Advice needed on updating Hitatchi 79fl fw

[ghost.x74]

Hi

Last year my friend had his sons 360 (79fl) flashed with iXtreme 1.4 8x.
The guy who flashed the console for him has moved out of the area and we can not contact him to get the original fw file.

Now my friend wants to play on Xbox live and would prefere to do so with iXtreme 1.4 12x fw and would also like to be able to update to the new 1.5 fw when it is released shortly.

The question is,....is it possible to update the fw without his original fw file. I have used the 79 unlock process with podgers cd and Maximus fw toolbox to view and save his drive key. I have not attempted to flash his fw because a couple of people told me that with Hitatchi drives new hacked fw should not be flashed over old hacked fw without first restoring the original fw.

Can anyone please tell me what the correct way to udate the fw on this drive is and if it is possible without the original fw.
I have seen a tutorial on restoring old hit drives in the tutorial section but it says it does not work with 78 or 79 drives.

ps I have got a ck3 pr kit and a probe.

[CoFree]

you need to wait for sadalius or one of the other guys on this.
i know the older hit drives have to be restored first(i think the v78 and v79 do to)
but
im not the best on the v78/v79 hit drives.

[ghost.x74]

Thanks for the quick reply Cofree
I will wait until one of the other guys reply and se what they think.

Also, when the new Hitatchi fw is released, if you guys can find the time to stick a tutorial up covering the Hitatchi drive updates, that would be great. Im sure that there are lots of people who will want to update but may be a little confused (like me)

[lilrevuk]

In effect, the Hit firmware is never replaced, just certain sectors of it are flashed over. This means your key should always remain in the firmware, so it will be there to dump just as before...

I'm pretty sure you have to do a restore before you flash a 78/79.

In terms of fw speed, you should be fine online with x8. If a drive is struggling to read an original at x12, it will drop to x8 automatically so they can't really ban you for that

I've got a 78 myself, so as soon as 1.5 is released, I will update and do a tut on it

[ghost.x74]

Thanks for that lilrev

Is it possible to do a restore without the original fw? and if so, how?

I have already got his console into modeb here so that I could get his drive key with firmware toolbox so I may as well flash it to 12x now while im here. Otherwise im not sure how to get the rive out of modeb without flashing

[lilrevuk]

I think fwtoolbox does the restore from a template of the stock firmware, make sure you do that (and get a valid dump) before you reflash to x12.

As for getting the drive out of mode b, turn it off

[CoFree]

Is it possible to do a restore without the original fw?

yes
firmware toolbox has all the hit orig firmware in it.
it uses this orig firmware to do the restore on the drive.

[ghost.x74]

As for getting the drive out of mode b, turn it off

I wasn't sure if that would work and was too scared to chance it

Cheers mate

I had a look at the "recover lost original" option in fw toolbox but it says that it is unable to determine my original file based on the current open file. The key information with my drive key is @4D20 and there is no file in the orig_fw folder that matches this. I can only see 78-4D20

I think I will just switch it off and leave things until the new 1.5 fw comes out. Then hopefully there will be a bit more information available then.

In the meantime if anyone can tel me how to restore the original fw on this drive witout the original file....im all ears.

[lilrevuk]

You don't use that, you use differential flash (restore) from the tools option. I think you just have to select your drive after that, but I can't test it without one hooked up.

[ghost.x74]

OK, but what do I open in firmware toolbox as my original fw

The key informaton on the drive says @4D20

In the orig_fw folder the only file with 4D20 in it is 78-4D20

The only79 files are 79-4b00 and 79-4e10

I need to now what file to open in fw toolbox to use to restore the fw.

[ghost.x74]

Here is a pic of the fw that is on the console opened up in toolbox.
The key is coloured out but the arrow points to the key information @4D20

What fw do I need to select from the orig_fw folder to restore this.

[CoFree]

when you do a restore on a hit dvd drive
you dont input any firmware
the program know what file to restore with.

you should wait on sadalius on this one man.

lilrevuk
is right though
after you tell it restore
im sure it ask what dvd drive you have and it goes on from there.

[ghost.x74]

Yeah im not gonna flash this until I know exactly what to do.

I think things might be a little different with this drive because it was originaly flashed with a passkey. My friend said that the guy who flashed it for him had to solder something so im guessing that it was a passkey. Also the fact that he does not have a backup of his original fw does not help.

I have swithched everything off for now and will wait until i am 100% sure of what im doing before I go any further.

I will take your advice and wait to se what Sadalius thinks.

If the worst comes to the worst, I guess that he will have to make do with the 1.4 8x fw and try his luck on live.
I know a few people who are still using 1.4 Hitatchi fw on live and have not had any problems to date.
In my opinion if he uses proper backups he should be OK.

[CoFree]

I know a few people who are still using 1.4 Hitatchi fw on live and have not had any problems to date.

im one of them.

In my opinion if he uses proper backups he should be OK.

that is the case as far as im concerned

in the hit dvd drive the key is let alone when you flash it.
that is why spoofing a hit it a little harder.

[dalecheesy]

- To do a Restore on Hitachi 78 and above you will need the original.bin
file that should have been read on the first installation.

- For a 78/79 restore:

- Put your Hitachi drive in ModeB

- connect the drive to the pc via the sata

- Make sure your drive is visible and has a letter asigned on Windows

- Insert a DVD Movie or a 360 game in the drive.

- Launch Fw Toolbox and open the original file for the drive, this is important
because of the variations of the 78+ firmwares.

- MAKE SURE THE DETAILS SHOWS A FULLY ORIGINAL FILE, if labels as "Spoofed"
or "XTREME" appear on the details then it is NOT an original file.

- Go to "Tools->Direct Drive Flash->Differential Flash RESTORE"

- select the drive "Read Drive and Detect Differences", a list should be populated.

- Press the "Start Flashing" button

Edit: i really need to start reading these threads from the beginning as i didn't know you didn't have the original.bin. Ooops