Opened A Xbox To Find A Hitachi-lg Dvdrom, **MERGED TOPICS** Options

[LenteSubigo]

I just want to say this again.

WARNING, ONCE THE DRIVE IS FLASHED WITH 8050L FIRMWARE IT MAY BE DIFFICULT TO REFLASH IT WITH 8163B FIRMWARE!

I have received a few pm's asking if/how you can reflash 8163b firmware back onto the drive.

Here is the answer.
you can find the firmware at:
http://tdb.rpc1.org/

But, the flasher has not worked for anyone that I know of.

The only sure way I know to reflash the drive back to 8163b is through the use of an external piece of hardware that connects to the firmware chip. This external hardware costs alot more than another 8163b drive. So, don't flash your drive to a 8050l, unless you are either sure you want an 8050l or, don't care if your 8163b becomes toast.

[Skaaz]

I recieved one today, flashed it with the firmware and tested the drive on my 1.0/160gb/thomson xbox. Works fine, reads originals but when I copy a file to my hd its the same speed my thomson drive reads.

Is this speed limited in the firmware?

[JEB-101]

I recieved one today, flashed it with the firmware and tested the drive on my 1.0/160gb/thomson xbox. Works fine, reads originals but when I copy a file to my hd its the same speed my thomson drive reads.

Is this speed limited in the firmware?

yes. the firmware determines evrything really.

This post has been edited by JEB-101: Mar 24 2005, 10:07 PM

[Stilly82]

Excuse me, i am italian, i want to know 1 thing, there is a guide for mount this drive in the xobx without use the original drive too???
wich component i must use for this operation??
Which wire i must solder into the 8163?
THANKS A LOT!!!!

[menelik]

hey folks,

i'm trying to find the most important spots on the gdr-8163b for a mod without any addons but its somehow difficult as i dont have the original lg xbox drive. i've read all pages but didnt find anyone who just followed the ready signal to the panasonic chip or to any other equivalent spot which can be used on the 8163b.
so i please everyone with a multimeter and a orig. xbox lg, spot the ready point.
from my point of view this is the first step which has to be done before talking about any ics, opamps etc.

[Stilly82]

hey folks,

i'm trying to find the most important spots on the gdr-8163b for a mod without any addons but its somehow difficult as i dont have the original lg xbox drive. i've read all pages but didnt find anyone who just followed the ready signal to the panasonic chip or to any other equivalent spot which can be used on the 8163b.
so i please everyone with a multimeter and a orig. xbox lg, spot the ready point.
from my point of view this is the first step which has to be done before talking about any ics, opamps etc.

PLEASE, DO THIS FOR THE XBOX-SCENE COMMUNITY, IS IMPORTANT, AN EXCELLENT DVD DRIVE FOR XBOX AT ONLY 25€ IS NOT BAD!!!!
NOW I'M GOING TO ORDER AN LG 8163 BLACK BULK

[menelik]

@stilly82

the main mod is allready done as you can flash the drive. you will be able to read originals with it but its 'dirty' because you cant get discs recognised which arent inserted at boot for example. i really dont understand why nobody has done a deeper analysis with the orignal drive.

[Stilly82]

@stilly82

the main mod is allready done as you can flash the drive. you will be able to read originals with it but its 'dirty' because you cant get discs recognised which arent inserted at boot for example. i really dont understand why nobody has done a deeper analysis with the orignal drive.

Exactly,i know!why anybody don't analize that drive for the community??? I don't understand nothig of electronic!!!
i also know that there is a firmware flasher for that drive (8050L)!!!!
THANKS MENELIK!!!

[Mastershredder]

If anyone's interested, Newegg has the drives back in stock

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc....-136-050&depa=0

I'm not sure if I should get one now or hold off. I'm not too fond of the wire mess with that op amp hanging out..

[maximilian0017]

i'm trying to find the most important spots on the gdr-8163b for a mod without any addons but its somehow difficult as i dont have the original lg xbox drive. i've read all pages but didnt find anyone who just followed the ready signal to the panasonic chip or to any other equivalent spot which can be used on the 8163b.
so i please everyone with a multimeter and a orig. xbox lg, spot the ready point.
from my point of view this is the first step which has to be done before talking about any ics, opamps etc.

Those points probably don't exist because the electronics on the pcb are different, otherwise they would be found already, there's more electronics on that pcb than that Panasonic chip.

Most of the people that are actively designing a mod have something working, only the Ready signal doesn't work.

Exactly,i know!why anybody don't analize that drive for the community??? I don't understand nothig of electronic!!! 
i also know that there is a firmware flasher for that drive (8050L)!!!!
THANKS MENELIK!!!

Please people read all the post in this thread before making a post yourself, the people in this forum made that flasher and we are analyzing the LG drive, it just isn't that simple, and Micysoft didn't intend it to be easy.

Try to keep this thread clean by giving useful info so any newcomers can easely read whats going on.

And if anyone has some news they will post it because we all wan't this drive to work.

Wenid man, your work here will be missed, hope you will recall your decision at some later time.

[menelik]

@maximilian0017

as i have no origjnal drive i cant give any proof but first of all:
the main chipset is the same, if it wouldnt the firmware wont work. and yes you are right when you say that the layout is different. all i can say is that the ready signal comes out of the panasonic chip. the problem is that the panasonic might miss other inputs to give the ready output. anyway, the first step is to take find the ready output on the panasonic. the ready signal from the drive to the mobo is only bridged with a resistor so that there might be a good chance to retrace the signal.

and yeah, a datasheet of that chip would make things easier, but i couldnt find it.

[menelik]

btw, i got the same opinion like tiros on #444

we should try that before we start using external chips.

[Tiros]

Those points probably don't exist because the electronics on the pcb are different, otherwise they would be found already, there's more electronics on that pcb than that Panasonic chip.

Most of the people that are actively designing a mod have something working, only the Ready signal doesn't work.

Try to keep this thread clean by giving useful info so any newcomers can easely read whats going on.

Wenid man, your work here will be missed, hope you will recall your decision at some later time.

Max,
It is still not right.
If you are happy with it like it is, move along like your pal wenid.
Menliks info is usefull, if it helps figure out the CORRECT hack for this unit.

Menilik,
I do not have the original drive either
It certainly makes sense to see if the mod can be done without a chip.
You are 100% correct in your analysis. The controller chip is the same. Ready may be a signal conflict after flashing, but it has to be there. The only way to tell is trace with multimeter. That is the first step.
I think the reason it is not fully investigated is that not enough people have the original drive to work with. Those that do seem to be unwilling/unable to pursue this method.

Has anyone tried the equiv. point by TrueBB in post #445?

This post has been edited by Tiros: Mar 25 2005, 06:09 PM

[menelik]

@tiros

we should give that idea a try, its just a try which has to be made. im also happy to see that we all have the same aim. the past flaming topics werent really productive for this.

im afraid that it isnt as easy as it sounds within the ready signal coming from the panasonic chip. the problem is that we dont have a datasheet of it which makes things really difficult. no one knows if the ready signal comes from xy inputs to the panasonic and result into one output signal. its not sure that the circuit of the whole ready circuit is done on the pc drive but the most important is that if the chipset is the same it has to be possible. the worst case might be we gotta make too many retracing. but once again, its the first step which has to be made. im really sorry that i dont own a lg, i'd enjoy on trying to find the points.
but i want lazy too:

i've checked the whole right side of the panasonic and about 50 other points on the mobo to find the ready signal but i couldnt find it. i also tried the point in #445 but they all ended in a static init or a annoying 'unknown'.

im afraid that we have to go on by trial and error. we may need to make a complete difference-sheet on both drives.

at last i have a question left.

the most important points are trayin, trayout and ready. the drive works without any soldering and just the firmware flash but only at boot time i believe. media inserted after the boot procedure arent checked because the mobo doesnt know to check. why? because it needs a signal to trayout and trayin and at the end a signal from ready. but: isnt the ready signal enough for this? they only difference should be that the box doesnt know that the drive is closed or not. you might be right when you say that the box needs to know that the tray is closed to start next procedures but cant we just set trayout on high - so let the box think the tray is always cloesed? when a media is inserted the ready signal should push the box to check what type of media.

what i did so far may be really flawed, it was the only solution without external chips so far:
when the tray is out trayin got a high and when its inside trayout got a high (trayin low). what i did was to just use the hfm signal for trayout. i know its dirty but isnt it enough when the box knows that the tray is in when it has a media inserted? is the trayout on high really a must without a media? moreover i took ldout (or ldin, they seem to be the same signal, dunno) for trayin which means that when the tray is out the box should know that because ldout gives a high to trayin.

since i cant find the damn ready signal i cant proof if that will work or not.

a note to tiros:
i dont care that the drive closes itself if opened and i push the power off button, its dirty i know, i will take a look on such things when the major mod is done

and please dont start flaming on me, the whole topic may be bogus, i even dont have the original drive here so it would be absolutely stupid to say that it works

[Tiros]

Even though I think that a chip will not be necessary in the end, the following tells you how to wire up the 74HCT04 instead of the OpAmp.

Jumper #4 to #5
Ground #7,#9,#11,#13
+5Volts #14.

The signal needing inversion will enter(from drive) on #1 and exit(to xbox) on #2.
The signal only needing buffering will enter on #3, and exit on #6


If you would like to experiment with "ready" you should only need to buffer and not invert. So:
Remove ground from #9, #11
Connect #8 to #11
Now ready will enter(from drive) on #9, and exits on #12 (to xbox)

I hope this is clear enough.
Maybe someone else can clean it up.