Games

Forums » Games » New Xbox 360 Teardown: Guts Compared to Original 360!
ONLINE

New Xbox 360 Teardown: Guts Compared to Original 360!

Topic started by AHR on June 23, 2010. Last post by thewonderwaffle 1 year, 1 month ago.
Post by AHR (318 posts) See mini bio
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Dude (100 posts) See mini bio
Awesome, been waiting for this.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Kinjiro (25 posts) See mini bio
Good timing. I just finished reassembling my PS3. Reflowed it to repair YLOD.
Edited 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Vincent (19 posts) See mini bio
What do you do when you put it back together? Is it just an office Xbox at that point? Or was it yours and you'll continue to play it?
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by MassiveDuck (28 posts) See mini bio
sweet, i was curious to know how different the hardware is from a traditional xbox
Edited 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by JackiJinx (36 posts) See mini bio
Online Now
God job, sir!
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Werebadger (4 posts) See mini bio
Online Now

With standard SATA connections on the HDD will upgrading not constitute paying out the butt for a drive?  Looks like the housing may just be some weird snap-on, or sonically welded, enclosure.  Chance for third parties to sell the enclosure? 
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Dude (100 posts) See mini bio
@Werebadger:  Same was with the Original 360 HDD, it's just a 2.5" HDD. There's actually one 120GB WD drive that you could switch it out with that worked just fine (believe you had to do some firmware changes or something to the drive) but none others work. I assume the same is the case here unfortunately.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by CharlesAlanRatliff (53 posts) See mini bio
Nice work!
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Waffles13 (106 posts) See mini bio
@Dude said:

" @Werebadger:  Same was with the Original 360 HDD, it's just a 2.5" HDD. There's actually one 120GB WD drive that you could switch it out with that worked just fine (believe you had to do some firmware changes or something to the drive) but none others work. I assume the same is the case here unfortunately. "

Actually, that's been DRASTICALLY improved. The older hacked software ONLY worked with that single WD drive, but I'm currently rocking a 250 gig drive in my launch 360 and I have 2 other spare laptop drives that work.
 
That said, I'd REALLY like a video on here of how to take apart the HDD enclosure, and possibly even showing how to get all the crazy Xbox firmware onto the drive for those who haven't tried it. My one hope is that they release a 360 Slim with a small 20-60GB drive so I can pull my 250GB drive out of my current 360, trade it in and buy the Slim on the cheap.
 
EDIT: Actually, I'm sure the enclosures themselves will be on Ebay soon anyway, so if they release an Arcade Slim with no HDD an upgrade would still be possible.
Edited 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Dude (100 posts) See mini bio
@Waffles13:  Is that using JTAG or what? I know some crazy things can be achieved with that, although it's going way off topic. Also, any sort of firmware changing etc. would be too dodgy for Tested to run, so no chance of that I don't think.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Waffles13 (106 posts) See mini bio
@Dude: Just Google HDDHACKR or hddss250 and you'll get roughly a million results. I got mine working the super-ghetto way; I unplugged all my SATA drives on my desktop, plugged in the 250GB drive, then booted off of a USB stick using the HDDHACKR "OS" that changes the firmware on the drive.
 
From there you just get some Torx screwdrivers, open up the HDD casing on the 360, slap it in and format it through the 360 OS. Then voila.
Cost me $70 including the screwdrivers, plus Amazon screwed up so I got an extra 120GB drive for free.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by will (1,259 posts) See mini bio
Staff
@Dude: Actually, we'd do it. I'm just worried that Microsoft will ban consoles for people they catch hacking the hard drive. I'd feel really and truly awful if someone followed one of our how-tos and they lost their console as a result.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by MEBs (17 posts) See mini bio
Yikes. Looks like it will be impossible to tell if it's been tampered with when someone trades it in at certain retail stores since the warranty seal is well hidden.  
 
Regardless, nice job!  
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Zaph (181 posts) See mini bio
I would love to see Tested try to install a SSD into a 360. I wonder if there would be a noticeable improvement with installed games?
 
@Dude: Can you even JTAG new consoles? I thought it was only limited to the very few who haven't updated their dash in the last 12 months?
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Dude (100 posts) See mini bio
@Zaph:  That would be interesting seeing a SSD in there, or even a 7200RPM HDD which I imagine would be more likely to work.
 
And nope, JTAG doesn't work on never consoles, has to have firmware prior to June 09 I believe, don't know the exact date. The reason I asked is that he mentioned it was his release 360 and thus I thought that may be the case.
 
@Will: Fair enough, I don't know too much about the 360 HDD hacks but assumed they work similar to flashing the DVD drive.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Waffles13 (106 posts) See mini bio
@will said:
" @Dude: Actually, we'd do it. I'm just worried that Microsoft will ban consoles for people they catch hacking the hard drive. I'd feel really and truly awful if someone followed one of our how-tos and they lost their console as a result. "
It seems that the general consensus on the internet is that no one has been banned for switching hard drives because there's no way for them to tell unless you add custom content. All that the firmware hack dues is add all of the 360 information to the drive, then you actually put it in the console to fully format it. I've been rocking a 250GB in a 1st run 20GB 360 Pro for almost a year and no sign of either system failure or Live ban.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by Zaph (181 posts) See mini bio
@Dude:  Ahh fair enough, I just re-read your post.
 
After a quick google, am I right in thinking these HDD 'hacks' effectively clone the firmware from legit drives? If that's the case then there is no chance of a SSD working as it would require MS to first release an official SSD to give the hackers a place to start.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by ISmoochyI (8 posts) See mini bio
that was pretty badass. i had a big phew when i saw it worked again after being taken apart. good job guys!
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
Post by sora_thekey (57 posts) See mini bio
You have a screw loose! :P
Did it take longer to put together than take apart?
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
help  |  terms and conditions  |  privacy  |  advertise  |  rss