I've been out of the Xbox 360 scene for a long, long time and not up to date on anything. I've read up on what's new but I'm confused by this one issue.

I have an Xbox 360 with a dead BenQ drive. When I power my 360 on the light flashes and the drive is not detected in my BIOS or JungleFlasher. I do have the key though. I have a spare Hitachi 59 that works fine. Is it possible to flash the Hitachi and spoof it as a BenQ? Or is there a way I can unbrick the BenQ? Don't have a CK3 unfortunately.

sounds like your benq is just blank, try introing the port is should show up on or benq unlocking the port (even though the drive doesn't show up) and see if the drive pops up. to answer your question, no u can't.

So even if the BenQ does not show up in my BIOS I should keep trying to unlock/intro it through JF? I've read some tricks about drive door half open, pulling the power to it at certain points, etc. Any tips I should know?

half open is bs (old irrelevant trick for obsolete firmware), your drive is blank, when u figure out which port to chose, hit intro, turn drive on (yes, u can start w/ drive turned off) and it will pop up. you might need a $5 via card for this to work if your sata isn't compatible.