Thinking of reacquainting myself with an Xbox360 this festive season.

I'd go for the 60GB version but would like to know a few things.

1) Are they flashable? My old 360 was flashed by Marrez a couple of years back (without success), would like to know if I got a new one that I could in anyway modify it.

2) Do you still get banned from Live if you have your console flashed?

3) Do the newer machines still suffer from the red ring of death?

Cheers in advance.

1. First thing you need to do is find out what drive you have. This will help

I am currently looking into flashing mine. I have the samsung drive. So I had to open up the case to see whether or not it was MS25 or MS28 version (it is the MS28).

2. A friend of a friend flashed his 16 months ago and is still playing on xbox live. Last xmas MS said they would ban so many people. They are threatening to do this again this xmas.

3. I dont know to be honest. I have had mine about 1 year and never had the red ring. *touch wood*


Best thing to do is google it.

P.S. Love your sig btw. Carentan is it?

I got the Red Ring of Death on my Falcon motherboard 360 about a month ago. I was near the end of Fable 2, so I did the towel trick and it's working fine up until now.

No probs, thing is, I've not bought it yet so I don't know which drive I'll get with it.

Cheers anyway mate.

As for the sig, don't know what it is, but it made me laugh like a fecker when I first saw it.

Seems that the majority of 60GB 360s are now sold with the phillips lite-on drive in it.

This is the only drive that hasn't yet been hacked to play burned games...

However, turns out the core package has the Toshiba Samsung Drive in it, which is easiest to flash....

So it will be a massive co-incidence that the majority type sold is the least flashable and that the discontinued type is the most

Probably is yeah, but it still seems that the majority of cores being sold do have the flashable drive in it as standard, whether these are now being phased out of not.

So it's a case of having to get in quick and hoping for the best.

I just realised what you mean and I was confusing the core package with the arcade package.

Arcade has lite-on as standard too.

Yeah, well I guess I was just lucky getting the Sammy drive. My collegue at work has the Hitachi - Unlucky!

I am thinking about doing it tomorrow if i get time and if I feel confident enough! At least if i bugger it up, I might get a new one for xmas!

Hell, I wouldn't do it myself! I'd take it to someone who knows what they are doing.

Apparently (according to MarreZ) it's possible to remove the lite-on drive, replace the keys and install a samsung or other flashable compatable drive.

This looks like my best option.

Well, I finally got the time to flash my Sammy drive and it looks like it has worked.

It still plays the original games. I just need to *cough cough* rip my games as backups and try them.

Ive just noticed the headers on this post. Just to point out that you dont actually flash the hard drive. You flash the DVD drive!

Pardon my stupidity but what does flashing exactly do

Lets you play copies. You are at risk of getting banned though, they generally do it in waves a couple of times a year.

Spot on, cheers

I tried a copied game (am i allowed to say that on here! ) in my xbox360 today and it worked. Looks like the flash on my sammy worked.

My work collegue also flashed his Hitachi and that worked as well.

From what I have learned, I think the way you burn the games depends on whether or not you can be detected and banned. If you burn it "The Stealth Way" then there is alot less chance of being caught.

You basically flash your DVD drive so it uses different firmware, as marrez says plays copied games. Be sure to keep a copy of your original firmware though if your thinking of doing it. This is so you can flash it back if you need to.