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

obcd007 · May 18, 2007

Hi,

it does make sense that the xbox starts fragging with the reader connected. The Eeprom uses the IIC protocol. This protocol uses 2 lines. The SCL (serial clock line) and SDA (serial data line). IIC is a bus. You can have several devices on the bus. To put data on the bus, devices pull the lines to gnd. If you connect the reader, it will initially pull the lines to gnd, so that no other device can put data on the bus. During startup, the PIC processor expects some information from the x86 core starting up. If it doesn't receive this information, it will shutdown and restart the power supply to force a reset that way. It will do that a couple off times and than give up. On a 1.0 and 1.1 xbox, it will give up with the power supply left on. (The blower is running) On a 1.6 xbox, it seems to turn off the power.

Your fragging xbox probably had a bad contact somewhere. When you opened it to connect the reader, the contact probably restored itself for a short period giving you the time to install the softmod. That is the smartest explanation I can think of for the moment.

I would like to improve the reader concept a bit. I noticed that the original hardware with the resistors and the zener diodes doesn't work on every pc.
I also was wondering why people wanted to connect another supply for the eeprom in the case of a fragging xbox. I already have my answer for the 1.6 xbox version. I am also wondering why 5V zener diodes are used. In my xboxes, the eeprom supply voltage is 3V3, and according to the spec's, the voltage on SCL and SDA should not exceed the supply voltage with more than 0.6V. The important thing is that the concept works and that it is a solution for even fragging mobo's to get the Eeprom information which is vital to unlock it's harddisk.

regards.

daspazz · May 18, 2007

obcd007 said:

Hi,

it does make sense that the xbox starts fragging with the reader connected. The Eeprom uses the IIC protocol. This protocol uses 2 lines. The SCL (serial clock line) and SDA (serial data line). IIC is a bus. You can have several devices on the bus. To put data on the bus, devices pull the lines to gnd. If you connect the reader, it will initially pull the lines to gnd, so that no other device can put data on the bus. During startup, the PIC processor expects some information from the x86 core starting up. If it doesn't receive this information, it will shutdown and restart the power supply to force a reset that way. It will do that a couple off times and than give up. On a 1.0 and 1.1 xbox, it will give up with the power supply left on. (The blower is running) On a 1.6 xbox, it seems to turn off the power.

Your fragging xbox probably had a bad contact somewhere. When you opened it to connect the reader, the contact probably restored itself for a short period giving you the time to install the softmod. That is the smartest explanation I can think of for the moment.

I would like to improve the reader concept a bit. I noticed that the original hardware with the resistors and the zener diodes doesn't work on every pc.
I also was wondering why people wanted to connect another supply for the eeprom in the case of a fragging xbox. I already have my answer for the 1.6 xbox version. I am also wondering why 5V zener diodes are used. In my xboxes, the eeprom supply voltage is 3V3, and according to the spec's, the voltage on SCL and SDA should not exceed the supply voltage with more than 0.6V. The important thing is that the concept works and that it is a solution for even fragging mobo's to get the Eeprom information which is vital to unlock it's harddisk.

regards.
Click to expand...

Wow thanks for the insite. GOOD STUFF! Your deep into it for a newbie! ;-)

teroenza · May 23, 2007

Thanks for this incredible idea! I will try it soon and report. Very smart people here!!!
-ter

1272allan · May 23, 2007

i managed to get my eeprom off so i thought i was home and dry
i got a replacement hd off ebay (10 gig) seagate
this is my new problem when i use a softmod image i get error 16 when i use ms dash x box it just continualy reboots can anyone shed some light on whats going on or point me to anouther forom with this problem ps awesome thread

Kronyk420 · May 24, 2007

I had the same problem with my msdash a while ago, but my softmod still booted fine for some reason. Confirm that your msdash files are complete, as an error 16 is a clock read error caused by missing dash files. If everything is there, try deleting all your caches. That would be E:/cache and the X, Y and Z directories. If you can't see your X, Y and Z drives just try deleting E:/cache first, it worked for me.
I don't fully understand all the technical reasons for why this works, but basically your freeing up memory the dashboard requires in order to boot. When you clone a hard drive, it copies the cache files as well. Those files seem to be 'printed' to a specific box, so the new box won't or can't delete them automatically and cannot use the space they are occupying. My box booted first try after doing this, I hope it helps your situation!

1272allan · May 24, 2007

got it and after i deleted thease files it booted first time i am running the original ms dash as i have had quite an outing trying to repair this one incedentaly can i run a softmoded on this box as it is a 1.6 ?
i did try before but all i got was error 16 so that was why i went back to the original ms dash
thanks everyone
allan

daspazz · May 24, 2007

You should be able to softmod any xbox.

But you milage may vary!

ledjohnny · May 24, 2007

Unicron1 said:

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

By UNICRON

First my story.....

Hi all, first I would like to say thanks to everyone who helped me with information and suggestions on the forums and to Llamma for the posting of this HOW TO guide. I hope it helps a lot of people who have had the same head ach I have about getting to the secret key to unlock the XBOX's Hard drive.

My problem started when I purchased an XBOX off EBay for a cheap price, I knew in advance it was broken but the promise of fixing it myself was to be a challenge, and boy was it! Not that I couldn't do it after all I do have a paper that says I know how to fix electronics, even if I can't spell very well

My package arrived and I tore into it, first thing taking the Xbox apart. Hum I thought didn't look like much, boy I thought it would be more like a computer motherboard, seeing how everyone says it's a computer basically. Well first thing I did was clean off the old paste on the CPU that cheap thermal paste, and replace it with high quality Arctic Silver paste. Then I checked the board out for any signs of burnt traces or other fixable problems and found none.

My next step was to check out the XBOX to see if she would power up. I plugged it in and with the push of the button it came on, with the flubber screen or whatever it is and booted up to a screen that said "XBOX LIVE UPDATE, Please do not turn off the power until update is finished." Great I thought I'll just plug it up to the network and let it do its thing, WOW this will be an easy fix. NOPE, it came up with a screen saying "XBOX LIVE cannot connect at this time Please try again later", so I click OK to go on, after all I don't need to update XBOX live I'm not going to be on it anyways.

I clicked OK and the screen went back to the XBOX LIVE UPDATER screen again, then it went to the cannot connect screen with the OK button. I click it and it just looped around again and again. Well I thought this is grim, So I called Micro... well you know who and they take four techs and 30 minutes to come up with the answer, throw it away and buy a XBOX 360!!! WHAT!!
That’s your solution!! So I read around on the forums and find out there is some nice software (homebrew) that can clean the hard drive and restore it to "new", so I am all up for that.

The problem I get though is all of them expect you to have Modded your XBOX or at least have the Hard Drive KEY (PASSWORD) to use them! Well I am in a pickle now seeing how I can't MOD the XBOX cause it won't boot a CD and only goes to that UPDATER screen. Man what to do. Then I find out the XBOX hard drive password is stored in an EEPROM on the board. That’s when the light went on! Hey if the EEPROM isn't locked and I can read the contents I can get the hard drive password from it myself. Then I find out that the password is encrypted. Crap I think... but wait! I find out that there is a program that will give me the Password if I have the EEPROM.BIN file, (the EEPROM.BIN file is just a dump of the contents of the EEPROM) - which is what I was going to do anyways so that brings me to building the EEPROM READER.

I built the reader and read the contents of my EEPROM in my XBOX and saved it as EEPROM.BIN, what else? Then I used the program I had found and made my first XBOX recover CD. After that I was able to easily unlock my hard drive, and use a file browser to look around on it and fix the corrupted files on the drive (apparently someone had installed a soft mod and then somehow screwed it up pretty good) but I was able to copy the original XBOX backup files to the C drive. Afterward I installed the drive back into the XBOX and powered it on and it came up all happy in the Micro... well Dash like a new XBOX!! THEN I found out the DVD drive didn't read...

So I borrowed my buddies XBOX that was modded and FTP into it and copied his C drive and some files off of E drive then REMAKE the XBOX restore CD and wiped my drive clean and restored it with HIS XBOX hard drive files and now I have a happily modded XBOX.... with a broken DVD drive but I am working on the laser fix, but that’s for another HOW TO.... so now that your all sleeping pretty good now I guess I get to the steps to build and fix your XBOX, and the software that I used.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO READ A XBOX EEPROM!!
(Without de soldering it)

First you will have to build this simple EEPROM reader. The Original device was much more complicated so I cut out all the stuff not needed by us for this project.
The original device and software that goes with it can be gotten at http://www.lancos.com/prog.html... stop in and say thanks for the program and device! You can also contact me for a link to a better built customized one.

Here is my easy to build design, it uses off the shelf parts from RADIO SHACK.
You need the following:
1 PAK (5v Zenor Diodes comes 2 to a pack). Catalog #: 276-565
>>>> 2 PAK(s) Four (4) K ohm resistors. Catalog #: 271-1321
>>>> (I had to make them using 1K resistors in series took 8 to make two 4K's)
or you can use
1 PAK 3.9K ohm Catalog #: 271-1123 (easier to use)
1 female 9 pin connector. Catalog #: 276-1428

Wire, I use the following for the jumpers from the EEPROM reader to the XBOX
Blue insulated wrapping wire (30 AWG) Catalog #. 278-503

Of course you need solder, solder iron (lo watt) so as NOT to burn off any traces!!

Here is mine....

Here are the plans to build it.

And now that you have it built you need to know what to do with it. First, make sure you XBOX is UNPLUGGED!!! I don’t want anyone to get FRIED or fry your XBOX!

Now there are two options, first if your XBOX is dead no power or it is a bad motherboard but you still want to use the drive or if you just want to copy the EEPROM to use on another XBOX then you will need to supply an EXTERNAL 3.3 Volts or 5 Volts to one of two places. Meaning choose one of the following the EEPROM or the LPC pads, shown below.

First you can connect your readers SCL and SDA and GND wires to the spots I list above or in the following pictures, and connect your power supply (3.3V or 5V) to pin 8 of the EEPROM or the spot listed on LPC picture above. (NOTICE: I DIDN’T use the LPC connections when I read mine but according to BUNNIE’S Book and my own observations it should be OK to use. – maybe better for those who aren’t good solders cause the pins on the EEPROM are VERY small!)

Take a look at the two following pictures, Mind you that if you’re XBOX DOES have power and works DO NOT ADD A EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY!!!!!!!!!!

Version 1.6 XBOX

No matter what XBOX you have the EEPROM is the same design Pins 1,2,3,4 will always be GND and 5,6,7,8 will be 5 = SDA, 6 = SCL, 7 = WDC (We don’t Care), 8 = 3.3V or 5V.

Now connect you reader to the points you have decided to use and then connect the reader to your computers serial port. (I am not sure if a USB to Serial port converter will work, I have a KEYSPAN it DOESN’T work, but my Laptop’s Serial port works great!)

After making your connections, wait to apply power, we need to setup the reader software next!!
I used a program called PONYPROG (http://www.lancos.com/prog.html) to read my EEPROM with, it is easy to use and well written and the original EEPROM reader was what I cut down to make our EEPROM reader for this project. Install Ponyprog on your computer, I got the old and new 2000 versions, I like the old but the new one is easier to use so I used it in the following examples. Setup is easy just do what the pictures I have say and you should have it installed and ready to read in about 5 Min.

SETUP…..

Now after that make sure to Calibrate!!!

Now you can apply power to your READER or XBOX, wait for an ERROR SCREEN to show up on the XBOX by disconnecting the Hard drive (on a working XBOX) if it’s one that has no power or broken then apply your EXTERNAL power now.

Now try to do a read…. The Icon on the far left looks like a chip with an arrow pointing to a paper.

If you read your EEPROM it should look like this picture, notice that on the PURPLE TEXT line 4 down a bunch of numbers 449836153119 (These aren’t real #’s!), this should be YOUR XBOX serial number on the bottom of your XBOX!!! If you had a GOOD read. If not try again and check ALL connections and power.

Now SAVEAS your file and save it as EEPROM.BIN - MUST be this name.
Now disconnect external power- or turn off XBOX and UNPLUG. Disconnect all wires from XBOX LPC port or EEPROM. Make SURE you know where you saved the EEPROM.BIN file to before you exit Ponyprog program.

Now you can look at your XBOX HDD password with LIVEINFO BETA 3, Search Google just put it in the same folder as your EEPROM.BIN file and run it and click Load EEPROM and it should load up your EEPROM.BIN and give you’re a screen like this…

RIGHT there! In the box that says Unique HDD Key is your Password to the Hard Drive.
Thanks goes out to Yoshihiro and group for this great Program. But WAIT! We aren’t totally done yet.

Now you have your Key/Password what to do with it?? Well now I am going to give you a Quick walk thru of how to make a Backup and Restore CD for working on your Xbox in the future when you want to wipe it clean and start all over again! (Some times we just have to wipe our drives because we put so much junk on them that we need to just clean it all out and start over again, and I’ll show you how!!!)

SO YOU WANT TO MAKE A BACKUP/RESTORE CD HUH?

OK Here’s the

HOW TO MAKE A BACKUP/RESTORE CDROM FOR YOUR XBOX

Now that you have your precious XBOX HDD KEY what are you really going to do with it??
You may want to do some of the following things with it and I will show you the easy way to do them! Read on Modders!

1. Unlock you HDD
2. Soft MOD your XBOX
3. Be able to make a backup of your HDD NOW even if it is modded incase…… (Yeah better do this one folks!)
4. Just poke around and see what all the fuss is about.

I really can’t say how important it is to make a backup of your XBOX hard drive and software. Your sitting there Modding the crap out of your XBOX when all of a sudden XBOX LIVE pops up and wants to download an update, yeah really you did read my story at the top right? Next thing you know your XBOX is stuck in update limbo and you’re screwed! Man o man if only I had listened to UNICRON’S how to guide I’d be like ok mother …! I got your update right here! Pop that CD in and in a few minutes your back up and running.

Really, would I write all this just to jerk you around??? And what’s so cool is how easy it is to do!!

First off if your XBOX was NEVER modded to begin with you’re going to be hurting…. I’m sorry but even with access to the HDD it’s not easy to mod it, as far as I know at THIS time. So what do you need to do? If you have a buddy who HAS modded his/her XBOX that’s a great starting place for us….

Your buddies XBOX…. Wow, your buddy has modded his/her XBOX and you want to do it too.
Start by FTP into his/her XBOX, I used a great program called WEBDRIVE on my XP system, it lets you set up ANY FTP site or HTTP site or other computer as a NETWORK drive on YOUR computer!!! It works GREAT with the XBOX, I just click on it as if it was X Drive on my system and open up whatever drive I want and copy software to the XBOX easy!!! It has a 30 day trail and then you have to buy it but hey, It’s a lot easier than using FTP software and you don’t even think about it NOT being a Drive on your computer cause it works so great! (PS. Send advertising check to UNICRON at P.O. box 556…….) LOL

So anyways, FTP into your buddies XBOX, go to C drive and copy the entire C drive contents (all files and folders) to your computer, copy it to a folder called XBOX-Cdrive. Now jump into the Xbox E drive. I used Evox Mod so this is what I did, others will be different so you will have to figure out what you need to get here, but for Evox here is what you need off of E drive.
On Xbox E drive copy the following folders with ALL files in them.

1. TDATA
2. UDATA
3. DASHBOARD
4. BIOSLD

Copy these folders to your computer in a folder called XBOX-Edrive
Now that is done you can move onto the next step in creating a Backup/Restore CD.

Now you need to download and unzip a program/ file called Xboxhdm_V1.9 this is an easy to use LINUX that has cool easy to use tools for working on your XBOX HDD. After it is unzipped you need to copy the contents (all files and folders) from the folder you made XBOX-Cdrive to a folder in Xboxhdm_V1.9/linux/C folder the C folder.

Now copy folders you copied to the folder you made called XBOX-Edrive (the 4 folders) to
Xboxhdm_V1.9/linux/E folder the E folder.

(NOTE!!!: You can PRE-INSTALL software in the GAMES & Apps Folders by making them in the E drive folder and then installing your software in them, like XBMC put in Apps/XBMC folder and so on, and if your making a DVD backup CD you can put tons of games and apps on the restore CD!!)

Now you need to copy your EEPROM.BIN file you made with the reader for YOUR XBOX to the Xboxhdm_V1.9/linux/EEPROM folder.

Now were cooking!! We now have everything to make a BACKUP/RESTORE CD-ROM Disc!!
(Notice – for you who can FTP into your OWN XBOX I would copy the C drive and E drive files I listed above to make your own BACKUP/RESTORE CD-ROM Disc, just copy the EEPROM.BIN file from your XBOX E drive Located in the DASHBOARD – BACKUP folder names of course EEPROM.BIN!!)

Now change to the main folder of Xboxhdm_V1.9 - you will see a file called MAKE-ISO-WIN. Bat
This file will create a bootable CD-ROM that we can use to work on our XBOX!
Run this file, afterward a file called LINUX.ISO will appear in this folder. Now using your favorite burning software (mine is NERO) load it up and burn you a DISC.
Now for the fun part!!

WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS DISC??

You got the Disc with your XBOX BACKUP and HDD KEY/PASSWORD on it. You’re ready to go! Now turn off your computer. Now unhook all drives except your CD-ROM/DVD drive you need this!!!

Now hook up your XBOX HDD. It needs to have some jumper changed first, look at the back of the drive, see the jumper between the power connector and IDE cable?
Here’s a picture for you who don’t follow….

Notice the 6 pins between the Power connector on the right and the IDE connector on the left.

Here is a HDD jumper block. Place it on the 2 pins CLOSEST to the IDE Connector to set it as MASTER. See picture below.

Note also that THIS is not how all hard drives are set up with the jumper block. Most hard drives use the MASTER then SLAVE then CABLE SELECT or view CABLE SELECT when no jumpers are present!! Confusing, but when in doubt VIEW the HDD label for a diagram or go to the manufactures web site for the correct jumper settings. The above is just how the XBOX HDD is setup and as far as I know the CABLE SELECT maybe a slave setting when used in a normal computer, but this is what we are going with for now.

Now after setting the XBOX HDD to MASTER connect it to the Primary Master IDE cable and make sure your CD ROM is on it’s own IDE cable and set as MASTER.

After that is all done, now boot your computer but hit DEL at boot up to get into BIOS screen, or F1 on some systems, get into the bios and set it to boot sequence CD-ROM - HDD- Floppy whatever as long as CDROM is first boot device.

Now SAVE setup, exit the BIOS so it reboots.

Now make sure the XBOXHDMV_1.9 Disc is in the CD-ROM drive, I will refer to it as the LINUX CD. You may need to reboot do a CNTL-ALT-DEL to reboot after putting the CD in.

The LINUX CD will boot up you'll see a bunch of stuff wait for the menu options.
Pick option 3 (boot LINUX with locking/unlock)
after that boots and your at a command prompt type

Unlock –a (hit enter)

this will unlock your XBOX hard drive using the EEPROM.BIN file you copied to the folder before burning the CD. It should say DONE and show the status of your hard drive now if that worked type.

Reboot (hit enter)

the computer reboots; now after that you will be at the LINUX menu again select option (1). Then after some stuff you'll be at the command prompt type this.

XBOXHDM (hit enter -this brings up the main menu)

Select option 1, this will Rebuild your hard drive back to “Original” state but with the mod already installed!
It will Format the XBOX HDD then after that you'll be back at the main menu, select option 8 to quit this program. Now type

Reboot (hit enter)

After rebooting the computer select option 3 (boot LINUX with locking/unlocking)
When it gets to a command prompt type
Lock -a (hit enter)

this will lock your HDD so the XBOX won’t freak out!
At the command prompt type

Shutdown (hit enter)

Unhook you XBOX HDD - CHANGE the jumper to the CABLE SELECT position on the XBOX drive and plug it up to your XBOX (AC POWER UNPLUGGED!!!!!)
make sure all cables are hooked up, plug in AC power to XBOX and Bam! The XBOX should boot up like a happy camper!!!

You can then use that disc to make NEW HDD for your XBOX or a buddies (as long as you have HIS EEPROM.BIN file burned to the disc)
you can leave the C and E folder with the software in them the only file you need to change before burning your buddies is his EEPROM.BIN file in the right place.
(Only one EEPROM.BIN file can be in the EPROM folder on the CD)

Well I hope this helps out a lot of people out there! It was a testing time and I worked hard gathering all the info up in one place so if anyone benefits from this feel free to PM me and let me know it helped!

I’d like to thank my proof readers Janrocks (hugs) and G-man (What up) for helping out!!

UNICRON
That which does not serve me shall become a part of me.
Click to expand...

ledjohnny · May 24, 2007

Unicron 1:is there an altenitiv soulotion to soldering on to the xbox eeprom can a get an adapter or hook the wire to the eeprom without any thing holding the wire on.

Kronyk420 · May 24, 2007

@ 1272allan

I have three modded 1.6 boxes, so it can be done, but doesn't work with all exploits. When looking for a softmod package, make sure it is a UXE exploit. These newer exploits don't require a reversion to an older kernel, which the 1.6 boxes are not capable of, so they should work fine. I hear everyone recommending Krayzie's Ndure exploit, but I've had success with SID Installer 3.1.

teroenza · May 24, 2007

Just a few questions before I do anything permanent. I have a version 1.6 box that powers fine and thus will need no external power supply. I should be able to use the 2 (13,14) LPC holes shown in the picture minus the red(pwr)? Then ground the green to the metal on the chassis or screw?

I am confused because this would save me trying to solder tiny eeprom contacts. The other thing is because I don't understand the picture directly above the bold text 'Version 1.6 XBOX". It looks like you have to "jumper" between the eeprom, LPC holes, and some other tiny holes. Thank you for your help
-ter

Kronyk420 · May 25, 2007

Solder or clip the SLC and SDA lines to the LPC holes, ground the reader to the Xbox, and everything should work fine as long as the Xbox power supply is working. DO NOT CONNECT THE 5v POWER WIRE IF USING XBOX POWER SUPPLY. I'm not an engineer, but I'm pretty sure that would fry your chip. (If it doesn't fry it, it sure can't be good)

The LPC holes are definitely an easier choice for the soldering, just make sure everything has solid contact and no shorts before you power on........

1272allan · May 25, 2007

i just poked the wire in and stuck a neadle in to hold
the wire one of my wire was evan lose and it did not matter
i have a 1.6 box
good luck
when my system was fragging i had the 2 wires mixed up (but i did not get the earth wrong though )
i did not fry my system and mine is up and running now i am planing a softmod though
best of luck

ledjohnny · May 26, 2007

The lpc header is confusing where are the numbers for xbox v1.6.I know that i need to connect to pins 13 14 but i dont want to fry my xbox to its death.so can someone explain it a little more.

1272allan · May 26, 2007

if you look at the x box mainbboard it has the pin numbers next to the corrisponding lpc hole

ledjohnny · May 26, 2007

Hello everybody my xbox frags when ever i connect the reader and i am not able to read the eeprom using the lpc header.is this normal on a v1.6 xbox.i have read that some people have the same problem but they are able to read theres.

1272allan · May 26, 2007

try switching the two wires around (i had mine the wrong way )
soon as i switched then i got a read first time (i have a 1.6 box two)

ledjohnny · May 26, 2007

I will try.Cross your fingers.

ledjohnny · May 27, 2007

Are there any settings in particular that i need to know for pony program.

1272allan · May 27, 2007

not realy just calabrate it
then on the comand tab just read all
go for it
ps im in the uk in wales

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