ANSWERED Enabling avatars on 14699 with protected efuses

[JawsMcPaws]

Hi all, I've bridged the two points so that my efuses are protected. I want to enable avatars, but it appears that I have to run the official MS update. Won't this mess up my system because of the bridge?

I don't have an external programmer so I don't want to risk it without knowing.

 

[Martin C]

That's not accurate. What dashboard are you currently on?

 

[JawsMcPaws]

14699 with freeboot.

I read this

8) Take your flash drive (the one you just used) plug it into your computer and delete the xenon.elf and nandflash.bin, then put the official ms update (you know where to get that, right?) onto the flash drive. Note that you have to unzip the update after download, and put the extracted folder renamed to $$ystemUpdate on the flash drive.
Dashlaunch ignoressystem updates so we need to rename it so dashlaunch can see it to EXACTLY this:
$$ystemUpdate
^^^^^ this needs to be the only thing on your flash drive
Unplug from computer and plug into your 360
(I didn't power my 360 off when I stuck in the usb and it saw the update right away. If that doesn't happen to you, reboot into nxe and it should pick it up and prompt you)
If it STILL won't detect the update, try $systemupdate <--- If this works, your dashlaunch.ini is not configured to block MS updates, and you should look into changing that! (Thanks goes to frayed for pointing this out)

 

[Martin C]

Yes, you run the official MS update for the same dashboard version as you're on. Accept the update and your avatars will be applied.

 

[JawsMcPaws]

Okay, thank you for your help. If I can run an official MS update, I'm a bit confused as to what bridging those points did? I thought it was to prevent official updates from working?

 

[Martin C]

When you run an official MS update (where your current dashboard is lower than the one you're applying), as part of the update, your bootloaders are updated and an eFuse in the CPU is blown, which is what your LDV is. The big one for us is the eFuse for the CB Bootloader. On a JTAG console, the CB is exploitable. However if you were to update a retail MS Dash higher than 7371, this CB Bootloader will be updated and the CB eFuse burned to prevent you from downgrading (a bit like locking the door after closing it). If you're into iPhones and Jailbreaking, it's like accepting an iOS update and your baseband being updated, stopping your iPhone from working with unlock software like redsn0w.

The control of the CB eFuse is from R6T3. If we stop the circuit by either removing R6T3 or bridging the points, the eFuse cannot be burned and we are always able to boot a CB version lower than what's installed (you would get an error during the update too). You could in fact downgrade right back to 1888 and it would still work. Once you cross that bridge and update past 7371 with this circuit closed, there's no going back.

I hope this answers your question!

 

[JawsMcPaws]

I think it does. Basically, because the update is not a higher version than what I already have, my bootloaders and efuses won't be affected. This means that the update will install fine.

If it was a higher version, THEN bridging the points wold cause an error (instead of blowing the efuse.)

I really appreciate that you took the time to help me. Thank you.

 

[Martin C]

I think it does. Basically, because the update is not a higher version than what I already have, my bootloaders and efuses won't be affected. This means that the update will install fine.

If it was a higher version, THEN bridging the points wold cause an error (instead of blowing the efuse.)

I really appreciate that you took the time to help me. Thank you.

Yeah - that's pretty much it.

There are two stages to the Update:

It looks first to check the kernel version against the update. If it matches or is lower than what's installed, it does nothing. If it's newer, it'll update the kernel (or try to), meaning updates to flash (which could mean CB and as you rightly say, with the eFuse protection you would get an error here - You'd just need to flash your JTAG NAND image back to restore.). It would then reboot to move on to the next stage.

It then goes on to check \$SystemUpdate on your Xbox HDD or MU. If the version on your HDD or MU is same or newer than the USB stick, it does nothing. If the files are not there or older, it updates them.