A second thread, to get the man cave rolling. My friend recently gave me a Xenon JTAG with the typical SMC wiring done. Except, it doesn't have the diodes. Not sure if that's fatal. Also, it's missing a DVD reader. I dumped the nand over Xell Reloaded's LAN feature, which worked spectacularly (my props to the developer) and I copy and pasted the CPU key, so I am sure it is good. I then went into Easy Freeboot (once again, my props to SneakyPeanut and the Freeboot team) and tried to make a udpflash.bin. I used the following settings: 13599 dash, Xell Reloaded, No DVD Drive, Stock SMC, Check with 360 flash tool, autodetect SMC. It created my file, and all is well until I put it into root on a usb flash drive and attempt to boot it with Xell Reloaded... It gives me a segmentation fault. Never seen that outside of gcc. So I thought: maybe he had a bad nand on there prior. So I tried it again, this time with donor files: 13599, Xell Reloaded, No DVD Drive, Stock SMC, Use donor files, Check with 360 flash tool, autodetect SMC, donor file region: USA. I put it in my console, same thing. I have no clue what I'm doing wrong. 360 flash tool may be trying to tell me it's the KV: It says that for both the donor nand and my nand. What am I doing wrong? Can anyone here give some advice on what they would do/have done in a tricky situation like this? Thanks mates.
The diodes are crucial for getting the exploit to work, i'm actually surprised something wasn't blown while writing to the nand! I have jtaged many consoles ranging from xenon to jasper (RGH's) and i'm more then glad to help you out, PM me if you would like to reach me quicker! Edit: fixed in my latest post.
Fixed. This thing had diodes under the insulation, turn out. It was just a bad Xell Reloaded flash. I installed a USB SPI nand flasher and used some donor files to get the console working again. Only problem is the CPU was running around 100 degrees Celsius. After opening up the box and removing the XClamp I found there was almost no thermal compound directly above the CPU. I'm waiting on isopropyl alcohol now. How much thermal paste is too much? Should 1 mm of thermal paste do?
For the thermal paste you just need enough to spread on cpu and gpu,about the size of a grain of rice. Also I would add a fan to the gpu to keep things nice and cool.
I applied about that much, and worked like a charm. CPU down to 76 degrees, pretty normal for a Xenon, I suppose, and 47.6 for the GPU. Thanks, mates. Also, the thing only had one damn fan running, the GPU motor must've ran out. So I swapped the fan with another Xbox's, it's got the 12v fan mod. I don't know if I've got room for another fan in there with the SPI flasher. I have it on a pelican fan stand. Anything else I might use to lower the temperature?
Those wires have nothing to do with reading or writing the nand. So if you are surprised, you don't know how it works.
i keep my GPU and CPU to a low 35-40C range with both the 100% fan speed xex mod and MANY fans i have added. lots of cooling has been put into my jtags xD
Sorry that was late a night, let me rephrase that, the ability to run the exploit isn't possible without the diodes, reading/writting to the nand is fine without them, as a retail unit can be read and written to. but obviously the exploit will not work without the wires/diodes. which is why i am suprised his console didn't boot up to a red ring error. but he clearly stated he did indeed find the diodes. does that correct my error? i own 3 jtags and have done them all my self, not to sound rude, but i do indeed know very much of what i'm talking about.
Being able to follow an installation guide doesnt require any understanding of how the hack works. Not saying you dont know what you are talking about, but your arguments as to why you do, does not prove anything and the hack does work without diodes btw, the original method was resistors after all. I get the feeling you are talking about if that wiring was missing completely - which yes, would obviously not work. But the original post said it was wired up, just without diodes. Not that the whole wiring was missing. (although that later turn out to not be the case anyway). But point is, you said the console would blow up while writing the nand without the diodes - which is not correct and is what I was correcting.
Thanks for the clarification. I am really interested in the process of research and development that the modding scene, mainly free60, has used to develop their exploits, from King Kong, to JTAG, to RGH (not sure if that was them), as I pursue my computer science degree. Is free60.org down for everyone? If so, why'd they shut it down? Know of any caches of the site? Also, I have another question, and here isn't a bad place to ask. This JTAG came without a serial number sticker on the shell, and I do not have the original casing for this console. Where's the serial number kept programmatically? I assume somewhere in the nand. Know of any tools to pull it off? I ask because I am trying to reformat this hard drive.
Its also on a sticker on the 360 chassis where the front USB ports are, push your usb door open to reveal. Unless some sod has taken that too!
