How the Xbox 360 DVD Security was Defeated | MVG

In 2005 mere weeks after the launch of the Xbox 360 in North America, hackers found a method to exploit the DVD drive firmware and defeat security by allowing for backup DVD's to load and run. This is a look back and how this was achieved and how Microsoft responded.
Note : I will be covering King Kong/JTAG/RGH in Part 2. Xbox 360 security is a massive topic to cover :)
► Consider supporting me - www.patreon.com/ModernVintageGamer
Sources :
► Hacking DVD Thread - web.archive.org/web/20071226054041/www.xboxhacker.net/index.php?topic=76.0
► RHPG's iPrep Video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/pafbimVum9eJabM
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#Xbox360 #DVDHacking #MistakesWereMade

[@SlayR007]

Commodore4Eva: *releases a new firmware for the disc drive* Microsoft: Ah shit, here we go again.

[@thelion.4K]

Mostly because it was really cheap to make a hacked FW but Microsoft spend millions making stuff to block the new hacked FW.

[@thelion.4K]

@Apex Wraith indeed, specially in 3rd world countries where they rather buy the console and play pirated copies.

[@MrLeovdmeer]

Microsoft. Oh wel we just ban a bunch af consoles. lol

[@BlackShadowLegion]

Also Microsoft: You picked the wrong DVD firmware, fool!

[@avolpe734]

These types of dumb comments PLAGUE KZbin!!! E.g. RANDOM DUMBASS: posts comment like this ME: SMH

[@LambdaCalculus379]

I love how the more security these companies try to layer on, the more hackers will be determined to break it all.

[@Deathwig1]

Probably because they see it as companies throwing down the gauntlet with them saying "okay try and hack this!" challenging them to beat it

[@jasonmurphy6253]

Pretty sure they got it right this time. The xbox one to this day has no exploit and likely never will.

[@VarietyGamerChannel]

@@jasonmurphy6253 Why tho? Piracy drives homebrew and the xbox one has no exclusives to pirate.

[@cunt5413]

jason murphy I hope it will get hacked. I want access to the backwards compatibility mode. Imagine if you could play every game from every Xbox console on One box. And the ability to tweak the settings of the wrapper. Increasing resolution for example.

[@alaeriia01]

@@jasonmurphy6253 why would you want to run homebrew on an X-Bone? It's literally a low-end gaming PC running a ten-foot UI. You could just build (or buy) an decent PC and use it as a steambox or similar.

[@bieber_hole6965]

I remember finding a guy on Craigslist who modded 360s. I went to his shady apartment with my 360 in tow and he modded it for me. I noticed he was downloading multiple different games at multiple gbps. This was in 2007. The dude claimed he had a modded router or something. Shit was crazy. Good times

[@Legweb]

My apartment wasn't shady, lol.

[@SFCityKids]

Same here dude I remember getting my 360 flashed in 09 by this fat mexican dude in his backyard shed in some really ghetto neighborhood. Dude was cool tho I bought a stack of blank dvd's and downloaded at least 20 games that week. It was great but it probably will never happen again tho

[@alberttresslevic914]

Did you guys kiss?

[@JaredConnell]

@@alberttresslevic914 dude wtf? Why wouldnyou even ask something like that? Of course they did! Thats how you prove youre not a cop, duh!

[@malikkelly]

Jared Connell Had to do that just last week, turns out the seller was a cop. He didn’t want to kiss

[@KarlRock]

Commodore4eva was a legend

[@_bit_]

Yes he was

[@proxy1035]

was? what happend to them?

[@macdeluxe733]

Will bet hard cash he worked for MS :D

[@mahrufurrahman9759]

Wow it's you pewdiepie

[@dialtone187]

I love the console hacking scene and x360 era was a great time. Not only could you backup your games but could play them online. c4e was an epic guy, I was always idling #fw on efnet to get the latest scoop from the horses mouth. The work ethic of him was unbelievable, anything suspicious ever happened he would jump right on it and check xbox live logs for any new suspicious checks and if any were ever present he would come up with a new brilliant way to defeat microsoft and get a new firmware update out, he remained on top of things for years right up till the near end of life of the console, god how microsoft must have hated him with the cost of R+D, new firmware and checks, new hardware and drives, only to be defeated by c4e within days. Haven't frequented efnet in quite awhile and hope c4e is living a great life cause the guy deserves it.

[@MegaNerevar]

Commodore4Eva, this guy is a legend. I cant even begin to think, a single person fought and won against a whole corporation single handedly

[@cunnyman]

Nigel Cam Huh? How

[@Sirdiggar]

@Nigel Cam Why shouldn't we have full control over the consoles we buy? And why do so many people say "loose" it's "lose"

[@sebastianwatroba1]

@Mike Delta you will not get banned if you use latest iXtreme and use well burned game discs

[@sqly3129]

@Nigel Cam lmao nobody got laid off because of piracy

[@gigabytemon]

@Nigel Cam nobody has ever been laid off because of piracy. In fact, it creates jobs by forcing companies to hire and fund digital security personnel and departments. If piracy was as bad as you make it sound, large companies would be defaulting and the video game industry would have died a long time ago.

[@OnlineWithRyanB]

Did you know that when Microsoft released the update for ap25 (unique console disc checks) it actually didn't work on the original hitatchi dvd drives since their firmware size was too small to add the feature. Anyone with an hitatchi from that point on had a permanent dvd drive mod. Also after a point Microsoft tried to make ap25 checks so advanced and complicated that actually legit consoles with old drives and lasers would fail the tests and get flagged for ban. Microsoft actually banned a ton of legit consoles, and then later undid these bands as well as gave these users free xbox live. From that point on Microsoft stopped banning users for the ap25 check failure flags and ultimately screwed themselves over in the cat and mouse game

[@ThePaypay88]

Lol

[@MrDeedsly]

Someone hacked my account when FIFA 2012 came out. Microsoft wanted to ban my console since it originated in Japan. I bought the XBOX practically brand new from someone from Japan on Ebay. Some how I recovered it and was refunded all the money they spent. Thankfully I don't add credit cards to my payment options on any system so they used the credit on the account. The fact that it took 2 weeks for them to investigate it really bothered me. My first and only "Darren" moment led me to a supervisor and they told me why I was banned. Once I explained how I bought my 360, my account was active the next day.

[@SylveonMujigaeOfficial]

By the last one, who was the cat and who was the mouse?

[@boreal3255]

@@SylveonMujigaeOfficial Microsoft were the cat and hackers were the mouse

[@unr34L-]

So that’s why my flashed Phat from 2009 still works…. lol

[@raulbos2296]

Commodore4Eva is a mad lad, wonder why Microsoft didn't hire him if he was so good at cracking security flaws

[@bobtheboneboy6531]

du-te ma because he was a software pirate.....

[@sceerane8662]

@@bobtheboneboy6531 It's pretty common for companies to hire skilled hackers to check their security, Even having them try to crack it as a test.

[@bobtheboneboy6531]

@@sceerane8662 Still these people ARE registered criminals, for a dumb crime admittedly.

[@sceerane8662]

@@bobtheboneboy6531 Companies don't really care about that, With some precautions the benefits tend to outweigh the risks (Especially with game piracy, Where at worst the company just loses some sales)

[@bobtheboneboy6531]

@@sceerane8662 Depends on the company, and how severe the case is.

[@robertoXCX]

I think "mistakes were made" is my favorite thumbnail quote ever

[@ImLlaver]

I remember following Commodore3Eva's releases. I was refreshing his website multiple times every day hoping for updates sometimes. Never got hit by a ban. Dude is a god.

[@occupynow99]

The 360 is STILL a great, GREAT console. LOTS of fantastic games that hold up even today, still.

[@96SN95]

Microsoft: We will bring the whole team together and tap into our massive resources supported by our billion dollar company! Guy in basement: *Sips mountain dew*

[@astrologyfit]

Microsoft advanced technology group

[@itszombies7256]

@@draggy76 ?

[@j5892000]

Player 2 has entered...

[@N_manMETA11]

Not Mountain Dew, SQUIRT. The GOOD soda.

[@Puppy_Puppington]

Lol I imagined that glorious sip so vividly!

[@zherkezhi2477]

This was the first hacking scene that I was apart of from the beginning. What a ride it was and yeah, the modern warfare banwave got me and all my mates!

[@aaronspacee]

I love these "how the security was defeated" videos. Really nice insight into the minds of both teams in the cat and mouse battle of trying to keep the console clean from hacks

[@jackqtvsstuff715]

Mistakes were made

[@toxictraction]

You make incredibly high quality videos. You do excellent research and I see your effort and passion in every release. You are an example of an excellent KZbinr and creators like you are the backbone of this platform. I hope every day you are proud of yourself and feel accomplished.

[@bidomo]

Its refreshing to watch his content

[@fredd164]

agree. these videos feel like an adventure to watch

[@zneaks]

These videos are so informative, which back in the day was hard to find information about these hacks/exploits. These videos bring a nostalgic feeling as well, seeing all the old exploits I might’ve used back in the day

[@ChrisPirillo147]

Exactly my thoughts on his work!

[@GodofGHz]

I LOVE his history lessons. I find this stuff *fascinating*. People can be so clever, both the manufacturers and the pirates

[@Longlius]

Microsoft: *makes supposedly unhackable console* Commodore4Eva: "I'm about to end this man's whole career."

[@MattZelda]

@@fffUUUUUU That's a pretty sophisticated sentence for a 12 year old.

[@0westdude]

Well xbox one isn't hackable so I guess that counts

[@therandomnobody3407]

@@fffUUUUUU people will do their own thing,if you dislike it just ignore it instead of being a massive asshole to others because of something you dislike.ignoring people who you find annoying is really easy man

[@ngf]

@@fffUUUUUU a story in emojis 🙂😶😥😡🤬😠 😶😑😐🤨 😠😡🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[@drunkenn1nja]

Boooooo learn how to be original, plus you look like a coconut.

[@krisnadiimam4556]

these modders are geniuses... really... i have deep respect for their skills and tenacity.

[@rr2109]

They should have publicly offered the guy a senior dev job to help them prevent hacking lol

[@draggy76]

Or you know, send legal action against him, have him arrested..... maybe slap his ass with a massive fine for illegally tampering with their system and thus violating the law. But you know, game console companies aint to bright.

[@davidfodre1375]

@@draggy76 Except DVD firmware hacking is not illegal as far as I know. Piracy is, but not console modding

[@auroraspace2392]

@@draggy76 I don't know how they'd do that when what he did was completely legal.

[@thiagovidal6137]

@@draggy76 They can't. Modifying the console it's not illegal. What is illegal is the copy and distribution of pirated games. You buy a hardware, you're free to mess around with it to your heart's content.

[@DavyMcWavy]

draggy76 your name is fitting

[@almanac520]

I remember C4eva. That dude was ghost.

[@ramzinho4985]

i Can tell you do, that's his proper mirc handle :D

[@TKIvanov]

Thats actually the only title by which I knew him, and untill I read your comment it didnt hit me that Commodore4eva = C4eva xD

[@xeldinn86]

@@TKIvanov Here I am thinking he has a fancy for explosives..........haha

[@meladath5181]

@@ramzinho4985 yeah.... remember visiting a website... c4evaspeaks I think? I flashed my old lite-on drive with his firmware wayyyy back... damn... has it really been so long? Never got banned. Good old lite touch. DAMN NOSTALGIA.

[@thesaiyajinx8166]

Meladath Damm i remember it

[@emukidid]

"In 2007", feels like yesterday!

[@LetsGoGetThem]

Best year eva

[@eetuthereindeer6671]

@@KORUPTable the good ones* not one's

[@UNPOCOLOCO444]

Eetu The Hunter don’t be a dick.

[@DStabs720]

9/25/07 one of the best days ever

[@eetuthereindeer6671]

@@UNPOCOLOCO444 im trying to help. Maybe they are non english speakers who might want a little help and besides its dumb to make more effort just to misspell it whem the ' is not necessary

[@lebronjames5151]

I have no idea what you just talked about, but I watched the whole video

[@hblaub]

I like the company's claim: "it will be unhackable!" - some dude breaks it in 4 months or so ;-)

[@lathrin]

Like the PS3

[@lathrin]

And the Switch

[@Jdogg4089]

Well, the xbox one is unhackable😉

[@DessertArbiter]

@@Jdogg4089 microsoft gave us dev mode anyway

[@Jdogg4089]

@@DessertArbiter I know but that isn't nearly the same thing. All it really does is enable more app downloads

[@asakapala12345678]

Other YT Gaming Channels: E3 Coverage! OMG Keanu Reeves! MVG: So here's how Xbox 360 Security was defeated.

[@ModernVintageGamer]

it's how i roll (Keanu was awesome though!)

[@user-vn7ce5ig1z]

MVG> (Keanu was awesome though!) Actually he wasn't awesome (at E3). He said he didn't know what cyberpunk was and he clearly had no interest in it. It was simply a job for him and he was just reading a script and doing a bit of acting. He couldn't have cared less. 🤷

[@dekuskrub2154]

@@user-vn7ce5ig1z I dont think you listened correctly

[@maj746]

Real content is real

[@MakotoIchinose]

I hate to say this but the comparison is kinda unfair. MVG is more focused on console hacks and hardware reviews than latest game software news.

[@colderosion]

MVG I just wanna thank you man. You always put out quality videos and maintain the viewer interest extraordinarily. Keep up the incredible work. I know it's gotta be time consuming. I've been watching your channel for a long time now and I'm always happy to see a new upload pop up!

[@spywarefinder]

I just wanted to say, although my comment will sure fade into the other amazing comments but your channel is Awesome and the content is pure perfection! Many thanks been watching lots of your videos!

[@JB_inks]

The best security they implemented was the Red Ring of Death

[@BAD361]

i remember those banwaves... Man, the forums were exploding back when it all happened. I was banned twice lmao, and then decided to stick to the official fw for online play, good memories. And also, great vid as always!

[@capralmarines4043]

Yeah, i remember ban waves too ! It was like a lottery every time you booted up a backup disc. I was soo angry when i got the notification that i was banned from Xbox Live haha :D

[@Fizzicles]

Thanks for the regular uploads, these are fascinating and really give great insight.

[@danielodrinski]

Can't wait for the next part!! I really love your series on how the different consoles were hacked. You really do your research - it shows and it makes the videos that much more useful and interesting to watch. Thanks for making these!

[@LNCRFT]

I just love your coverages of how certain consoles got hacked. So much effort and it's just ingeresting to watch because it's something many many people actually care about. Even older people might be interested about how their childhood consoles for example got hacked :). Great video, mate. Can't wait for part 2

[@Supaslicer]

I'm more excited for the jtag exploits tbh... All of these videos are amazing!... Thanks for doing these!!!

[@renatodias4135]

JTag was good to extend the 360's poor library of games.

[@ShoelessJP]

Love this series, great job as always with these. Cheers for the upcoming part 2!

[@glitchy_weasel]

One of one of my favorites episodes so far! Never had a 360, but I love the way you explain complex topics in your videos. :)

[@frankmoolah]

Between you and the Game Historian, I really enjoy watching your content... Subscribed

[@lukeh3710]

Can remember the days of flashing LT2.0. I had a Benq drive. Was one of the easiest to crack. Near enough plug and play! The good old days

[@darkuury1167]

Who would've thought that Microsoft was mad at a guy who sat at home hacking their entire system, month by month, year by year... Them losing to that is kinda sad... Commodore4Eva is a bloody legend and a force to be reckoned with.

[@MrDomBoileau]

I love these videos so much. I knew most of this, but it's nice to have a timeline to bring it all together.

[@HotlineKM1]

I swear I'm gonna freak! I for some reason haven't subbed to you yet and I've been watching your content for almost a year. I could've sworn I had already. Every video you make is top tier quality and I have now subbed and hit that bell icon. Keep up the good work man!

[@illitero]

I wonder what the expense "anti-piracy" efforts is in relation to "lost sales". I really can't imagine the former offsetting the latter in any feasible manner.

[@DeathBringer769]

They waste a lot of money on crap like Denuvo. I highly doubt it makes up for the cost (I'm nearly certain it just wastes more of their own money in the end -- money that could have went towards further development or advertising.)

[@JaredConnell]

Especially nowadays when most people just want to play the latest games immediately online with their friends, they dont wanna wait for a patched version to appear online to download and copy and then play offline.

[@gigabytemon]

I think most of the losses companies incur is when they spend money on an anti-piracy system that's broken. They paid for something that didn't work and they can't get a real refund for it. They're still selling consoles though - you can't run pirated games without at least having the machine to run them on. So really the biggest loss is spending so much to stop people from doing something they're just going to figure a way out to do anyway.

[@darkness74185]

a good number of sales of one game is when it's first released, so they'd definitely want to have a way to at least prevent people from cracking it on the first night of the game release. Though unfortunately the method chosen to do so (looking at you Denuvo) often means the game initially would run like shit until people manage to break that little security and then the game removes said security next patch so it can finally run at 60 fps again

[@sedatmehmed4371]

@@gigabytemon Put yourself in the game developer position. Would you develop games for a platform which is so easily pirated that no one will buy your game? Companies sell consoles nowadays at breaking zero point or even at some loss just to get you on the platform and rely on games to turn revenue. Piracy is bad end of discussion - it is exploitation of someone's hard work. How would you feel if someone make you work and didn't pay you? I strongly support homebrew projects and hacks to enable user software - running linux on xbox seems exciting. But piracy - no thanks. Anyway why companies make secure the platforms - because someone gas to develop games for them. And the goal is not to make the system impenetrable but rather make it hard to hack. If it is hard to hack it will be limited to enthusiasts. As we see today piracy has diminished a lot - it is just a lot easier to pay for the game rather than risking your hardware or banning from online platforms because onl8ne gaming is huge today

[@sakumisan]

The best part of this series is how you show the original forum posts, etc.

[@andreab5185]

I really admire your effort and research in this kind of video. You really know what you are talking about. Good work, we need more channel like yours.

[@tonikelope]

This video makes me very nostalgic. Thank you very much for making it. I think the subject of console hacking deserves its own series or documentary.

[@tails64dsntchannel8]

Love your Vids on Copy Protection and Security Exploits!

[@TreyHarrison]

I absolutely love these hardware security videos. I can't wait for more!

[@GameInterest]

It's always great to see you do these informative videos.

[@BrandofsacrificeAMVs]

I love these videos man you really go in depth with the history of these consoles i cant wait to see the ps5 and series x videos in the future

[@dycedargselderbrother5353]

Hackers: enable backup copies Microsoft: well technically they didn't break the hypervisor so it's not really a success

[@fanzyflani3576]

It's almost like they're going "We've got rampant piracy, but at least you can't make homebrew!" which is the opposite of what the console companies like to say.

[@xb0xguru]

Correct - however, that didn't stop it from being bypassed. Whilst the DVD security hacks were good, slowing down the CPU clock to inject code to bypass bootup sequences was a whole other level.

[@triples8554]

had to run a bypass or console get flagged and banned ( spose i can drop that add on sata controller )

[@cyphaborg6598]

@@xb0xguru That's very clever tbh.

[@RipleySawzen]

I mean, they banned *MILLIONS* and I remember that shit. How many people do you think shit their pants and stopped using pirated games? More than you'd think.

[@NicholasDeLisi]

I remember all this and talking to C4Eva and Iriez when it was going on, asking technical questions.

[@drifterz2578]

Good ol days

[@NicholasDeLisi]

@@drifterz2578 yeah, I still talk with Iriez on occasion

[@GoldSrc_]

Your videos are amazing, your channel deserves 1m subs. Can't wait for part 2.

[@linkxlobbies]

Excellent video. I've been wondering what early xbox modding was like, in comparison to today's rgh/jtag stuff that I'm used to. Can't wait for part 2

[@750tiprogamer]

ok

[@demonslayer9101]

Love this. Thank you MVG. Looking forward to part 2.

[@McDuffington]

Looking forward to Part 2. The CPU timing attack on the 360 is very interesting!

[@bidomo]

And it was a pain in the ass to execute correctly with as few resets as possible

[@JeffisWinning]

Good job on covering the iXtreme firmwares and mod chips. Part 2 is going to cover the famous JTAG/RGH (reset glitch hack) it seems.

[@digipimp75]

Nice vid. Can't wait for part 2! I still have my SMC Jtagged Jasper, and it runs like a champ.

[@jimmyvau]

I remember waiting and waiting for the iXtreme 2.0 firmware. The day it dropped was like Xmas.

[@katherinesmith9602]

ME 2

[@SashaboxEntertainment]

Commodore4Eva: Please do not enhance the DVD security anymore. We are good people. Microsoft: *NO!*

[@BlazeKing_]

Sashabox Entertainment and then Microsoft lost I wish consoles would allow homebrew easier this is part of why I will always stick to pc (actually having full control of my stuff is nice)

[@skitty137]

Always love your videos man. Crazy to see how everything was hacked

[@nivram.]

I really love these kind of videos. They are one of the best and most interesting videos on your Channel ✌️

[@billhgong]

So Xbox E3 was earlier today... MVG, you must released the video now on purpose XD

[@tritian5874]

Bill Haofei Gong this was a perfect break from the madness and excitement that was all the e3 news heh

[@Gamerdevils]

Love these vids man! Keep it up!

[@seshpenguin]

Dude, your videos are awesome! I feel like I just went on an adventure. The 360 has so much history behind it!

[@steadycamscottford]

MVG, your synth tracks are insane! While documenting exploits on game consoles is cool, its the synths the keep me coming back for more. And then I found your bandcamp. Oh holy Jesus. What a treasure. I'm rocking out to Pacific Drive. You need to make a video on these synth tracks.

[@steadycamscottford]

Also, I'm looking forward to pt. 2 on the system management controller exploit.

[@mikesnapper9001]

I love this series, keep them videos coming.

[@Lynx0123456789]

Damn this video bought back so many memories. I was in college and used to buy faulty Xbox 360s fix and mod them and sell them on eBay. Good times ☺️

[@Soulful_Cray]

Hell yeah buddy of mine used to charge 40 bucks to flash the drive and charge 10 bucks a game that was pirated

[@MrDeedsly]

@@Soulful_Cray That was some fair pricing on his part.

[@GalacticKid2006]

I never owned a hacked 360 but I had tons of fun memories of my family playing kinect games with me. It was a simpler time.

[@katherinesmith9602]

Amazing video can not wait for part 2 with Jtag. Keep these ones come they are why i come here MVG!

[@DrakeHunter324]

Just discovered you. The algorithm works! You're a man who does his research that's for sure.

[@MrFlamethrower32]

lol my favorite were the usb mods. i was doing them at 10 they were so easy. granted they only worked on single player and rarely worked online, but it was still cool

[@chrisagu28]

Man, What a flash back. I remember flashing my xbox 360 drive then shortly after, It red ringed. Love these videos so much! Thank you.

[@renakunisaki]

"Well with software updates we can remove exploits in existing consoles, but what about hardware exploits? It's not like we can force people to buy a new console every 6 months." "Hold my beer."

[@Shayne2110]

I was looking for a video that explained this but couldn't find anything ages ago. Thanks for the content!

[@jarrymay1]

Been waiting for this video forever :))) thank you MVG can't wait for the JTag/CFW video

[@alexander1989x]

This is the quality content that I've subscribed to. P.S. Maybe one day you can talk about Denuvo and their alleged "unbreakable" DRM.

[@lilfrostyy8829]

Is Denuvo still advertising that it's unbreakable? Literally every game under Denuvo has been cracked to *BETTER* performance

[@Alexthomasgleeson]

@@lilfrostyy8829 not every game. Fifa comes to mind

[@lilfrostyy8829]

@@Alexthomasgleeson that's probably from a lack of demand

[@keselekbakiak]

I think denuvo has changed their claim. Now they said that the protection was mean to delay piracy.

[@NANOTECHYT]

Damn this Commodore dude was a legend. I don't endorse what he does, but I gotta hand it to him, each and everything Microsoft did, he defeated. Now that's persistence and hard work at it's finest. I really wonder what kind of skills this guy had to defeat a multibillion dollar corporation.

[@ikonix360]

They were defeated because they didn't cover all the bases well enough plus they prob never dealt with someone so determined before so felt no need to take a more proactive approach and possibly by the time the exploits came out, it was too late to redesign the security to be better given the expense and time that would require. Plus it is Microsoft we're dealing with who cut corners so the 360 would be out before the PS3.

[@TonyRudzki]

MS should have triple verified that their DVD access libraries worked with the drive's firmware and then changed the DVD flash chips to ROMs.

[@ikonix360]

@@TonyRudzki They could have used ROM chips for the DVD flash chips, but that would make updating the DVD pretty much impossible should the firmware ever have needed to be updated. It would have only slowed down the hackers though. Someone would have simply replaced the ROM with another ROM chip that had the necessary firmware on it provided the firmware could have even been known. Testing would have been very hard though. The way to stop that is to have Xbox live check the ROM of the DVD drive and ban those where the ROM wasn't exactly as it should be, although that would have given hackers easy access to the ROM to find its contents.

[@ashmyblunt]

Nigel Cam Dude shut up

[@Maximus20778]

@Nigel Cam lol your funny as hell it will never stop them once you bought the console it's yours

[@RobotnikPlays]

I'm loving these vids man, keep up the good work!

[@spankysmp]

That's an excellent video - very interesting - cheers. Can't wait for Pt II

[@MayoSLayo]

Microsoft: There it's perfect now Commodore4Eva: Who's gonna tell them?

[@SuperDaaaaaan]

Those were the days, getting games early at the cost of a blank disc, proud to say I actually flashed multiple 360's so satisfying!

[@SonShani]

Yet another very interesting, extremely well told story. It's fascinating how those stories unfold. Can't wait until another "mistakes were made" thumbnail appears ! :)

[@EXITMUSIC2011]

These videos are really interesting. Can't wait for part 2 :)

[@electronash]

Really interesting vid. I never tried any X360 hacks, as I never owned one long enough before it would RROD. lol

[@TheBurleybrawler]

360 FPGA when? lol jk

[@11393]

I had an xbox elite and my friend dropped it 2 weeks after i bought it off a friend for 70 dollars. I forgave him but that was the last time i ever bought one.

[@corinful]

I have an original Xbox 360 from new that's never had Red Ring of death!

[@shroomie108]

@@corinful from launch? I got mine from launch and it took until my 5th 360 in 2 years before i got one that still works now. Its an original 360 shell but has the falcon board revision which is different from the launch xenon boards. I would be shocked if you have a xenon 360 that still works. If yours has hdmi than its not a xenon.

[@shroomie108]

@Exodus well an unmodded xenon is unlikely to last long. As i said i went through 4 in 2 years before i got my current falcon which still works. If an unmodded xenon is still working it is a very rare exception.

[@T4cC0re]

+Modern Vintage Gamer Really nice video! One thing I missed was more detail on the AP2.5 crack. Filling it in here for anybody interested. IIRC (it's been some time) due to the AP2.5 checks being per-console, the previous approach of having the Drive reply with a static response to a challenge from the console was no longer possible (but still done in addition to the AP2.5 checks). C4Eva defeated this by effectively letting the drive create the challenge-response on its own. This required so called Topology information to be included in the dumped game (producible via also updated 0800 firmware and only extractible on LiteOn drives IIRC). That TP is then used by the iXtreme LT firmware to calculate the appropriate response. Also noteworthy: Hitachi, Samsung and Benq drives did not support the Check, so if your Console was originally shipped with one, you did not need to care about AP2.5.

[@glitchy_weasel]

This is really interesting! Love your homebrew history videos :)

[@Jamie052290]

This video takes me back. I remember the Hitachi drives being really sensitive to bricking, I remember using programs like Jungle Flasher and ABGX and I remember the point the games would throw up errors about games being unable to fit on discs and Imgburn asking to truncate discs. I love this video...a great trip down memory lane.

[@DarkIzo]

my god that halo edition 360 how i miss those colors and that shiny orangey tray

[@THR_-]

The commodore guy is a real hero for supporting his project for so long. Respect

[@thefox17906]

You make such high quality content, even if I knew this stuff I still watch it

[@kurosakiyoko]

Quality content as always, cheers! Love that synthwave intro.

[@drgunnut]

I hear The Prodigy in the background. Nice video mate

[@SlavShogun]

Smack My Bitch Up

[@Xenon_VA]

Here's my experience with 360 flashing when I used to do it back in the day. These apply for the original models: - The Lite-On drives were the biggest pain to flash because you needed a special tool to extract the key (The CK3 Probe to be exact). I've never flashed a Slim or an E-model drive, but apparently those require RGH. - The Hitachi 46/47s were really easy, and so were the 78/79s but you needed a special disc to be able to extract the key from a 79. And it took the longest for the AP2.5/XGD3-compatible LT+ 3.0 firmware to be released for the 79. - Ben-Qs and Samsungs were the easiest of all. Just needed to turn off and turn back on the drive at the right time and you're in Vendor Mode, and you've got your drive key. - It's perfectly possible to use different model drives by spoofing, but there's something you do have to consider. If the Xbox 360 originally had a Samsung or a Hitachi drive below 78, then you can use any of those drives. This is because they were not AP2.5 capable. However, if your Xbox 360 has a BenQ, newer Hitachi or a Lite-ON drive, then you must use either one of these because they support the AP2.5 technology. Otherwise, they will not boot XGD3 games.

[@alexstixx]

Looking forward to the part 2 on Xell and JTAG. Those were the days. I love these videos, so much nostalgic hacking.

[@terdog3463]

Damn, this was really really informative. I had no idea the 360 had been hacked in this method. Can't wait for part 2.

[@chubbysumo2230]

I love how years later I see this quote, about it being able to play "illegally" copied games, and the majority of the reason for DVD firmware hacking was to be able to play our own backups, because the xbox 360 games disks were known to be junk, and the drives were notorious for wrecking disks. The dvd firmware hack did eventually make it to market when someone else figured it out, and it was not to hard to implement, and the console could never be aware.

[@MrDeedsly]

Yep it ruined a copy of Mass Effect 2 disc 2 of mine. Thankfully it was my 3rd play through years after it came out so it was cheap to find used.

[@Madisongs]

Wait, could that have been what happened to my Rayman disc? Damn.

[@Sean-D78]

I'm always early for your videos.

[@fozaldo]

Absolutely loving these security videos. Keep em coming.

[@Liam-ml2rq]

Love it! So informative, I never knew how deep all this went.

[@TrueSkyl1n3]

Damn I love these videos, I was in the PlayStation camp since the PS1 but I love looking at how other consoles were defeated and compromised 🤘

[@dexter99999]

Anonymous?

[@fullmetalu320]

C4eva is the reason i'm a programmer.

[@nismoklutchkicker]

Awesome video! I can’t wait for the second part of this series!

[@digsbious]

i love the amount of technical information in these videos.

[@miked5444]

Reset glitch FTW, can't wait for that episode that blew my mind back in the day.

[@bidomo]

Man, JTAG was as powerful as RGH, and equally interesting to execute correctly, way more stable than RGH as it didn't have to guess any key at all

[@miked5444]

@@bidomo agree'd but needing the right console limited who had the option for jtag.

[@craigcooper1967]

Please label this as PART 1 - I was upset that it ended in a cliffhanger :-(

[@ABCDE710]

Your videos are amazing dude. Very underrated channel.

[@TylerMarkRichardson]

714k subs and 137 Million views

[@baconchops53]

I adore these videos man seriously the nostalgia is real probing lite on drives to extract keys etc