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HOW to read your XBOX's EEPROM and GET the HDD KEY WITHOUT removing the chip Or Modding the XBOX
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Member
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3. January 2008 @ 08:45 |
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Uh guys, is there a way to connect the eeprom reader to the eeprom besides soldering it on there and can someone do a simpler build/guide for the eeprom reader coz in this one I'm seeing connections on both front and back of pc board, I must admit it is a little confusing.
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AfterDawn Addict
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4. January 2008 @ 03:30 |
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Click on my signature, it will explain the unit in slightly better detail!
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Warpath
Newbie
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10. January 2008 @ 22:29 |
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I have built the eeprom reader and sucessfully grabed my eeprom from the xbox. I then saved the file as EEPROM.bin. I verified the data using Liveinfo Beta3 and everything checked out ok. I am using XboxHDMaker along with NDURE to build my ISO image.
The problem that I am having is with the eeprom.bin file. I have placed the bin file in the eeprom directory and created the iso image. When I insert the CD in my PC everything starts up fine and I get to the menu screen. I rebuild the Xbox drive from scratch...everything goes smooth.
Now I want to lock the drive before putting it in the xbox. I reboot the computer with xboxhdmaker and choose option(2) to lock/unlock drive using linux. At the commant prompt I type lockhd -a. I get a message saying that eeprom.bin could not be found on cd. I tried manually typing in the file path to the eeprom...no luck. So I exit out and type xbrowser to see if the eeprom is there...and IT IS.
In my last efforts I created another cd and placed the eeprom in every directory...still no luck.
Any Ideas?
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Warpath
Newbie
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10. January 2008 @ 23:27 |
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OK. I recreated the iso image again only this time I changed the file from EEPROM.bin to eeprom.com(lowercase). Everything seemed to work ok. I rebuild the HD from scratch. I then went to lock the drive and noticed that it said something about the HD ATA security is not compatible. I was not able to lock the hard drive. Is there any way around this? I do I know what hard drives are compatible?
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Guppy1
Junior Member
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11. January 2008 @ 00:07 |
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Build the xboxhdm cd without a bin file. Put the bin file on floppy. When it asks for eeprom.bin, use the floppy option. Eeprom.com is wrong. Theoretically it should have worked the way you did it the first time by incorporating the eeprom.bin file onto the cd as well.
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Warpath
Newbie
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11. January 2008 @ 16:32 |
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eeprom.com was a typo on the message board. What I didn't mention was that I am using a 30gb harddrive. I pulled the eeprom reading with the original 8gb in the xbox. Does this matter? Should I try grabbing another reading from the xbox and have the 30gb in? I would think that the eeprom would need the 30gb hard drives details to create the eeprom file? So how should i do this?
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Lominisio
Newbie
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11. January 2008 @ 19:29 |
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I'm hoping this thread is still somewhat active seeing as the last post was about a month and a half ago. Anyway, call me a noob, an idiot, or whatever, but can someone help me with building the EEPROM reader? I've read over the instructions about 10 times as well as browsed the internet for clearer instructions. I couldn't find any that were dumbed down enough for me. So how far have I gotten?
I've bought everything needed as listed in the tutorial and I've taken the cover off my xbox. Go me! >.<
Basically I'm asking if someone could give me "REALLY BASIC" step by step instructions of how to do this. :P
EDIT: I ended up using the hotswapping tutorial here: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/548462 and that ended up working for me. Thanks anyway. ^_^
Thanks.
~Lom
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12. January 2008 @ 15:16
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Warpath
Newbie
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15. January 2008 @ 19:46 |
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OK. I have a good eeprom file but still can not lock my hard drive. I have tried this on 2 different hard drives...one 30gb and one 40gb. I generated a HD password and also created a floppy with the locking/unlocking tools. Whne I go back in to see if the drive has been locked it says "drive unlockable". I have even tried manually typing in my password and get the same result. Any ideas?
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Member
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15. January 2008 @ 20:19 |
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If it is lockable than it might be your pc. Compaq pc has this problem. I have a compaq. You need to put in the hdd after you boot xbox hdm. Lock the eeprom from the disc do not put in the key manually, one mistake and you may never be able to unlock it again.
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Warpath
Newbie
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15. January 2008 @ 23:45 |
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Just tried that and it didn't work. The drive was not recognised. I waited for the xboxhd screen to show and then pluged in the drive. When it went through the linux stuff, I didnt see the hard drive listed.
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Unicron1
Junior Member
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16. January 2008 @ 15:56 |
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BOO!
Hi everybody!!! Yes I know it's ME!
So first off, your hard drive is saying it unlockable, cus it's unlockable!! NOT all hard drives support locking, and some that say they do don't fully support the ATA command set to lock the drive.
Best thing to do is look on the list of knowen lockable hard drives and get one off there, shoot I just got a 120 gig from geeks for $37.00!!
Next, your eeprom.bin file is CASE sensitive.. you must make sure it is in all SMALL letters when you put it in the epprom folder. I should look like this ---> eeprom.bin if it looks like Eprom.bin or EEPROM.bin it will not work. Linux is a picky bugger.
the simplest eeprom reader to build and make is the one I show in my tutor.. uses a few radio shack parts , cost about $10 bucks to make, yes it is tricky sometimes, after all the xbox doesn't want you to be poking around in it's memory, so it may take you a few times. Also some componets may not match up good and in that case, try changing one of the zeners with a new one, if you keep at it and just stay cool you will get it to read. Always check your zerers are facing the right way too!!
Well, like a ghost I pop in and out of this world so see ya later!!
Unicron
"That which does not serve me shall become apart of me." - Unicron |
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Warpath
Newbie
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16. January 2008 @ 23:42 |
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Thanks for the help. I did not know that some drives were not lockable. I will look on geeks.com to find a compatible drive. Is there a listing somewhere of drives that have been known to work in an xbox? Which model drive did you get?
I checked my eeprom.bin and it is lowercase. I'm sure the issue is just with the type of drive I am using.
At the moment I running the xbox with the original drive in it. However it is using unleashed/ndure and xbmc. I am very happy with the way it all works. Im sure that the ISO I created works fine...just need to find the right hard drive.
Your tutorial for building the eeprom reader is great. I built mine and it worked! haha. Thanks again.
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obcd007
Newbie
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17. January 2008 @ 07:04 |
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Hi,
you could verify your pc bios and ide port with the original xbox harddisk. If you are able to unlock that drive, you know your pc is able to unlock - lock?? lockable harddisks. The atapwd program should be able to tell you if your disk is supporting locking or not. There is a list on the net with compatible lockable harddisks, but it is a bit outdated. Most nowaday disks should work.
I am unsure about this, but some people on the net say that you should put the eeprom.bin file in the E:\backup folder. I assume it doesn't hurt if you put it in both locations. (The eeprom folder and E:\backup folder).
Btw Unicron, if you ever pop up again, The only thing I can say is... great work.
regards.
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Unicron1
Junior Member
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12. February 2008 @ 01:42 |
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I'v been buying Maxtor DIamondMax 16
120 Gig ATA/133 HDD
I got them from Geeks I think for $37.00 Each
They support Locking.
I belive about any Maxtor will work.
NOTICE: on SOFT MOD you are limited to 136 GIG HDD to use.
That is why I buy the 120 GIG HDD.
IF you HARD MOD/ CHIP IT, then you can throw a big old 500 gig in there.
Why?? I think 120 GIG does great myself. OH and for a speed increase on you XBOX HDD, use a NEW 88 conductor ribbon cable, NOT the one that came with the xbox original!!! You can see the diffrence in speed of boot up and game loads.
Good Luck all....
UNICRON
"That which does not serve me shall become apart of me." - Unicron
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obcd007
Newbie
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14. February 2008 @ 06:13 |
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Hi,
I hate to comment upon what people write in forums, but I would like to rectify the 137GB limit with softmods. It is no longer there. You can use a bigger harddisk without problem. You just need to make sure that the partions are not bigger than 256MB. If they are bigger, you need to format them with a 32KB cluster size. Xbpartionner is a program that can do that.
regards.
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daspazz
Newbie
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14. February 2008 @ 11:50 |
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Originally posted by Unicron1:
I'v been buying Maxtor DIamondMax 16
120 Gig ATA/133 HDD
I got them from Geeks I think for $37.00 Each
They support Locking.
I belive about any Maxtor will work.
NOTICE: on SOFT MOD you are limited to 136 GIG HDD to use.
That is why I buy the 120 GIG HDD.
IF you HARD MOD/ CHIP IT, then you can throw a big old 500 gig in there.
Why?? I think 120 GIG does great myself. OH and for a speed increase on you XBOX HDD, use a NEW 88 conductor ribbon cable, NOT the one that came with the xbox original!!! You can see the diffrence in speed of boot up and game loads.
Good Luck all....
UNICRON
So what you are saying that the 200 gig HD in my xbox is not using the extra 80 gigs? Hmm that is weird because my soft-modded xbox had a large f drive that is larger than 120 gigs. I am confused. /Sarcasm off/
Sorry Unicron. I respect you and the reader, because it has helped me a lot of times, but the poster above me is right. I have used 160, 250, and 300 gig drives without a problem.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 14. February 2008 @ 15:33
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varnull
Suspended permanently
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14. February 2008 @ 23:30 |
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Check with meatshield on llammas forums about the instability and liability to corruption of any partition over 256gb on the xbox file system, regardless of patches or formatting 32kb clusters.. This applies to hard mods as well. It is an old problem related to the kernel which there is a work around for, but that in itself is a little unstable.
There is nothing wrong with adding information to what is now an old guide, but if you actually read the stated aims of this guide it is to repair a faulty STOCK xbox without modding it in any way, so all this blabber about adding bigger drives is actually outside the scope of the thread and irrelevant in this context.
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Senior Member
3 product reviews
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14. February 2008 @ 23:58 |
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I just joined to tell unicron thanks in advance before i build this eeprom reader. Generally on forums the author disappears and everyone has guestions. It's great that you come back to check up on your post, and it shows you care and want to help.
I've modded probably 18 to 20 some odd xbox's and never had a problem (largest hd was 500gig softmodded). I have a xbox that had the hard drive fry and the board and all the rest of the components are still good. I tried to mod it using a mod chip, with perfect soder points and probably 5 hours of trying to get it to work i finally gave up.
By the way your hard drive may be lockable, the new drives i'm using gave me a bit of a problem when it came to locking them. I had to go into the bios and set the hard drive detect at manual and reload the xboxhdm cd.
Hard drives i've used
maxtor 40gig 16mb cache
maxtor 250gig 8mb cache
maxtor 300gig 16mb cache
seagate 160gig 16mb cache
seagate 320gig 16mb cache
Compatability chart http://xboxdrives.x-pec.com/?p=list
Maxtor was bought out by seagate and almost any seagate drive will work. Run a check on your model number vs the one on the compatability chart.
That's all i got for now, i'll check back later and post my progress
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 15. February 2008 @ 00:05
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varnull
Suspended permanently
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15. February 2008 @ 00:13 |
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The only drives I know for sure to be hard to lock are Fujitsu, right across the range.. and some hitachis too.
There is a limit with some of the older drives how many times they can be locked/unlocked, which I have never seen mentioned.
Just about any modern drive will be grand.. the setting to manual in the bios is more than likely a function of the PC bios rather than anything specifically different about the drive..
The PC bios contains a HDD lookup table, with other info than the CHS and park locations. I know some of the award bios versions also read the drive lock/unlock sum to work out if it can be locked.. this may be astray with very new models of drives, and obviously can't contain every make and model of drive back to the dawn of time (sony pc's are real bad for limited drive lookup).
Just musing on findings.. I have found the best machines for lock/unlock are the old cyrix p2/300 series IBM boards.. they read the best for sensible sized drives...
I don't advocate anybody putting a huge and valuable drive in a softmod xbox, better to ftp a little to say a 160 drive rather than risk a brick with a 500. Do you really need 300 games on a HDD? you can only play one at once ;)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 15. February 2008 @ 00:16
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Junior Member
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12. May 2008 @ 18:08 |
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what did MLOYLLO do? he didnt put anyone down. he took a sentance from the article to show someone the correct one.
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Junior Member
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12. May 2008 @ 18:14 |
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Originally posted by janrocks:
Do you wnt to know something?? This isn't my work. I just know unicron and suggested it might be an idea to share his knowledge with us
Maybe I was mistaken..what must he be thinking now.. A very bad day for the site I always was the forefromt of serious technical discussions and learning..
Thanks for getting rid of that toad neph.. I didn't report him because it's not my style.
What did I do to be insulted like that??? Not like I wrote the tut is it..
you said what does eeprom have to do with this article. Basically EVERYTHING! he was explaining what eeprom stood for.
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Warpath
Newbie
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13. May 2008 @ 18:48 |
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Hello. just wanted to give a status update.
I managed to get everything loaded onto a western digital 20gb hard drive that I had laying around. After trying 4 other drives that i had...this was the only one that would lock(figures it was the last one I tried too). I was not able to read the eeprom file that I put into the eeprom folder. I also tried putting it outside of the folder to see if that worked. The only way I was able to lock the drive was to copy the eeprom to a formated floppy and then choose "look on floppy" when lockhd -a couldnt find the eeprom on the cd. I think after this experience I have gotten pretty good at doing the process over and over as trweaks to the install cd were needed. I have copied 4 games to my xbox already, but feel that I need more space. I recently ordered a 120gb HD for $40(shipping included). dThis drive was listed on the capatibility chart and seemed to be good to go in all areas.
Thanks for all your help. I will post an image of my eeprom reader soon.
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Junior Member
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13. May 2008 @ 19:14 |
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hey can you teach me how to make an eeprom reader? also your eeprom is supposed to be in the eeprom folder named EEPROM.BIN in all caps!
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zingy175
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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5. June 2008 @ 13:47 |
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Thanks a ton Unicron, i just you used this method for a dead hard drive soft modded box. Worked like a champ! Granted I didn't have a pcb or the 5v doides...I used some 12v (lowest they had) and it still worked perfect. Just wanted to say thanks a ton!
Newbie fun!
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Senior Member
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4. July 2008 @ 02:21 |
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Edit: Found my problem, had a messed up install of the reader by a tiny bit.
Can someone help me out? My drive was unlocked, with xbox turned off, the xbox is a v1.4. I made the programmer coping the picture from Dirk van den Brink (Link from Llamma's link to another guy who made it) and also double check it with the schematics. When i turn on the xbox it turns on then turns off then on flashing yellow/green, it has a error reading the chip. With the programmer removed it boots up fine, well until it tries to unlock the unlocked drive. I just read the zener are really sentive to heat, n i might of killed it. My install looked clean. I know its not enough info but can someone give me some suggestions on what i should do? I soldered to the lpc n i have checked this alot of times. I have read this error dozens of times but haven't found a solution.
thanks
Also thanks Unicron for sharing this info, writing this tutorial, and helping all the people out!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 4. July 2008 @ 15:21
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