Anyone heard about the new XBox mod (with no chip)?

[Kirby]

Apparently you can mod the Xbox by bridging two points with one wire, then simply just flash the Xbox with a new BIOS.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/30262.html

[Saurian]

ROFLMAO!11

[Concept]

Microsoft's just gonna love that news...

[Burai]

According to those in the know: It really does work but only when run in conjunction with Linux.

http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/007-flash-tsop-no-memcard.php

[Saurian]

The most hilarious thing about it that there is NO WAY they are going to totally revise the Xbox hardware now. So I take it all you need to do is bridge the point, attach a connector to your PC? and re-flash the BIOS.

[Concept]

Perhaps this'll mean you won't quite have to be the butcher anymore and get your hands dirty as much on her guts.

[John Beaulieu]

http://www.xemulation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2915#2915

Warning - if you use the following tutorial and you break your xbox then don't coming running to us

Ok, I?ve never written a tutorial of any kind in my life? so if this is posted anywhere, you can edit it (to a point ? keep the main writing.. but adding photo?s, etc are fine by me, just give me a lil credit) And with that said .. I?ll start...

This tutorial will explain how to go about mounting your Xbox HD?s game save partition under Linux on a PC, in order to get habibi_xbox?s 007:Agent Under Fire game save along with raincoat and your bios of choice onto the Xbox?s HD, eliminating the need for a Mega-X-Key!

What you?ll need:

Xbox
PC running Linux (distro of choice)
Linux kernel 2.4.20 source ( http://www.kernel.org )
?Kernel? folder from xbox-linux?s CVS ( http://xbox-linux.sf.net)
007: Agent Under Fire retail DVD
Soldering Iron + Solder (and torx screw drivers)

*Warning... i installed a fresh copy of Slackware Linux on an old PC just to do this, following this tutorial can cripple your linux system if you don't revert back to your old kernel... or compile a new one... unless you know what your doing*

1st things 1st! Now you must open up your Xbox *which I don?t think I need to explain how to do*, take out the motherboard, and solder the 2x2 jumpers (one?s on top, ones on the bottom of the mobo) pictures: http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/tsop.php . Now put everything back together, but leave the case top off, and keep the Xbox near your pc!

Now, download the Linux 2.4.20 kernel source from http://www.kernel.org *look in the archives!*, move the tar.gz or tar.bz2 file to /usr/src and extract. This should leave you with a folder named ?linux-2.4.20?. Next, get the ?Kernel? folder from the Xbox-Linux team?s CVS *sourceforge tells you how to get on their CVS server... just user kernel as the module name*. After doing so, move the contents of the ?kernel? folder to the ?linux-2.4.20? folder.

Go into the linux-2.4.20 folder and read the README.xbox file! Follow it?s instructions to the point right before compiling the kernel! Next, run ?make xconfig? or ?make menuconfig? in console while in the folder. Configure the kernel as you normally would *I assume you have some knowledge about Linux*, remove USB support, and turn off all Xbox specific functions? Make sure to leave FatX support in though! When done, run *without quotes* ?make dep ; make modules ; make bzImage ; make modules ; make modules_install ; make install? This will automatically do everything needed. Next, shutdown, and use the Xbox HD swap trick to unlock your Xbox?s HD and connect it to your PC (Turn on your pc, wait for it to boot RIGHT BEFORE it gets to your Linux boot loader screen press the Pause / Break button. Turn on Xbox, wait for it to boot to the dash, unplug IDE cable from Xbox, connect an IDE cable from your PC into the Xbox?s HD and press any key. Your pc should boot as normal, into Linux? except now it see?s your Xbox?s HD!

*NOW, BACK UP YOUR XBOX HD! MAKE AN IMAGE FILE OF THE HD!!! I don?t know the command do to so under linux, but I used HDD Driver under windows to do it ? but seriously, if something goes wrong here, you can be left with a bunk HD if you don?t have a backup!*

Now, make a new folder in /mnt (I used /mnt/xbox myself). Now, look in the /dev folder, you should see ?hda50 hda51 hda52 hda53, etc...? *it may not be hda, it could be hdb, hdc, or hdd?*. After seeing what block device it is, type this command into console?
mount ?t fatx /dev/hda50 /mnt/xbox? ? if it works, you will see no error message. Go into the folder in which you mounted the partition to, and guess what! You should see TDATA and UDATA folders!

Now, if you want to move the 007 save game over to the HD (I assume you already have the files you need? I downloaded ?007savewithraincoat.zip? from my local Xbox software ftp server ? I suggest you do the same...), and just move the 4541000d folder into UDATA! Shutdown, unplug Xbox HD from the PC, plug it back into the Xbox (make sure your Xbox is networked to your pc, and your pc?s local network IP is in the 192.168.0.* range).

Put in the 007 game into the DVD drive, let it load. Now, just go to the Load Game menu, select Xbox Hard Disk... then the screen should go black, and you may even here some music *this is xbox-linux live running on your un-modded xbox!!!!* Now, I know how excited you must be right now, but there?s more!

Now, RUN over to your pc, and go to http:// 192.168.0.64 ? now you?ll see a webpage... which is being delivered by your Xbox =p. So, now you can telnet to 192.168.0.64, then type ?cd ../../media/E/UDATA/4541000d/000000000000/raincoat?.. Once here, type: ?./raincoat -p bios.bin? *both without quotes!*. Guess what, you just flashed your Xbox?s TSOP with the evox bios... your xbox now is modded, without ever using a mod-chip or even a memory card =) *If you are like me, once you have EvoX installed, you would re-flash your xbox to your bios of choice* Now your done? Have fun!

Credits:

Habbi_xbox (without you, this would not be possible!)
Koitsu (for packaging the save with raincoat in such an easy fashion)
Xbox-Linux Team (for all your hard work, Xbox Linux, and the FatX driver =p)

--pSyCo

Source - xEmulation.com

[Saurian]

Tell you what tho man - it isnt that different to what you do anyway. All you do is attach a connector to the motherboard and plug the modchip in. The only thing which people may find tricky with the current mod is de-soldering the LPC points (I have a savage De-solder tool which does it in seconds )