Ok trying to add 2 HDD to my XBox with a switch in an external case. Case is good all power connections are good I know the problem is in the IDE ribbon Now...The 40 pin IDE ribbon that I bought was 38" long with 5 conectors on it(Premade)...I originaly had the connector in the middle of the ribbon empty (xbox board, DVD, Empty, HDD1, HDD2) now I tried moving the drives closer to the DVD rom leaving the last one empty...even put one drive on at a time with the ribbon and neither one booted up...I placed the original ribbon back in the xbox with 1 drive and it booted...so I know my problem is with the ribbon.

Now is there a maximum distance for total length or distance between IDE conections required for the xbox to read it? because I see on the Tutorials that there is like 5" between this one then 9" between that one and I see that 24" for total length is mentioned also. What is the maximum length for the xbox to read from the ribbon? Are these distances between connections just for the sake of utilizing the entire ribbon's length?

Also can I substitute the orginal xbox IDE ribbon for any standard IDE cable from a computer? because I see that a few times in the tutorials was mentioned about an uncut IDE cable? What the hell is that? uncut?

Any help would be much appreaceated!

Try to use a dpdt switch (one switch that switches 2 devices at once) connected to the 5v, cut the third cable on the ide cable and connect it to the switch. the second hd has to be the last one on the cable and u cut the cable right before it connects to the HDD, try that and let me know if it works it did for me!

Bump

wtf did you bump this for?

btw, they problem is not with the ide cable, its with the ide controlelr on the mobo. its nothign that can be fixed. you need to put some switches on the ide cable. do some searching to find that other people have done.

Bumped it for Pablot,
Me and him were discussing using the Xerc to switch between harddrives and I made reference to this thread.
and

What do you mean? If the problem's with the mobo, why does he still need to install a switch on the ide cable?

its a compatability issue between manufacturers of hdd's. if you want more info see Hozy.

ok, I have a DPDT switch...I followed the Tutorial http://www.xboxscene.com/articles/multi-drive.php Written by hardwareman and also used http://www.xboxscene.com/articles/2hdd-doudou40.php this one for refference...

I have all the power I need to the external box I built (11x9x4) both 12v fans for cooling run top notch, all connnections are good, Switch works...I tested all the conections...

when either both drives or each one is attached alone to this IDE cable the Xbox boots up (Flubber) then i get the "error code 7" hdd error screen when the executer logo is supposed to pop up, now when I put the original IDE cable back in, with either drive, it boots up just fine...

also tried shortening the cable and crimping it back, still doesnt work. Searching for places close to me that make custom ribbon cables...

I suggest searching the past thread on the forum the get alot more specific, I'm looking to do the same mod myself and there are still some things that are unclear to me.

But from what I understand you also need a switch on the third wire of the ide cable between the 1st and 2nd hard drive, or alternately you can wire up switches on both drives to toggle the jumpers from "master" to "cable" select respectively to which one you want to boot.

Does that make sense? I believe that's your problem but I'm not an expert.

Sorry, I misread your problem,

I believe Ferrari is right, talk to Hozy or Ninjax.
You must solve that problem first, but what i said about switching is necessary even when you have compatible drives.

if the drives are 'compatable', then the only switching needed is the power