gamers consistently.

Not because the PC players were superior gamers, but mainly due to the control mechanism of the keyboard and mouse versus the Xbox controller. Certainly when it comes to first-person shooters, there's no way a controller stick can match the accuracy and speed of the flick of a mouse.

Full Story: techwatch.co.uk
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jul 9 2010, 11:35 PM

JungleFlasher v0.1.75 (152)

As always with new C4E iXtreme releases, Team Jungle also comes with a new version of JungleFlasher(info) to add full support for the new firmwares.

What's new/fixed:
* Sammy LT 1.0 support
* Benq LT 1.2 support

Official Site: twitter.com/TeamJungle | www.jungleflasher.net
Download: here
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jul 9 2010, 11:29 PM

C4eva iXtreme LT Samsung v1.0 and BenQ v1.2

C4eva released, in association with Team Jungle and Team Xecuter, 2 new modified DVD firmwares: the first (v1.0) Samsung iXtreme LT and a new version (v1.2) of the BenQ iXtreme LT.

What's new in iXtreme LT BenQ v1.2:
* internal PFI fix, better for reading some discs!

Official Site: n/a, by C4E, Team Jungle & Team Xecuter
Download: n/a (might be illegal under DMCA/EUCD)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jul 8 2010, 08:07 PM

Xecuter LT Clip: First 100pct No-Solder Kit For Liteon DVD On Sale

The new Xecuter LT Clip + LT Switch v2 bundle pack is now exclusively ON SALE HERE

This kit has been designed with the beginner in mind. It's been in development for a while due to the absolute precision and stability needed to make sure it works for the the lifetime of the DVD Drive with no soldering or glue for trace repairs. There is even included a built in continuity tester to make sure your trace cuts are perfect !

Also Includes our MULTI-R Function. After the discovery that a small number of Liteon drives would not dump the fw with a 20 ohm resistor - but required an 18 Ohm or 22 Ohm resistor - so you can now select between 18, 20 and 22 Ohms ! (Default should be set to 20 Ohms - this will work 99% of the time) This is the first and only real Liteon solution where there is 100% No Soldering & No Glue - The fastest and easiest "MRA Hack" product on the market.

Features:
* The Only Liteon Solution Recommended By Team Jungle !
* Unique designed clip
* No Solder & No Glue
* External LT Switch
* Built in continuity tester to make sure your trace cuts are perfect
* Enables Read/Write on ALL Liteon 74850, 83850, 93450 DVD Drives
* Easy & Simple Install - Install Once & Forget
* Enable / Disable Switch
* Multi-R Switch (18, 20, 22 Ohms)
* MRA/Normal Mode LED
* Completely Undetectable
* No Need To Uninstall
* Works with ALL fw tools including the latest Jungle Flasher

You can also download the very easy to follow instructions. They are available on this page.

Official Site: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jun 23 2010, 8:00 AM

What the Xbox 360 S Looks Like Overheat

We saw a document that said that the Xbox 360's 'ring of light' isn't able to display any other color than green. This meant that the Red Ring of Death was a thing of the past, right? Well, sort of. A gaming enthusiast on the NeoGAF forum has found that the Xbox 360 will now shut itself off in the event of an overheat situation.

Instead of a red ring of death, there's a Red Dot of Death – though it's more like a Red Dot of Warning rather than Death. In any case, it's good that the new Xbox 360 S is more thermally conscientious.

News-Source: neogaf.com forums
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jun 18 2010, 04:52 PM

Welcome to Valhalla: Inside the New 250GB Xbox 360 Slim

Anandtech.com posted a new article with lots of details of the new Xbox 360 (8 pages!). Here are some interesting details:

* Apparently 45nm is the magic number. The new CGPU is rumored to be made at Chartered Semiconductor, now under the ownership of Global Foundries.
* The new hard drive is a Hitachi HTS545025B9SA00 1.5Gbps SATA hard drive. It spins at 5400RPM and has an 8MB buffer. [so unlike previous reports, it's still just an SATA laptop drive]
* Actual Power Consumption (PSU is 135W):
- System off: 0.6W (Valhalla), 2.0W (Jasper), 2.8W (Falcon), 2.3W (Xenon)
- Idle at dashboard: 70.4W (Valhalla), 93.7W (Jasper), 101.4W (Falcon), 155.7 (Xenon)
- Gears of War2: 88W (Valhalla), 105.9W (Jasper), 121.5W (Falcon), 177.1W (Xenon)
* Sound Comparison
- Idle: 45 dB(A) (Valhalla), 50 dB(A) (Jasper)
- Load (Spinning Disc): 51 dB(A) (Valhalla), 54 dB(A) (Jasper)
* Guide to open-up your new 360 here

Full Story: Anandtech.com (8 pages)
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jun 18 2010, 08:05 PM

New Xbox 360 – Liteon DG-16D4S PCB Scans

Team Xecuter who already announced they acquired some new Xbox 360 consoles and are sharing them with Team Jungle and C4E now posted PCB Scans of the new Philips/Liteon DG-16D4S DVD drive found in new 360 consoles.

News-Source: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

Jun 17 2010, 01:22 AM

Xecuter LT Clip and LT Switch v2 - Final Images

Production has just begun so we will give you a delivery date shortly.

This kit has been designed with the beginner in mind. It's been in development for a while due to the absolute precision and stability needed to make sure it works for the the lifetime of the DVD Drive with no soldering or glue for trace repairs. We have even included a built in continuity tester to make sure your trace cuts are perfect.

Installation is simple. Make 3 trace cuts (The same as LT Switch v1.X), fit the LT Clip PCB to the Liteon PCB and use the continuity test button to make sure your cuts are correct (Green LED = Good, Red LED = bad). Once you have a Green LED you then fit the specially designed clip to fix the PCB in place. That's it !

The LT Clip can be used with either the new LT Switch v2 or the CK3 Probe II. The first batch will be shipped bundled with the LT Switch v2 and then there will be options later.

We expect the cost for the complete LT Clip & LT Switch v2 bundle kit to be no more than $19.95.
* If you are skilled and can solder then you can use the LT Switch v1.5
* If you are a multiple modder who can solder but wants to be fast and cost effective then you have the CK3 Probe II
* If you are a beginner who has no soldering skills or equipment, doesn't want to buy or use conductive glue and doesn't want the expense to post their console to someone for modding - then the LT Clip solution is perfect for you.

Now everyone has a solution to meet their skills and budget.

Full Story with more pics and install info: team-xecuter.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

June 18 2010, 07:08 AM

Microsoft Hacks $50 Off Old Xbox 360

We had a feeling this was coming, and now it's official. With the launch of the new, slimmer Xbox 360 console, Microsoft went the sensible route and trimmed $50 off the price of the current-gen Arcade and Elite models, which now run $149 and $249, respectively.

The price cuts apply to Limited Edition consoles too, such as Modern Warfare 2, Splinter Cell, and Final Fantasy XIII bundles. These packages now cost $349 instead of $399, assuming you can find a vendor who still has these in stock (and it's not too difficult just yet).

The price cuts are just the beginning. Citing un-named sources, the news and rumor site claims Microsoft will soon discontinue the older Xbox 360 consoles and push just the new slim version, which will likely come in bundles of their own.

June 18 2010, 4:00 AM

Xbox 360 Slim Literally Can't Red Ring of Death

The dreaded Red Ring of Death is one of the scariest things that can happen to an Xbox 360 gamer. Those three flashing red lights are the signal of a hardware failure. The only bright side to getting that failure is that it is covered for three years as opposed to just the single year warranty for all other flaws.

The new Xbox 360 announced this week at E3, however, will NEVER get such an error. Does this mean that Microsoft has dealt with all the overheating GPU issues? We hope so – but what we really mean is that the new hardware simply doesn't have the capability to flash any red lights at all.

Other new notable features is that the new console supports the Kensington laptop lock if you want to keep it bolted down. Sadly, the new system doesn't accept any of the old memory units, so those still without hard drives on their Xbox 360 Arcade machines will have a bigger challenge in porting over their game saves.

Full Story: xbox360.ign.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

June 17 2010, 12:00 PM

New Xbox 360 Gutted, Modded;

It's only been a few days since the new Xbox 360 Slim made its appearance at E3 2010, yet somehow the fresh new revision has stumbled out into the wild. Now it's been captured, gutted, and modified thanks to Solomods.

By heading here, you'll see the actual unboxing and disassembly pictorial--the site's name is plastered all over the images, but you'll get the drift. The end result offers a sleek-looking Xbox 360 Slim with a side window and an internal blue LED peeking through. Does it look good? Yes it does!

Official Site: solomods.com
Discuss this news item on: forums.xbox-scene.com

June 15 2010, 09:40 AM

Do NOT do this with your new Xbox 360 Slim

If you own an Xbox 360 you know the most annoying thing about it is the RRoD. You probably know the second most annoying thing about it as well, and that is that it can scratch the sh*t out of your discs. Nothing like plopping down $60 bucks just to get home and have the game ruined because your console destroyed it. You'd think this would be something the Microsoft would take care in their new version of the console since it seems they've taken care of many of the other issues the console had.

You see, despite the warning on the front of the new Xbox 360, Nick picked up the system to move it from horizontal to vertical position while the game was booting. The resulting sound was close to that of starting a garbage disposal with a fork in it.

Official Site: www.destructoid.com

June 14 2010, 06:48 PM

Microsoft Launches New Xbox 360 Slim (Valhalla)

Microsoft spent most of its E3 keynote talking about Kinect but it did save a few minutes at the end to cover the launch of its brand new Xbox 360.

Dubbed the Xbox 360 Slim, the new console is quite a bit smaller. Redmond actually revealed the Slim by hiding it inside the casing of an old Xbox 360. We're estimating it's about 60 percent of the size, but we could be totally wrong on that one.

As previous reports suggested, it comes with a 250GB HDD, built-in WiFi and an angular design that is quite a departure from the old, curvy model. It's all glossy, all black (which means all fingerprinty) and shipping to retailers today. It should hit stores next week and it's carrying a price tag of $299.

Official Site: www.xbox.com

June 14 2010, 05:38 PM

"Natal" becomes Kinect

The day before the official start of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft all staged elaborate press conferences to introduce new titles, new franchises, and new hardware.

Microsoft kicked off the set of press conferences with a live 90-minute event in downtown Los Angeles that officially pulled the veil off of its highly anticipated controller-free user interface. Formerly known under the code name Natal, the control scheme is now known as Kinect.

Kinect works with your Xbox 360 to bring you extraordinary entertainment experiences. Kinect's unique sensor and specially designed games transform full body movement into game play. And the great news is Kinect works with every Xbox 360 console.

Official Site: www.xbox.com