HOW to read your XBOX's EEPROM and GET the HDD KEY WITHOUT removing the chip Or Modding the XBOX

yes or get some pogo pins

 

Ok, as i said I want to provide a better walk through to help other noobs accomplish this tutorial. You don't need to give up on your broken xbox!!! I think being a noob myself will really demonstrate how any one really can do this. I'll eventually make a new thread for the completed tutorial. It will be even more detailed and dumb down if you can believe that! However I need the help of the people on this forum to walk me through the rest of the process.

As of now I'm stuck at a certain part i need help with, I'll get to that in a sec.

1) Acquire all the parts from radio shack as mentioned.
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp113/darthbarker/eeprom reader/DSCN2019.jpg

2) Find an old USB chord you can tear apart. Don't guy buy a new one!! One of the easiest solutions is to head down to your local 2nd hand thrift store. They usually have old computer parts you can pick up for cheap. Most won't charge more than a $1 dollar for USB wire.
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp113/darthbarker/eeprom reader/DSCN2024.jpg

3) Cut off the ends and strip the 4 colored wires out. There should be white, black, red, and green.
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp113/darthbarker/eeprom reader/DSCN2025.jpg

4) Now, we'll make our 9 position d-sub connector. It will fit into the back of your computer's male end that looks like this: (the 9 pinned one)
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp113/darthbarker/eeprom reader/DSCN2041.jpg

(ok so now you can see how the rest of the tutorial will go)
However now i need help making the D sub connector. It has 'crimp type connectors' so i'm guessing you peel back the plastic on the USB wire exposing the real wire. Now how far do you slide in the metal of the usb wire into the crimp? Do you go all the way to the end of the gold tip or do you go half way where the silver and gold come together? Also how do you attach the crimp to the actual d-sub connector? solder? And finally how do you secure the wire to the crimp? Solder as well or just use pliers to crimp it? --refer to this picture--
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp113/darthbarker/eeprom reader/DSCN2048.jpg

Ok so to most people reading this might think *wow* this is really obvious and isn't it straight forward? But to a noob the more information and detail provided the less number of countless questions on the same subject. I believe this will improve the community.

-I don't care about the credit or use of my pictures, so if you want to edit them, use on other forums, web sites, etc. feel free

-knowledge is power-

 

As far as d-connector I would recommend using a solder cup type connector. But since you already have a crimp type, you stab the wire all the way in an crimp, hope you got the expensive crimp tool for those type of pins. I see you used a usb cable, I used cat5 (ethernet) cable. I like the cat5 better because it is solid conductors. Good luck.

 

Well this is the only crimper i have:

http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2001/263/h263rcvrkit_dg.jpeg

It seems like using pliers would do the trick though wouldn't it? Just smash the end together real good and the wire shouldn't come out.

If this is a bad idea let me know cause I haven't done it yet.

 

I would like to inform you that you can buy a reader off ebay for a few quid and is guaranteed to work.
this reader is so simple but good will get your eeprom guaranteed.
If you choose this route please let me know and I will guide you through it.

 

I'm starting a new thread about this since i feel it is buried way to far here.

 

Hi, after reading your tutorial tho I never built the eeprom reader i bought one, but after a succesful read of the eeprom my xbox now restarts 3 times and beeps and whines and the led's flash green and red. I read several tutorials and in one it said you earth the screw above the chip and also just clip it to the metal casing. I think I may have wiped the bios chip during trying to get a read, is this the reason why the xbox starts 3 times and the screen is just black? Or have i missed adding the bios file on the cd as I'm at a loss to know why this is happening, but I bet I've fragged it. If anyone can answer this I would be most grateful, thanks.

cp69

 

sorry dude i actually never got mine to work you'll have to ask someone else.

Did you read it with batteries and not the xbox's power?
I think thats what i need to do but don't know how...

 

just READ the guide carefully.. it's ALL explained... everything.. over and over and over again. Connect 2 aa batteries to the points marked +v and gnd in the diagram.

It isn't possible to wipe the bios by reading the eeprom... dunno where you got that idea from. The box will often frag with the reader connected.. component tolerances. You will not be able to get a read with the box fragging.. because the psu is jumping around. You can take the eeprom off the board.. read it or even flash another with the same info you dumped if you read between the lines of the guide.. It's not a n00bs guide.. some comprehension skills are needed.

I don't know why this guide never got stickied.. when there must be 20 duplicate softmod and copying games guides stickied... the vagaries of afterdawn.. wonder whose bits you have to suck to get a guide as good as this stickied?.. anybody fancy doing some brown nosing ..

 

I'm not seeing the battery explanation in the tut anywhere...

 

This thread isn't noob proof, this is abit complicated. But it isn't hard to understand at all, and if u read a little u would of found some info. I think this thread should be sticked too.

And like 3 pages from the end.

 

Thanks for replying guys, much appreciated. I only had main power as I didn't think I needed batteries as board wasn't dead. Thanks for putting up the diagram which really helps if I have a dead board at some stage...I just need to get my board working if indeed it's not actually dead, if anyone else happens to read and this my previous post while I'm searching these forums please let me know, cheers.

cp69

 

I should say I meant the board isn't dead in the sense that it doesn't work it does, it just won't boot up etc.

 

it's easiest to read the eeprom using the battery method. So just disconnect your power supply from the board and read the eeprom using this method. It should work the very first time you try to read it.

 

I tried on my pc with blutac the first time but no joy, thinking it was the pc, the port or whatever not working as it said not responding. Tried on my laptop but this time I held the pins in place and got a read, but during this time reading other tutorials which I should have avoided as it said to clip the ground wire to the screw above the chip near to where you put the pins, but it always slipped, this was getting a charge as I noticed arcing or small sparks. Obviously you learn when you make mistakes, so now, it doesn't boot properly. I did everything round the wrong way. I should have attached pins, ground wire, then the serial port then clicked to get a read, but I couldn't using blutac. I just didn't set the pins and blutac up right. After reading elsewhere I think I've damaged the chip, as I can't see any bad traces on the board. Could I add a modchip on the board and just fix it that way?


cp69

 

Either a modchip or a new board will fix your problems. Sometimes you can get a board from the net pretty cheap.

Either way good luck

 

Cheers, thanks alot, I've been looking around wandering what to do, thanks for your help guys..

cp69

 

ok this might be another stupid question, but am i supposed to connect all the colored lines in the picture? the purple, yellow, blue etc. AND connect SDA and SCL + batteries to read the eeprom?

tried it just connecting SDA and ACL to pin 5 and 6 and the batteries to pin 4 as it says in the picture, but i got a Bus error from ponyprog...

thanx

 

Hi - I have a XBOX v1.1 .. i'm not sure, due to the picture with D0 is labled with 1.6, but do i have to solder these points at my 1.1 too or is it just the 3 points nesr LPC-DEBUG?

If it is, does anyone know why my XB starts with an orange flashing ring if the circuit is connected to the mobo?

 

Mine was orange too and it reads it sucessfully. U connect it to the chip or points on the LPG debug.