Hitachi V79fl Not Responsive Options

[Stuck Throttle]

Ok here goes.

1. I hooked my DVD drive up to my CK3 kit and motherboard. My chipset is an Nforce. I have flashed V79s before, but never with a CK3 kit. I put the Hitachi into mode B.

2. When I went to run the 79 unlock cd, JungleFlasher froze. I left it for a while just to be safe. My computer restarted on its own (blue screen memory dump).

3. When I restarted my computer and JungleFlasher, my drive was recognized, but unresponsive. Using the eject button on the CK3 kit or using an Xbox eject button does nothing. the drive is unresponsive.

4. I had the same problem with a LiteOn and my CK3 kit, but was able to fix it with DosFlash and my Dvd key. With the LiteOn I had made it as far as pulling the Dvd key before it froze.

I have been researching what to do for days. posted on two other forums, but no success. I can't read the firmware from the Hitachi because I cannot get passed the unlock stage. The drive does not try to spin up or respond at all. Windows and slax both recognize it, and I can put it into mode B with Slax, but that is it. I also made sure that the ModeB button on the CK3 kit was depressed so as not to interfere with JungleFlasher. Each time I try 79Unlock in jungleFlasher, it hangs for a few minutes and then returns a failed attempt error. So my question is:

Is my only option now to desolder the Tsop and send it off to be read or get a Passkey? I think i have another Hitachi V79 laying around. Maybe I could desolder the TSOP and slap it on the other and try to read it that way? I would like to avoid soldering, but I think I have tried everything. I never got to the Firmware read stage so I am hoping the original firmware is still there and not corrupted. Thank you in advance.

This post has been edited by Stuck Throttle: Jan 11 2011, 12:17 AM

[smuddge37]

when you try 79unlock do you have the drive ejected?
make sure the tray is open when you run the command. when i have tried it with the tray closed my system freezes up also.

keep it ejected read drive and you should be fine.

[Stuck Throttle]

I'm pretty sure I have done that. I'll manually eject it and try again though.

[Ranger72]

Does the drive still work in the console?

For future reference you should use a VIA SATA card without drivers installed.

[Stuck Throttle]

No, the dvd drive does not respond whether it is in the console or plugged into the computer. I thought about using a VIA Card, but I have flashed every dvd drive version (except a LiteOn 93450) with no problems. Just kind of figured I would never need one until I bought the CK3 kit. Again I am pretty sure it wasn't the CK3 kit that caused the problem, but my setup has never produced any freezes or bad flashes until now. I might break down and get a VIA Card.

I tried flashing the Hitachi with the drive tray manually ejected and still nothing.

[smuddge37]

does the audio file play before you run the 79unlock?
if it does this is recoverable. if not then you likely have a brick.

[Stuck Throttle]

Nope. Nothing. Drive does nothing. No ejecting, no spinning up ... ... .. nothing lol. I can get it to show in BIOS, slax, and Windows JungleFlasher. Just can't get it to actually do anything since I cannot unlock it. I am going to keep trying/researching. At least until I get bold enough to desolder the chip and find someone with a reprogrammer.

[Ranger72]

Nope. Nothing. Drive does nothing. No ejecting, no spinning up ... ... .. nothing lol. I can get it to show in BIOS, slax, and Windows JungleFlasher. Just can't get it to actually do anything since I cannot unlock it. I am going to keep trying/researching. At least until I get bold enough to desolder the chip and find someone with a reprogrammer.

Sounds like your only option now.

Back in the day I had to use my programmer on an almost daily basis to recover customers drive keys from people who killed their drive trying to install the pass key that used to be needed to extract the hitachi 79. Since then it has been collecting dust. Now that people are messing with their Hitachi's again maybe it is a good thing I kept it.

[Stuck Throttle]

Haha how much would you charge? I live in Alaska bra, and everything here is much more expensive than lower 48.

[Ranger72]

Haha how much would you charge? I live in Alaska bra, and everything here is much more expensive than lower 48.

Well since the circuit board is likely toast all I would need is that. I can dump the firmware and email you the firmware and drive key that you can use to flash a replacement drive.

There is a list of some other modders HERE. Not sure if you can find one closer to you with a programmer but may be worth a shot.

[Stuck Throttle]

Thanks Ranger. I'll check it out. Time is not my concern. I have two broken xboxes. Two different problems. One is of course this hitachi that I need the key from, and one is an Xbox that came with the wrong dvd drive so the keys don't match. The dashboard seems old enough to Jtag. I'll look for someone who can do both. Again thanks for the help bro.

Edit: BTW, what is your charge to do both?

This post has been edited by Stuck Throttle: Jan 12 2011, 11:42 PM

[Ranger72]

Thanks Ranger. I'll check it out. Time is not my concern. I have two broken xboxes. Two different problems. One is of course this hitachi that I need the key from, and one is an Xbox that came with the wrong dvd drive so the keys don't match. The dashboard seems old enough to Jtag. I'll look for someone who can do both. Again thanks for the help bro.

Edit: BTW, what is your charge to do both?

You can get JTAG info HERE and flash info HERE.

The key recovery would be the same as flash.