Hi,

I hve installed the maximus 79 passkey to a Hitachi rom version 79FL drive, using the 9 wire install.

The blue led lights up when powering up as expected (modeB) and i boot into windows XP, where my drive is detected.

I start up FW toolbox and with a game rom in the drive (also detected in windows) and 20 seconds later, choose the raw dump utility.

The blue led on the passkey then starts to flash -- 2 seconds on and 2 seconds off, 2 seconds on and so on, constantly, then about a minute later i get the message from toolbox - "cannot read from drive".

The drive functions pefectly with no problems.

Im using the xecuter connectivity kit, first version to power the drive.

Can anyone tell my why i am always getting this error and what i am doing wrong?

thanks

Why don't you get power from 360 itself? it might be the reason

Thanks, ill give that a go.

I'm also using the newlink (ali chipset) sata card, could this cause the problem?

I have used this card to flash older Hitachi's and T-S drives sucessfully in the past but this is the first time using firmware toolbox.

Well according to tutorial you need to use xbox power for 78 and 79 drives also if you used the wires with my install even after good flash wouldnt play an copies until I took the passkey out. I hope this helps I did mine 2 days ago and went 1-2-3 with the 4.0 version

@Carlitosbaby:

Did you actually have to remove the passkey to get your backups to work?
I got my successfully flashed but none of my backup seems to boot.
I might give it a try.

Thanks for the help and responses, Guy's.

I used my 360 to power the drive this time as suggested and found the green xbox power light flashing as expect along with the two pushes to close the drive etc.. (mobeb symtoms).

Insert an original game and windows detects the disk and i close the autorun pop up and start FM toolbox and try to raw dump the firmware again but unfortunately i get exactly the same response and error reported back from FW toolboxn -- "cannot read from drive".

Is this now my Newlink sata card?

Thanks!

Have you tried soldering a link on "J1" which is supposed to disable the passkey?

I honestly didnt try the j1 as that was not clear what you need to solder there are 4 points which I couldnt figure out what to do with(solder all 4 together? instructions arent clear) and yes after removing it all copies worked fine. I soldered mine using wires as its a million times easier than you the adapter.


hmmm not sure what the problem is are you running tool from C or from desktop I had a few problems running it from desktop other than that im stumped ive done over 15 78 drives and never had this problem and about 5 79 drives.

I had the same problem. Blue led on the PCB on startup, using Connectivity kit. PCB is wired using the flat cable.

The fix for me was to boot the Slax Linux CD and make sure it stops at the mode b thanks to Kev message. Reboot the pc and then you should be ok.

I know the passkey is supposed to put the drive in mode b but only seems to partially do so on my Elite 79FL drive. Try it, you've got nothing to lose.

neildo.

I found that i had to power cycle the xbox a few times before the green xbox power light would flash and the drive show the modeb symtoms.

Are you suppose to boot slax in the xbox drive or the pc drive?

If it is the xbox, then i have a problem as the newlink sata card will only boot a hard drive on the cards spare ide port.

I take it you guys who have sucessfully done this, use the via sata cards?


@Carlitosbaby

You just solder the two top pads next to J1, i did this last night to check the drive was still ok for normal use in the xbox and it worked fine.

Tried root C: and desktop but no success there either.

Maybe i need to get a via card?

Thanks.

The Slax gets booted in the PC drive, so that Linux starts on your PC. My motherboard has VIA8327 Sata onboard so had no problems detecting the 79FL drive.

Thanks, i'll try that, though i would have thought the drive is in modeb or i would not have got as far as i have.

I"ll let you know how i get on using slax.

No, but I've been thinking about trying that first instead of removing the passkey which takes more time.
I'll let you know how it turns out.

As for putting the drive into modeB, I always use the power on with tray open method. It's quicker and works for me all the time. I've also tried with slaxcd with no problem but prefer otherwise.

I just tried bridging the J1/TST pads and it still wouldn't boot my backups. I then desoldered all wires connected to the passkey but still leave them connected to the TSOP...tried out a few backups and they work. Many thanks to Carlitosbaby for the tips.

neomod, I also had a similar problem getting the "cannot read from drive" message, but not the steady on/off blue light. What I noticed was that I only get it when the drive is spinning. My way around it was to do the "Raw Dump Firmware as". For some reasons, this will spin the drive down and I was able to do the normal flashing procedures. I know you mentioned you get the error msg when you do the raw dump, but did you hear your drive spin down at all?

Tried both firmware read options with the same result and i didn't notice the drive spin down at all.

Going to burn a slax cd and try that now, be back hopefully with some success!

Tried the slax way and still cannot read from drive.

The drive only spins down when i select classic read but immediately gives the "cannot read from drive" error.

Don't know if the power on with tray open method to put in modeB would help in your case cuz that was what I used to do mine. Did you try to do the raw dump after the classic dump? (now that the drive spins down). Don't know why you're getting the on/off flashing blue light. You might wanna double check your connections. I did a continuity test from the tsop chip pins to the passkey, that way I know for sure my soldering connection is good. Also, maybe try on another computer see if that helps.

Hi,

I tried all that you mentioned above, still no luck unfortunately.

I contacted Maximus through his passkey site and he replyed that the blue light flashing is correct.

He asked me to try a new sata cable and check i had a good ground to the PC, which i did and did not resolve the problem.

I have emailed him back a day a go and await his reply.

I have also ordered a Via card to see if that works.

I'm going to a full continuity test on the connections to see if i can find anything wrong there!

thanks again mate!

Im having the same problems with a 79fl that i have, if i use toolbox version 3 it will read the drive and give a key of 7474747474747474 and when i open that orig.bat in version 4 it reads the key as something else but when i go to flash it back (patched) version 4 tells me there is too many differences and do i want to continue, i right fucking pain in the arse.

I doubled checked my connections agin and all checked out perfectly, thought i would try 1 more time and the drive decided to die.

I don't think all passkeys work correctly, i've removed the passkey and will wait for a better solution thats 100% proof.

Luckily i took my 360 back and managed to get a new replacement, not trying the passkey way again!

Yeah I had the same problem. I checked the wires and one of them had popped off, so maybe you're soldering was slightly off.
But also after re-soldering it I still failed to get the blue light on when I powered on the console, and I didn't get any mode-b symptoms either (I powered the drive with the 360).
After reading this thread I turned the 360 in and off a few times and then on the 5th power cycle I got mode-b symptoms. Don't now if I got the blue light when I finally got into mode-b as I didn't check
After that I flashed as per normal with FWtoolbox4.5. RAW dump worked fine. I didn't need Slax as it was already in mode-b
Also after I flashed it backup games wouldn't work but originals would. I de-soldered the passkey and then backups and originals worked fine

So for those having trouble I recommend:
1. Double check soldering
2. Try turning the 360 on and off repeatedyl until you get mode-b symptoms
3. If all else fails try Slax to get into mode-b

unfortunate, I got the same problem, i try it with via6421a card and onboard sata getting the message "cannot read form driver".

someone can tell me how to judge the state that 79 passkey working normal or not ?

and i hope someone post more detail

1. did u use a slax CD ? Or power on with opennig tray? Or just power on the 360 ?

2. which OS on your computer ? Winxp or Vista? and did you install the drivers for the sata card?

3. toolbox 4.0 or 4.5 ?

You may find that it's the drive, not the passkey. I've had 4 drives refuse to behave on my VIA card, 2 0078s and 2 0079s. One of the 0078s was tried on several different chipsets, all refused to work properly. Slax would put it into mode B, but when the PC was reset it would hang during POST, as though the drive WASN'T in mode B!

My passkey works in other drives, so I know it's not that. Pity the firmware toolbox doesn't work with USB adapters, 'cos my USB adapter's the only one that recognises the drive properly!

I've got the exact same symptoms you have. Tried every possible way to get it to read. Still no luck....
Drive is def. in mode B, reacts like it should. I can't seem to figure out whats wrong!
Also tried a Via 6421 card, but no luck.
I'm about to give up, this thing is killing me

If someone have a bright idea, plaese tell! This is my first V79, and def. the last!! Did over 50 drive's and NEVER had a problem till now.

My VIA worked with like 1 79 until it started conflicting with my SATA controller and started freezing during boot up also. Since then, I moved over to my nforce motherboard for 79s and have had no lockups since. But then I noticed that I couldn't dump because it wasn't sensing a DVD in the drive. So I took out the 360 game and stuck in a DVD movie and it worked. Also, I no longer kill drives since I moved from heat to using a knife to get the epoxy off. Another thing - you should follow 78 rules: Always use power from 360, always have AV cable plugged in, and make sure it's not set to HDTV if you've got one of those cables. I also tend to always use the slax disc and never have to check my lights. Finally, it helps to remember to reconnect the ribbon cable to the laser

I had the same problem as you guys described.
Here is how I got it to work:

1. After getting the drive in mode B, put in a movie or game but make sure that you can eject the disc. If it refuse to ecject, try a different movie (first I tried Jet Li Romeo must die, then the arcade game both wouldn't let me eject the disc. I had to power off the xbox to get the disc out. I then trie Lethal weapon 4 and it works)
2. Go device manager and make sure the drive is there without (!)
3. Leave the 360 on but restart your pc
4. Start up toolbox and follow normal procedure.

Good luck guys! and let us know if these step work for you.

This really just sounds like you are using FW toolbox 4.0 instead of 4.5

Hello all,

This is not a problem from the passkey but from the Drive.

I've the same problem with 2 different 79FL. I use always the same passkey for all of my 79 drive, and today only 2 drives were unable to be flashed.

I've removed the sst chip from the PCB for an external programmation, and the chip had a problem. Ok for read, but unable to wrote the chip.

So I think that it's a bug of somes v79 on SST Chip. I have no other idea.

See you

Neo I actually had the same problem last night no matter what I did. Ive done tons of 79's and never had any issue before. This iswhat I had to do date on drive was July 2007 btw. I really hate bumping an old post but thought others might get somthing from it. I had drive modded with passkey. (Perfect install with wires) Wouldnt boot in mode B so used slax cd would work perfect boot in windows put a movie in and can watch movie in windows so I know everything was fine. Clicked on raw dump and bam "canot read from drive" After tons of hours of taking chip off and on replacing wires checking my points etc this is how I got it to work.

1. Boot with slax cd and get drive in mode B
2. Reboot PC and load into windows.
3. Open Toolbox and Hit Raw Dump " says that 20 secs with game or movie thingy"
4. Hit eject on toolbox.
5. Hit close On toolbox after putting in a movie on open tray.
6. Movie went to load but 360 ejected it after about 5 secs.
7. Hit eject button on 360 once and then hit close on toolbox app.
8. As soon as the drive closed clicked on raw dump right away.
9. It seem to freeze but started flashing perfectly.
9. read firmware and did hack.
10. Took passkey out as always

Ive done so many 79 befores and this is major issue I have had august 2007 drive was a little picky but I wont go into that. I hope this helps someone in the future.

Thanks for the info C, appreciated bud,

I sent my 79 passkey back to my supplier be tested and it tested fine, he also tells me he has also had problems with 79FL drives and about 10% seem to not want to dump/flash.

I have a new Elite, again Hitachi 79fl drive.

Just awaiting thr return of the passkey now.

If i get probs easy to come back to this thread and try the suggestions!:)

My 79fl flashed without problems, soldered on the connector to the lines and got the epoxy of very easily.

My problem is after i flashed , got my drive key and saved it. I hooked everything back up and took out the passkey and the connector, the drive isnt working.

Now the drive was giving me a error 64, but i took it back apart and fixed a joined solder joint, and now no error, but the drive will not open or spin up games at all. The xbox turns on fine and I can play demos and sign into live just fine. The drive just won't open. Any suggestions what could be wrong and why it wont respond. THe system sees me pressing the eject button but again the drive does nothing.

Any suggestions would be great.

- I have a new hitachi 59dj on the way because that was my plan all along after I got my key, but not gunna be here for a few more days and wanted to play some games.

Thanks

Dan

must have some extra solder somewhere when drive doesnt eject thats usually the problem or another rboken connector if you take a detail picture I can pretty much tell you which connect it is. if after fixing connectors doesnt work you might have bricked it

Strange thing is though, which I found out last night after reading another post, I can eject it manually and it will close when i turn it on and still play games just fine ( backups too) so i know the flash is good, just cant figure out the damn connecter that isnt working. Ill try to take a high res photo tonight see if that can help me.


Thanks

Dan