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360 Mod with Biostar TForce4 SLI mobo help
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Newbie
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14. November 2007 @ 22:22 |
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I'm about to go buy a 360 Premium and order the new Blaster NE. I've been doing all the research I can about modding it and I've hit a snag. I have the Biostar TForce4 SLI motherboard in my computer and I can't find out what SATA controller it has. I've looked everywhere I can think of. I've checked for SATA drivers on the Biostar site and found nothing. The board had 4 SATA ports. Does anyone know if this board is gonna work or if I'm gonna have to buy a card too?
I heard the Rosewill RC-212 PCI SATA card works great. I'd like to save the $30 if possible though.
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Bonovox40
Member
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15. November 2007 @ 12:36 |
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I found some data here:
http://www4.shopping.com/xPF-Biostar-MB-...4SLI-NF4SLI-939
Says it has a nforce4 chipset, same as mine, and I flashed mine just fine with ixtreme the other day using my onboard sata ports. WindowsXP was crashing trying to use dosflash32, so I just made a bootdisk with dosflash 16 and the corresponding files....
shut down the pc, disconnected power to all the IDE devices and harddisk. Connected the 360 dvdrom to the 1st sata port (#0). Turned on PC, booted into dos, typed "dosflash" it found the proper port (which you can double check later in windows using the command "msinfo32" in windows to make sure the sata port that dosflash sees, matches up to one of your onboard sata ports listed in msinfo32.
It should work for you. Maybe try dosflash32 and see if your PC can handle it or crash when you access the dvdrom. If not, dos will work.
Good luck! Don't forget to READ the original bin and copy it AND VERIFY it back in windows so you don't overwrite the original bin key with a messed up one.
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Newbie
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15. November 2007 @ 12:52 |
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Awesome. I actually looked at that site and didn't know what chipset I was looking for. "msinfo32" isn't showing any SATA though. Well, I'll just get everything and try it out and buy the PCI card if need be. Thanks for your help. Hopefully the mobo connections work.
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Bonovox40
Member
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15. November 2007 @ 13:14 |
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Just as a tip, my SATA info on msinfo32, showed up under "storage" under the IDE section. Something about "Serial ATA connection blah blah", and had the I/O port hex code under, which is what you want to check when dosflash finds the 360's dvdrom.
BUT...I could not see the sata info there until I updated my mobo chipset drivers, using the latest drivers on Nvidia's website.
I do think however, that it wasn't necesary to update the drivers for dosflash to work, I think it was just so I could see that data in windows. (but it did help that I could match the 4 numbers of the I/O address that dosflash sees, so at least I knew I was doing it right)
Hope that explaination wasn't too confusing!
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Newbie
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15. November 2007 @ 13:35 |
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You rock man. Thank you so much. I just got the latest nForce4 drivers from Nvidia and now, under IDE I'm showing "NVIDIA nForce4 Serial ATA Controller". Thank you again for your help. 4 forums, post over a week old on the others, you're the only one to reply. AfterDawn ftw!
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Bonovox40
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15. November 2007 @ 13:52 |
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Yeah, I specifically came here for help learning about the benq flash because I didn't want to end up with a $350 paperweight. I got help and the tutorials were decent. Unfortunatly my issue was sorta resulted in a hybrid tutorial combination to figure out what was up. I used bits and pieces from 2 guys guides to flash it properly and alot of sweat and experimenting.
If you get the blue screen of death when running the 360 on your pc, just make a clean bootdisk and boot into dos and do the flash. It should be all good.
You shouldn't HAVE to identify to dvdrom ports, but it helps to make sure the flash program is seeing the correct drive. I'd disconnect all other hardware just to lessen the chance when you're all ready to go for it.
And another thing, if you've never opened up the 360 before, it was a pain in the arse! If you're following guides, you can make that cd spindle "key" to open the back, but if you're careful, a flat-head precision screwdriver small enough can toggle the tabs and release them. Some guides say to remove all 10 torx-10 screws in the back, but you only need to do the outer 6 to have access to the dvdrom and sata plug on it.
be CAREFUL with the little tabs that hold the the 2 case halves together in the front...I snapped one of them in half, but luckily it cracked down the middle and still offers support. I miss the Ps2 and it's couple of screws and *POP* ,off comes the case. I guest M$ didn't make the 360 modder friendly. lol
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Newbie
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15. November 2007 @ 14:10 |
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I'm ordering the Blaster360 NE, it comes with a little opening tool so opening should be fairly easy, and with this thing I'll only have to open it once and then I'll have an external SATA connection for further flashing.
I've got a D2Ckey on the way for my Wii. Talk about not modder friendly. 28 or 30 wires to solder to the chip then the board. No flashing though so once that's done it's done at least.
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Bonovox40
Member
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15. November 2007 @ 14:14 |
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The only thing I wished I had was that opening tool I see in some tutorial videos. I don't care about the blaster mod, but it seems like a good idea if you're going to flash multiple times. I'm just stubborn and cheap so i'd rather waste time prying the whole dang thing open again.
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Newbie
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15. November 2007 @ 14:17 |
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