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

[masterdave]

can we get a pic of the under side of the dvd tray?

[ferrari_rulz_02]

can we get a pic of the under side of the dvd tray?

what do you want that for? theres pics of the tray around here, theyre not that hard to find

[Exobex]

There are no pics of the underside of the tray though, are there?

If he's after a pic of the underside, a topside view isn't going to do.

[HunTerror]

could somebody please clear up a nagging question for me:

If the Hitache drive has a direct hardware equivalent, we'd simply flash the xbox firmware onto the PC version, correct? With the 616T's, I seem to see people talking about hacking the firmware, but I don't see why this is neccessary, not to mention that it's a fairly involved undertaking.

thx

[Exobex]

It may not be as simple as that. Pizza Pizz tried pottering around with the Samsung SDG-605F, when a SD-616Q was flashed with the 605F firmware, it wouldn't read CDR anymore, possibly indicating that the drive REFUSES to read them, even though the hardware can handle it.

[Zod5000]

so what would happen if you flashed the 605f with 605b firmware? is that a way to get cdr support?

[HunTerror]

Now, I'm not familiar with the hardware on any of these drives, but I assume the 605f and 605b have different chips on them, which means you can't just go flashing different firmware on it, because those chips need to talk to each other somehow. But therein lies my confusion, because, same chips, same language, I don't see why firmware would need hacking, per se. But again, I'm not even 100% familiar with the copy protection scheme the xbox uses. I thought it's just a reverse-spinning drive motor.

Thx for your patience with an interested n00b.

[ferrari_rulz_02]

But again, I'm not even 100% familiar with the copy protection scheme the xbox uses.  I thought it's just a reverse-spinning drive motor.

yer it must be, otherwise y would u have to reverse the motor when moddign a sammy 616?

so why cant we just take the firmware form teh xbox drive, flash it on the pc drive, reverse the motor?
then, we just need the few point that tell the xbox if teh drives open or what, and you shoudl have a dvd drive thatll read everythign perfect.
just like the sammy 616.

[speedbump47]

As stated somewhere above, the reason you'd need to "hack" the Xbox drive firmware would be to enable some extra features, such as DVD+R reading, etc. Just because the hardware supports something, doesn't mean the firmware allows it. I know the 616T PC version can read DVD+R WITHOUT bitsetting, if you have the latest firmware. The Xbox version, being older, does NOT support this, which is why you have to properly bitset a +R in order for it to be read.

I'm sure the PC version of the Hitachi reads burned media fine, which means that the drive is physically capable of reading the media. However, if, once it is flashed, it doesn't read DVD+Rs (or any other media) anymore, then we know that the firmware is limiting it, thus it might need to be hacked.


To answer HunTerror's question about the motor spinning:

The motor reversal on the 616 isn't to reverse the spinning motor; it's to reverse the tray in/out motor. The Xbox doesn't spin the discs backwards, it reads them from the outside track -> in (instead of inner track -> out, like normal media). The tray reversal wasn't a copy protection method, just a slight difference between the way the drives were manufactured (which had to be properly addressed in the drive firmware)

For ferrari_rulz_02:

In order to take the firmware and flash it in a way that the new drive works, the new drive HAS to have the same type of chips, etc. on it. Trying to find the exact PC equivalent of the Xbox Hitachi is the goal of this thread. Once that is found, the work of mapping the proper solder points, etc. can begin.

This post has been edited by speedbump47: Dec 31 2004, 12:11 AM

[LenteSubigo]

Why the hell cant someone just open one of these drives and posts pictures of its circuit board. I have a drive that may be a pc equivalent, but I cant compare them unless you guys post a pic.

POST A PIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A number of you have them in modded xbox's, cant just one of you POST A PIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

This post has been edited by LenteSubigo: Dec 31 2004, 12:08 AM

[LenteSubigo]

Bump

[ferrari_rulz_02]

what with the quick bumping LenteSubigo?

it has been asked for before, im surer some nice soul will provide us with a look inside the thing

[ns80]

Here are a few hi-res images of the GDR-8050L. I'll have it open for at least a few more hours, if anyone needs pics of anything else inside let me know.

LG DVD 1

LG DVD 2

LG DVD 3

[LenteSubigo]

Here are a few hi-res images of the GDR-8050L. I'll have it open for at least a few more hours, if anyone needs pics of anything else inside let me know.

LG DVD 1

LG DVD 2

LG DVD 3

If you still have that open or can open it back up can you take some pics of the laser?

[LenteSubigo]

Well, the drive uses a 256k firmware, it should be easily flashable, but there is no firmware backup/reading utility available for the panasonic dvd-rom controllers. So, someone would have to desolder the chip and use a sst chip reader to get the firmware for us.

So, the next steps are.

1. We need info on mn103s89fda panasonic drive controller.
2. Someone who has this drive needs to desolder the sst chip and read the firmware off of it.
3. We need to find a drive with either the mn103s89fda drive controller, or a compatable controller.


With that said, here is some info on the gdr-8162b.

1. Flash Chip 256kb sst 39sf020a (doesn't matter as long as its 256kb)
2. Drive Controller mn103s71f
3. Laser 313709016 123d6f (not sure what is the model # and Serial #)