Well first you need to know what kind of drive you have.  if your 360 is recently new den it will most likely be liteon. if it is liteon you will need to buy a benq drive ( if you planning on playing live) or you can buy samsung or hitachi but if you use that ur system can be banned from live. 

i gtg right now ill help u lata

I'm interested in doing this as I want a 360 again, I walways have, but I don't want to pay for games on it anymore. I'd buy the odd one or two (and I still will) but as for games that I've already had like PGR 4 and FM2 I really don't wanna have to buy them again. I'd feel bad using back-ups but I'm still willing...plus I have somebody who is actually refusing to pay for a gold membership until I'm back on there.

I've actually been meaning to ask these questions but looks like ERIF beat me to it. So, is soldering absolutely necessary? Is it a particular type of BenQ drive you need?

JSamp, that link is dead I'm afraid.

Last edited by sc_bond (2008-11-03 22:06:27)

I'm pretty sure my last two were both the Hitachi....should have kept that second one lol! I'd like to hack a 360 for as little money as possible....like no money at all if I can!

I can help you man, Flashed every drive with the exception of the lite-on. Your best bet would be to try and find a shop with older stock. Ideally you want a benq imo quietist and easy to flash
If you did end up with a lite-on drive it aint the end of the world cause you could just spoof in another drive.
Basically until we know which drive you get we cant help much

Here is a pick of the drives. The lite-on looks just like the Benq.



I'm trying to find some info how you can tell what drive it is by the product numbers. Will get back to you soon if I find it.

-e-
here is something that I found

If your purchasing a new xbox-360 with manufacturing date after 8/11/08 chances are it will have the “lite-on�  dvd-drive that is currently (read only) and unmodifiable.

I pulled my box out of storage and on the barcode sticker I have a 360 from LOT NO: 0813. My 360 has a Benq drive. it also doesn't have a manufacture date on the box just on the back of the 360.

Last edited by Jsamp (2008-11-03 23:47:06)

I just read somewhere that a guy had a 360 from Lot #0822 and it was a Lite-on. I also read that Lot no: 817 was a Lite-on.

Also found this http://www.360drives.com/list/page10. it shows finding from manufacture date, lot number, motherboard type, etc.

I would look for lot #0816 and lower if you want to insure you get a flashable unit. When I got my 360 I wanted to make sure it had a falcon motherboard on it so they let me look at the box to see if it was. So some store clerk will let you check I am sure.

i think mines a liteon but im not 100 percent sure because the maf date is 7-04-08 and da lot no 0827. im going to check by opening the faceplate soon. btw if i want to do that will it void my warranty?

oh i c in dat case ill go do it right now

if u get liteon try to get benq if you wanna play on live bcuz with others you can ezily be tracked and banned.

lildesiikid wrote:

if u get liteon try to get benq if you wanna play on live bcuz with others you can ezily be tracked and banned.

You can't flash a LiteOn drive anyway, you would have to SPOOF another drive to report as the LiteOn.  If your Box came with a LiteOn, you just can't simply put a BenQ in, and have it reporting as a BenQ drive, because that will get you banned due to; the Console ID was MFGed with a LiteOn drive.  With a LiteOn, you WILL have to spoof a drive, PERIOD.  Spoofing is not really all that safe either.

Also, Mr.T, You really can't tell by sound, because the Phillips/BenQ and Phillips/LiteOn are almost identical.  I don't hear any noise when I turn mine on, then again, I never REALLY listened.

They are making it harder and harder to hack, IF you want to be connected to Live.  Firmware from drive to drive is different.  If M$ "REALLY" wanted to ban people, they would do firmware checks according to when the console was made.  By date and lot, and console ID, they should know what drive it was made with, and anything ELSE would mean tampering, thus ban.  When they replace a drive, like for a repair, that data is updated for that console record.

sc_bond wrote:

Powerslave, with a LiteOn drive, it's still possible to fully hack it just like the others but just with a lot more effort? Which is safest from being banned? Also, I have heard of a sort of custom firmware being flashed to prevent a ban, is that true?

No, there is no flash-rom on the drive itself, so it CANNOT BE FLASHED!!!  So, until a CHIP solution is made, there is no hacking the LiteOn drive.  What people are doing is extracting the key with a serial adapter kit that you BUY, then flashing another drive with that key, and spoofing it as a LiteON.  If the spoof doesn't work, you can be banned as that's not the drive the console was MFRed with.

You are never safe from being banned.  Any firmware other than what the drive came with is CUSTOM.  iExtreme is supposed to be the safest firmware to use.  It demands ALL STEALTH parameters for backups.

Anything made before the LiteOn drives are flashable, that begins with BenQ, and down. The issue is firmware for that drive to have it REPORT as a LiteOn (spoofing).

Hitachi 79 Series require PassKey (A hardware add on, so you mas as well just chip it), but then you still need it to report as LiteON.

Basically the LiteOn is the Phillips/Benq with a modified board, with the FLASHROM removed.  The firmware is now embedded in a chip, on the board.   Mechanically, and cosmetically, the drives look the same.  They simply removed any way to FLASH the ROM, because there is none.


See, Lite-On IT inherited the orders from BenQ, and the company recently gained validation from Microsoft.