Sorry to be such a pain in the ass but some of these posts confuse me due to hijackers and those who respond to them, so here goes my "Freshly Started Thread" yes hijackers... this is the way to do it!
Question 1 - I see some programs deal with dumping the drive's firmware. Is that necessary?
2 - What is the deal with "Copying Keys" and is that necessary.
3 - I am planning on going with ixtreme 1.4 as that seems to be the most current and widely used. I read in another thread that ixtreme 1.4 is not compatible with some downloaded games. I plan on obtaining a majority of my games from the xbox360 newsgroup, is there a way I can make these ixtreme 1.4 compatible if they are not? How do I check?
4 - Is there a way to load iso's or any other format images of games to the xbox hdd and play them from there?
Sorry for so many questions, I just want to get the hang of this so I don't mess anything up and I can pass on the same advise later down the road. Also, textbook's tutorial is superb, but I want to make sure I understand it.
1. You will want to have a backup of your original firmware always "just in case" . It is a good thing to have. Some people lose it, and they just never need it. But I kept mine, I would recommend it.
2. When you flash you drive, you need to have the drive key copied from your old firmware to your hacked firmware. Think of it as a special key that bond the drive to the 360. Without the right one, it won't work.
3. There are a couple programs that can do it, although I am not an expert on them. I used a kreon drive (which I HIGHLY recommend). So I don't need to worry about downloaded games not being correctly patched, missing files, etc. But run a search, or another guy will answer and can tell you better.
4. Right now no. I don't think we will find a way, typically everyone goes either firmware flash or mod chip, with the majority using the flashed firmware.
Thank you very much guessswho for taking the time to thoroughly respond to all of my questions. It's members like you who make this site great with your patience and willingness to help.