Weedman

Xbox360... you can't TSOP us now!

I spent alot of last night answering email, posting nasty messages at the xbox.com forums, and posting friendly messages at xbox-scene.com....
I'm very Jekyll and Hyde like that. Sort of a Yin and Yang all rolled up into an enigma wrapped in a mystery.... er.. what was I talking about?

ah yes, the TSOP. As most of you will not know (and probably care less about), the TSOP was used by Microsoft on the original Xbox (revisions 1.0 through 1.5) to store the bootstrap code. But with Revision 1.6 (and above) Microsoft decided to toss the TSOP. If you already knew this then you can have a cookie. But don't touch the chocolate chip cookies - them's mine.
The TSOP is interesting because that is how the whole "modchip" industry got it's start. The modchip effectively replaced/bypassed the on-board TSOP, with a user friendly and writable method of negating Microsoft security code.

Now the smart cookies out there will also know that you don't need a modchip to run unsigned code (ie. "homebrew and archived games") on the original Xbox. You see, the TSOP is both readable and writable.

In fact, 99% of all xbox mods that I performed never required the purchase of a modchip. I simply wrote the 3rd party bios code directly to the TSOP.

So I wasn't prepared for what I found when I cracked my Xbox360 open the other day (you did read that blog entry didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?!?) It was the TSOP. yes, the sophis-ti-ma-cated doo-wacky was back with a vengence. So I unscrewed the cap on a bottle of the finest couvoisier and spent some quality time with her.

Does the existence of a TSOP on the Xbox360's motherboard mean the same security attack will be available? Probably not. But it seems to at least be an potential opening.

heres a copy: http://pages.videotron.com/kyrana/img/HY27US(08_16)281A.Series(Rev0.6).pdf

disclaimer:
-----------
now, if anyone from Microsoft or Xbox or some big law firm is reading this, you can rest assured that I would never do something like dump the binary contents of the TSOP to disk for analysis. Honest. well, at least not today.

it's late/early. I'm off to bed.

also note: this blog post may or may not contain quotes and catch-phrases from SNL's Ladies Man, The Family Guy, Jack Black, Homer Simpson and Cable Guy. Please don't sue me. I have no money.

thanks to : http://softlife.blogspot.com/