In a post dated October 8, 2026, modder Joshua Kennedy says he completed an Xbox 360 voltage-glitch project that began when he bought a Matrix CoolRunner Rev D in 2017. He used a Raspberry Pi Pico for a NAND dump and to program timing files; the CoolRunner remained the glitch chip. Kennedy’s account describes the tools and the project’s return after an unsuccessful attempt with an LPT-port programmer.
What a reset-signal glitch does
Kennedy describes briefly toggling the CPU reset signal, CPU_RESET, to make the processor execute an instruction incorrectly. The CoolRunner’s pulse is approximately 100 nanoseconds, according to his account.
Tom’s Hardware explains that researchers have used this kind of fault to reach arbitrary code execution and bypass the Xbox 360’s cryptographic checks. That security consequence describes the technique; it does not establish which applications Kennedy ran on his modified console. Tom’s Hardware’s explanation places the reset fault in the context of the console’s security.
What the Pico did—and what stayed in the setup
The Pico handled two programming tasks in Kennedy’s account, but it did not take over the CoolRunner’s role as the glitch chip.
| Task | Tool or component | Role in Kennedy’s project |
| Dump the console’s NAND | Raspberry Pi Pico running PicoFlasher | Read the console’s NAND; Kennedy says the dump took a handful of seconds. |
| Program timing files | Raspberry Pi Pico running Pico-dirtyJTAG, with urjtag | Program Octal450 timing files onto the Matrix CoolRunner Rev D. |
| Trigger the glitch | Matrix CoolRunner Rev D | Serve as the glitch chip that sends the short pulse. |
Kennedy says he installed urjtag from source for the timing-file programming. The Pico therefore served as a programmer for the NAND and timing-file tasks, while the CoolRunner remained responsible for the glitch itself.
Why timing matters
Kennedy attributes an effective timing resolution of approximately 7.5 nanoseconds to the Pico’s PIO blocks running at 133 MHz. He also describes the CoolRunner pulse as approximately 100 nanoseconds. These figures refer to different parts of the setup: the Pico’s stated timing resolution and the glitch chip’s pulse duration. Kennedy’s account gives both figures and says his NAND dump took a handful of seconds.
Timing files are intended to trigger the glitch at suitable moments. Tom’s Hardware reports that the timing window varies among Xbox 360 hardware revisions, making revision-specific timing an important part of the technique.
