Official Xbox 360? Thread...Part Deux

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deepred98

Golden Member
Sep 3, 2005
1,246
0
0
Originally posted by: EKKC
Originally posted by: AdamSnow
Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life
This update scares me more than anything.

Must be a Hitachi drive owner eh? ;)

hitachi here. i have to hold out on the update. or go back to original firmware first. :(

what's wrong with the hitachi drive?

my 360 has one but i haven't modded it or done anything to the firmware so do i need to worry about the update bricking my drive? or is that problem only with firmware flashes?
 

EKKC

Diamond Member
May 31, 2005
5,895
0
0
Originally posted by: deepred98
Originally posted by: EKKC
Originally posted by: AdamSnow
Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life
This update scares me more than anything.

Must be a Hitachi drive owner eh? ;)

hitachi here. i have to hold out on the update. or go back to original firmware first. :(

what's wrong with the hitachi drive?

my 360 has one but i haven't modded it or done anything to the firmware so do i need to worry about the update bricking my drive? or is that problem only with firmware flashes?

no flash. no worry.
if you flash. worry.

basically the samsung drives have a new xtreme fw update that defeats MS's new disc jitter check. hitachi firmware to follow soon but still not out yet.

although it's being reported that the new disc jitter check included with the spring update, some people bravely updated without the counter-firmware and reported to be okay and not banned. however microsoft may just activate this check next week when halo3 beta goes live and anyone loading in a backup of crackdown will be promptly banned forever from XBL. it's all speculation right now, but we'll find out soon enough.

 

deepred98

Golden Member
Sep 3, 2005
1,246
0
0
Originally posted by: EKKC


no flash. no worry.
if you flash. worry.

basically the samsung drives have a new xtreme fw update that defeats MS's new disc jitter check. hitachi firmware to follow soon but still not out yet.

although it's being reported that the new disc jitter check included with the spring update, some people bravely updated without the counter-firmware and reported to be okay and not banned. however microsoft may just activate this check next week when halo3 beta goes live and anyone loading in a backup of crackdown will be promptly banned forever from XBL. it's all speculation right now, but we'll find out soon enough.

thanks thats what i figured

it seems like flashing is really risky so why don't people just solder in chips like on the old xbox
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,726
45
91
Originally posted by: EKKC
Originally posted by: deepred98
Originally posted by: EKKC
Originally posted by: AdamSnow
Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life
This update scares me more than anything.

Must be a Hitachi drive owner eh? ;)

hitachi here. i have to hold out on the update. or go back to original firmware first. :(

what's wrong with the hitachi drive?

my 360 has one but i haven't modded it or done anything to the firmware so do i need to worry about the update bricking my drive? or is that problem only with firmware flashes?

no flash. no worry.
if you flash. worry.

basically the samsung drives have a new xtreme fw update that defeats MS's new disc jitter check. hitachi firmware to follow soon but still not out yet.

although it's being reported that the new disc jitter check included with the spring update, some people bravely updated without the counter-firmware and reported to be okay and not banned. however microsoft may just activate this check next week when halo3 beta goes live and anyone loading in a backup of crackdown will be promptly banned forever from XBL. it's all speculation right now, but we'll find out soon enough.

from what i have read from the sources, the new hitachi firmware is available
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,726
45
91
Originally posted by: deepred98
Originally posted by: EKKC


no flash. no worry.
if you flash. worry.

basically the samsung drives have a new xtreme fw update that defeats MS's new disc jitter check. hitachi firmware to follow soon but still not out yet.

although it's being reported that the new disc jitter check included with the spring update, some people bravely updated without the counter-firmware and reported to be okay and not banned. however microsoft may just activate this check next week when halo3 beta goes live and anyone loading in a backup of crackdown will be promptly banned forever from XBL. it's all speculation right now, but we'll find out soon enough.

thanks thats what i figured

it seems like flashing is really risky so why don't people just solder in chips like on the old xbox

because flashing is not risky, it is just as easy as flashing a bios or another drive's firmware. with certain optical drives in the 360 you may have to follow a certain protocol, but it is not hard at all. in fact it will take you longer to get the thing apart than to flash :)
 

EKKC

Diamond Member
May 31, 2005
5,895
0
0
bob4432: hitachi firmware is coming out. AFAIK it is still unreleased but will be available very soon (as in this week i think?)
deepred98: flashing is not risky. soldering is riskier. i killed an XBOX1 during soldering. for 360, i did mess up my friend's hitachi drive but was able to buy a replacement for 70 bucks. so i think this is a lot better than the old ways of soldering

although, i love homebrews more than the ability to run backups. i still have 2 XBOX's running XBMC serving as my media center for me and the gf's home and my parents as well. we all love it. in fact i bought one more used XBOX just so i have a backup in case they crap out.

the day 360 gets homebrew and (omg) 1080p XBMC, I would buy another one just to run homebrews, I could care less if they ban my homebrew-running 360 from XBL.
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,726
45
91
Originally posted by: EKKC
bob4432: hitachi firmware is coming out. AFAIK it is still unreleased but will be available very soon (as in this week i think?)
deepred98: flashing is not risky. soldering is riskier. i killed an XBOX1 during soldering. for 360, i did mess up my friend's hitachi drive but was able to buy a replacement for 70 bucks. so i think this is a lot better than the old ways of soldering

although, i love homebrews more than the ability to run backups. i still have 2 XBOX's running XBMC serving as my media center for me and the gf's home and my parents as well. we all love it. in fact i bought one more used XBOX just so i have a backup in case they crap out.

the day 360 gets homebrew and (omg) 1080p XBMC, I would buy another one just to run homebrews, I could care less if they ban my homebrew-running 360 from XBL.

my bad, with all the talk going on i mis-read a few posts. i did re-read some and the hitachi one is supposedly out in 24hrs....we will see i guess.
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,726
45
91
Originally posted by: raystorm
I downloaded the dashboard update. Seems nice and played a bit of double dragon (garbage) and then played some Earth Defense Force. All of a sudden my 360 froze and the graphics were all glitched out. wow I think my second 360 just got bricked.


I don't know what to say especially since I have no warranty (totally forgot to pay for it). So thats two 360's now that died. I don't care what anyone says.. the Xbox 360 is the most unreliable piece of garbage EVER. Since I have no warranty it looks like I may just have to search for that "do it yourself" fix that is roaming around the net.


edit: This issue is the same glitchy video problem I had with my first 360. Like my first 360 I never got one "red rings of death" so I assume the freeze with glitchy video is a gpu thing. I know there are video fixes out there in youtube land but they are all regarding the red rings and not gpu stuff. I watched a dvd after the freeze and it worked fine. I'll play a few more games to see if my 360 is truly dead before calling MS. If I'm not covered by warranty (doubt it) then I won't pay the 130+ bucks for repair only to get another old refurbished unit. I'll just get an elite or maybe simply wait until the updated cpu/gpu's that will replace the current ones (the 65nm ones).

link to the xbracket fix...good luck :)
 

Cabages

Platinum Member
Jan 1, 2006
2,918
0
0
I guess I will set my alarm, wake up, start downloading it, sleep, wake up, then play a little before school.

I have been waiting SO long.
 

NaOH

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2006
5,015
0
0
Never had a problem with my xbox360....


just got the spring update and all I can say is WOW! to the new reference level settings for the vga cable. Movies look incredibly better on the expanded setting.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,544
6,368
126
i love the background dling thing.

i queued up forza 2 before work and turnbed my 360 off but its still dlin :)

i won't try it out until like 8pm tonight or later after zurvivor, but i'm not looking forward too much to this game anyways. i more want to see what the hype is about than aything. wasn't a big fan of forza 1.
 

bucwylde23

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2005
4,180
0
71
Originally posted by: purbeast0
i love the background dling thing.

i queued up forza 2 before work and turnbed my 360 off but its still dlin :)

i won't try it out until like 8pm tonight or later after zurvivor, but i'm not looking forward too much to this game anyways. i more want to see what the hype is about than aything. wasn't a big fan of forza 1.

Same here. I'm not really a huge fan of racing games in general. I also turned on the background downloading before I left for work :)

 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
Originally posted by: NaOH
Never had a problem with my xbox360....


just got the spring update and all I can say is WOW! to the new reference level settings for the vga cable. Movies look incredibly better on the expanded setting.

What type of TV do you have? I didn't monkey with that last night, but was interested.
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
I have to say props to MS on this update. I could care less about the IM features and whatnot, but the overall dashboard has gotten much more polished. Everything runs faster now. Blades come up more quickly. Viewing videos and XBLA/Demos is now instant. Kudos.

 

bucwylde23

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2005
4,180
0
71
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
I have to say props to MS on this update. I could care less about the IM features and whatnot, but the overall dashboard has gotten much more polished. Everything runs faster now. Blades come up more quickly. Viewing videos and XBLA/Demos is now instant. Kudos.

I got nervous on the update, because unlike other updates I got a particularly long black-screen after the update applied. It then sat for maybe 15-20 seconds on the Xbox splash screen. I thought it had froze up and died on me.

I'm glad they made a separate marketplace blade, it no longer clutters up the main blade.
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
Originally posted by: chrisg22
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
I have to say props to MS on this update. I could care less about the IM features and whatnot, but the overall dashboard has gotten much more polished. Everything runs faster now. Blades come up more quickly. Viewing videos and XBLA/Demos is now instant. Kudos.

I got nervous on the update, because unlike other updates I got a particularly long black-screen after the update applied. It then sat for maybe 15-20 seconds on the Xbox splash screen. I thought it had froze up and died on me.

I'm glad they made a separate marketplace blade, it no longer clutters up the main blade.

It was also smart of them to start you up between the Marketplace and Games blades since you are most likely to go to either one.
 

NaOH

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2006
5,015
0
0
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: NaOH
Never had a problem with my xbox360....


just got the spring update and all I can say is WOW! to the new reference level settings for the vga cable. Movies look incredibly better on the expanded setting.

What type of TV do you have? I didn't monkey with that last night, but was interested.

A Viewsonic LCD. The reference settings are supposed to be a fix for the washed out colors that the vga cable causes with HDTVs. Oh they fixed the problem alright =).
 
Oct 19, 2000
17,860
4
81
Well, I just put in a few laps on the Forza demo, and I guess it's alright. There are plenty of cars to choose from, but you really can't get a good judge of what the full game will give with only one track (and a sucky one at that). I've read on another board where people were less than impressed with the graphics, but I think it's because the particular track that Microsoft has put in the demo. It's the same track that was in the MotoGP demo, and if you remember that one, it's not a spectacular track by any means.

The cars look good, and the damage is a welcome addition. I cut across one of the s-curves and nailed another car in the side. That car's spoiler and one side mirror flew off, in addition to both my mirrors and some black curved bar from the front. Another car hit me in the side during this, and while doing a frame-by-frame advance in reply mode, you could see his fender crumple up. Nothing spectacular, but could've been with more speed involved. One thing I did like was that this happened on the first lap, and the debris remained on the side of the track through all 3 laps. Not sure what would happen if some was on the track. In another race, I nailed a car in the rear that was braking for a curve, and his taillights and band window shattered. There was a slight animation of glass flying through the air, but it would've been cool to see it land on the track.

The replay system, however, was both awesome and repulsive at the same time. When you first get in there, the amount of real-time info is staggering. All kinds of constantly changing readouts while your watching the replay. However, once you start trying to fast forward, rewind, and switch cars, it becomes a mess. Switching cars results in a very brief black loading screen (maybe a second or two at most). I imagine this is to load the data for that particular car that's on the screen. This ties into rewinding and fast forwarding. You simply hit a button, and it will jump forward or back in time, again with the 1-2 second black loading screen. It seems like the more you hit the button in succession, the farther back it will go. You have no control have far in time it will go, which sucks. In addition to this, if you have the race paused at a particular spot, and you want to view from another car's perspective, when you switch to another car, it automatically starts playing at full speed again. And you can't get over to the stop button in enough time without the race time proceeding a few seconds. Then, if you start to try and rewind to get back there, it resets your cursor back to the beginning of the line of VCR-functions, and chances are that you'll pass that moment again, resulting in frustration.

All in all, the replay feature was completely borked, IMO. The black loading screen takes away from it, and the lack of real-time, user-controlled rewind/fast-forward fuction blows. And last, but not least, has anyone else figured out how to exit the damn replay? After I was done being pissed off trying to get to certain parts of the race, I could not figure out how to get out of it. I hit every button on the controller. After that, I just didn't care to use their crappy fast-forward to get to the end of the replay, which would've taken probably 30 seconds given their crappy system.

So, can you tell that the replay pisses me off? :D

My opinions are as follows:

- Graphics look good, and I think they'll shine more with tracks with better surroundings. Car models looks good, basically on par, if not a touch better than PGR3. Damage looks good for what it is, and is a welcome addition.
- Sound is alright, but I've never been big into cars sounding like they should.
- Control feels spot-on.
- Replay system sucks.....hard.
- Menus are fast, and loading times weren't bad at all. Car selection was pretty fast as well, with hardly no time to load the car models while browsing through them (2 seconds tops).
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
I'll get the demo when I get home (how big is it anyway?) and I'll comment on how well it works with the racing wheel :D. Unfortunately, the racing wheel isn't as good if you don't have something to latch it onto. Best thing I've found were old student desks, but I threw em out when I moved.