DIY: Use New Smartkey with 2005 Nissan Altima

They said it couldn't be done! Definitely a ghetto mod on the inside but oh so worth it on the outside!


**This is NOT for the faint hearted!**

The new Nissan/Infinity SmartKey or iKey is not compatible with older Nissan/Infinity cars . You can find switch blade FOBs on eBay but Arati really wanted the cooler looking SmartKey for her 05 Altima.

With this mod what were basically doing is taking out the guts of the old FOB, modifying it and putting it into the SmartKey's Fob housing.

I got most of my information from this post but the FOB in the post had a different circuit board so the solder points are different.


Some Caveats:
These instructions are not detailed. I'm too sleepy to type details. You need to know a bit about electronics and soldering to survive this.

There are two types of smartkey housings and there are two (maybe more) types of old fob circuit boards. But lucky you, between this post and the one above you should find your answers!

I would recommend trying this on a spare fob incase you solder through the board! I however have no patience so I started on the one and only fob that Arati has.

Before I started I tested all the contact points that I was going to use by shorting them with a wire and checking if the car responded.


Tools:
A pair of pliers and scissors help too!

The FOBs:

Why we're doing what we're doing
Since the buttons on the Smart key are spaced differently from the old fob we need to make up for this by replicating the button contact area in the right spots. The panic button is the only one we wont need to move since it lines up (almost) perfectly with the new fob.

The contact area is basically two wires (+/-). When a button is depressed the little back dot on the plastic sheet touches the two wires and completes the circuit and beep beep the car responds.

The How To:
First lay down two layers of sticky tape over the front of the circuit board to prevent any shorts.

Take strands of the 16 gauge (or similar) copper wire and put them through the holes in the front and solder at the points identified at the back. I used the sticky tape to secure the wires and to make sure they didn't touch each other or move.

The Front - poke the wires through these holes

The Back - Solder the wires at these points (if your Circuit board looks different refer to the post above)

Here is a mid-way shot. I still have to solder the lock2/unlock2 and the battery thingy.

Here is the back all done

And the front all done:

Now arrange the wires as shown.
Some things to remember:

• Cut out the tape above the Panic Button. We will be using the original button area for this button.
• Compare the button location and area against the new housing to align your wires correctly
• Be sure to cut out the tape at the contact points - these will be your SmartKey FOBs button contact area.

At this point I tested the mod by putting in the battery (taped it to hold it secure) and checking each contact area one at a time by placing a contact dot from the plastic sheet over the contact area. Might be a good idea for you to do so too!

Next was the point of no return for me coz the soldering was great for me but now I was cutting up things!
Cut up the plastic sheet with the contact dots from the old FOB and place them over the contact wires.
This is a pre-shot. I had to cut the plastics further as I tweaked it to ensure that the contact area aligned with the buttons properly.

I don't have a picture of the next part but you can check this picture out from the thread above to get an idea. I ripped out the tactile switches from the new FOB's circuit board with a pair of pliers. I laid a line of sticky tape over the contact dots and stuck the switches over the contact area. This is because the buttons on the new FOB are set in too deep and we need a filler so that the buttons can make contact with the contact dots. I stuck a rubber square for the panic button.

Aligning the contact points is the toughest part of this mod. I took me a long time to get it perfectly aligned so that the buttons respond when pressed with normal pressure.

On the housing I had to break off some bits that held the battery in place to allow for the mod's circuit board to fit. A pair of pliers will do nicely here.
The forum post suggests removing the rubber button layer so that the case can close completely. I didn't really want to do that since the FOB wont be waterproof without the rubber layer. I had to rip out all the obstructions in the housing and file down some edges of the circuit board and the surface of the housing. Do what you need to.

After all is done, close the case. I managed to close the housing almost a 100%. but you don't really notice coz you're admiring the shiny new FOB :)

Ndara iSMS Backup for iPhone

I spent an afternoon searching for a free software to backup my SMSs from my iPhone 3G and save them on my PC. There were 2 software apps that I found. One was for a Mac only and the other costs money and saves the SMSs in a propriety format.

Its been a while since I've taken up a project but making a SMS backup utility sounded like fun!.

Introducting Ndara iSMS Backup. It is currently in beta.

Ndara is free and open source. It is developed in Java to try and make it work across OSs like Linux and Mac. I've only tested it on Windows (XP and Vista) for now. But I'm feeling confident that it will work on Linux.

Ndara allows you to backup all your SMSs or choose a single contact to backup. Backup formats available are: simple text file (.txt), styled xml or the original SQLite DB (sms.db). The XML format is styled using an XSLT that makes the SMSs look pretty; similar to what they look like on the iPhone (see screenshot below). No more propriety formats. This XML backup is nice and portable.

Currently Ndara works only on the iPhone 3G. The iPhone 2G stores the sms.db in a different location. It's not too hard to make Ndara compatible with 2G. This feature is slotted for the next release.

Visit Ndara iSMS Backup here: http://code.google.com/p/ndara/

Feedback welcome..

And here are some Screenshots:

The Application

The Styled XML Backup Option

Welcome Ndara, the God of the Underworld.

Export/Import a Digital Certificate

Have a new machine and trying to Export/Import a Thawte (or any other) Certificate?

Make sure you follow these steps:
https://search.thawte.com/support/ssl-digital-certificates/index?page=content&id=SO552

Else you'll end up with errors like this along the way to Importing and Using the Exported cert:
- Windows does not have enough information to verify this certificate
- Error -2146885628 certificate installation failed
- Microsoft Outlook: Could not sign or encrypt this message because your certificate is invalid

The cause in my case was that the root certificates for the CA (Thawte in this case) were not included in the certificate when I exported it. Thats the reason windows could not verify the certificate and Outlook would not send encrypted emails. Installing Thawte's root certificates (from: http://www.thawte.com/roots/) didn't help. Reinstalling my cert from the Thawte website gave me an error too.

Thankfully, I hadn't deleted the original cert from my other laptop so I re-Exported the certificate correctly using the steps above. The important bit is labeled such in the steps:

IMPORTANT: On the Export File Format page place a tick next to the option that says: "Include all certificates in the certification path if possible". Click on Next.

Hack Attack: Remote control your torrents with uTorrent's WebUI

uTorrent: The only ONLY only reason I keep a Windows box around..

Hack Attack: Remote control your torrents with uTorrent's WebUI

The Color of Money from Around the World

See a lot more: Color + Design Blog / The Color of Money from Around the World by COLOURlovers

Wakerupper.com - Free Wake-up Calls and Telephone Reminders

(its free!!)

Use Wakerupper to...
* Set a wake-up call at a specific time
* Remind yourself of important events
* Remember to take medication on time
* Escape from a boring date or meeting
* Remind child or spouse to do chores
* Set reminders for tasks and follow-ups

Wakerupper.com - Free Wake-up Calls and Telephone Reminders

Web OS: The virtual OSes

Ever heard of a WebOS?!! Well neither had I. Here's a quick look at a few.
Taken from: franticindustries.com

A Web OS is a virtual operating system that runs in your web browser

1. Craythur

Craythur is a completely new WebOS that puts big emphasis on looks, and it does that part really well, with a well chosen desktop background and transparent window borders similar to those Vista’s Aero. However, the apps themselves are more alpha than beta. For one thing, they’re mostly not translated from Spanish. They work, but nothing more than that; none of them can hold their own against any decent comparative application, web-based or otherwise. Since this is obviously an application at its very early stages, let’s just leave it at good-looking and come back in a few months to see the progress.

2. Desktoptwo

If there’s such things as “serious WebOS players”, Desktoptwo is one of them. It’s a Flash based fully featured WebOS which requires registration to try, immediately giving you your own mini-site and your own Desktoptwo email address to use. Desktoptwo is Flash-based, and while I’m not thrilled about Flash Web 2.0 applications, most of the OSes from this list work in Flash, and I must admit that some do it pretty well. Desktoptwo’s apps can be slow, and a certain amount of bugs are present (when i clicked on Message Board preferences, everything got garbled up), but not so much to ruin your experience with the service. One more thing: Desktoptwo opens in a popup, which is sure to annoy some users.

Feature-wise, Desktoptwo delivers and then some. You’ve got search, clock and sysinfo widget, a dock, MP3 player, RSS reader, Instant messenger, OpenOffice, HTML editor, notepad, and several others. Unfortunately, several of these open in popups, which somehow makes you remember you’re in Windows. Furthermore, if you close the Desktoptwo window and log in again, some of your settings are forgotten. However, your content, for example, the files you save to the desktop, or the RSS feeds you add in the very functional RSS reader are remembered over sessions, which is good. Overall, Desktoptwo does many things well, but it needs to iron out a few usability/UI issues to become a really usable WebOS.

3. EyeOS

Taking a bit of a different approach than other sites in this bunch, EyeOS offers you to download the EyeOS server files and install them on your on web server to use as you please. You can also try out a demo which is hosted on the free public server eyeos.info, which also provides free accounts of eyeOS to everyone who wants to use it without owning a private server. The public server is funded through donations, and there’s still quite a way to go, so if you like EyeOS, go ahead and help them.

EyeOS itself is functional, not too buggy, but a bit slow and a bit bland. You have your standard calendar, calculator, address book, RSS reader, simple word processor, file uploader and a few others, but they have pretty limited functionality, and they all look more like test apps than something you’d really use in day to day work. Furthermore, some of the options simply do not work, for example changing the wallpaper.

Although EyeOS seems to be an ambitious project, it doesn’t offer much more than, for example, Craythur. It looks nice, it works, but its apps aren’t interesting enough to actually use it for any serious work.

more...

BBC - History - Timelines - British Timeline

BBC - History - Timelines - British Timeline
An interactive British History timeline! A BBC Presentation

Three Programming Errors Most Frequently Responsible For Critical Security Vulnerabilities and Security Incidents

Error 1. Accepting input from users without validating and sanitizing the input
Error 2. Allowing data placed in buffers to exceed the length of the buffer
Error 3. Handling Integers Incorrectly

Taken from: http://www.sans-ssi.org/top_three.pdf (application/pdf Object)

New toy, new hacks! I void warranties...

When I bought my Mazda 3 I was pretty upset that it didn't come with the cool switch blade like key that the Mazda 6 has. But 3 months later and I'm getting myself one!


A few clicks and apparently its possible to use the Mazda 6 key fob and program it to work with a Mazda 3.

My dealer however sounded like I said i was going to drive my Mazda to the moon when I said I just wanted a 'quote' for the Mazda 6 key & remote parts and not installation/programing since I was going to program the key myself. "you'll program the key...... yourself???!!!!" Goes to show - some people are really ignorant or greedy gumps..

So, instead I got in touch with a DIY friendly dealer in Toronto and he shipped me the key and remote.

Part Numbers:
G2YA-76-2GXB - Flip Key ($37.93)
GP7A-67-5RYB - Remote ($25.50)

My dealer was charging 50.57 (key) & 34.00 (remote) , I guess thats the non-discount price.

A little Info:

Cutting the Key: To make a copy of your key you could take it to any key cutting place to get a copy. Or you could give the Mazda dealer either your VIN number or the Key number (that you find on that little plate on your key ring when u got the car). However, this key will be able to ONLY open doors UNTIL you program the transponder inside the key.

Programing The Key: Inside the key (the grip part) there is a transponder that the car is programed to recognise. The car had a device that, on ignition, reads the transponder in the key to validate the key (So that no one can just borrow your keys and make a copy.) If a valid key is detected then the car will start. Else the car starts and dies.

The Remote: The remote is the unlock/lock fob part of the key.

Mazda 3: Program a Flip Key

Taken from: TM3

Programming the key

Items needed:

• 2 pre-programmed transponder keys.
  
• 1 new transponder key
  

The timing is critical to this procedure, please read through the entire procedure before attempting.

Procedure:

1. Insert one of the pre-programmed transponder keys and turn the ignition to "on", leave on for at least one second (wait until the red key symbol in the instrument cluster extiinguishes), remove the key from the ignition.
   
   
2. Within 5 seconds insert the second pre-programmed key and turn the ignition to "on" for at least one second but no more than 5 seconds (use the key symbol for this as well) then remove the second key.
   
   
3. within 10 seconds insert the new key in the ignition and turn the ignition to "on", if you are successful the red key symbol will illuminate then extinguish after about a second.
   

If you are not successful the red key symbol will flash repeatedly to indicate that you have inserted an invalid key. Remove the key, wait a minute and try it again, it takes a few times to get it perfect.

Programming the Remote

Have all the remotes that you are going to be using, maximum of 3, with you when you do this programming as all of them have to be reprogrammed into memory.

1. Open driver side door and leave open.
   
   
2. Lock and Unlock the drivers door using the power door lock switch on the door
   
   
3. Insert key into the ignition.
   
   
4. Turn Key to ON position and return to Lock (off) position. Do this 3 times within 10 seconds. LEAVE key in the ignition in Lock (off) position.
   
   
5. Close and open the drivers door 3 times. Leave door open after this step
   
   
6. ECU should respond by locking and unlocking the doors once.
   
   
7. Press any button on remote #1 twice. ECU responds by locking and unlocking the car doors.
   
   
8. Additional remotes, repeat Step 7 for up to 3 remotes total.
   
   
9. Remove the key from the ignition and the ECU will respond a final time with a series (about 4) of door locks and unlocks. You're done!
   

iPhone: Transferring Contacts

The iPhone isn't designed to pick up contacts from your SIM so heres a work around to get your contacts transfered from SIM to iPhone.

The basic idea is to get your contacts synced with Outlook. Once they are in Outlook then iTunes will pick them and sync them with the iPhone.

The phone that rT was using before the iPhone, was my old Nokia 6620. So I installed the Nokia PC Suite. I put her SIM into the Nokia phone, copied all the contact to the SIM and synced the phone with Outlook using the PC Suite.

After cleaning up the contacts a bit, I used iTunes to sync the contacts with the iPhone.

Some thing that bugs me about Outlook is that it files the contacts as 'Lastname, Firstname'. Although it allows you to file contacts as 'Firstname Lastname' it wont change the existing contacts to that format. So I got a little script (macro) to refile existing contacts as 'Firstname Lastname' :)

Private Sub ReFileContacts()
Dim items As items, item As ContactItem, folder As MAPIFolder
Dim contactItems As Outlook.items
Dim itemContact As Outlook.ContactItem

Set folder = Session.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts)
Set items = folder.items
Count = items.Count
If Count = 0 Then
MsgBox "Nothing to do!"
Exit Sub
End If

'Filter on the message class to obtain only contact items in the folder
Set contactItems = items.Restrict("[MessageClass]='IPM.Contact'")

For Each itemContact In contactItems
itemContact.fileas = itemContact.FirstName + " " + itemContact.LastName
itemContact.Save
Next

MsgBox "Your contacts have been re-filed."
End Sub


Unfortunately, I had already synced the contacts on the iPhone and I didn't have to patience to sit and go through each one and delete them. So... here is a quick way to delete all your iPhone Contacts at once.
- create 2 empty text files on your desktop and rename them to: AddressBookImages.sqlitedb and AddressBook.sqlitedb
- copy/overwrite these empty files into "/var/root/Library/AddressBook" folder, using WinSCP (SSH client)
- this will empty your contacts list, since all contacts are stored in those two files. (This wont take effect untill you restart your Iphone)

Once done.. re-sync!

iPhone and Rogers: EDGE Settings

After the unlock/activation the obvious calling and SMS works. The voicemail button dials the Rogers Voicemail number. But there is no Visual Voicemail (obviously) and there is no new voicemail notification.

I haven't tried to use the EDGE internet access coz rT is afraid of getting monster Data usage bills but if anyone want to heres how:

Setup the carrier’s specific APN server, username and password in the appropriate fields under Settings–>General–>Network–>EDGE. For Rogers, these are:

APN: internet.com
Username: wapuser1
Password: wap

iPhone: Breaking the Chains

Unlocking iPhone

Although people use the term 'Unlock' there are three parts to unlocking your iPhone: Jail Breaking, Activation and Unlocking. The Guide (link below) outlines all the steps. Here is just my understanding of what happens under the hood. Its always good to undertake a through research before attempting to mod expensive stuff!!

Note: And, although the word iBrick is thrown around a lot on many forums its not the right word to use in most situations. An iBrick is a paperweight that will NEVER become an iPhone. Most people who mess up can recover their phones or wait until a way is discovered. A true iBrick is when there is NOTHING that can be done.

Pic will follow soon..

The iPhones:

Arati's: OTB 1.1.1
Randa's: OTB 1.0.2, Upgraded to 1.1.1

The Guide:

http://hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11833
http://hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12817 (Same but possibly clearer/detailed instructions)

Things To Download:

- Install iTunes (7.4) from: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
- Install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=10CC340B-F857-4A14-83F5-25634C3BF043&displaylang=en

Check the Phone Version!!:

Before you start make sure
- You have the iPhone system software 1.1.1 pre-installed OTB (out of the box)

Turn on the phone and slide to unlock the keypad. The iPhone screen should show that only emergency calls is allowed.
Enter the following key sequence: *3001#12345#* and then finish by pressing the Call button.
Tap on Versions. The firmware version of iPhone will be shown on LCD screen.

• 03.12.06_G = v 1.0.1
  
• 03.14.08_G = v 1.0.2
  
• 04.01.13_G = v 1.1.1
  

[ If you can get to the menu then check under Settings -> General -> About ]

- If you have version 1.0.2 then follow this:

Download the iPhone 1.1.1 firmware (152.3MB)
- Hold down the Power and Home buttons until you hear the disconnect tone (that is the two tone sequence indicating that a USB device has disconnected).
- Then release the power button and continue holding the home button until you hear a quick pair of connect and disconnect tones, then release the home button. Then iTunes will detect an Iphone that needs to be restored.
- Press Shift key on the computer while you click on restore. It will show you a window to select the firmware.
Select the 1.1.1 firmware file you downloaded before.
- Let it restore/upgrade. This takes a while. Be Patient

The Process: Under The Hood

JailBreak:

The iPhone system is sandboxed and doesn't allow installation of 3rd party applications or any outside code. Breaking into the iPhone and getting root access to the system is called 'JailBreaking'.


How Jailbreaking is Acheived:The Safari Mobile browser has a TIFF exploit which causes the browser to crash leaving the user with root access. (Details: http://blog.metasploit.com/2007/10/cracking-iphone-part-2.html)

If the phone had not been activated then you are not allowed to get to the menu, you are only allowed to make emergency calls. Besides that, even if we get to the browser, we need internet access to be able to deploy the exploit.

But, there are always ways around things :) The guide outlines the steps to enable wi-fi so that we can visit the website that will deploy the exploit causing Safari to crash.
Once the browser crashes we will be waiting in the wings to run TouchFree that will take advantage of the root access that the exploit left phone in. TouchFree recognises the iPhone connected to the computer the same way that iTunes does.

It's IMPORTANT to make sure that iTunes can recognise the iPhone. Once you confirm that iTunes can recognise the iPhone then kill iTunes, iTunesHelper.exe and iPodService.exe services from the task manager and then run TouchFree. With the 1.0.2 iPone upgraded to 1.1.1 I was stuck on Step 2 and I had to re-run the 1.1.1 update to get iTunes to recognise the iPhone.
After gaining root access 'TouchFree' also enables SSH and SFTP, installs AppTapp Installer, Trip1Pogostick, and an alpha version of SummerBoard. (TouchFree: http://www.slovix.com/touchfree/)

Once we have access to the phone system, we can go ahead with Unlocking and Activation. The guide does the unlocking first and then activation.

Unlock:

Thanks to TouchFree we can use Putty or WinSCP to SSH into the phone and muck around the phone system. Using SSH the SIM Unlocking program 'AnySIM 1.1' can be copied over and the run. At this point you need to ensure you have your new SIM (non-AT&T SIM) put in the phone. (How To Change SIM: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305746)
AnySim will 'unlock' the phone and allow us to use other network carries like Rogers, etc. instead of AT&T.

When the guide says CHMOD something to some number they mean: In WinSCP, right click the file > properties and enter 0755 (or the specified number) in the 'Permissions: Octal box'
[NOTE: chmod 0755 file – equivalent to u=rwx (4+2+1),go=rx (4+1 & 4+1). The 0 specifies no special modes.]

Activation:

The contract between AT&T and Apple states that the phone will be used only with that carrier. So we need to fool the phone into thinking that this SIM has been verified and activated by AT&T. We use iASign to fake an AT&T activation of the phone. We need to overwrite the public certificate on the iPhone with the one provided with iAsign and then run iASign from the Command Prompt.

Thats It!

Stay Tuned for Setting up the iPhone with Rogers settings

iPhone (Almost There)

Patience Iago

To Do:

1. Jailbreak


2. Unlock


3. Activate

A Slice of my Bookmarks: Part 1

• 3D Hair - View hairstyles in 3D
• Godulike - Irreverent look at the Faith Industry
• DVD Easter Eggs - Hidden stuff
• 12 Days of Christmas - How much does it really cost?
• Jelly Bath - Take a bath in jelly
  
• My receipts - This guy scans and posts every receipt he gets
• Old Version - Because the newer version of software is not always better
• Fontifier - Create a font of your own handwriting

Pimp Your XBOX... (once more)

Here we go again. After the successful pimping of Achal's XBOX last summer, I got an opportunity to pimp yet another XBOX... Randa's XBOX... This time around I decide to write down what I did so that when I eventually get my own XBOX I know what I did and dont waste time with research..


Preparations:

1. Buy a used xBox.. EB Games sells it for 99.99 CAD..

2. Check the Kernel and Dash version number and note it down
Start up the xbox and go to Settings and then System Info. After the scrolling text you'll see something like:

K:1.00.XXXX.01
D:1.00.YYYY.01

XXXX is the Xbox kernel version and YYYY is the Xbox dashboard version.
It is recommended to update your dashboard to MS Dash version 5960. For details check links at the bottom.

In my case they were:
K: 5838
D: 5960

3. Download Ndure from Xbins from [ftp://distribution.xbins.org/XBOX/exploits/_Packages/Kingroachs Installer/]
The server needs a password to access.
* Follow the instructions here [http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/xbins.php]
* Or instead of installing mIRC heres a quicker way,
- Go to [http://www.efnet.org/] and use the weblogin to login to #xbins.
- Type in the bottom /msg xbins !list
- Note down the username and password for the ftp site.

4. Download XBHDM v1.9 from here [http://dwl.xbox-scene.com/~xbox/xbox-scene/software/linux/xboxhdm_v1.9.zip]

5. You'll need an .iso burning software like Nero or download ISO Recorder from here: [http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/download/ISORecorderV2RC1.msi]

6. Extract XBHDM. Open up isolinux.cfg under xboxhdm/linux/isolinux with notepad and change timeout 300 to timeout 600. This will increase the timeout of XBHDM prompt allowing you 10 minutes to complete the hotswap and enter a choice.

7. Extract ndure-3.0.rar and run Ndure-3.0.exe. Here you can customise your install options. Check out the links at the bottom for more details on these options. Here is what I chose. x indicates a check mark. The missing options were not checked.

x Basic Files
x Retail Files
x Add ShadowC
+ Kernel Specific Fonts
x 5838 (choose YOUR kernel number here)
x Default boot xonlinedash console
x Add NDURE Toolset
x Create XBOXHDM Install

Hit Next and it'll ask you where to save the files. Choose /xboxhdm/linux/ (under the directory where you extracted xboxhdm_x1.9.zip)

Browse to where you extracted Xboxhdm. Under the linux folder and double-check that there is now be a folder inside called ndure.

Download the update ndure script from here: [http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6qvmn/mn/ndure] and save it under /xboxhdm/linux/ndure/ folder. This will replace the old ndure script. Make sure you named it just ndure (no extension) and not ndure.htm.

8. Now, go to the main xboxhdm folder and run make-iso-win. On completion you'll have a linux.iso in the main xboxhdm directory. Use a CD burning software to burn the linux.iso onto a CD.


The Hot-Swap:

9. Now for the hot-swap part. There are many options for hotswapping. The one I chose was the blind hotswap (no-tv-hooked). Check the links at the bottom for other options.

The basic Idea: The XBOX HDD is locked and password protected so we cant access it like we would a normal HDD. Starting the MS Dash will unlock the XBOX. We need to pull out the XBOX IDE cable from the XBOX HDD after its unlocked and connect the PC IDE cable to the now unlocked XBOX HDD.

10. XBOX Prep:
- Open the X-Box. Remove the 6 Torx screws on the bottom.
- Unplug the XBOX DVDROM IDE cable. Leave the Yellow/White power cable hooked to the DVDROM
- Leave the XBOX IDE loosely hooked to the XBOX HD so you can quickly remove it during the swap
- Ensure that the Video Molex connector is connected to the xbox (it doesnt need to be hooked to the TV, just the xbox.)


11. PC Prep:
- Start up the PC and boot up with the linux.iso CD that we burned. We should be at the XBOXHDM main menu screen which will wait 10 minutes for us.

12. Lets Hot-Swap!
- Since we are doing a hotswap in BLIND mode (No tv hooked) we can't see the Error 12 that'll come up on the screen (indicating that its a good time to unplug the IDE cable). What we need to do is disconnect the Xbox HD IDE at the exact moment that the LED goes to RED Flashing. (By EXACT, I mean pull the cable out exactly when the LED changes, watch it a few times before doing it, count!)
- Now plug in the PC IDE cable to the XBOX HDD.


13. At the xboxhdm Main Menu choose Option 1 to enter the VGA console. Then type xbrowser. When the browser comes up choose *ndure and hit enter to run it.

14. At the ndure main menu choose Option 4 to backup your C drive to E:/backup. It'll take a while, be patient.

15. Once thats done choose Option 1 at the ndure main menu to install ndure.

16. Once thats done shut off the PC and XBOX. Hook up the XBOX to the TV and you should be presented with the UnleashedX Dashboard!

We've successfully soft-modded the XBOX!!!!!!


Setting Up the XBOX Media Center

17. Download XBMC. You'll have to look for a torrent since they dont come precompiled due to legal issues. You'll only find the source code on the official website. Check out ISOHunt.com for torrents.

18. Hook up the XBOX to your network and startup the XBOX.
- In the UnleashedX dash check that the ftp server is running by going to Settings > Network.
- By default the username and password are both xbox.
- Note down the IP address of the XBOX.
- From your PC startup your FTP Client (there are tons of freeware FTP Clients if you dont have one.) and ftp into your XBOX.

19. Navigate to the E:/apps/dash folder. Copy the extracted XBMC files into this directory.

Note: The default.xbe is your dashboard file. The XBMC dash (default.xbe) in your extracted files will overwrite the existing dash. Make sure you copy the files correctly coz if you dont the XBOX might not start right without a proper dash!

20. Reboot the XBOX and voila... A Softmodded XBOX with XBOX Media Center!!!!

All done FOR FREE!!!!
Additional XBMC Setup Information:

To start streaming your media from your PC or home network it is as simple as creating network shares of your media folders on your PC. You should be able to navigate to the computers on your network using the SMB network options from within XBMC. Also, you can create shortcuts to you media folders in XBMC so you don't have to navigate through so many folders to get at all of your media.


Additional Links
For advanced options or details etc etc etc... Check out the links below:

SoftModding and Hotswap Links
How to Softmod Your Xbox Using XboxHDM (Ndure)
The Art Of Hotswapping, FAQ & Some Other Lessons.

Heres how to install XBMC:
How to Go from Xbox to Xbox Media Center in 30 minutes

Instructions with Pix:
How to softmod your xbox...for FREE