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This tutorial was written by Team Xecuter. If you use anything from this tutorial please give credits and also a direct link to this page. Also if we have made any mistakes or left anything out please let us know - thanks !

The official forum thread for this tutorial is HERE

If you have one of the 079fk / 079fl Hitachi drives then you have to follow a couple of extra steps to get the drive into Mode B as the switch trick was disabled, and there is also extra protection to stop the firmware from being able to read/write. Before now it was quite difficult to do and there was extra hardware/soldering involved. However thanks to Podger the process is now relatively simple. First you must have SATA that supports Legacy Mode or a compatible SATA Card. There are many different devices that support this (Intel, VIA, nForce etc). Our test rig uses a VIA 6421 SATA Card). iPrep will tell you if your Port is working and compatible (see Images 2 & 3). You must also create a CD that will unlock the 079 drive so you can read/write to the firmware.

The instructions are the same for both the Connectivity Kit 3 Pro & Lite. The tutorial assumes that you are using Windows XP.

1. We are first assuming that you have dissasembled your 360 and removed the DVD drive, If you haven't yet follow this tutorial. Connect power from the CK3 to the Hitachi DVD using the green power cable (make sure the connections are the right way around - there are guides on the connectors to help you - plug in the wrong way around and you will damage the drive - remember it's a power cable). Connect a molex power source to the CK3 (to be safe make sure the CK3 power switch is set to OFF). Connect the SATA cable from the DVD drive to your PC SATA (If it is a SATA card like the VIA 6421, connect to the internal port not the external port). Now turn the CK3 power switch to ON. To check the power cable is working press the eject switch so that the tray ejects (You may need ti press the eject switch twice). See Image1 to show how everything should look.

Image 1

2. Now we have to get the drive into Modeb so that it can be recognized in Windows. The method we use is the Modeb_B utility. It is a DOS command that can also be used in Windows (Full credits go to Podger for this method). You must first find which IO port the SATA card is using to communicate with the 360 DVD Drive. The easiest way to do this is to install iPrep. Once installed select which SATA card you are using and then click on the ? icon next to it (See Image 2). A popup window will show the 4 digits you need (See Image 3). The example in the images shows that we are using an VIA Sata controller and the I/O port is 9000.

Image 2

Image 3

3. Now install the the PortIO drivers. These are the PortIO32 Drivers from Winford Engineering and are the most stable yet (previous versions caused blue screens etc). Once downloaded simply double click on PortIO32.exe. To check that the install was a success goto Device Manager (Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager) and scroll to the bottom (See Image 4)

Image 4

4. You must now create the 79unlock CD. First download the package and unzip it to your C:\ drive. This should then create a directory called 79unlock (See Image 5). You will need a blank CD-R (DVD's do not work) and a disc burning package to burn the disc (We recommend you install ImgBurn).

Image 5

5. Once you have installed ImgBurn (If you don't already have it), goto the 79unlock directory and you will see a file called Image.cue (See Image 6). Right click on that file and select "Burn Using ImgBurn" (See Image 7).

Image 6

Image 7

6. Place a blank CD-R into your burner and then click on the green arrow icon. We also recommend you burn at a slower speed as it's an Audio CD, we have set the speed to 16X. It's also best to check the verify box to make sure everything is done correctly (See Image 8).

Image 8

7. If you selected verify then the disc should eject then automatically verify itself. If all is well then you will see a success message. Click OK to finish (See Image 9)

Image 9

8. We're now going to use a couple of DOS commands. To save you some time finding directories at the command prompt we recommend you install a small app called SendToToys. This is a very useful app. You can customize what you would like in your "Send To..." context menu when you right click on a folder or file - for this example we will select only the "Send To Command Prompt" option (See Image 10).

Image 10

9. Once SendToToys is installed goto the 79unlock directory and right click on it, scroll down to the Send To menu and select Command Prompt (See Image 11). A command prompt window should open and you will be ready to work in C:\79unlock> (See Image 12)

Image 11

Image 12

10. First make sure modeb is disabled on the CK3 (Blue LED) and then turn the CK3 power switch to OFF (the LED's will turn off). Now type mode_b <io port> (The example uses port 9000 so we type mode_b 9000. When the dots start appearing turn the CK3 power switch to ON. The DOS screen should now display done! (see Image 5). Do not close the window you will be using it again shortly.

Image 13

11. Your PC should now pick up the drive. The guide assumes you are using Windows XP. Click on My computer to see the new drive. You will need to make a note of the drive letter (see Image 14) You can also check device manager (Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager) (See Image 15).

Image 14

Image 15

Image 16

12. Now you will unlock the drive using the 79unlock CD that you created in Step 6. Press eject on the CK3 and insert the CD. Press eject again so that the tray goes in. You should get an auto prompt asking you to play an Audio CD using Windows Media Player. Click OK (See Image 17). The track should play for 3 seconds. Once its finished press play and hit the pause button straight away (See Video 1 - 79 Unlock CD Demo)

Image 17

Video 1 - 79Unlock CD Demo (Requires Flash Player)

13. Press eject on the CK3. Once the disc has ejected go back to the Command Prompt Window and type in 79unlock <Drive Letter> (In this example the drive letter of the 360 drive is D so we type 79unlock d. The DOS screen should now display done! (see Image 18). If you do not do this you will get a Cannot Read From Drive error.

Image 18

14. Now you are ready to flash the drive. To do this you will be using Maximus' Firmware Toolbox v4.8. First press eject on the CK3 and insert an original 360 game or DVD movie. Wait for Windows to recognize the disc, then close out of any autoruns caused by the disc.

15. Open Firmware Toolbox and select Tools > Direct Drive Dump (GDR Only) (See Image 19)

Image 19

16.Make sure your Hitachi drive is selected in the drop-down list and Select "Raw Dump Firmware As..." (See Image 20)

Image 20

17. You'll now be asked to save the firmware dump from the DVD Rom. The example shows a directory called 079 on the C:\ drive. Use the filename "Original" (See Image 21)

Image 21

18. You may be asked to validate the firmware to make sure everything worked correctly. Select "Yes" (See Image 22)

Image 22

19. You should then get a message saying the Data Checksum is OK. CLick "OK" (See Image 23)

Image 23

20. The program will tell you that your firmware has been dumped and asks if you want to open it, select "Yes" (See Image 24)

Image 24

21. Now the firmware is loaded into the Toolbox you will see that it has detected the Hitachi drive version and the important drive key is displayed. Make sure the drive key looks fairly unique, with no multiple FFFFFF or 000000 or CCCCCCC bytes. You may also want to dump the firmware a couple times and make sure the key is the same for each dump (See Image 25)

Image 25

22. Now select Tools > Smart Hack Patcher (See Image 26)

Image 26

23. Read the warning and accept it by clicking "OK" (See Image 27)

Image 27

24. On the line labelled output file, click the box to the right with the ellipsis (three dots) (See Image 28) and save the file as hacked.bin where you saved the original firmware (See Image 29)

Image 28

Image 29

25. Select the correct firmware for your drive. There are different options for the 78 and 79 drives. Here we have selected the iXtreme 1.4 8x 078+ Firmware. (See Image 30)

Image 30

26. It should now tell you that the hacked firmware was created, and asks if you want to open it, again select "Yes" (See Image 31)

Image 31

27. The firmware version should now display as iXTREME : 79:V1.4-8X. Verify that the drive key is still the same as before ! (See Image 32)

Image 32

28. Now select Tools > Direct Drive Flash (GDR Only) > Differential Flash (PATCH) (See Image 33)

Image 33

29. Check that your Hitachi drive is selected in the drop-down list then select "Read and Detect Differences" (See Image 34)

Image 24

30. A list of numbers should list in the "Flash this Sectors" window. Internal Flasher should be selected as default. Now select "Start Flashing" and let it finish (See Image 35)

Image 35

31. If everything is successful you will get a pop up saying "All Sectors Flashed" - Now click "OK" (See Image 36)

Image 36

32. You are now finished! Turn the CK3 power off, unplug the cables and test your new flash updated Xbox 360 :)

This tutorial was written by Team Xecuter. If you use anything from this tutorial please give credits and also a direct link to this page. Also if we have made any mistakes or left anything out please let us know - thanks !

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