Hacking the Xbox

by Huang, Andrew Bunnie

• ISBN13: 9781593270292
• ISBN10: 1593270291
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-01
• Publisher: No Starch Pr

Summary

Microsoft has sold over 8 million units of its Xbox game system. The Xbox itself is essentially a desktop PC and it can be used as one, for a fraction of the cost, once modified. When hacking the Xbox, the reader takes it apart to determine how it works (reverse engineers it), and can then modify it and put it to a different use. Many people believe that reverse engineering is a protected right, but the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes certain types of reverse engineering illegal, hence the controversy surrounding this book. We are confident there is nothing illegal in this book, and this will ultimately be an issue of free speech and First Amendment rights, which will add to the book's visibility.

Table of Contents

Prologue - Readme.1st	1	(1)
The Video Game Console Market	2	(2)
About Hackers and Hacking	4	(11)
The Politics of Hacking	7	(4)
The People Behind the Hacks	11	(4)
Voiding the Warranty	15	(16)
Tools of the Trade	15	(7)
Tools to Open Things Up	15	(2)
Tools to Attach and Remove Components	17	(1)
Tools to Test and Diagnose	18	(2)
Tools for Design	20	(2)
Deconstructing the Xbox	22	(9)
Step 1: Safety First	22	(1)
Step 2: Remove Case Screws	22	(2)
Step 3: Remove the Top Cover	24	(1)
Step 4: Move the Disk Drives	25	(3)
Step 5: Remove the Disk Drives (Optional)	28	(1)
Reassembling the Xbox	28	(3)
Thinking Inside the Box	31	(22)
Reading a Circuit Board	32	(8)
Circuit Board Basics	32	(2)
Components	34	(5)
Test Points	39	(1)
Xbox Architecture	40	(8)
High-Level Organization	40	(2)
Functional Details	42	(1)
CPU	42	(3)
Northbridges and Southbridges	45	(1)
Ram	46	(1)
Rom	47	(1)
Odds and Ends	48	(1)
Pattern Matching	48	(5)
Comparison: Xbox Versus the PC	49	(1)
Contrast: Xbox Versus the Gamecube	50	(3)
Installing a Blue LED	53	(14)
What You'll Need	54	(1)
Removing the Xbox Front Panel	54	(4)
Removing the Front Panel Circuit Board	58	(1)
Installing the Blue LED	59	(4)
Reassembling the Front Panel	63	(2)
Debugging	65	(2)
Building a USB Adapter	67	(6)
Starting Materials	67	(2)
Strategy	69	(1)
Implementation	69	(4)
Replacing a Broken Power Supply	73	(16)
Diagnosing a Broken Power Supply	74	(2)
Replacing the Power Supply	76	(2)
Strategy	77	(1)
Procedure	78	(11)
Building the Xbox Power Cable	78	(6)
Installing the Replacement Power Supply	84	(1)
Operating with the Replacement Power Supply	85	(1)
Debugging Tips	86	(3)
The Best Xbox Game: Security Hacking	89	(12)
First Encounters with a Paranoid Design	90	(11)
To Snarf a ROM	90	(2)
An Encounter with Microsoft	92	(1)
Analyzing the ROM Contents	93	(8)
A Brief Primer on Security	101	(18)
Who Needs Security, Anyways?	101	(3)
A Brief Primer on Cryptography	104	(15)
Classes of Cryptographic Algorithms	105	(4)
Sha-1 Hash	109	(2)
Tea	111	(2)
RC4	113	(1)
RSA	114	(2)
The Rest of the Picture	116	(3)
Reverse Engineering Xbox Security	119	(18)
Extracting Secrets from Hardware	119	(12)
Eavesdropping a High Speed Bus	122	(1)
Tapping the Bus on a Budget	122	(7)
Building the Data Logger	129	(2)
Determining the Bus Order and Polarity	131	(1)
Making Sense of the Captured Data	131	(6)
Sneaking in the Back Door	137	(14)
Back Doors and Security Holes	138	(3)
Visor Jam Table Attacks	139	(1)
MIST Premature Unmap Attack	140	(1)
Microsoft Retaliates	141	(1)
Reverse Engineering v1.1 Security	142	(5)
The Threat of Back Doors	147	(4)
More Hardware Projects	151	(10)
The LPC Interface	151	(4)
LPC Interface on the Xbox	152	(1)
Using the LPC Interface	153	(2)
The Other 64 MB of SDRAM	155	(2)
Xbox VGA	157	(1)
Mass Storage Replacement	158	(3)
Developing Software for the Xbox	161	(12)
Xbox-Linux	161	(10)
Installing Xbox-Linux	162	(4)
``Project B''	166	(5)
OpenXDK	171	(2)
Caveat Hacker	173	(20)
Caveat Hacker: A Primer on Intellectual Property	175	(18)
Lee Tien
Classical Intellectual Property Law: An Overview	175	(1)
Copyright	176	(2)
Patent	178	(1)
Trade Secrets	179	(1)
The Constitutional Copyright Bargain	179	(1)
The Traditional View of Reverse Engineering	180	(1)
Trade Secrecy and ``Improper Means''	180	(1)
Copyright Law and the Problem of Intermediate Copying	181	(1)
Patent Law	182	(1)
New Challenges for Reverse Engineers	183	(1)
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Problem of Unauthorized Access	184	(1)
Unauthorized Access	184	(1)
Circumvention Technologies	185	(1)
Navigating the DMCA's Exemptions	185	(1)
1201(f): reverse-engineering for interoperability	186	(1)
1201(g): encryption research	187	(1)
1201(j): security research	187	(1)
End-User License Agreements and Contractual Prohibitions on Reverse-Engineering	187	(2)
Trade Secrets and the Economic Espionage Act	189	(1)
The Responsible Hacker: Ignorance Is No Defense	189	(1)
Civil and Criminal Offenses and Penalties	190	(1)
Reverse Engineering as ``The Freedom to Tinker'' and Other Legal Issues	191	(2)
Onward!	193	(14)
The Hacking Community	193	(4)
Hacking Fora	194	(1)
Making a Contribution	195	(2)
Trusted Computing	197	(9)
Taking a Step Back	199	(3)
Palladium Versus TCPA	202	(2)
Hacking the Trusted PC	204	(1)
Looking Forward	205	(1)
Concluding Thoughts	206	(1)
Appendix A - Where to Get Your Hacking Gear	207	(4)
Vendors for Hobbyists	207	(2)
Prepared Equipment Order Forms	209	(2)
Appendix B - Soldering Techniques	211	(12)
Introduction to Soldering	211	(3)
Use Flux	212	(1)
Starter Tips	213	(1)
Surface Mount Soldering	214	(9)
Technique for Simple Components	215	(1)
Technique for Complex Components	216	(3)
Technique for Removing Components	219	(4)
Appendix C - Getting into PCB Layout	223	(14)
Philosophy and Design Flow	223	(9)
Refining Your Idea	223	(1)
Schematic Capture	224	(2)
Board Layout	226	(1)
General Placement and Routing Guidelines	227	(1)
Leave Space for Via Fanouts on Surface Mount Devices	228	(1)
Decoupling Capacitors Fit Nicely Under SMD Pads	228	(1)
Know Your Special Traces	229	(2)
Circuit Boards Make Fine Heatsinks	231	(1)
Establish Preferred Routing Directions for Each Layer	231	(1)
Stack a Board with Orthogonal Layers	231	(1)
On Two-Layer Boards, Use Fingers to Bus Power	232	(1)
Hints on Using an Auto-Router	232	(1)
CAD Tools	232	(1)
Board Fabrication Companies	233	(2)
Sierra Proto Express	233	(1)
Data Circuit Systems	234	(1)
Advanced Circuits	234	(1)
Alberta Printed Circuits	234	(1)
Starter Projects	235	(2)
Appendix D - Getting Started with FPGAs	237	(10)
What Is an FPGA?	237	(2)
Designing for an FPGA	239	(8)
Project Ideas	243	(1)
Where to Buy	244	(3)
Appendix E - Debugging: Hints and Tips	247	(10)
Don't Panic!	247	(2)
Understand the System	247	(1)
Observe Symptoms	248	(1)
Common Bugs	249	(3)
Recovering from a Lifted Trace or Pad	252	(5)
Appendix F - Xbox Hardware Reference	257	(10)
Power Supply Pinout	257	(1)
Video Connector Pinout	258	(2)
USB Connector Pinout	260	(1)
Ethernet Connector Pinout	261	(1)
ATA Connector Pinout	262	(1)
DVD-ROM Power Connector	263	(1)
LPC Connector	264	(1)
Fan Connector	265	(1)
Front Panel Connector	265	(2)
Index	267