Internal Hard Drive Problems, Seriously.. wtf!??! Options

[sicknasty413]

Alright guys,

So I've been attempting to internalize an HDD for a while now.. and it's prove to be quite impossible. And you know what? You really wouldn't think so. Well, at least I didn't.

So the HDD I'm trying to internalize works fine in my Elite (my Elite is not the 360 I'm modding). But when I test it in the 360 I am modding.. it gives me some sporadic errors. Sometime I get an E67. Sometimes I get an E68. And most recently, I get the 360 to somewhat recognize the HDD. I go to the System Blade.. and go to the Memory Devices page. And wallah! My HDD is listed! But all it says is unformatted-


Then when I click on it, I get this-


When I attempt to format it.. the formating starts.. the bar finishes.. then it just takes me back to the Memory Devices page with the HDD listed as "Unformatted."
Here's a video- Link

In terms of troubleshooting, I've tried-
Note- All tests done without DVD drive
1- Placing the HDD in my Elite.. works fine
2- Placing the HDD into the stock port (on the modded 360).. doesn't work (Error E67)
3- Placing my Elite's HDD in the modded 360's stock port.. doesn't work (Error E68)*
4- Switched SATA cables
5- Retouched all solder points

*Got an E70 error once.. That's not even listed in the error codes! (at least llamma.com's)

Here are some pictures I took. Don't let the pictures deceive you, no wires on touching each other or grounding against something... well.. maybe..
(The 2 white wires are for power for the HDD)





My testing facility (lol)-



I wanted to make sure none of the wires would ground against anything.. which is why it's upside down.

And yes, I know I suck at soldering.

So yeah, any help would be fantastic.

Thanks.

[101499]

try desoldering every wire. then plug it in in the stock connector. i had a trouble with this. when my hdd was connected to the stock connector and the cable was soldered in, it gave me an error. but when i removed whe soldered sata cable it was fine. try that out.

and iv never seen the reformat thing. does that meen that you can connect a sata drive and format it to the 360?

[RDC]

For real man, remove all that, it's bad. It should look more like this...



...and that's just something I did quick one day to see what all the 'hub-bub' was about doing it, it's still a bit crappy looking in my book.

You need to get your HDD power wire over on pin 13, 12 or 11 also, pin 14 is the HDD 5v standby power and it looks like you have 14 and 13 shorted as well, not good.

Use one of the bigger ground lugs there for the HDD ground also, it'll keep that wire away from the others and any possible shorts it could cause.

This post has been edited by RDC: Aug 12 2007, 07:44 PM

[sicknasty413]

Well it's cheating if you use flux, a good iron, and good solder.

lol.

I'll rip it apart and just try soldering the SATA cable directly.

And pin 13 and 14 aren't shorting. I'm getting power from pin 13.. and grounding at pin 8.

[RDC]

Didn't use flux, that on the board there is from the solder and would be cleaned up afterwards if I were actually doing the thing for real. It's the same 60/40 Rosin core solder that you can get pretty much anywhere, and my soldering iron is right around your age, so I guess that means I cheated with skill. We're the worst.

[sicknasty413]

haha..

RDC.. IT FRIGGIN WORKS!!!!!

This is what I did-
1- Desoldered the wires from the points
2- Desoldered the wires from the SATA cable
3- Prepped the points and SATA cable wires
4- Soldered the SATA cable directly to the points
5- Cut and stripped the "power" wires
6- Soldered the "power" wires


(Yes, I went a little overboard with the solder.. lol)

ballin!

This was the last thing that I had to do before I put the 360 back together.. expect a thread on it within a few hours!

Thanks to all!

[101499]

cool, glad it worked for you.

on the reformating side though, can you format any drive?

[sicknasty413]

^

Throwing in any ol' 2.5in HDD in a 360 will not work. The HDD must be "signed" by MS (as in, it must be MS certified). However, there is an application that will let you modify a certain Western Digital 2.5in HDD to work with a 360. I don't know much about it.. but I'm positive there is tons of info about it on the forums. I recall plenty of front page news on it.

[abioqaas]

haha..

RDC.. IT FRIGGIN WORKS!!!!!

This is what I did-
1- Desoldered the wires from the points
2- Desoldered the wires from the SATA cable
3- Prepped the points and SATA cable wires
4- Soldered the SATA cable directly to the points
5- Cut and stripped the "power" wires
6- Soldered the "power" wires

(Yes, I went a little overboard with the solder.. lol)

ballin!

This was the last thing that I had to do before I put the 360 back together.. expect a thread on it within a few hours!

Thanks to all!

No offense, but that still looks like you are asking for trouble. You've peeled the wires wayyy too much and by the looks of it any one of those wires could cause a short by touching the small smt capacitors below them.

My advice:

- peel the wires for only a short enough distance to be able to solder
- use less solder
- don't keep the soldering iron on the wire too long as the insulator start to melt -> your wires become exposed more than you wanted

This post has been edited by RDC: Aug 13 2007, 10:48 AM

[sicknasty413]

^ thanks for the tips.

I already put electrical tape underneath the wires to keep from grounding on the SMT capacitors. Then I hot glued it all so it's nice and covered



This post has been edited by sicknasty413: Aug 12 2007, 10:04 PM

[abioqaas]

^ thanks for the tips.

I already put electrical tape underneath the wires to keep from grounding on the SMT capacitors. Then I hot glued it all so it's nice and covered

Looks better now. I think you will not run into problems with that. Anyhow, in the future try to be more careful with soldering, practice makes perfect

This post has been edited by RDC: Aug 13 2007, 10:47 AM

[alpha_prime]

I tried the same today, but i got an E69 error. I rechecked my connections and they seem alright. Could my hard disc be dead?

[RDC]

I tried the same today, but i got an E69 error. I rechecked my connections and they seem alright. Could my hard disc be dead?

Does it work if you hook it up properly with the real connector and you're Internal SATA cable removed? Have another 360 to try the HDD on or another HDD to try out on your setup?