iPrep (USB Flash Drive) - Philips/BenQ/LiteOn VAD6038 Tutorial

The following process will set up a bootable USB flash drive with everything
necessary to read your original firmware and write the hacked firmware
onto the drive. We will use iPrep to automatically detect your SATA port,
format the USB drive, and copy the required DosFlash and hacked
firmware files onto it.

First, you need to make sure Microsoft .NET Framework v2 is installed. It
is needed for iPrep to run. If you do not have this installed, you will be
prompted to download and install it.

Second, you need to make sure the drivers for your SATA chipset are
installed. Use either the CD that came with your computer/SATA card, or
use the manufacturer’s web site to install the latest drivers.

Once you have that taken care of, you can download and install iPrep.
Klutsh updates iPrep frequently, the latest version is always available on
his website at http://www.x-projects.org or on xbins in:

/XBOX 360/firmware/firmware tools/iPrep 101/

The download is in the form of a RAR archive. Use WinRAR to extract all
the files to a new folder and run the installer to install iPrep.

Next we will update Firmtool to the newest version which is 1.2. There are
many improvements from 1.1 to 1.2 so it is recommended to update before
formatting your drive with iPrep and flashing.

To do this, download Firmtool 1.2 from here and extract the “firmtoolv1.2.rar” file. Then replace the “firmtool.exe” file in the folder below
with the new one from the rar file.

C:\Program Files\X-Projects\iPrep 101\Resources\Tools

Since the firmtool.exe already exists, Windows should ask you if you want
to replace the existing file with the new one – click Yes.

Now run the program. The first thing you want to do is check for updates.



It should find an updated definitions file. Choose “Yes” to install it.



Hit the “Load Firmware” button on iPrep.



When you hit this button, a “Load iXtreme” window should open for you to
browse for the iXtreme firmware. Browse and open the:

“Benq.iXtreme.v1.4.rar” file



You should then get a series of messages confirming that iPrep has found
the iXtreme firmware files inside the rar, the first one will be for the NON-
STEALTH version, click No.



iPrep will continue loading the firmware, click Yes to choose the speed that
you would like to use. (2x, 5x, 8x, or 12x)



There is no “right” firmware to use here, it is matter of preference. Normal
speed is 12x, the slower versions are quieter but the trade-off is longer load
times. It is up to you to choose the one you want or you can simply go with
12x and there will be no change from normal.




1. Confirm that your SATA chipset is selected in the dropdown menu.
You can click the “Switch to IDE/SCSI Based Controllers” button to
detect your SATA chipset.

2. Select your USB flash drive from the drop-down list. Check the box
to Format the flash drive and make it bootable. Remember to get any
important data off the flash drive first, it will be erased!

3. Click “Prepare Destination”.

If everything goes smooth you should get a “Preparation Complete”
message.

Opening The Xbox 360

The outer Xbox 360 “shell” is entirely screwless. Plastic friction tabs hold
the case together. There are many different tutorials for opening the Xbox
360, with different methods. Here are some links to “opening the Xbox
360” tutorials. I decided not to cover opening the Xbox 360 in this tutorial
since it is already long enough and there are many other tutorials for
opening the Xbox 360. Notes:

- The Anandtech guide says you need to use a Torx 12 screwdriver.
There is no such thing. You need a Torx 10 screwdriver.
- Removing the grey side grill on the hard drive side is a little tricky.
The first friction tab is actually inaccessible from the top holes in the
case, so you need to stick your screwdriver in the hole by where the
hard drive button is and unclip it.


- In order to push in the back clips, you can do one of two things. You
can use a thin metal object such as a precision flathead screwdriver /
bobby pin / paperclip OR you can make an opening “key” out of a CD
spindle case. The key would not work for me, it was too flimsy, but it
works for some people. You can also purchase an “unlock kit.”

- If all you want to do is just flash the firmware, you only need to
remove the six long screws on the bottom.


Read all these guides and watch all the videos, figure out how you want to
go about opening the Xbox 360. It is not rocket science.

Anandtech Guide
InformIT Guide
Xbox-Accessories Disassembly
Hydra's Guide to Making a CD Unlock Key
Textbook’s Video
acDC's Video

SATA Compatibility

Before you go taking apart your Xbox 360, you might as well make sure
you have the right equipment to flash your drive. The Xbox 360 DVD-ROM
drive uses a Serial ATA (SATA) interface, so you will need SATA ports on
your desktop PC’s motherboard. The picture below shows what a SATA
port looks like. Having SATA is not enough though; you must have the
right kind - the chipset that controls the SATA functions must be compatible
with your version Xbox 360 drive.



Samsung MS25
Samsung MS25 drives can be flashed with many SATA chipsets. Silicon
Image, Promise, and NForce2 chipsets are known to NOT be compatible
for flashing Samsung drives. There are possibly more that cannot flash a
Samsung MS25. Intel ICH5/6/7/8 chipsets, NForce 3/4, SiS, Uli, Jmicron,
and VIA chipsets are all known to be compatible – others may also be.
You cannot flash a Samsung drive using a SATA-to-USB adapter. If you
are unsure whether your SATA is compatible or not, the best advice is to
just try it out. If the SATA isn’t compatible, the drive won’t be recognized.
You won’t brick your drive if the SATA is incompatible, it just “won’t work” –
so you’re not losing much by just trying out what you already have. If you
do not have SATA or yours is incompatible, you should look into
purchasing a VIA VT6421 PCI card.

Samsung MS28
Samsung MS28 drives can be flashed using two methods, the VIA bad-
flash recovery method and the VCC method. You are best off purchasing a
VIA brand card to do the bad-flash recovery method.
Even with the VCC method, you would need a chipset
compatible with MS25 drives, since the VCC method is the equivalent of
temporarily “dropping down” to MS25. It is just easier and safer using a
VIA brand SATA chipset. You cannot flash a Samsung drive using a
SATA-to-USB adapter.

Hitachi 46 / 47 / 59
These “older version” Hitachi drives can be flashed with basically all SATA
chipsets. It should work as long as the SATA supports ATAPI devices
(optical drives). Another good thing about these drives is they are the only
Xbox 360 drives that can be flashed with a SATA-to-USB adapter. The
cheap generic one I bought on eBay worked fine.

Hitachi 0078FK
These drives can be flashed by most SATA chipsets. Silicon Image SATA
chipsets will NOT work; they corrupt the data and will give you an error.
Attempting to flash this drive with a SIL chipset could brick your drive.
Also, in rare cases, there are reports that VIA chipsets have problems with
some version 78 drives. Personally, my VIA 8237 is iffy. I have to play
with it for a while until I get it to read the drive. Shorter SATA cables seem
to help with my setup. Many other chipsets should work fine.

VIA SATA
Just some notes about users of VIA SATA chipsets. This is for both
onboard chipsets (like the 8237) as well as the PCI cards (6421).

A common problem is detecting the drive with MTKFlash with VIA chipsets.
For some reason, many people have this problem when using the external
ports on the VIA SATA cards, or the “1” port if using internal. What seems
to work best for most people is always using the primary “0” SATA port. On
the PCI SATA cards, this is almost always an internal port. If there are
multiple internal ports, use the port closest to the front of your PC.