First time flashing. Iprep or dosflash?

[ohwhyme]

Just opened up the xbox 360 and will soon start flashing. Read all of the tutorials and was wondering which one I should choose? Dosflash looks a lot easier to me than iprep. I'm supposed to make a backup of the original firmware and check if I got a good key with firmware toolbox right? If I got a good key I can proceed with the flashing? How do I make a backup with iprep and where is it saved? I'm fairly familiar with command prompt etc so I suppose thats why I think dosflash looks easier. Which tutorial recommend since there are so many?!?

[sadalius]

iprep only looks complicated. It just takes a little time to set it up. If you've got your machine setup right then it won't be complicated at all. Do you know what brand of DVD drive your 360 has? This will determine what method you use to dump and flash with. If you have a samsung or benq, then I would use iprep to create a bootable usb stick. On that stick, once you've dumped the drive, you'll find a backups folder. Inside that folder will be another folder with 7 digit serial number that you use to dump the drive with and inside that folder you'll find a folder with the 5 digit number. Inside that folder you'll find your original firmware. Make several copies of it and stash them somewhere safe, maybe even email yourself a copy. Check that original firmware with firmware toolbox to verify the key is good. And if it is, continue with flashing.

If you have a hitachi 78/lower or lite-on drive you'll have to take a different approach. You'll use firmware toolbox to do the dumping and flashing, and you'll have to use either a connectivity kit or the slax disk to get the hitachi in mode b before you can dump or flash it. If you have a hitachi 79, well, there is a different procedure for that as well. And if you have a lite-on, the only thing you can do with that for now is to dump the key and ID strings and spoof a benq (best choice for replacing a lite-on) to report as a lite-on and inject your key and just replace the drive. There are plenty of tutorials on each specific procedure, so be sure to read up and get comfortable with it before you try anything.

[ohwhyme]

I have a benq drive. Thanks for the quick reply, I think ill be writing a tutorial because some things weren't that clear to me. But thanks to you, you cleared up something to me hehe. At the moment I have a vT8237R sata chipset but I already ordered the one that everyone has. Not sure if I should just go and do it or wait. So I take it when I write dben 1234567 12345 with the numbers replaced with my serial number of the xbox, it makes a backup copy of the firmware in the backups folder.

[sadalius]

Your correct about the backups folder. On the usb stick, you'll find the folders: BACKUPS->1234567->12345->BENQ-OFW.bin and BENQ-CFW.Bin. The ofw one will be your original and the cfw one will be the custom one that samtool makes after getting the original. I would actually check both of them with firmware toolbox to make sure the key is valid though. A valid key will look like a bunch of random characters and numbers with very few repeating and you'll know its a bad dump if they happen to be all of the same character. If you get that, then you need to try and re-dump it till you get a good key.

Benq's and samsungs are particular about the sata chipset that you use. You can try dumping it with your current chipset and see what happens. It won't hurt to try and dump it, most will happen is it just won't work. Then if it happens to work for you, then you can try flashing it. Just got to make sure to get a good dump first and foremost.

[lilrevuk]

Isn't your Mobo Sata (vT8237R) a VIA chipset??

If it is, I know that works, I've done a few flashes with one of those myself... Bios settings are important when it comes to flashing from onboard.

[ohwhyme]

sweet its gonna be a long night. Could you tell me what bios settings you have set? Thanks.

[lilrevuk]

If it is the VIA chipset, then just try it as it is... if you can get a good dump (always do it twice to check the key) then you're good to go...

All BIOS'es are different, in mine I have to change some settings in the 'Advanced Chipset' screen, depending on which drive I am flashing...

I get the option of 3 SATA modes, SATA, RAID and AHCI, for Benqs I have to use AHCi to get it to work, but I'm sure if that's the chipset I think it is (did you find a VIA chip on it by the way??) it should flash a Benq by default.

[ohwhyme]

Hmm I checked the computer it doesn't have any of those three options, only to enable sata-1 device. Thats it. In Iprep it cannot find anything unless I check the ide devices. So I guess I should wait for the pci card?

[Digital Menace]

Bios settings are important when it comes to flashing from onboard.

they are ?

i didn't have to set anything special with mine i used dosflash tho.

[lilrevuk]

one in particular for me on my nforce4... just the SATA mode (Advanced Settings)

I have to set it depending which drive I'm doing (AHCI for Benq, SATA for Sam/Hit). How you set this dictates how your SATA is seen by Windows.

[lilrevuk]

Hmm I checked the computer it doesn't have any of those three options, only to enable sata-1 device. Thats it. In Iprep it cannot find anything unless I check the ide devices. So I guess I should wait for the pci card?

It needs to be SCSI, not IDE. This is something to do with settings...


Sata 1 would be worth a try... If you can't get it to work, then wait for the card. If you do get a dump, do it again, and check the keys just be sure.

[ohwhyme]

alright cool thanks for the help. I'll just wait for the card. So the dumps have to have random characters. Every time I make the backup, they are supposed to be identical with the random characters?

[lilrevuk]

yeah they key will be the same each time you do the dump. That's why I encourage people to do it twice, to make it is the same key

[TheJerit]

I have the VT8237S onboard chipset (which is pretty much the same as yours) on my 4 core dual sata2 mobo and it worked perfectly. I did have an initial problem which is just like the one you are experiencing. The reason was because Windows wasn't recognizing my onboard sata chipset properly. I believe I had to enable or do something in my bios and the next time I booted up, Windows recognized it and then iprep did. I am not at that computer right now, but I'll try to get to it and see if I can remember exactly what it was. Just wanted to mention this in case it could offer some insight.

[lilrevuk]

I think in that case, the SATA was set to RAID (instead of SATA) in the bios...

I had to do the same thing with the first benq I did. I'm sure with VIA onboard there are just 2 options for SATA/RAID mode.