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Hitachi 78, tried everything i could think of... help?
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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24. August 2007 @ 06:29 |
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I did a lot of forum reading before posting this question, i tried everything i could think of and just about every method posted in this forum and others. I am yet to have success with my hitachi 78fk (sep. 06 build) flashing.
I tried the onboard sata on my pc with chipset vt8237r, another with vt8237, and another pc with 8235cd chipset. They are all no go. None of them even detect the hitachi in bios.
I bought the popluar via 6421a pci sata card, failure to detect the hitachi as well. So i grabbed a sil3512 sata at compusa because of a post i read before. The individual who wrote claimed he could put his hitachi 78fk in mode b using sil3512 and that he would proceed to hotswap the hitachi which would be in mode b, to a 6412a card and finally successful flash. The first part worked for me as well, i could easily put the hitachi in mode b using slax (both 2.0 and 2.1 worked fine) with the sil3512. But still had no luck with the 6421a even with the drive in mode b. The bios didn't detect it, neither was it recognized in windows environment. I tried it in safe mode, tried new drivers and old drivers, hotwap sata in windows, hotswap when pc off and fresh boot, but i'd still get the yellow exclamation in the device manager no matter what. By the way, the ejecting in windows loading bar, i do implement that.
I have read about those few hitachi 78fks that won't flash no matter what, i'm beginning to think mine is one of them. If anyone had similar experience with the 78fk or if anyone could think of different ways of flashing it, some fresh input would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading.
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thegrunt
Senior Member
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24. August 2007 @ 08:57 |
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Dont install the raid tool for the 6421 card,plug in your drive with the 360's SATA cable to the closest port to the front of your PC.Turn on your 360 and PC (with slax inside)You should get a bunch of text and somewhere you should see it says your drive is in mode b or something like that.From the Slax login screen turn your PC off and reboot it without the Slax CD inside.Open and close your 360's drive a couple of times on the Windows startup screen.Hope that helps,I know when I flashed my 78 drive it was a a bit complicated but I eventually flashed it by uninstalling the Raid tool and using the 360's sata cable.Good luck
Houston Rockets,its our year.Yao,T-Mac,Francis,Scola,James,Alston,Battier,Wells,and so much more talent,its inevitable. |
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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24. August 2007 @ 10:31 |
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Thanks for the reply. I haven't tried uninstalling, or not installing the raid tool. It always comes packaged together with the driver and i guess i always installed the driver along with the raid tool without much thought. For my sata card, as long as i don't enter the raid bios in the boot up sequence, the card is supposedly functioning as a non-raid card. But since you mention it, i guess it is possible that once you boot up to windows, the raid tool might just be triggered somehow seeing as how raid tool is a windows based application. I'll definitely give this a try. I have one little problem if i want to try it your way though. I read about the short 360 sata cable being used in some instances and how sometimes that is the only way to go about flashing your drive. How did you achieve this? You, see i tried that already, but found it impossible because the power cable of the 360 was so short. I have an old atx mobo psu and i was hoping to use that, but i didn't find any plug that matched the 360. Would taking apart the 360 mobo from its chassis make the access to my pc's sata easier? Again, thanks for your help.
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thegrunt
Senior Member
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24. August 2007 @ 12:01 |
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Its pretty hard to get your drive connected with the little black SATA cable but it can be done.I set my 360 next to my computer and stretched the wires as far as possible.
Houston Rockets,its our year.Yao,T-Mac,Francis,Scola,James,Alston,Battier,Wells,and so much more talent,its inevitable. |
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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24. August 2007 @ 20:50 |
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Update
I finally managed to use the short 360 sata cable but the symptoms are still the same. Thanks for the suggestion though. Anyone else got any more ideas?
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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24. August 2007 @ 20:55 |
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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25. August 2007 @ 06:32 |
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Thanks for the suggestion memnok. I read about populating a device as well, but the problem is that i'm not given the option to do so. I right click on the pci sata device marked with yellow exclamation and populate isn't an option i'm given. Maybe it's because the error code is different. For example, i get an "error code 10", the code stands for devices unable to start. I click on properties for the device and i get the usual tabs for drivers, versions, and so on but no populate. If you got any other suggestion, i'll all ears, or eyes i suppose.
By the way, would the sata card's brand make any difference in the success rate of flashing 360s? You see, i got me a fairly unknown rosewill brand, at least among 360 flashing community, as opposed to the more popular brand among 360 owners, the syba brand. Given that mine also has the favored 6421a chipset, i never really gave it much thought. But since the card has been useless for me, i'm beginning to doubt just about everything.
Blaster 360, from what i know this device is merely a sata extension for the 360 for the convenience of it, at least for hitachi 78fk. If you own a 78fk, you still need to use slax to put the drive in mode b and therefore serves no special purpose other than convenience. I read a post somewhere on which the writer claimed the blaster was the only way he could flash his device, that without the blaster he could not detect the hitachi on his pc. Are there any merits to this claim? I'm thinking just a coincidence for that particular case.. But does the installation procedure of the blaster somehow bypass some of the security features of the hitachi? I need all the help i can get, i welcome any suggestion. Thanks guys.
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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25. August 2007 @ 06:46 |
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It could be possible that the card is bad or maybe the card brand makes a different, but I doubt that. I use a Syba card myself and everything went smoothly flashing with it. I even put together an early guide on flashing 0078fk drives. It was a while ago and there is new firmware now, but the parts about getting to modeb and recognized by windows should still be the same.
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/440449
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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25. August 2007 @ 08:33 |
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I guess at this point, i'm left with only few possibilities. I'm either making some sort mistake, doing something wrong, or quite simply it's the sata card. Memnock, your guide is actually one of the first tutorial i've read along with textbook. You did a great job with that, i should thank you. I'm new in the 360 mod scene, but i do ok with the technical stuff. I mean, it's pretty easy, but i build my own pc and i have some basic understanding on these matters. In my mind i'm sure i followed all the tutorials and i don't think i missed any steps.. i mean i memorized all steps in the hitachi part on flashing, that's how much i've been reading on this thing. It's a good thing i don't have a heavy object near me.. or that 360 is toast. I'm gonna order a new sata card, but until i get it delivered i'll keep working on the 360. Memnock, if it's not too much to ask. Could you give me the link to the sata card you purchased? Newegg seems to be offering a couple of syba sata cards based on 6421 chipset, unfortunately people who order L card are getting the A, visa versa. I preferred getting same card as yours. Sorry for the bother memnock, and thanks again.
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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25. August 2007 @ 10:58 |
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vectorz
Newbie
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25. August 2007 @ 20:17 |
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Anyone figure this out? I have the EXACT same problem. Both on my SYBA card (the one in the newegg link) which runs via6421A chipset, as well as a pcmcia sata card I have for my laptop which also has a via6421 chipset.
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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26. August 2007 @ 07:15 |
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I'm gonna try memnock's card, but i read another post the guy flashed his 78fk using sata > ide adapter. He used his pci sata card to put the 78 in mode b, then flashed it using the adapter.
Quote:
reading/writing can be done via a sata > ide adapter for host
That's what the dude said, can anyone confirm this? I thought you couldn't flash 360s with sata > adapter. I also thought the brand of the card might make a difference, but i think vectorz' case prove that might not be the case. I think the card memnock is suggesting is the 6421L card, the non-raid version. I'm gonna give that a try and post an update when after i finish testing.
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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28. August 2007 @ 19:51 |
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Update
For anyone who wants to know, i finally got the same card memnock was using. Different brand, same failure. I don't think the brand of the card matters as long as it's got the same chip. Still the same, thx for the for all your help memnock. By the way, does anyone know if the 78fk can be flashed using sata -> ide adapter? I got the sil3512 to put the 78fk in mode b, i just need something to detect it properly and be able to make the dump. The adapter's my last hope and after that it's modchip or nothing. No one sells or delivers modchips to the stateside so that ain't gonna be easy either. If anyone's got suggestion on modchips, drop me a line. Thx everyone.
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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29. August 2007 @ 07:18 |
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Sorry you bought and extra card for nothing. Just curious are you using XP or Vista, because I heard Vista is kind of funky when it comes to flashing drives.
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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29. August 2007 @ 08:40 |
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I have xp professional for the os. The syba card was worth the try, there were so many people raving how easy it was to flash their 360s with the syba. I'm gonna return it, minus the restocking fee + shipping i'll still end up with 10bucks or so. I'm gonna try flashing with my friend's pc over the weekend, i don't know how many people are actually following this thread but i'll update my results for the few who might actually be interested. Thx everyone.
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vectorz
Newbie
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29. August 2007 @ 13:30 |
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I just heard from fellow forum members that were having this exact problem , all had a manufacture date of aug-sept 2006 on their hitachi 78.
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thegrunt
Senior Member
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29. August 2007 @ 17:34 |
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My replacement 360 that I got back from MS was made in September 06 and I flashed it perfectly besides the few errors I got(posted above).It can be done
Houston Rockets,its our year.Yao,T-Mac,Francis,Scola,James,Alston,Battier,Wells,and so much more talent,its inevitable. |
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vectorz
Newbie
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29. August 2007 @ 19:38 |
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thegrunt, can you post your config? Which chipset? which OS? If xp pro, can you tell me if you have SP2 and all patches?
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vectorz
Newbie
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29. August 2007 @ 21:02 |
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Making progress...
I just got the Rosewill RC-212 from newegg (still a via6412A chipset) and this card is able to get me into MODE B *AND* also boot into XP Pro without the yellow exclamation (YAY?) HOWEVER, same problem with the Maximus toolbox 4. When I go to smart patch it , tells me "variables not defined". FUDGE!!!!! So close .. so close...
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vectorz
Newbie
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30. August 2007 @ 08:23 |
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Alright you guys, I figured out the Maximus toolbox error "Not All Variables Were Resolved Can't Continue" was due to the fact that my 360 was already flashed!
I had no idea it was already flashed because I bought it from EBGames as refurb and assumed it wouldn't be flashed by anyone. I even tested it when I first bought it to ensure it wasn't banned, by going on LIVE.
It was flashed with Extreme firmware, and I was able to figure that out with some help on efnet #fw , because the checksum showed up as "000000" which was very fishy. Also, when you look at the version code of the firmware (when you dump the raw firmware with the toolbox software) , it actually said "XTRM047" or something like that. I didn't think of looking at that because this is my first time doing this.
Anyhow, I think the problem you guys been having was the steps prior to this anyway, which I did experience. For me, going with the ROSEWILL adapter fixed that even though it was the same chipset (via 6421A)!! I guess the Syba 150 isn't as good as everyone hyped it to be. Also, fyi some notes on things I did:
1. Disabled the internal sata ports on the Rosewill. Enabled the external sata ports only.
2. Used the sata cable that came with the 360. It's short, but I wanted to make absolutely sure it wasn't a cable prob.
3. Used slax2.1
Hope this helps. Good luck!
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vectorz
Newbie
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30. August 2007 @ 08:29 |
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Ah, one last note:
4. I downloaded the 530c version of the VIA6421A drivers from viaarena.com. Someone hinted that i needed to use this older version. I have no idea if it helped but it was what I used.
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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30. August 2007 @ 10:58 |
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Thx for the follow up vectorz. Great job man, you finally done it. Your situation and mine have some technical differences, but it's close enough that it warrants another try. Luckily i haven't returned the rosewill sata yet, i'm gonna do exactly what you did and post my results afterwards. Anyways, congratz and thx again.
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vectorz
Newbie
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30. August 2007 @ 11:28 |
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No problem. If there's any other information that I can help with, let me know, but please update the thread on your progress so that we can try to help. I know how much it sucks to be the only few having it and not a lot of threads giving good info on how to resolve it.
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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1. September 2007 @ 05:57 |
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Update
Tried vectoz method, it didn't work. Anyways, i went to my buddy's earlier this morning to try out his hp pc. As luck would have it, the freaking thing had sil chip sata. Went ahead and tried to flash my 360 anyways. Mode b went fine, assigned driveletter for the hitachi, device manager showed no error, but just like the sil3512 it produced bad dump. I'm thinking all sorts of crazy stuff now, maybe i should go xbl and download all the update or whatever the hell it's called. Probably a bad idea, but i don't see how much worst this shix can get. Anyone have any other ideas? I don't care how far off your ideas are, tell me to deep fry the damn thing and i'd probably try that too. By the way, i know the xecuter usb connectivity kit is not compatible with 78fk. But anyone ever had success flashing a 78fk with a usb connection? How about sata to ide adapter? And what abut buying a mobo with an nforce 4 chipset? I appreciate all the help so far, but i need some more.
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jhc5050
Junior Member
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4. September 2007 @ 06:10 |
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I finally flashed my 360. I built a new system with an intel mobo which had an onboard ich sata and it turns out that was all that i needed. It took less than 10 minutes to flash the damn thing. Anyways, i've been playing gears of war while waiting to flash the 360 and i see no scratch on the disk so far, so no harm done in waiting. Time to make backups though. I wanna thank everyone who helped out, i'll return the favor by helping out other desperate souls.
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