Microsoft Makes Things Harder for 360 Modders

A pop-on modchip for the DVD drive firmware hack was possible and in the works, Microsoft fixed that by coating the firmware chip on all sides with epoxy - the pictures do the talking. The leads needed for the firmware otherwise are all over - making modchips quite hard to make.

[from xbox-scene.com]

Team Xecuter Dual Firmware Mod Update

>> In a previous news we already informed you Team Xecuter(info) was working on some new hardware products like (among other stuff) a dual-firmware mod for Xbox360 DVD drives. Here's an update from team-xecuter.com:

[QUOTE]
We had just started to finalize a nice and easy plug-n-play dual firmware mod and look what we found in our batch of TS-ODD Xbox 360's

So much for plug-n-play and a no-mess install. Pain in the ass :/
[/QUOTE]

Looks like there's some Epoxy on the firmware chip of this TS-ODD drive, so you can't easily access the legs of the firmware IC. Remove the substance (not easy at all without breaking the IC/legs, it's much harder than removing normal glue) or search for alternative points (which is easier I think, but will probably still require some harder solder work) is still an option I guess.

*Update* I knew I saved something about this on my HDD somewhere ... found it back now. Somewhere in january of 2006 Darkfly already released a pinout (alternative points) of the TS-H943 firmware chip. Here it is:

Click image to enlarge