benQ e65 need help!

[stayambiguous]

Hey guys, I am a noobie flasher, and I recently tried to flash my BenQ drive with iPrep v008.

I followed guides and such, and although some of them helped, I ended up getting it to read the key and eventually write firmware to the drive. But alas when I hook the sata back up to the xbox I get 1 red flashing light in the right corner and error e65 for a drive failure.

I have no clue what this could be. I have the original key, and its most def on every single firmware I try to load up. Not even a copy of orig.bin will work anymore. I've been thinking about trying JF, but my comp freezes when I turn on the 360 with it connected to the computer, making it impossible to do anything. And I have 64bit win7, and I have no access to a other comp.

I'm considering partitioning the drive so I can see if JF will do it right, it has some unlock BenQ button that seems like it might be whats wrong, but I have no clue. I'm hoping I can get a iPrep fix. I have a VIA vt6421a sata. I can give you more info on how I flashed it in iPrep, incase I did something wrong there.

Please help!

[technoe]

It actually sounds like you plugged your power cable in upside down. If you only plugged in that way after you flashed it you should be ok, check your cables and connections. If you used a connectivity kit and plugged your power in upside down there then you probably burned your drive. Sorry.

[stayambiguous]

Well I'm not using any kind of connectivity kit. I have no idea what you mean, I'm guessing you're talking about the 360's power? Do you mean I had it plugged in upside down while I was flashing it? How could that have an effect on how a flash would take?

Sorry for hijacking the other thread, I posted there but then decided its a different problem so I should do my own.


EDIT: I'm curious if its okay that I don't get the drive to go into vendor mode. When I run dosflash it goes through all my ports, and the 360 drive brings up:

"8) 0xBC00 SATA Pri Master ATAPI No identify possible
Flash Manufacturer ID: OxC2, DeviceID: 0x11
Flash Type: MXIC/Macronix (MX25L2005)
Flash Size: 262144 Bytes (256 KB)

But it doesn't do the MTK resend thing. It then goes on to ports 9, 10 and 11 and then askes me to enter the port number.
I hit 8, and it tells me the basic "r for read, w for write, e for erase" ect. Then I write my firmware with the key and it gives me all OK's on writing the banks.

Hope that helps, people always talk about getting it to do the MTK stuff and the half tray open trick ect ect, but all I do is hit the port number.

[technoe]

I mean the power plug to the drive itself. That little 10-wire cable that runs from your board to your drive, if you plug it into the drive or the motherboard wrong you WILL fry your drive. Also since you used DOSFLASH to write to the drive before reading it you basically flashed useless firmware to the drive. There is a key on the drive that MUST be retrieved before you can build the custom firmware. Without that key your Xbox 360 is now just a super heavy dvd player. That's why we have a whole section dedicated to tutorials to show you step by step what to do and encourage everyone to watch or read them multiple times even print them out if necessary so this wont happen. Sorry about your luck!!

[stayambiguous]

No like I said I have the correct key, and the firmware I've been writing to it has had that key, and I have backups of that key on my computers hard drive. I'm just worried about getting the xbox to work.

I have no idea how I would not plug the drives power in incorrectly seeing as it doesn't fit correctly with the little white tabs on the plastic connector. I tried replugging them both in and powering it up after a new flash with iXtreme 1.6 firmware with my key and still no dice. And wouldn't a fried drive not be read-able in dosflash? Sorry for any confusion seeing as you're helping me out!

Someone please help, I really would like to get it back up and running and as it doesn't seem to be a big error I still have hope I can fix it.

[technoe]

I would simply start over, open JF and build your custom firmware and save it as bencfw.bin then load it into iprep like you would any regular firmware. Then when you boot with iPrep, go straight to fben 1234567 12345 and follow the on-screen instructions. If you're still having issues after that then you might want to see if you can find another drive to test in your 360.

[stayambiguous]

thanks.

Tried it and still didn't work. I'm attempting to use JF to flash it now instead, having a VT6421A chip installed. I'm just having trouble getting it into vendor mode, seeing as its e65'ed I can't get the drive to eject to do the half tray open trick.

It just gives me 0x7F. Are there any ways of getting it to recongnize the drive without the half tray trick? Or a way to get the drive to eject with the e65 error?

[technoe]

If you look at the bottom of the drive just between the dvd bezel and the case, there is a small gear just turn that gear to the right about five or six times and the tray will start to eject then you can pull it half way out.

[HaGGardSmurf]

I have a very similar thing happen to me with my fried ms28.

Samsung's and BenQ's are alike, and what your describing sounds excatly like how my fried ms28 functions. My ms28 was my first flash attempt, and when I was putting the power cable back into the drive I didnt put it in all the way, one side was partially out. There was a bit of a smell, and the drive was fried.

The drive doesnt eject, it only will if I press eject like 50 times. Ive flashed it with 1.5, 1.51, 1.6, and the original fw. All have gone without a hitch, but I still get e65 when I try it in my console. If I somehow get the drive to eject, before the xbox has booted, it will just freeze at the xbox 360 logo.

Just figured I would let you know what you are describing sounds alot like my fried drive. You may want to try to remember if you smelt anything a little weird, or if your power plug was not in all the way.

[stayambiguous]

I'm really hoping it hasn't fried. I have taken into consideration that it has, and I guess if that's the case I'd be smart to buy a new drive. I'd still like to mess around with it a bit. I don't remeber any kind of smell or the power cord being put in the wrong way. But it is scary that what you described is exactly like my problem.

Any recommendations for where I should purchase a new drive? And do you recommend a connectivity kit for if I attempt to flash the new drive?

EDIT: Looked at your post in a thread asking almost the same question below this one, ordered the BenQ VAD6038.

Connectivity kit question stands though. And I found iPrep to be easy to use when I first did it. I mean, I did mess up, but it was simple and quick. And now I have some background knowledge on how to use it. Is there anything I need to do special for a new drive? Or just load up firmware with my old key?

[HaGGardSmurf]

You can just load your old FW, it should have the key. If not you can just dump your drive again and get the key.

As for the CK3, its a very good investment. Lots less errors are made with a ck3. Its dangerous using your xbox as power due to its floating ground.

If your only going to be flashing your own drive, and maybe a few friends, you may not want the CK3... I dont have a CK3, but I only flash my 2 drives, and 2 friends drives.

[stayambiguous]

currently waiting for my new benq drive, relieved by how cheap they are, makes flashing feel much safer as a noobie.

Are there any precautions I should take in flashing this time around, besides just making sure the DVD drives power cords are in correctly? I want this time to go perfectly, I'm a bit nervous having f'ed up my first try, but I have a feeling it won't happen again.

Also, I found iPrep very simple, compared to JF which was complicated and never detected my drive. Are there any cons to iPrep? I feel like I would risk another mess up trying to play around with JF. I use JF to make the firmware, but other than that, iPrep is good for BenQ's, right?