I have a friend that backed up his firmware from his drive. When he went to restore the firmware, there was no key in the firmware (nothing but 0's). I've read that there is still no way to extract the firmware from the kernel on the motherboard. Is this true? Should he just throw this whole setup away?

To retrieve the DVD key from the motherboard, (at the moment) it needs to be a xenon board and NOT been connected to XBL since July (to be safe). If this criteria is met, then it's possible.

are you sure its blank just cos jungleflasher or fwtb cant see it doesnt mean its not there lurking about,helped a few ppl recover keys lately ,download a hex editor look for keys in valid key postions.pm me if you want me to have a look for you,and will give a email address to send a copy of it to.