Finally a working Xbox!!!

My previous one with the CRAPOLA Thompson Drive died, I replaced it with a brand new Thompson but still no go on the DVDs.

Decided its time to get a NEW ONE.......

I finally got around to wiring up one of these LM324s and it works. The circuit is the same as the one I tried with the TL072 back in post #328 (Hi-Fi page 22, Lo-Fi page 7, about halfway down). I think my bodged-up READY signal is working, but I'm not 100% on that right now. EJECT is definitely OK. The thing that's bugging me is the same thing that always bothered me when I modified SD-616Ts, which is that I never get an "Init" status and the "Unknown" status comes up while the disc tray is opening (ie. neither opened nor closed but in the process of opening). I've often wondered if the one wire on the "yellow wires" connector that we don't connect to anything is supposed to carry a signal that would fix this up.

yeah, I just got a new xbox too, and it was manufactured 01/13/2005

this DVD drive is great.. I went from using the crappy thompson to the newest best DVD drive in an xbox yet..

That's cool! I don't quite have the time right now to do a drive myself, but maybe I can still help. Could you explain what you mean by this "Init" status stuff?

1) Where is it displayed? Ie In the XMBC status info screen, etc?
2) Does it affect normal operation in any way?

I'm led to wonder what purpose such a signal would have, as well.

I don't know if XBMC reports the DVD drive status at all (I don't use XBMC much). I have just been using EvoX dash to monitor the drive status. "Init" is what EvoX displays after you close the tray with a disc in it. this is normally followed by "Checking" and then "Game", "EvoX CD!", or "Unknown". Unknown is the same as "dirty disc", style-o'fing. I can't remember off hand whether or not "Init" is displayed before "No Disc" when the tray is closed empty and I'm at work right now so I can't check.


It doesn't seem to make any real difference while running a hacked dashboard (except that the DVD drive status can be misleading at times). When running the M$ dashboard you get the "dirty disc" error message flashing up on the screen every time you eject the tray, but I don't think that the Init thing is much of an issue.

well i cant see that many of the people who would mod this drive would be using the ms dash too much, so i dont see it as a problem.

can you post a pci of where and how everythign is wired up? i keen to see a tut on doing this

Maybe i missed this, but have we been able to flash a pc drive with the xbox drive's firmware yet?
I finally got an HL drive i could swap out (too late unfortunately) - i may be able to get my hands on quite a few of the pc drives though - seems that a few premade jobs we have in our labs have some HL DATA drives in the - something i hadn't noticed till the other day.

Anyways - where do we stand?

Just got a new Xbox today, service screened (21) the other one after a HDD activity led add on, I don't know. Anyways, after several stores in Orlando got a new Xbox, with the Hitachi-LG Drive. I haven't seen this post till today read all 24 eyeburning pages, nice going wenid man. Well my crap contribution is to more serialz so you can add the x-linux version distribution chart.


1******-50505
LNNNNNN-YWWFF

So most of you know already but as i needed it worded out once,

L- Line 1

NNNNNNN-Box Number

Y- Year 5

WW- Week 05

FF- Factory China 5

Looks good, alright, hey every little bit helps. Later guys hope you get that tut. put together, Keep it simple wenid man, easier on us layman.

Sorry, didn't crack it open either and probably won't with this one either, at least not for a year.

Also wanted to add, it is so SLOW to eject and open, i don't know if it is with everyone, I get impatient with minute rice, and i notice like a possible difference of a second, but it doesn't pop out like my old thomson (2003). And no luck with cd-r's either.

I finally set myself up to test the patched version of the Windows 8163B firmware updater and have found that it doesn't work. Maybe it does some kind of CRC check or something on the ROM image. I will try to have a look at it in a dbugger soon, or maybe Lente could get back to the Dangerous Bros. about it.

It is my understanding that wenid has been the only person successful in flashing the 8163B PC drive into a functional 8050L Xbox drive (way to go!). However, this was done using a very elaborate IDE flasher that requires some skill to assemble. The complete details of the flash are found in post #297 at the bottom of page 20, but I am hoping that someone can figure out how to integrate that firmware into a tool that can be used to flash the PC drive installed on a computer. I believe wenid is working on that at the moment, but anyone who can help him with it should come foward. I have been following this thread since January and I would like to contribute in any way that I can, but my knowledge of circuits can't compete with many of yours. Once we get the flashing straightened out, I see no major difficulties in drawing up a tutorial using the wiring schemes and circuit diagrams found throught this thread. Lets try to solve this problem so we can publish a successful guide to this project!

Here is a start of a tutorial. (no where near complete)
Thanks to wenid for the excellent work... and others involved.

1. Parts & Tools list:

LG model GDR-8163B (figure 1 & figure 2)
hook up wire 26-28AWG
soldering iron & solder
LM324N Op-Amp or equivalent
1Kohm resistor (quantity 2)
phillips screwdriver
xbox



Figure 1


Figure 2



2. Flip over the dvdrom.
Remove screws shown:



You should now see the bottom:


3. Solder points, solder the wires to the points shown. Label your wires. (another pic from LordRaiden)


4. Wires soldered.


5. Cut out notch for wire feedthru


6. Route wires thru circuit board


and thru the feed thru:



7. Hook up circuit as shown:


8. flash dvdrom... to be added...

Yeah, I know, I'm not nearly done with this tutorial. But its a start...
If anyone can figure out how to fix the "ready" signal, I'll update the schematic.



Here's my mock up
(I'm over my limit in pics for this post)


I tried a bunch of stuff with the ready signal, but failed miserably. It doesn't need to be inverted, as some might think. I just noticed that if I hold 'ready' on the xbox side to 5VDC, it fails apon boot with no dvd in. If I hold 'ready' on the xbox side to grnd, with a dvd inside, it boots the dvd. If I hold 'ready' on the xbox side to grnd, with no dvd inside, it boots to the hard drive.
In short:
XBOX side:
ready = 5VDC, dvd inside
ready = gnd, boots dvd if found, then defaults on HD.

GDR-8163B side:
ready = 4.33 w/ dvd inside
ready = floating w/out dvd

If I plug 'ready' in as shown in the schematic, the voltage reads 3.84VDC w/ dvd inside.


Another note, I have also ordered the IDE FLASHER from Germany. (any help on using this thing would be appreciated.. ahem, ahem, wenid)

well thats a good start truBB. well done

a last my points are are valid!!!! Good job truBB.

Sorry, but no. I don't know why truBB assumed I was using your points. I am not.
I may well be wrong, but the point he has marked as LDin does not appear to match your Y point anyway and either way it's wrong. That point is connected to a pin on the ROM chip, so I did once have a wire connected to it, but only during the fun and games of flashing the ROM. The LDin point I'm using is actually labelled LDIN on the 8163B circuit board and is near the LDOUT point.
For my ready signal I'm currently using a kludge based on tracing back the signal on my real 8050L drive. I don't know if it's really working properly, but I do know that the same approach did NOT work for TRAYIN and TRAYOUT (although it might be worth revisiting these -- maybe they are the right polarity but the wrong voltage). I'm also pretty sure that the ready signal used here is not right either, as evidenced by truBB's experience and measurements.
I almost certainly won't have time to do much of anything on this for a while, possibly quite a long while, but if/when I can squeeze it in I'll be working on the flashing program first.
I haven't got my notes handy right now, but at some point I'll try to post more info about the points I traced etc.

I'll help if I can, but the whole thing is fiddly, complicated, and took me several hours all told. I certainly don't have time to go into all the gory details here, so I'm afraid you'll have to work out as much as you can on your own and PM me (or post here if you like) with specific questions if/when you have problems.
PS. Good work on the beginnings of the tut. It's looking pretty good except for that little problem of the points, which isn't really your fault since I never posted complete info on what points I'm using.

Doh, snafu on the LDin point. I soldered it per Lordraiden's points, just didn't show the pic correctly. ..Yeah these points are hosed...

LordRaiden, could you help me find ready? Duh, if LDin is labeled on the board, I'll correct this tonight...

Try this for the ready signal.
Ready

LDin shown.

I am working on the flashing issue. I still don't have a 8163b, so when I get a version that may work I will send it to wenid or someone else who has a 8163b they would like to test with. I will keep you all notified when any breaks happen.

The ready point I'm using based on my traceback of the 8050L circuit board is labelled TP126. It's on the other side of the board than what's shown in all these recent postings. It's near another point that is more clearly labelled TP129 about an inch in from the edge that has the two ribbon cables hanging off it and roughly midway between the two ribbon cables. If you can't fid it let me know and I'll try to post a photo.

I am currently using a 1k resistor between the test point and the wire to the Xbox because there is a 1k resistor in the 8050L circuitry that is "missing" from the 8163B. I don't know if this is necessary at all. I also haven't actually made any measurements of the voltage at this point -- it may be totally bogus.

I also recently got one of these drives. Before I opened up the case I thought it was a thopmson, I was a little angry, lol.

Well, no go on the ready signal still. I'm not sure about this, but I think the opamp isn't going to do the trick. Or my wiring diagram is screwed up.
I'm going to try a few more things...

Bugger. Now does that mean my drive here should not be working at all...?


Sorry to disagree, but it DOES do the trick. It's what I've got in the working drive here right now.



I've just looked at it again (more closely this time) and you've shown pin 11 unconnected. It needs to be connected to ground.

Yeah, I noticed that I didn't have ground hooked up in my diagram, but I do have it connected in my circuit. My pics are completely buggered... To be fixed once I get it working.

I have LDin & LDout soldered to the dvdrom correctly now. I also have Eject correctly soldered. Do you know where Ready should be?

Should it be here?
or someplace else?


I realize that you [wenid] have it working, I'm just trying to duplicate your work. I appreciate all the help.

Not really. See post #370 for a description of what I did here.


I have it working in the sense that I can use it, but I'm not sure that it's all functioning exactly as it should be because I haven't had time to test it properly.

Any of these?

Ok, I have a firmware flashing program that appears to have successfully worked. I am still testing this flashing program so if you have an 8163b and would like to test the flashing program please send me a pm.

Wenid has tested it, and it appears to work.


Warning, you will be risking killing your drive. If you want to test this flashing program please remove any other cd or dvd drives from your computer. I don't want to be responsable for someone flashing 8050l firmware to their new dvd burner by mistake.

If you need any help I could TRY to translate. I don't know if I am good enough for it but it could be worth a try since I am from germany!

First of all here is the program available for download and the german manual (Handbuch).

Chapter 3 adresses jumpering for different sizes of the flash used. Chapter 4 adresses the use of the IDE FLASHER. There is a bunch of "Hinweise" (hints to prevent destroying of the IDE FLASHER or the ICs) which should be followed. These are to much to handle but you could try

world.altavista.com or you could try http://dict.leo.org/?lang=de&lp=ende

The second is a dictionary. You have to use the field under the flags!!!

Chapter 5 Software: ideflash.exe is a PURE dos application and should only be used under dos. You should be able to use it under Win9x/MEs Dosbox. It DOSN'T WORK under 2000 or XP!!! Nothing is said about NT or 2003

The option "-port" tells the app which IDE port the flasher is connected to. "0" means primary IDE, "1" is secondary, 2 and 3 are the following ports! The option "-socket" is used to specify the IC socket. Possible values are DIP32 or PLCC32. The option "-hardware" is new. Possible values are "RevD", "RevE" or "RevF". Most users need to use "RevF". The other values are reserved for older revisions of the hardware. This option could be used to show required jumpering or to control revision specific parameters. Reading out flashs of 1MB is only supported since Rev. F. ALL OPTIONS ARE CASE SENSITIVE. dip32 and DIP32 are differentiated. The correct option would be DIP32!

Note : Before you start to overwrite possibly the only bios chip you have you should do the update on a second chip so you will still have the original. A backup of the old chip which you can reflash.

FlashROM read to file:

"ideflash -port 1 -hardware RevF -socket DIP32 -f_read <file>"

Before writing don't forget to erase:

"ideflash -port 1 -hardware RevF -socket DIP32 -f_erase"

Write from file to FlashROM:

"ideflash -port 1 -hardware RevF -socket DIP32 -f_write <file>"

Hope this will help a bit.

Thanks freaky_00, that info will help. Seems pretty straight forward, as long as I keep ESD safe. I have a couple linux machines, so I'll plug it into one of those.

I have been quite busy for the last couple days playing around with this setup. I plugged in a Thompson back in, and read the values from eVox:

"ready"
"no cd"
"ejecting"
"Open"
"checking"
"[name of cd]"

I tried all the points that I showed above as 'ready' points, but still no success. I usually end up with evox saying "unknown" once the dvd is in and ready. I get the closest results with using the cyan point, as ready (shown above). I also was connecting the ready point thru a 1Kohm resistor.

Also, I swapped pin 3 & 4 on the xbox connector side to get eVox so show the right info. So basically:
LDin ===> inverted ====== to pin 3 (trayin)
LDout ==> non-inverted === to pin 4 (trayout)

something like this:


and for the solder pnts: (except for ready)



I did measure pin 10 on my thompson and got:
0V = not ready
3.2V = after init, and ready.
Other voltages seem to correlate with the linux dvd howto.

The one I'm using is the one you have ringed in dark blue.
The labelling on your board seems to be different to mine. On my board it says TP126 next to this point and the writing is sort of around the other way to the writing near this point on your board (ie. sort of vertical instead of horizontal, if you see what I mean). I'll have a look at the board in the newer drive when I get around to dismantling it.

I used a GNU/Linux box too. You just need to build the ctflasher kernel modules and you're away, basically.


No "Init"?


If you're using Xbox original discs then it will always say "Unknown" until you flash the Xbox firmware to the drive. I don't think the unknown status is related to the ready signal, at least not directly. The "No Disc" message is a different story, however...


That may be right -- I may have had the tray in and tray out the wrong way around all along, but I don't think so. The LDIN and LDOUT signals are very similar. The only difference is when they switch from low to high (and back again). One goes high as soon as the tray starts opening and the other doesn't go high until the tray is fully open. How does this timing relate to the changes in the EvoX display for a "real" Xbox DVD drive?


Just to clarify: are you saying that it goes from 0V to 3.2V at the same time as the display changes from init to checking?

If you want this to work right you will need to find the "ready" signal.
You should trace the connection directly from the yellow wire for "ready" to the microprocessor I/O pin that performs this function in a STOCK xbox drive first, Then find the equiv. connection point on your replacement drive. AFTER you flash the xbox FW, that point will become the "ready" signal.

BTW I would use a 74HC14 for the level shifting and inversion. You can run through 2 gates for the signal that doesn't need inversion. No resistors or other BS.

But it seems this unit doesn't read CDR after the mod....so what good is it?

I too was wondering the benefits of getting one of these PC drives and modding it.

This is what I was thinking.
1. A cheap replacement. I can get one of these LG GDR-8163b drives for 25$. In the case of replacing my old Thompson. DVD R's are so cheap and most games dont even fit on CD R anyway.
2. Possibly a stronger Laser, faster read times, more media compatability.

Next thing I was thinking about was the differences between the 2 drives.
Xbox LG has different circuitry, but same chipset as PC drive?
PC LG Better Lazer?

If the drives are close enough and someone already has the LG drive in their Xbox, can they buy the PC LG and just take the lazer out from the PC drive and put it in the Xbox drive, in theory making their drive stronger with out having to go through all this modding?

darn getting close i wish there was a firmware for GDR-8162b because u can get thoes for like 35 bucks and i got on my floor right beside me

will a GDR-8163BK work?

i think the K for the black bazel

ones without the K are white

According to what you wrote before, TP126 is on the board of the other dvdrom (8050L) you have? If you also look closely at my pic above you can see that there is "TP126" on the left side, directly in-line with the blue point.
That blue point measured 5VDC for me, both with dvd-in and out.






It definitely says 'checking' in eVox with the GDR-8162b. But, thats with my incorrect ready point. I forget if it says 'init' with the thompson, or 'checking'. Currently as I have it hooked up, if I float pin 10, (hold it in my hand for a sec) then ground it, it [eVox] detects the dvd correctly as 'evox-cd' or something similar.

The timing is different than what I expected, when using the Thompson. For instance, measuring the GDR-8162b, I get what you'd expect from the points:
GDR-8162b
_______closed__opening__open
LDin =___0_____3.6_____3.6
LDout =__0______0______3.6

Thompson
_______closed opening open
pin3 = _3.4______0_____0
pin4 = __0______0_____3.4

I'm quoting those #s from memory. I have 'em written down at home, I hope I got 'em right. I did attempt to get this working using an inverter, and only using LDin for both trayin & trayout without sucess. I went back to your orig config as it gives me the best results. Now that I look back, I think it wasn't working using the inverter only because I don't have the correct ready signal.

To clarify with the thomson,
When the dvd is actually ready, I measured 3.2vdc. I forget if its says 'checking or init'. Zero volts otherwise.

The drive that truBB is working with. I'm wondering if it's the same as this one?


http://www.lge.com/catalog/prodmodeldetail...alSuffix=000000


edit:

has anyone tried the GDR-8163BII it seems to be the same as the GDR-8163B execpt it has a 512KB Cache Buffer size while the GDR-8163B only has 256KB.

Excuse my noob-ness, please. As I understand it, there is currently no software-only solution for replacing the firmware in the LG GDR-8163b drive with firmware that would make it compatible with the Xbox. Currently the only method is to purchase the previously mentioned IDE Flasher. Is this correct?

Is there any speculation on whether or not there will be a software-only solution? That is, is it possible to have a PC program to replace the firmware in the 8163 drive with the 8050's firmware and then use that 8163 drive in an Xbox?

I understand that there would also have to be some wiring modifications and a simple logic circuit to make the hardware interface compatible with the Xbox.

I also understand that if after making the wiring modifications to an 8163 drive but not replacing its firmware that it will work in an Xbox, but it just won't read original Xbox discs? Is this correct?

Yes, I have read the entire thread. I've spent the last few hours doing so.

Thanks for your help.

calisadork there now is software for flashing the GDR-8163b drive with the Xbox GDR-8050L firmware.


I have the GDR-8050L firmware but I don't have a GDR-8163b drive to test the flasher software with. It's still in the mail.


Once I have the drive I'll be sure to post if it works for me.


edit: here is the readme file that Xbox-Scene posted on there main page. I really hope it works!

http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EE...uZleZTXnLjM.php

Hey everyone keep up the good work. If you havn't noticed alredy, I'd like to mention that there is now a link to this post on xbox-scene.com. I guess someone has taken an intrest into our progress

EDIT: oops sorry, I guess Maverick-DBZ- beat me to the news. Anyway, I think I will try ordering one of these drives as soon as it becomes available again on newegg

Just grabbed the firmware flashed the drive & it's working a treat, maybe a little louder than a standard drive but good.

nice job on the firmware.

got mine wired into my xbox & playing H2 right now.

Hi truBB

If you check some of the earlier posts you will see that all I have been waiting for is the firmware for some time.

I used a nand gate & a tut put together ages ago by superfro to work it out.

Xbins is the place it is in the firmware flashing tools folder, you don't need the firmware bin file the flashing tool does it all for you.

I'll see if I can put a little diagram together for you, but not just now it's sleep time here in Scotland.

That's great news valius. Your using the GDR-8163b drive right? Does it read CD-R?


Hopefully I will have the same suggess once I get my drive.

Couple of pics of the drive before I go to bed!!!





The only wire not hooked up here is the Eject signal.

I just took the drive out of my box, Its going into a friends box because his drive packed in, not tried cd-r's in it the firmware chaps say the firmware isn't set up to read cd-r's though.

Only tried a couple of games in it H2 & Unreal Championship both worked a treak.

YES it is a GDR-8163b

Looks great thanks for the pictures!

So this firmware is to flash the xbox lg drive right with a PC drive firmware right? And there is no soldering involved?

cheers to those who worked long and hard on finding a matching drive and getting the firmware.

I just ordered one of these from new egg (they must be back in stock because it shipped already). also it would seem that mwave has them for about he same price (assuming the BK is the same as the http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA32910

as far as all these problems with the ready signal I think Tiros has the right idea for finding the best location.

as for using an op-amp or NAND gate I'd have to side wit neither. While I can appreciate both methods an op-amp has no place in digital only circuitry and a NAND gate requires more wiring than needed. The same effect could be accomplished with an inverting buffer.

I'll be exploring this drive a lot more once I get it and hopefully then I can be of more use, until then...

keep up the good work

No taximan89, you have it backwards. lol.


The firmware were talking about is to flash the LG PC drive with the LG Xbox firmware. You will still need to solder once the drive is flashed.


edit: newegg has the drives in stock again. I ordered two just in case.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc....-136-050&DEPA=0


edit2: I don't think is the same drive at mwave twistedsymphony. The CD-Rom speed is 52x while the one on newegg is 48x. So far everyone has the 48x drive and that seems to be the only one working. I don't know if the BK one would work or not...

It might be beneficial to create a list of all the different possible versions of the LG drive, which ones work and which ones don't. Those into the 616 modding know that both the 616t and 616f drives work but the 616q doesn't.

I'm interested to know if the GDR-8163BII with the larger cache works as that could be an even more powerful drive.

That depends what you mean by "work right". According to truBB, the point I'm using for ready is no good, and yet this drive is working fine. It may not be perfect, but in practice who really cares?


We are well aware of this approach. It has been mentioned before and this is, in fact, how I arrived at the ready point I am now using. The problem is that the circuitry in the 8163B is not absolutely identical to that in the 8050L, and some of the differences appear to affect these signals.


This device has already been considered and rejected. It's minimum high level input voltage is too high.


The same good as any other Xbox DVD drive that won't read CDRs, ie. still very useful, especially considering how cheap DVD burners and media are these days. Who needs CDRs anyway?