Total Guide To Xbox 360 Firmware, Xbox DVD Drives & Xecuter CK3 Kits

OK this post will hopefully give you the low down on what all this firmware business is all about. It's aimed at all you beginners out there who find it all very confusing.

1. If you want to play your backups you need to program custom software known as FIRMWARE to your Xbox 360 DVD drive. The current best firmware to use is called iXtreme and the latest version is iXtreme LT+

Below are the latest iXtreme Firmwares per drive model (as of 21 APRIL 2011)

Hitachi - iXtreme LT+ v1.1Samsung - iXtreme LT v1.0Benq - iXtreme LT+ v1.1Liteon - iXtreme LT+ v1.1

Slim Liteon 9504 - LT+ v1.1Slim Liteon 0225 - In progress (Requires Unlocked PCB)Slim Liteon 0401 - In progress (Requires Unlocked PCB)Slim Hitachi 0500 - In progress

JUNE 2011 UPDATE: Since the new System Update 2.0.13146.0 (XGD3 Dashboard), drive firmware has also been flashed with new versions. There will be new versions of LT+ for these drive versions.

Hitachi - UntouchedSamsung MS25 - MS25P1F9 or MS25P2F9 Samsung MS28 - MS28P1F9 or MS28P2F9 Benq - 04421CLiteon - 02510C

Slim Liteon 9504 - 0272Slim Liteon 0225 - UntouchedSlim Liteon 0401 - Untouched

2. The first thing you need to know is which version DVD drive you have in your Xbox 360. Different versions have different ways of programming the firmware. The different manufacturers of DVD drive are (in order of release by the factory) Hitachi, Samsung, Benq & Liteon.

There are also different versions of each drive:

Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L 46DH (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (NO AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L 47DG (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (NO AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L 47DJ (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (NO AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L 59DJ (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (NO AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L 78FK (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L 79FK (requires 79 unlock cd) (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Hitachi-LG GDR-3120L 79FL (requires 79 unlock cd) (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Toshiba-Samsung TS-H943 MS25 (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (NO AP25 TECHNOLOGY - However some reports of refurb returns from MS have problems booting AP25 Titles)

Toshiba-Samsung TS-H943 MS28 (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (NO AP25 TECHNOLOGY - However some reports of refurb returns from MS have problems booting AP25 Titles)

Benq VAD6038 64930C (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Benq VAD6038 62430C (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Lite-On DG-16D2S 74850C (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher - CK3 Probe 3 required to dump the drive key) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Lite-On DG-16D2S 83850C (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Lite-On DG-16D2S 83850C (Dated July 2009+ known as 83850V2*) (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher - CK3 Probe 3 required to dump the drive key) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

Lite-On DG-16D2S 94350C (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher - CK3 Probe 3 required to dump the drive key) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)

*** REMEMBER: If you have a 93450/83850 Liteon and it dies, you can simply buy a 74850 and flash it with 93450/83850 firmware ***

Xbox 360 SlimLite-On DG-16D4S 9504 (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO or VIA 6421 SATA Card to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY)Lite-On DG-16D4S 0225 (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO to

connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY) - Requires DG-16D4S Unlocked PCBLite-On DG-16D4S 0401 (Use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive and an X360USB PRO to connect to PC & Jungle Flasher) (HAS AP25 TECHNOLOGY) - Requires DG-16D4S Unlocked PCBHitachi-LG DL10N 0500 (Unknown entity as of 21 December 2010 - Under Investigation)

*July 2009 has a mix of the v1 and v2 drives - You can only tell for sure by hooking the drive up and start Jungleflasher and click the LO83info button. Jungleflasher supports a secret inquiry for 83850 V2, so it will tell you if you have one or not, if you click LO83info and JF tells you to power on the drive with tray 1/2 open, you have a 83850 V1.

3. To program your DVD drive you need to take it out of the Xbox 360 case and then connect it to your PC. If you try to power your 360 DVD using your console it will log an error as unconnected from the motherboard (center green light flashing on the ROL panel - this is a documented possible ban flag so be aware). To be totally safe (and because it's a great tool to have) We recommend you use a CK3 Pro or CK3 Lite to power the drive.

4. To power your DVD Drive when prepping to connect to your PC you need an Xbox connectivity kit. Team Xecuter make the best kits on the market and the latest versions are called the XECUTER CK3 - there are different types of XECUTER CK3 depending on how advanced you want to get. The most used kit is the CK3 Pro (Rev D). Don't be fooled by copycats on the market that call their kits 'Connectivity Kit v3' - these are NOT Xecuter products and are cheap rip offs)

5. For your PC to recognize your DVD drive you need to have a data connection. The best tool on the market currently is the X360USB PRO which is specially design to access all known drives in all PortIO and WinAPI methods for easy access by tools such as Jungle Flasher. You can also use a SATA connection however this can cause meany headaches and issues with drivers / OS etc. Most SATA connections work - however some don't work so well, particularly some onboard SATA chipsets. if you had to use a SATA card we would recommend that you get a VIA6421 Sata card. You can buy them from www.via6421.com

6. Every DVD drive is tied to each Xbox with a serial number known as the drive key. You need to have a copy of your drive key saved at all times. With the drive key it doesn't matter if you screw up your drive - you can always flash ANY drive with your drive key and it will then work on your Xbox. If you ever have a faulty DVD drive and do not have the drive key you will not be able to get another drive working (not without very advanced techniques called the JTAG HACK - so of course getting the drive key is important - this is done easily when connecting your DVD drive to your PC

7. There are many programs available to read/write to your DVD drive. The best tool to use in our opinion is Jungle Flasher. make sure you read the Jungle Flasher Manual - it gives you all the info you need.

8. Here is a comparison chart showing the differences between CK3 Pro, CK3 Lite & Blaster CK3