Before anything I'd like to thank Grim187 from our XS Forums. With that being said enjoy the tutorial!

First off I'll start by saying what you need for this to work.

VIA VT6421L IDE & Serial ATA RAID PCI Controller Card (I have heard of VT6421A's to work but this is what I'm using so this is what I have to recommend!)

Xbox 360 System (OPEN) and Xbox 360 Power supply.

A Computer with either a BOOTABLE USB Memory stick or a BOOTABLE floppy disk (I DON'T RECOMMEND USING A FLOPPY). My bootable partition was FAT32 and it was booting to Windows ME DOS Prompt

On the BOOTABLE floppy/USB drive you must put Xtrem42b.bin, X360SAM.exe and an edited MTKFLASH.EXE & MTKFLASH.TYP which can be found (here)



Now that I got the items out of the way you need to boot to BIOS and DISABLE every single IDE/SATA Device you have (This is the easy way and bypass's the need to enter the computer with your hands and start pulling out IDE and SATA cables)

Now that you have the bios stuff disabled I'd like you to shut off the PC completely. Bring the Xbox 360 over to the PC and plug it into a AC outlet so it can get power. I'd like you now to unplug the SATA connector on the Samsung DVD Drive in the 360 leaving the Power connector plugged in. Plug a SATA Cable into the 2nd SATA Connector on the PCI Card (the connector furthest from the back of the computer) long enough to reach the 360 Samsung Drive. DO NOT PLUG IN THE PCI CARD SATA TO THE XBOX SATA....YET

Boot the Computer to the Floppy/USB drive. When your presented with A:\ type "mtkflash r /m orig.bin" (without the quotes of course) DO NOT HIT ENTER!!!

I want you now to Plug in the SATA Connector from the PCI Card into the 360 Samsung Drive.

Remove the RF Cover so you can tap the small power button to turn on the 360....Turn it on.

Here is the IMPORTANT PART your 360 doesn't have the AV Cable plugged in so its flashing red...thats fine but you MUST REMEMBER that there is a 3 second timeout in which you CANT hit the power button to shut off the system cause its got lag. You must WAIT at least 5 seconds before you proceed after turning on the 360.

Now that you waited your 5 second timeout period I want you to go ahead and hit enter on the keyboard. I want you to take NOTICE that it says detecting drives for a second and then proceeds. If you did so you should see it freeze while trying to find the drive in the 360...this is NORMAL since this is just a TEST. Hit ESC on the keyboard and you should get a Status 51 Should be 80. If you got this error we are okay to proceed

I'd like you to again type "mtkflash r /m orig.bin" but this time which you see it say detecting drives shut off the 360 EXACTLY at that MOMENT! It should now be frozen where it was before but this time your 360 is off.

Heres the kicker! Turn the 360 back on and it will start to read the MS28.

Now that we have that out of the way we will now type "x360sam orig.bin xtrem42b.bin hacked.bin" (Duh...with out the quotes)

It will proceed to create a hacked.bin BIOS image. Now you will shut the PC and Xbox 360 off and Remove the SATA Connector from the 360 drive. Repeate the steps above again up until the part where you type "mtkflash r /m orig.bin" this time your going to type "mtkflash w /m hacked.bin" and do the same thing as before...shutting the 360 off right as its detecting the Samsung and turning it on after.

If all is done well you should have a Nicely hacked MS28 Drive with the newest (to date) Xtreme Firmware.

P.S - I'd also like to add that my finger once twitched and right when it started to flash I accidently shut the xbox off...woops to me! I turned the xbox 360 back on and typed the command again and it proceeded to flash the drive with out doing anything out of the ordinary.


Sidenote: This will not work with the Xecuter Connect Kit (You will always get Status 80 Should be 70)

I DO NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IF THIS IN ANY WAY SCREWS UP OR BRICKS YOUR SAMSUNG DRIVE. THOUGH IT SHOULD NOT...STUPID STUFF SOMETIMES HAPPENS AND I WILL NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THAT!

wow thanks!
my buddy has a ms28 and I took a look at the pcb and saw the small resistor for the vcc trick, no way jose!

I thought you wanted a card without raid?
Here is a link to the card!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16815124023

Doesnt matter which card you get but this one I know for a fact works perfect with MS25's and 28's

I have one of these cards on the way to me.
Should be in by Friday.

Am I correct that with this card & VIA chipset I "Don't" have to worry about removing the resistor and performaning the VCC trick...?

This is my first attempt at flashing a 28 drive.
I had a 25 until the fall update bricked my console.

I was told that my chipset (Nforce4) would not work even if I tried the VCC trick. Any truth to this...?
Just wondering.

In my tutorial you do NOT need to remove the VCC Resistor.

hey i did a bad flash recovery on my ms28 ..... USING A FLOPPY ........was real simple thanks to textbook
the reason i used it is cuz........my computer cant boot froma usb......cant upgrade the bois.......nfts4dos.....wont work........lol........then went with the infamous floppy........crossed my fingers........gave my xbox its last rights........and den i worked......thank goddd



if any one needs help with an ms 28......im me.....aim yunggunna85

Hey, Where can i find a SYBA SY-VIA-150R PCI SATA or ANY Via Pci card in London Ontario Canada? or even in Ontario? i'm having Real troubles with this

Bad-flash recovery method just seems a whole hell of a lot easier instead of relying on perfect timings. With bad-flash, it works every time, and I can use anywhere from 1 second to 15 seconds, timing doesn't even matter. Also, you should use Boke's patch so it 'lists' the drive instead of trying to dump automatically.

I agree with Textbook the Bad flash recovery method is piss easy.

This is pretty much all I needed to know. This is why I went and ordered the 6421 SATA card in the first place. My card should be arriving tomorrow and I have read all kinds of posts on this board for how "easy" it is to do. I will post back my results when I get my MS28 drive flashed.

I do have a technical question. Why is the VIA chipset so special to the MS28 drive..? It talks to the drive even though the resistor remains on the board..? I'm thinking that any SATA board should be able to talk to a drive but I guess I have a lot to learn about how flashing works.

Thanks again for the resistor advice.

http://tekgems.com/Products/tg-et-18412-ccd-sy-via-150r.htm

ive orderd from there

Just a quick question...

I've read the ms28 firmware using the USB Boot and mtkflash r /m orig.bin method. My file size of the orig.bin is 1024kb is that right? I did it 3 more times to be sure and all 3 times the file size was the same. I say this only because when I try using x360sam.exe it gives me an error message that it must be 256k?

- Thanks in advance

P.S. Where is a good place to get the files (I'm currently using the newsgroups)

your dumping another ide device not the 360 drive.

Could this method be used to upgrade a M25 flashed with XTREM4.x without having to use the 0800 disc ?

I gather you would be able to but I'm not sure...never tryed it.

Ok my question is this method is just timing? when starting the xbox while running mtkflash cause i have flashed a 25 many a times and i have a feeling i am going to come across MS28 hopefully when i use this
tut I have success

hey i had this same exact SATA card and i have a ms25 and i tried everything to my knowledge for my computer to dectect it in dos and had no luck so i returned my card...now after reading this tutorial im guessing it will work now?

couple questions...my bios on my computer "sony viao" is crap can i just unplug all the IDE cables instead of disabling them in bios?

this tutorial will work the same with the MS25 samsung?

Yep ive reflashed my ms25 from 4.0a to 4.1a & again to 4.2a using the bad flash recovery(10 second) method.
In fact ive never even burned the 0800 disc.

I use the Xecuter connection kit, i just unplug it when i get the list of ports, hit my selection count to 10ish then plug it back in.
Works everytime & i dont have to setup the 360 beside my PC where i have very limited room.
May see about getting a molex extender with a built in on/off switch for extra safety.

Slim

If you pull the connectors out it should work just the same.

Cheers for that.

I'm at 4.1A at the moment with no problems. Thinking about upgrading but might wait to see if anything new comes along in the way of firmware.


Thanks.

By disabling all IDE devices, does that include the hard drive? Because when I use a floppy for MTKFlash it just seems to freeze. If I disable my CDRW, and use MTKFlash it doesn't detect anything, so I'm hoping this method will work. There's more details of my problem here in case you wanted to know.

Nice Guide, thanks
Mine is flashed with Xtreme 4.2A, great stuff.

I just flashed by DVD MS28 with Xtreme 4.2A using a VIA 2641A PCI CARD ($10 from Ebay)
I used Xtreme bootmaker and SAM360 like in the guide
1) First disconnect everything IDE and SATA from your PC
2) Connect XBOXDVD drive to the SATA1 (PRIMARY), on the PCI CARD thats connector on the side of the PCI, it is facing the front of the PC.
3) Power on PC and boot using Floppy / USB Disk made for Xtreme bootmaker
4) Power on XBOX360
5) Type 'SAMREAD XXXXXXX XXXXX' (where x is your serial number) and press 'ENTER'
6) A menu appears, Select the channel of the XBOX and power off XBOX360
7) Awaiting 10 sec
8) Power on XBOX360
9) Read firmware its loops 3-4 times before the process completes
10) Poweroff for XBOX
11) Type 'SAMHACK XXXXXXX XXXXX' (where x is your serial number) and press 'ENTER' repeat steps 6
- 10

It have tried for many guides and different combination of SATA controllers. Only this has work for me.

I was glad to see a new technique posted here, and I tried it today. Didn't work for me at all. At the bit where you say you should get a status 51, I get a status 00. Tried 5 times starting from a complete disconnected powered down state, and every single time I get status 00.

The SATA card I have has the Via 6421L chipset, I bought it from that iwin2win site linked in the sticky thread here. It says "Creative I/O" on the box, but the back of the box lists it as SY-VIA-150 so I'm fairly certain it is the exact same card you're using.

My drive started out as an MS-25, a bad flash of 4.2a bricked it. Could that be why I do not get a status 51?

Could be.

You still have to inject the key into the firmware right? Then put that firmware on the drive.

Not really that X360SAM program does it for you. Its included in the tutorial

The command line x360sam orig.bin xtrem42b.bin hacked.bin

Is that putting the key into the firmware?

Then you restart and flash it?

yes

Can I use this tutorial using my ASUS KV8 Pro motherboard

VIA K8T800 Pro/ VT8237 chipset

and do I follow the tutorial exactly the same..?

Thanks in advance

Happy dude here... Method works...

Gear: A8N-E mobo, VIA SATA PCI card, MS28 Sammy
- SATA PCI card (Conceptronics) using SATA connector IN your PC.
- IDE DVD drive attached to SATA IDE port

- Make the bootstick using Xtreme Bootmaker using alternative MTKFLASH (autodetect) and other checkmarks checked
- Reboot: disable all IDE and SATA stuff (I left my devices attached), even LAN and ALL USB-stuff, just PS2 keyboard
- PC on: Boot from flash
- XB on: with SATA not connected in drive, and Video cable plugged into xb
- when XB fully started: put SATA cable in
- @command prompt: samread big ass (parameters are directory names... )
- shows you some options FIRST TURN XB OFF
- enter option #
- wait 10 mississippis
- turn on xb
- 4me: did not write HACKED.BIN so I did it myself using ORIG.BIN which was in my big ass directory
- go 'x360sam.exe orig.bin xtreme.bin hacked.bin' and put the file in the big ass directory
- reboot: so xb off, cable detached, pc on, when booted, xb on, when fully on, SATA cable in
- enter samhack.exe big ass
- wait at option 'menu'
- turn off xb
- enter option #
- calculate 1825328 * 2838268
- turn on xb (xb flashes: 4 banks total: wait until says REBOOT PC)

Go have fun... have a beer...

Top stuff, got my Via VT6421L SATA PCI card for $25AUS (MSY had ton's of them) yesterday and rigged it all up and flashed my MS28 drive without any problems at all. Big ups to all for ur help, i've read so much on this topic I was dreading doing it but now i'm confident that i'll be doing it again soon when Xtreme 5 comes out...

would be most grateful is someone would kindly help me out with my question posted above...

I really don't want to mess up my drive.

Once again thanks in advance

I just flashed my first ms28 by following this procedure... everything went perfect!

Thanks!

This really needs to be pinned.

Am i the only one that cant get this to work.. Its really making me mad.. I have no idea what im doing wrong. I have the VIA VT6421A card and used the Xtreme boot maker thing to make a floppy because my computer wont boot off usb right.. I have an Asus SK8V mobo.
Everything disconnected and no luck. I have the VCC trick all set up and i think that is my first problem so i connected the wires togeather the whole time while trying to do it this way.
All i get if i do it is one option for Xtreme SATA or something like that.. Then it just freezes at the A0 screen and if i hit ESC it says like error 00 should be 70. If i leave the xbox on the whole time it says that it cant determin the flash type... Any ideas...

For the sata card to work.. you do not need the vcc trick ( I may be wrong on this but I don't think so)..
so I am guessing that did not work so you did the vcc trick by removing the resistor and using the wires connected in its place...?

I have not done the via card way because I used the vcc method.

so I will assume you have the vcc wires still there...
if you installed your card...uninstall it. You may even have to reinstall your on board sata afterwards (I thought I read people having issues going back to on board sata from trying a sata card first .. again this may be wrong)

Anyway using the vcc method.. make sure you have good contact first with those wires...
use a multimeter to determine connectivity. If you do this correctly then on to the next thing...

What on board sata chipset do you have.?

I am going to assume either NFORCE or ICH

If it is NFORCE you HAVE to have a modified MTKFLASH to work with that chipset... if you do not have this you will continue to get errors ...

If you have ICH try this..
LINK TO VCC TRICK WITH ICH ON MS28 DRIVES

I posted this some time ago... using ICH chipsets are all about the timing! I even have people that use NFORCE state they use this post and it worked for them.
The timing is down to 1.5 -2.2 seconds... it is that critical and will take alot of tries to succeed. But ONCE you get it the first time you will realize the timing and probably do it easier the next time.

Let us know how it goes. Sorry if this has been told to you before.. just read your post.

Have you tried the other way first? The bad-flash recovery method or "ten-second method" as some people call it? I really don't see why anybody would rely on this method as it focuses more on getting the perfect timing, when I've used the bad flash method on about 20 drives with no problem. No offense, but this is really just another method that does the same thing as the bad-flash, just a little more difficult to do. I've done about 20 drives with my VIA and have never had to do anything like this. If anything needs to be pinned, it's the thread that xboxto started, which explains how to do flash via the VCC method, and later posts, by using the bad-flash method.

Well i tried the Bad flash method from what iv seen posted and it doesnt do anything. It just sits there at the A0 screen and goes nowhere after i turn teh xbox back on and if i press ESC it gives me the error i said in my first post.
My onboard SATA is really screwey, to tell you the truth i dont even know if any SATA onboard or on the card works at all. Nothing shows up in the bios but the card wont work in my main computer which is teh ASUS A8N-Sli delux mobo, it just wont post at all... Really weird and i havent gotten the onboard way to work as i am kinda lost when it comes to the custom MTKflash thing with the whole 7byte differance part... LOL
Im about ready to give up and go back to the normal xbox, becasue i know my way around those things...

Anyone have a link where I can grab the recommended SATA card driver? I got the same one everyone has, but I don't have a driver disk. Can someone help, I'm on my 2nd 360 returned the first one due to being a hitachi drive ! *wanted a samsung* got a samsung ! but found out its ms28!!

Hey markland556, I had the same problem same setup as you. Same Via card. It had two ports on internally (PCI side) and externally. The external one wont work for me, only the internal.


Drive was a MS28, no need for the VCC trick.....

Here's what i did.

(1) Unplug the IDE CDROMS from the motherboard,
(2) Plug in 360 to pc (both off!)
(3) power on 360
(4) power on pc, boot extreme disc
(5) when you get the choice menu STOP
(6) switch off xbox
(7) press extreme choice on PC
(8) count to 10 slowly
(9) switch on xbox and she should start to read the bios

Read the guides carefully I was at it for 4 hours before I got it to work the card I had was a 4261A. Boot disk made with extreme boot maker. By the looks of it the 4261L uses the rear connector where the 4261A uses the internal connector.

Hope this helps.

Ok, another question to add to the pile of the MS28 brou-ha-ha...

I have an MSI K8N Neo motherboard with the nVidia nForce3 SATA chipset. I have edited my mtkflash using the following info...

So the DeviceID info used is DE10 EE00 and I/O info is E009 6009, correct? Well, I can't boot from USB on this bad boy, so it's floppy time! I have my edited mtkflash.exe and mtkflash.typ on the floppy, boot 'er up with 360 powered on, and run "mtkflash r /sata orig.bin". It gives me a list with 2 choices:
1. NV nForce3 Pri Master
2. NV nForce3 Pri Slave
I power off the 360, hit 1 to choose Pri Master (that's where it's connected), count to 10 and power the 360 on. It does nothing but sit there. I've tried hooking it up to the second SATA and choosing option 2, disconnecting all IDE drives from the mobo, connecting only a BenQ DVD-RW to the primary IDE as slave, nothing makes any difference. Does this mean I'm stuck either buying a VIA VT6421 or doing the VCC switch (which I can't find pics of anyways, so I don't know how to do it)? Please let me know if anyone has had any luck with the nForce3 SATA.

PS. When I boot the PC with the 360 connected and powered, the BIOS does see the Sammy and lists it in the connected devices list at POST, if that is important.

My dad ordered me this one http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-2-X-SATA-150-1-X-U...1QQcmdZViewItem
and it will work because it has the VIA VT6421L chipset. Correct?

Yep sure will, mine had same chipset VT6421L and it worked like a dream... no soldering required on the DVD drive at all

I used this video tutorial to flash the drive, very easy to follow from start to finish..

http://www.360mods.net/News/article/sid=63.html

Cheers

I hope everything is cool and it flashes good

my biggest concern is that i did the VCC trick wiring already so now what do i do? Keep the wires connected or apart?
Also it doesnt seem to matter if i even have the SATA cable hooked up it still shows the Xtreme pri master drive.. so is it even finding it?

http://www.viaarena.com/Driver/via_raid_v530c.zip

@markland, I would seriously just invest in the VIA card. I've flashed probably around 20 MS28's using a VIA chipset with no problems. I've never had to do the VCC trick, and I'm glad it's staying that way.

I have the Via card.. LOL, i thought i said that in my first post.. haha