For anybody who cares (or doesn't, for that matter), About a month ago I finally found a SATA card in a town near me (I visited many around me and couldn't find one). IT wasn't a via 6421a that is required for Xbox 360 flashing but I thought I might as well try it. It then turned out that the drive I had (Hitachi) needed to be put in mode b but this card was unable to do that. So I traded my Xbox with a friend and tried to flash, but then I found out that card just didn't work. So I returned it and a couple of weeks later bought _another_ card from the SAME place ($40 Canadian) and that didn't work either. So I decided that I will return it in a week. Well a week later I had eventually purchased a via 6421a SATA card from SATA and went to the return the old one but I had long since lost the receipt so now I was out $40 with a SATA card I can't use. I then went to flash my Xbox 360. I had tried it many times before so that was nothing new, except this time it WORKED as the output from mtkflash indicated it was flashing, and when I had tried to read a disc I got an error but that was okay as I flashed it with the wrong firmware and the wrong drive key (no problem I can fix that as I backed up the original firmware). After I backed up the original I decided just to test a game to make sure it works, I already knew it would but better safe than sorry. When I started the Xbox up It got the 3 lights of death (error code 0102 = GPU memory problems). This had happened once before but it only came on ONCE and never happened again. But then it came on permanently! I was THAT close to having my drive modded. I must note that the 3 lights have NOTHING to do with my flashing (in case you aren't knowledgeable of Xbox 360 flashing) I had already burned a game and wanted to test it out. To make things worse, I called Microsoft after having heard that you can send in your system even if you've opened it. But apparently, as being told by the agent, my console had "been reported (set off flags maybe?) for being "tampered with". I'm not exactly sure what he said as Microsoft's support SUCKS and their people are often hard to understand (There should at least be a MODERATE level of English proficiency required!). This console was already banned from live, which I traded knowing that as I never used Live so it wasn't a problem. I'm thinking the fact Microsoft blacklisted it was because either 1) the previous previous owner tried to send it in for repair after failing to mod it, but they found out it was opened or 2) (I hope this isn't it) the console was perhaps already modded and the guy played on Xbox live and got banned (hence why the agent said he 'set off flags'). I never tested my burned game before attempting to mod it. I already tried to fix the console myself but no luck so I've just sold it online for $50 and will buy an original Xbox with that. One of my friends have had his since they first came out and plays it OFTEN but never had any problems with it so I hope they're more reliable. I know when I get working this summer, I'M BUYING A PS3.
Buying a used item from someone who previously modded their system or partially modded it and then got banned. Then trying to mod it after getting 3 red lights once before...... I took the loss with my first xbox from modding. Now I happily play new games that I buy at pawn shops for half price, on my non modded system. I could have bought 15 near new second hand games for the amount I spent on original system and modding. Something for you to keep in mind the next time you want to mod a system.
I had a samsung drive die while I was reading the firmware.. it will seem to flash properly but when you dump again there is nothing there.
