Flash

From Free60 Project

Table of contents

1 Flash memory 1.1 Sectors 2 Small flash chip close to CPU 3 Small flash chip on front panel

Flash memory

It is believed the flash memory stores the Dash and other "Upgradeable" pieces of 360 Software.

The HYNIX HY27US08281A series is a 16Mx8bit with spare 4M bit capacity.

Datasheet of it: http://www.hynix.com/datasheet/pdf/flash/HY27US(08_16)281A%20Series(Rev0.6).pdf

SMT socket that should work if you choose to remove yours: http://www.emulation.com/cgi-cfm/insert_quantity.cfm?part_number=S%2DTSO%2DSM%2D048%2DA,

Attached to southbridge

Sectors

• 1 copyright notice, zeros, unencrypted numbers
• 2 encrypted data

@2MB filesystem, unencrypted, but content encrypted, config not

Small flash chip close to CPU

Some 360's also have a small flash chip near the CPU, as seen in these pictures:

• 1stgame article (http://xbox360.1stgame.nl/13.html) (a developer unit)
• informit.com article (http://www.informit.com/content/images/art_fogie_xbox360/elementLinks/fogie_fig09.jpg)
• independent photo (http://images.batlogic.com/albums/c60/mmattsson/xbox360/PDR_0033.jpg)
• Anandtech article (http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/system/microsoft/xbox360/mb.jpg)

Not all boxes do have this chip. It does not seem to be core/premium related.

Here is a picture of a premium box without the chip:

• [1] (http://www.darkmoon.org/images/x360Pro_noeeprom.jpg)

Here is a high-res picture of a premium box with the chip:

• [2] (http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/motherboard/eeprom.jpg)

As discussed in this article (http://www.xboxhacker.net/forums/index.php?topic=11.msg309#msg309) on the xboxhacker.net forums, this appears to be a Atmel 25020 EEPROM. The chip from the xbox360.1stgame.nl article reads:

ATMEL524
25020AN
SU18

Datasheet can be found here:

• http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc3348.pdf

This chip is a low power 2048 bit serial EEPROM according to the datasheet.

• If the small chip near the cpu is removed the xbox will boot up and function just fine [Darkmoon 360 experiments (http://www.darkmoon.org/xbox360_photos.htm)]

• According to IBM the CPU has "an interface for a serial EEPROM in case patch logic configuration was needed during bring-up".

Small flash chip on front panel

There is another Atmel (http://www.atmel.com) chip on the front panel:

This chip reads:

ATMEL528
24C04N
SU18

Datasheet can be found here:

• http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc0180.pdf

This chip is a low power 4096 bit serial EEPROM according to the datasheet.

This hardware-related article is a stub. You can help the Free60 project by expanding it (http://www.free60.org/w/index.php?title=Flash&action=edit).