Another nforce4 and Benq flash sucessful

[venkman781]

Hi all -

Just wanted to throw a confirmation out there for nforce4 flashing on the BenQ drive. I followed the video CoFree used here and the hardest part was finding right sata port to talk with the drive on my DFI Lanparty UT SLI-D. After several unsuccessful flash attempts using iPrep 101.006 in Vista, I rolled back to an image I had of an XP partition. I installed .net v2, updated the nforce4 drivers to 6.86 and did a reboot.

I used Computer Management to format the partition on my USB drive, then ran iPrep as instructed in all of the tutorials. I used Device Manager to determine the sata port for my hdd, then checked in iPrep after selecting the nVidia controller from the dropdown menu to make sure the port was a match. I was using sata port 3 on my SLI-D board, with no other IDE or Sata plugs in when I finally got the drive to work. I was getting stuck at Status: 0x07F for a while after trying to resend the MTK, but after switching around sata ports from 4 to 3 on the mobo, it went like clockwork when I powered on the 360 on my next try.

Thanks for all the great tutorials and hard work!

[MsK]

thats great news man.. i'm glad it worked out for you

[CoFree]

yep
good job man
glad you got it going

[julio1583]

How do I know if I have an nforce4. Is that my video card?

[CoFree]

you need to read up on your computer.
the chipset in your computer is what we are talking about.
to do a sam or benq the best thing is to get this card.
http://tekgems.com/Products/la-pci22-vt6421a.htm

the via6421a or l chipset is the best

[venkman781]

Tonight I'm going to attempt another flash, this time on a Hitatchi drive. Whether or not it's a go will depend on how much is involved in getting the drive into Mode B. Hopefully the Slax disc will work.

[julio1583]

Sweet...

I have MODed the hitachi with the SLAX cd and was super easy. I have just bought me this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... Y.m238.lVI

I have a Samsung MS-28 and a BenQ ready to Mod so I got that one. I hope it all goes well. The hitachi flashed but I get some unreadable disc errors sometimes. I just press eject and then close tray and it works fine. Was it relativly easy to flash the BenQ to perfection?

[MsK]

Sweet...

I have MODed the hitachi with the SLAX cd and was super easy. I have just bought me this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... Y.m238.lVI

I have a Samsung MS-28 and a BenQ ready to Mod so I got that one. I hope it all goes well. The hitachi flashed but I get some unreadable disc errors sometimes. I just press eject and then close tray and it works fine. Was it relativly easy to flash the BenQ to perfection?

I have found the hitachi drives to be the most temperamental when it comes tor reading discs.

In my opinion flashing the sammys & benqs is easy & they are my favourite drives.
The tutorials on this site are very helpful & accurate - klutsh's iprep is superb

if you need help.. just ask

[venkman781]

The hardest part was just overcoming the quirks of my motherboard and the nforce4 drivers for it from nVidia. Vista seemed to be reading the Sata port locations incorrectly...or at least differently than from what iPrep was using. In Vista, I couldn't get the iPrep ID and I/O to match with what was showing when I ran the dben after booting up the USB drive. Now, truth be told, I could have muddled around more while still having Vista installed (swapped out sata cables, switched ports) but oh well.

So, I greased the drive and restored my XP install I had imaged. Then I went and installed the latest nforce4 drivers from the nVidia site. Now, finally in XP with the right drivers, I tried my USB drive again in iPrep. I couldn't seem to enable the Format/Make Bootable option, so I swapped it out for another USB that I formatted in Computer Management first. iPrep saw the drive perfectly and worked its magic.

Once I booted to the USB drive, I tried it once and had 2 sata cables plugged into the board - one to the 360 and another that was disconnected. Still no dice. Finally, after I yanked out the disconnected sata cable and moved the sata cable to the 360 to port 3, it worked just like the video said it would.

Good to know about the Hitachi drive - do you know what version your drive was? I know there are multiple revisions out there that have different levels of success.

[MsK]

The hardest part was just overcoming the quirks of my motherboard and the nforce4 drivers for it from nVidia. Vista seemed to be reading the Sata port locations incorrectly...or at least differently than from what iPrep was using. In Vista, I couldn't get the iPrep ID and I/O to match with what was showing when I ran the dben after booting up the USB drive. Now, truth be told, I could have muddled around more while still having Vista installed (swapped out sata cables, switched ports) but oh well.

So, I greased the drive and restored my XP install I had imaged. Then I went and installed the latest nforce4 drivers from the nVidia site. Now, finally in XP with the right drivers, I tried my USB drive again in iPrep. I couldn't seem to enable the Format/Make Bootable option, so I swapped it out for another USB that I formatted in Computer Management first. iPrep saw the drive perfectly and worked its magic.

Once I booted to the USB drive, I tried it once and had 2 sata cables plugged into the board - one to the 360 and another that was disconnected. Still no dice. Finally, after I yanked out the disconnected sata cable and moved the sata cable to the 360 to port 3, it worked just like the video said it would.

Good to know about the Hitachi drive - do you know what version your drive was? I know there are multiple revisions out there that have different levels of success.

yep.. my windows pc is dual boot (vista & xp)
When I do benQ's I have to prepare the usb flash in xp - with sammys I can prepare in either (vista or xp)