Many of the discussions we see in the Newbie Chat are mostly on the same few subjects. This post will provide you information on where to search for the info you need, and at first it is important you do just that SEARCH** and READ.

You will find an exceptional overview document for firmware flashing of your X360 and doing backups in the Textbook Tutorial. All you need to start is in that document.

The pinned FAQ and Tutorial sections at the top of the advanced technical forums will answer most questions you have before even having to post in this Forum.

• Releases And Guides and at the FAQ, Links & Important Threads for firmware flashing in the Hacking/ Technical DVD-ROM Forum
  (also list the firmware currently recommended for each X360 drives)
• Backup Faq - Everything* You Need To Know in the Xbox360 Backup Forum
  (also includes info on the best tools such as burner, media, drive, ... to successfully make backups)
• Finding Pc Tools And Utilities For The X360 in the Software/PC Tools and Utilities
• The Xbox360 F.A.Q. Forum and the Xbox 360 FAQs And Topics Of Note for answers to most of your general questions on the Xbox360 Error Codes, Hardware, Games and Backwards Compatability, Multimedia, Audio/Video, Region Coding: Games And Consoles...

Finally too many newcomers have a short career at XS as they get banned in the first few posts, and simply because they do not read the Posting Rules & Guidelines. The rules are clear about no talk of piracy, Warez, downloaded games, downloaded ss files, fraud, not respecting Live Terms of Service, not to use backup on Live, question about ban on Live... read them.

Enjoy all XS has to offer,

rgds, soso


**Searching: You are responsible to do a reasonable effort of searching before posting. By respect to all who invest time in helping, plse read the following extracted from the rules and thks for your cooperation

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Backup and media stealth (DMI, PFI, Video partition, samsung SS) and how to check: After you extracted your image with XBCreator or Schtrom, you can check the stealth in the Schtrom/Tools tab and using the Acidflash stealth check. You can also use the Stealth check in XBcreator (if you get video questionable it is usually ok, but you can confirm with schtrom).

• At this point it only has value if you have a Samsung drive in your X360 (Hitachi hacked firmware does not support media stealth at this point)
• How to test a burned DVD (TUTORIAL): If some of the components are missing or in the event that you are unsure how you built that backup, we suggest to redo it from the original with a samsung drive(5.3 and before)**/Kreon drive.
• Using Wxripper and a hitachi drive: Not recommended anymore. It seems the SS extracted with Hitachi drive should not be used because easier to detect. For those who want to prepare for the day the Hitachi FW supports media stealth, you should till extract your backups with a Samsung**/Kreon Drive using XBCreator/Schtrom. You would then be able to do a "Complete backup" so no point in extracting separate pieces and merging.
  
  WHAT NOT TO ASK at XS
• How to extract an image from a backup: NO image extraction from a backup. We do not care what the cute reason is, we heard them all and it is no.
• How to merge additional stealth components in an existing image. Redo them from the originals.

Plse look at Tutorial On Making Backup With Xbc / Imgburn, (and about stealth verification) for more infomation.


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Tutorial on How To Flash/Update Samsung To Latest iXtreme firmware: Tutorial, iPrep or Xtreme Boot maker / Via card method, plse keep the questions in that thread. Note there are also instruction on XtremeBootMaker.

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Flashable (an Swapping) Drive

• As of December 22nd 2008 all drives are flashable . Plse see Releases, Tutorial And Guides, Xbox 360 DVD Firmware Hacks
  
• Replacing Your Drive
  -How To Replace By A Hitachi Drive, How To Flash & Spoof To A Different Model
  -How To Replace By A Samsung Drive, Also How To Spoof, Flash, and correct E66 Errors .
  
  

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There is no region hack as of now.: Flashed firmware or modchip only allow you to play backup for the same region as the original game. Before importing games you must therefore confirm that it is playable with your console region attribute. Some games are allowed in multiple regions and some are even region free. That information can usually be found at:egamia.com- Region Free Xbox_360 Games and www.play-asia.com. For games not identified to be playable in your region, the is no hack possbile at this point.


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Chips Vs. Flashed Drives: "The Official Thread" is where this entire debate is done. Keep discussions to that thread (new one will be merged).

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In order not to lose the info and have the same questions asked repeatedly plse keep all discussion about connectivity Kit in Connectivity Kit Questions, All Info/Question/Discussion Here

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Samsung ms-28 requires a Via chipset to be flashed using the bad flash method. Please do not ask us to search your motherboard for you; Google Your MB and the word specifications or chipset.

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The tray of the three current Drives you can find in a X360. The version can only be confirmed by opening your console, but you can use the Drive List to get an idea of the version you have.

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The only PC DVD-ROM models the can be used with Kreon FW to rip entire games (including SS, DMI, PFI,Video and game partitions) with XBCreator (or Schtrom) are: IDE = SH-D162C and TS-H352C; SATA =SH-D163A and TS-H353A.
And every letter in the designation is important (i.e. SH-D162A is not good)

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Yes since late 2008 you can rip to and play games from your X360 hardrive, but you still require the original to be in the tray for validation.

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rgds, soso