Morris Levy Amazing discovery! (06/25/06)

scribe too much b.s., buy a 10 dollar modchip :) flash it with a fake eeprom you found online, lock the harddrive, flash with original bios :), fixed! (06/25/06)

Sarge Very cool! (06/25/06)

Dirkus Oh yes, a chip would have been much, MUCH easier (and more fun), but I didn't have one laying around. I did happen to have an old busted speakerphone, a mint tin, a serial cable and some random hook-up wire handy though. *shrug* My living room/office is cool like that. (06/25/06)

Solidcube Damn, that's one rusty mint tin. VERY cool. I love the way you arranged the parts, it looks old-school. (06/26/06)

Izzikus Not Rusty, its reflecting something, it looks rusty because of the leftover powder off the mints....or blow? (06/26/06)

Dirkus It just looks rusty because of the leftover cocai... I mean mint residue and the orange cast of the incandescent-balanced flourescent light bulbs in the house reflecting off the ceiling. My white balance was set for the slightly bluish LED worklamp I was working under, so the orange cast was exaggerated. (06/26/06)

Stretch I'm curious, I love the project and the design and it's a very cool way of doing things, but what use is the lock code, as I was under the impression that the MB and HDD were paired and so the lock code would only work on that particular HDD? Were you able to lock another drive and get it working in the broken Xbox? I would love to know as I have the same problem with a friends xbox. Thanks for any info, and congratulations and much respect for a great build! (06/26/06)

Dirkus Yes, they are. The drives are locked with a key that is derived by the Xbox from the Xbox's serial number, the drive's serial number, and an extra bit of data from the EEPROM. Once you have the EEPROM, you can use a bootable Linux CD called "xboxhdm" to take ANY drive, and format it and lock it for use in an Xbox. If you're not modding the Xbox, you may as well use some old, small HDD since the most it will use by default is 8GB. Personally, I would strongly suggest a mod chip and a larger drive, so tht you can install some nice user-made apps like the UnleashX dashboard and the Xbox Media Center (XBMC). If you drop a chip in the Xbox, you can also copy your games to the HDD, so you no longer have to worry about scratching your valuable original DVDs. I've got 3 young kids, that's a SERIOUS concern for me! Good luck! (06/26/06)

George Welsh Do you have better plans for building yours? the one on the other link does not look as simple as yours. or could you build one for me and I could pay you for your time and labor? I have a xbox with failed harddrive and I am in this situation, would liek to revie it if I could... (06/26/06)

Dirkus Well, mine is actually completely based on the schematics on the how-to's page. I just didn't have a stripboad so I decided to free-form it. As far as building one goes, sorry, but no. This is actually a pretty simple project, and would be a good way for a beginner to learn the fine art of soldering. Give it a shot, it's really not hard at all! (06/26/06)

jose Gonzalez hello.... i tried making an exact copy of your cable and of the one on the llama ste.....idk if it works but everytime i connect it to the xbox its perfect... but as soon as i connect it to the comp the xbox starts shutting on and off and the ponyprog cant pick up the eeprom in time... do you have any syggestions of what might be wrong ...any help is gratly appreciated (06/28/06)

Foo I have the same issue when everything is connected the Xbox keeps shutting down and restarting itself.. so the resistors make a difference or we both mad the same mistake in manufacturing? (06/28/06)

seth so instead of the two 4K ohm resistors....you just swapped them both with 4.7...and it worked perfectly? i have all the components that i need to build this...i just want to make sure that im not wasting any money or time. thanks! (06/28/06)

seth so instead of the two 4K ohm resistors....you just swapped them both with 4.7...and it worked perfectly? i have all the components that i need to build this...i just want to make sure that im not wasting any money or time. thanks! (06/28/06)

Dirkus If your xbox is functional and you attach this device, it *MAY* reboot and frag while you are using it. This should be fine, as long as you have not made any ghastly errors in assembling this really simple circuit. Wait until the xbox reboots three times and frags with the "your xbox may need service" screen, then read the EEPROM. If your XBOX is just shutting OFF, not rebooting, then you have done something terribly wrong, and you are apt to really (*%^# something up if you continue. If this is the case, please re-check your wiring and components. In my case, I could not find 4K Ohm resistors or 5v (actually 5.1v) zener diodes. I used 4.7K Ohm resistors (Yellow/Purple/Red/Gold color code) and 4.7v zener diodes instead. Be sure you are using zener diodes, not just run of the mill plain old diodes. You may have to poke around a few electronics stores or order them online to find new ones, or check out any old broken electronics with power supplies in them to find zeners to recycle. Google for a zener diode identification chart to ensure you've got the right ones. The identification numbers usually look something like 1N(some numbers and maybe a letter). Mine are 1N750A, which google as being 4.7v .5w. (06/28/06)

foo I rebuilt the circuit and still the same thing.. I keep looking at the documentation & the only thing I can find is maybe I am not connecting the wire into the right places on the Xbox. I am putting them on the LPC last three pins 13,14,15? right or wrong? Got any pictures of that connection? (06/29/06)

(Anon) The how-to has great pictures of the contact points. If it's still not working, then there's something else wrong, beyond what you can do with this tool. (06/30/06)

foo Nope it finally worked just had to hit the read button at the exact millisecond between reboots and got it!! woohoo.. working Xbox saved me the 79 bucks M$ wanted (actually they didn't want it that bad they wouldn't give me any return info - just let the unit cool and try again.. then call again later and they'd give me shipping info ..were they suggesting I buy a new 360?)I the meantime I bought a used one for 99.. (06/30/06)

Tito Can this device be build with a USB cable? My computer does not have a serial port. (07/20/06)

Dirkus No, the how-to I am linking to over on llama.com specifically states that this does not work with a USB/RS232 dongle. Sorry! (07/21/06)

DesolataX I have a Xbox v1.6 that powers on, I just messed up on installing a softmod, put the files in the wrong directory, wont boot, just get error 14. So once I build this setup, all I need to do is put the 3 wires into the 3 holes on the LPC pad then read the EEPROM? (07/24/06)

Mecca Hey Dirk can you make one for me? I have a lot of xbox's that need fixing. (07/24/06)

ardy hey dirk, will 5.7v zeners work just as well? (08/02/06)

Dirkus Ardy: weeeellll...... the eeprom chip is rated from 3v to 5v, so there's the risk of over driving it and turning it into a Smoke Emitting Fryode. HOWEVER... the voltage coming out of standard RS232 serial port *should* be 5v. My take on this? Sure, go for it, but check the voltage between v+ and gnd on your PC's serial port before attempting it. If it's higher than 5v, you might want to hunt around some more! (08/02/06)

Drew Very Nice, But I am having some trouble with it, Can you get me some more pictures of the Resistors and all of those connections? Drewdodson@cox.net Thank you (08/03/06)

Rees a.k.a Box-Man Hey Dirkus, nice one for the additional info for the reader. Just wanted to know whether you were repairing a v1.6 xbox? I have a 1.6 and I think I know which 'legs' on the eeprom the wires connect to-just want to make sure the orientation is correct. Does anyone have any clearer pics than Llamma posted with how the 1.6 legs are numbered? Thanks for any help ; ) 'Cant believe I found this tut!-Ill get this baby fixed if its the last thing I do!!!' (08/16/06)

wayne made it with 4.7v Zeners and 4.7k resistors. I was soooooo scared ! Connected it, CAREFULLY - it worked ! Thanks for the advice - respect. (08/21/06)

JBKA Okay, I have build the eeprom rig, per your pictures and the tutorial from Unicron, and checked all of the connections twice. If I connect the wires to the LPC Pin header and turn the box on, it restarts twice before actually turning on for good, (The power ring flashes yellow. Then it eventually shuts off if I disconnect the wires.) But, if the wires are not connected then the box starts up fine and I can connect the wires to the device (but it flashed red and green after a while). At any rate, (no matter how the rig is connected) I cannot get the PonyProg2000 to read the box. The program just says that the device is not responding. Any suggestions?? -I am using 4.7 Ohm, .5 watt, 5% tolerance Resistors (Radio Shack code= 271-1124) and 5.1 Volt Zenzer diodes (Radio Shack code= 276-0565). The wire that I am using is less that 18 gauge. (I am not quite for sure what it is rated, but I know that it is less than 18 gauge.) The xbox can start under its own power, but flashed red and green possibly because I no longer have the dvd drive connected to the box, -the dvd drive is broken. I cannot connect the box to a tv because I do not have one handy while working on the computer, so I really don’t know what the actual flashing red and green message is. I have tried connecting the rig to the LPC Pin header and to the eeprom chip (but I haven’t soldered the wires directly to the board because I am not that skilled.) Thanks in advanced for any suggestions. -JBKA (08/30/06)

Guido The green/red light just indicates an error, it is "normal" in your situation. I'm having a similar problem. I checked my connections and everything many, many, many times, rebuilt the thing 3 times now but it isn't working for my either. My xbox' power supply works fine, it's only the harddisk that's broken. When I connect my wires and have my pc turned on, the fan of the xbox begins cooling like a mad man and the led on the xbox turns orange. If i keep my wires connected the xbox turns off, if I remove them the only way of turning the xbox off is to pull the power chord out of it. Ponyprog keeps saying "device error or bus bussy" (don't know precisely). I'm having this problem when I connect my wires to the eeprom, but also when i connect them to the lpc header. I use 3.9 K resistors, and tried both 5.1 and 4.7 zeners. But it didn't make any difference. Don't actually know what to do now. (09/01/06)

Pyrite Nicely done, I have also built this circuit. But before I hook it up to the XBOX, I was wondering if you have any pictures of how you hooked it up to the LPC pad on the XBOX. Can you email me them if you do? The holes on the LPC pad on mine are filled, so I just wanted something for reference, and neither your page or Llama's has any. Thanks! (09/19/06)

Mark My trusty Xbox HD finally died (CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!), but is readable for a few minutes after cold boot. I need this hack to get my EEPROM read. I am considering a mod chip but am lost in the technical procedures at the moment... I want to make a backup and I want to install a 250Gb drive. Please point me to some more helpful info! THANKS!! (10/20/06)

jjhoover75 I have a question about the DB9 hook up. On the one I have the numbers on the female end are labled exactly backwords to the plans. Do I wire it using those numbers or ignore them and wire it with the same orientation of the plans. I'm having a similar problem with as others. My xbox turns on and off 2 times then it stays on with orange and have to unplug to turn off. Pony says hardware problem. I'm using 3.9K and 5.1V (10/26/06)