Pre Hack Advice needed

[dmrolyat]

OK. I have a VW phatbox fitted in my Audi with (of course) latest Audi firmware.
I have a 20Gb DMS which works perfectly. Also have a spare 20Gb DMS.
If i were to use the HackCD on the spare DMS i have will i then be able to use my original DMS without having to screw around with it?
I dont have a larger HDD yet, but assuming that I can use the hack CD (just) on the spare DMS and still continue to use my original DMS then I will get a larger HDD.
Does that make sense?
ie. i want to hack the spare one and carry on using my original until i get a larger HDD....

[tgnb]

Maybe i'm missing something, but whats the point of "hacking" your phatbox if not just to allow a bigger DMS (which you dont have yet). There really are no changes made to your original DMS if i understand correctly. You only put hacked firmware on it which in turn will be loaded onto the phatbox in your car allowing it to accept bigger harddrives. Then some kind of magic signature is transferred from the original drive to the bigger drive. I'm not aware of any changes or hacks being made to the actual original DMS itself. but even so if i understand correctly you can continue to use your original DMS in the hacked phatbox. And probably also the other DMS (the one you didnt use to patch the box). If i misstated anything will those who know better please correct me

[dmrolyat]

well, that's really what i was asking.....
I know that basically hacked firmware is copied to the DMS and then installed to the PN.
What i was asking is, does this then mean that I will not be able to use my current DMS, or will the hacked firmware then allow me to use use ANY DMS?

[judb]

Any DMS.

its not really "Firmware" in the sense of phatnoise Firmware updates... they update a microcontroller that talks to your headunit.. we are patching the bootloader that is stored in flash memory on the box.

it disables / bypasses / whatever you want to think of it as... the DMS signature checking routine so that non phatnoise drives work.

[FiftyPence]

Now this may be a dumb question but couldnt you simply copy all the files from the proper DMS onto the new larger drive because it would then have the same information on it as the proper DMS.

Or is this all to  do with the signature  

[judb]

Now this may be a dumb question but couldnt you simply copy all the files from the proper DMS onto the new larger drive because it would then have the same information on it as the proper DMS.

Or is this all to  do with the signature  

I don't think that was his question.

yes you can copy the files from your DMS to the new DMS drive.. but you still have to copy over the hidden signature to the new DMS for it to work.  The Signature doesn't match the drive serial number, but the signature is still there and needed by the bootloader.

Trust me, just follow the directions and everything should work properly.

[dmrolyat]

 OK, so i run the hackcd on my spare DMS....
If i then use my standard (loaded with MP3's) DMS which has not been hacked, does this not then simply update the firmware on the PN back to the original firmware???

[judb]

No.

As I stated, the phatnoise firmware is for another chip (an 8052 microcontroller) that talks to your head unit for cd changer emulation.

We update a flash chip that the system boots off of that as far as we can tell never gets updated by phatnoise.

If you don't put a file called forceupdate in the DMS it doesnt update the firmware on the box, much less mess with our flash updates.

Its safe to use any DMS that has the correct software (for whatever head unit you have) loaded on it.

[LloydDobler]

Also, to answer your original question more directly:

No problems will occur if you hack your phatbox.  Either cartridge will still work.  

I have 2 phatboxes, both are hacked, one has an upgraded hard drive, one has the original unmodified hard drive, both carts work in either phatbox.