icanswim70
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Posts posted by icanswim70
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On 12/20/2023 at 6:27 PM, Bowlsnapper said:
He CAN swim!
I appreciate you finding a replacement. I guess in the interest of preserving drives, that's a good thing, although it's VERY expensive to do so.
And you doubted me. Lol.
While I know you’re still not pleased with the read speed and no Blu Ray Ability, seeing as I just solved a problem (with the help of a redditor) I’m hoping you can compromise and be happy only watching DVDs while I have my moment!
By the way since a few of you folks are at me about the price point of the laser. There’s a replacement available through AliExpress for $22 CAD. Less than half the cost of the eBay one.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mOPNKy4 -
The entire point is that there is a solution available if you wanted
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As some of you know, I have been working on a suitable replacement laser/diode for the original Xbox laser. While I have narrowed down the suitable drives (Thomson being the one that needs to be left behind) a replacement laser lens has emerged that works beautifully with the Phillips VAD6011/21 Drive.
i did not discover this laser, but was made aware of it by a Reddit post.
I am not sure of the link rules so I’m only going to link to my Reddit group where I posted about this in its entirety as I was able to complete the testing today!
https://www.reddit.com/r/OGXboxDVDDriveRevival/s/bZ4mKqtrsn
With the laser in production, it’s a great option for the foreseeable future, ensuring discs can be enjoyed!
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… reflowing the solder didn’t work. I’m thinking either the value is wrong (650 nm @ 5mw) of perhaps this diode wasn’t using a red beam…
I had a 360 on the workbench needing a laser replacement, and upon looking at the replacement laser it appears to be using the same diode as the OG!!! So my next venture is trying to get a value from potential third party manufacturers that could very well already have the information I need.
Az for your question snapper: I use a super cheap soldering iron I bought to restore a pinball machine in 2018. But it does the job. I use a hakko FR 301 desoldering gun as it makes everything SOOOOOOOO much easier. And when you can only use one hand, every gadget helps!
It’s Not too difficult, just takes patience and a steady hand.
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On 6/30/2023 at 1:55 PM, Bowlsnapper said:
...What. Like, in case the laser burns the metal? lol. Holy hell. That's a very narrow tolerance for failure.
Is that how unforgiving the values can be when off by a small amount? I know 5W is okay and anything over 10W can burn, I think.
If this works, it would be great. Especially if the diode is cheap and the labor is easy, as long as we're not ripping traces.
So today was the day I finally did the swap. Not gunna lie, it took most of the day since I had to pull the laser, disassemble, install, reassemble, and finally test the thing.
So 650 nm, 3 terminal diode, did not work, YET. The soldering is a PITA since I have about a millimeter to work with, and even less than that to cause a short.
disc didn’t launch, it gave the usual error. I think my soldering may need a redo but it’s at least the first successful attempt from start to finish.
Heres the pictures, if you see any problems please please please let me know so I can go back. If you can look past the one terminal that got away from me does the soldering look like it does the job?
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11 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:
Not a bad idea. How did you source the diode though?
Short answer is carefully.
took me a few weeks to settle on a value since no one has attempted this before. When I found the suggested value based on what other electronics use, I found one that looks identical to the original. I have my throwaway game in case the value is incorrect.
Just need to jump the trace in my picture before giving this a go.
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11 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:
You're trying to replace a dead diode with a diode that has no hours on it, correct?
You got it snapper.
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So I have the replacement part, and got the terminals desoldered nicely. This particular laser has a ripped trace where the trace bends. I need to jump a wire for the trace with the arrow. That wire is between 2 solder points. When I look closely it appears they go to the same point (second picture). Does anyone know if I bridge the 2 points in picture 1 it will be correct?
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2 hours ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:
Right, the point with he yellow wire applies only to any other pc DVD drive.
But again, on the XBox site nothing checks for the number and the xbox isn't even able to tell the drive something about the key. So nulling it is yeah - more or less. So you would need, if passoible or needed at all, to remove the entire check if for it if the DVD drives waits for commends. I simply think it's just in the firmware of the xbox but who am I.
And yes, there is a programmer for 360 drives and I have both of the xecuter versions here. (Bad behavior on my side modding 360 as well).
And yes, the drive DVD firmware is there but, you know, how you like to flash it to soming whcih isn't able to do anthing with it? The HL drive firmware works on LG drives because of the fact that the controllers are more or less the same (Same for the Samsung mods with samsung firmware) and that the panasonic chips which are on those drives are famous for that they are (Naughty Panasonic.). And a little hint, you don't need your caps, because the firmware is also on my installer so yeah....
And the USB thing, forget it. It will never work until you find a way to rewrite the xbox os. There is no driver attached for it for the controller ports which are just and only for controller and usb sticks, no matter how ard you try. And tbh. who wants an usb 1.1 speed (for real) DVD when he can simply play from hdd? Let me make a guess here. 1 of 1.000.000 ppl. And even that 1 person (Probably you) will do it 1 time and after that never ever again.
DVD becomes more and more useless simply because of the fact of fatxplorer and anyone can mod an xbox without it. Game DVD's are also die so why? If I need a drive that badly, I hook up a PC Drive for a short run and fine or buy an laser for the samsung or hl drive on ali & co or I buy an replacement xbox for 5-10 bucks. You put more into it to find a solution for something no one realy has a problem with. Would it be nice? Maybe. Is it worth it under any circumstances? ( Let me thing super duper hard) - No.
Free entertainment ahead of the weekend, thanks Karen! I’m gunna keep on
Happy Fixing!
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5 minutes ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:
Mainly I prefere to say nothing but, you can't use 360 drives - especially not from the slim's or e's which both would need a full unlocked replacement PCB. And the 360 drives are SATA anyway.
That being said, you would need to wirde up the yellow cable to the PCB of the 360 drive as well. And thee is nothing on/in the OGXBox which reads any ID of the drive. Thats an 360 feature. On the OGXBox side just the HDD is looked through the eeprom in the xbox so, "nulling" the 360 DVD drive key will gain nothing. And ofc coding a new/hacked custom firmware - well ....
Your best bet is an old PC ide drive with panasonic controller. And these are also going to die....
Finaly I'm not to sure what you think an external drive will do different. You could not hook these up to a USB port on the xbox if you should think that.
Early gen 360s are easy to source. They have the yellow 12 pin cable already which is why I’m thinking along these lines. Zeroing the eeprom removes the “married to 360 problem” there’s an eeprom reader available now that can read eeprom an and plug into your computers usb port. It’s well documented that ide to Sata adapters work just fine. I can’t keep having this firmware discussion. OG OPTICAL DRIVE FIRMWARE IS AVAILABLE. You don’t need more unless you want the drive to do something funky like read blue rays as snapper wants. Relocating pins makes sense, and I’m wondering if there’s a voltage problem with a drive manufactured today. Otherwise, we have more resources available to fix this problem, not less.
if you were to come at me with a modded project I’d be putting my efforts into modding the 360 OS to allow blanket backwards compatibility.
For example, when I code a website and have it live for x amount of time, then don’t renew the domain, I don’t build a new website to relaunch my site, I simply register with another domain. The optical drive is the domain and the firmware is the website. Very simple. You may agree, you may not, that’s cool. Moving on.
External drives would be of the same concept. Granted they would need to be rigged up with the 12 pin connector, but could be modified to plug into a board fitted with a usb port. Or a USB to controller port adapter…
hope that clears up the thought process for you.
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On a side note while I’m hunting for a value: if we took a 360 drive, zeroed the eeprom and installed it in an OG that also had a zeroed eeprom, the console should theoretically accept it, correct? It’d need to be flashed with the OG firmware as well…
Also external optical drives has been swimming around my brain.
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6 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:
Are you replacing the diode on a standard drive, basically trying to see how easy it is to repair these things? The only issue I have with the stock drives is that the read speed is so incredibly slow. If we somehow found a way to fix that, I could use the stock drives all day
Oh, and that we probably don't have a great supply of diodes...
I know you have a bone to pick with the read speeds. I want to solve the no drive can read game problem first. Once we have a solution then we can work on upgrades. I still think a brand new drive should work. But some people don’t want to think outside the box. Replacement 3 pin diodes are available in abundance; I just need the correct nm value so I don’t short anything. Where’s beuller?!
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Alright, a couple notable things:
- those $&@#ing traces DISINTEGRATE
- Specific to mine sacrificial laser, resistance reads 000-100. DOA.
- every time I hit the legs with my desoldering gun, I was nervous about too much heat hitting the traces, causing another problem.
SO. In order to successfully do this repair, it’s gunna need patience. To get the diode out, the part with the traces needs to be removed completely first. IM DETERMINED.
That being said, I’m not 100% sure what resistance the replacement will need to be. Does anyone know?
There was no model number as I had prayed
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8 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:
Okay, I wish I was cool enough to say I know what I'm looking at, but I don't. Lol. Spoil it for me.
I mean, I know it's drive circuitry, but its significance escapes me.
That’s the diode that has likely died, preventing the laser from reading the disc.
Interestingly, I was able to clean the “crisp” off the traces going to the diode, meaning the traces are salvageable. But it appears the diode is glued in place…
With all this being said, the laser actually looks like a fairly simple concept which I hope translates to easy maintenance.
Here’s the picture of the cleaned traces!
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Oops, here’s another angle.
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On 5/12/2023 at 7:43 AM, Bowlsnapper said:
I like the enthusiasm swim. Don't let the idea die. Keep the topic going! But, for real though, fuck original drives. If they're functional, I'll use them, but I say we need an option for replacement if they're gonzo... An easily aquireable replacement. Not a rare 150 dollar drive on evilbay or 40 bucks on here if we're lucky and they're listed. OG drives are slow and limited in readability, overall. But man, slower than molasses... 4x speed, if I'm not mistaken?
Wait... Are you fucking KIDDING ME? How could I miss this? Any source to info about this?
One step at a time snapper. Walk first, then try to run.
ANYWAY.
here’s where I’m at -> Let me know if you see anything that looks suspect.
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9 minutes ago, Prehistoricman said:
I have an original Samsung drive that is useless due to a dead diode. I looked several times for information online about diode replacement but struggled to find anything, especially for PC drives. The typical approach is just to replace the whole laser assembly. I'm sure the laser can be replaced with some knowledge and effort.
Youre correct in theory. But there’s a lot of doubt surrounding replacing the laser assembly. I feel like it’s easier to pop open a laser, remove the diode, google the model number, and pop in the new one than to engineer a new drive in its entirety. Very little knowledge and effort is needed to replace a diode. I do dozens of them in pinball machines all the time.
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As prices of the parts I’m using have soared, I’m now trying to think broader. I just posted about it in my Reddit community, and the gears are turning again. A very brief google revealed most lasers die due to a diode. Why not rip apart the laser, fix the problem and get back to gaming?
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Hey Aero,
I’m late to the topic, but any chance you have another one for sale in 2023?
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33 minutes ago, big F said:
This does seem a bit like trying to re-invent the wheel but arguing over what colour to paint it.
Bingo. Someone is already successfully wiring and installing a sata drive into the console. I personally think we’re a couple wires away. There isn’t a need to reinvent the wheel.
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1 hour ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:
Still comes down to the drive firmware and where to connect it, to usb? (Not possible (didn't even work with an HDD).
Didn't even works with a modchip. Reason is the same as above, DVD firmware (except for the 8163b which can do it (not even to sure why)).
You need a skilled coder for a drive firmware in the first place which also means that you have to reverse engineering the xbox dvd firmware and the firmware of the 360 drive (or which ever drive you plan to use) ect. pp.. Thats the point you need to start. From there you do/plan the next steps.
Modern DVD drives (e.g. a laptop's) work on a softmodded Xbox. Just found out.
###Context
Why do I think this is significant? For a while now, I've been curious on how to **future-proof an Xbox (without hardmod)** if ever the Xbox's original DVD drive stops working. I've tried a [no DVD drive hack](https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/comments/6z5b6k/run_xbox_wo_dvd_drive/) to no avail. Using a modern DVD drive is probably the closest to a solution (for now). There are plenty and people likely have one already.
It worked on my Xbox which had [Rocky5's Xbox Softmodding Tool](https://github.com/Rocky5/Xbox-Softmodding-Tool) with Dual-Boot Disabled. No error 12.
Probably works on stock Xbox too in which case you can use XboxHDM to install a softmod.###Materials
I used an Internal Slim DVD Drive (detached from my laptop) + [Slimline SATA to SATA adapter](https://www.amazon.ca/StarTech-com-SLSATAADAP6-6-Inch-Slimline-Adapter/dp/B009JXKQ9O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507813083&sr=8-1&keywords=slimline+sata+to+sata) + [SATA to IDE adapter](http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PATA-IDE-to-SATA-Converter-Adapter-for-3-5-HDD-DVD-LW-/182304258329?hash=item2a722e3919:g:6usAAOSwTA9X9dIz) (as a Slave). I powered it up using [Molex Y Splitter](http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Universal-4-Pin-IDE-1-to-2-Power-Supply-Y-Splitter-Extension-Cable-20cm/202036593293?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20170831090034%26meid%3Dbc6d82b955cd4c46bdf019f5b9c4ac27%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D181654798556&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851) attached to the Xbox's power connector.
###Things To Consider
**Boots w/o DVD power cable:** Xbox was able to boot without having to plug the Xbox's DVD power cable to anything. This is interesting because it means the Xbox uses the IDE connector--not the DVD connector--to prevent an error 12.
**Boots a burned disc:** It launched HeXEn 2017 on boot. Sidenote, I was able to burn this copy using the same DVD drive + SlimSATA to SATA adapter + USB to SATA/IDE adapter.
**Prevent freeze via DVD pin hack:** Anything that interacts with the DVD drive or D partition (e.g. XBMC's features, HeXEn 2017's features) will freeze the Xbox up unless you hack the DVD connector pins.
I used this [pinout diagram of the DVD power cable's header](https://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/forum/download/file.php?id=58&mode=view) to help me. You can also use the [DVD connector directly on the motherboard.](http://brandonw.net/consoles/xbox/dvd.jpg) I then used jumper wires, resistors, and electrical tape:
* Wire (+ 20K Ohm resistor) for Grounding--GND (Pin 12)
* Wire (+ 10K Ohm resistor) for Power--5V->3.3V (Pin 10)
* Wire to manipulate DVD status--TRAY_IN (Pin 7)
* Wire to manipulate DVD status--CD_READY (Pin 6)I soldered the free-end of all four wires together, taped exposed wires, then poked their other ends into their corresponding pinholes in the DVD power cable's header. [More info here](https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/comments/6z5b6k/run_xbox_wo_dvd_drive/dmthmpj/) thanks to /u/KaosEngineeer .
You can play around with the two status wires by poking them into the other status pins (SER_DATA, TRAY_OUT, or NEJECT). It's not very useful though and only Pin 6 & 7 prevents the freezing. You can attach more status wires if you want to further experiment. Also, contrary to the first pinout diagram, you don't need to wire the other inactive status pins to ground.
###Cheap Alternative
**DVD PCB:** If you don't need to read discs, but just want to bypass the initial DVD check, consider just buying a working DVD PCB (with an IDE or SATA interface).
###TL;DR
Xbox DVD drive stopped working? No problem. Just use a spare one from your laptop or PC.
*Direct Copy from Reddit User*
Thats why I’m persistent
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Another idea I saw on Reddit is using an external dvd drive. This seems more complicated though.
Perhaps soft modding the console before the swap could allow further compatibility? As long as the finished product can read OG Discs.
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48 minutes ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:
Well, I apologies for bursting bubble after bubble but face reality. I did not say that it isn't possible, you just need to find that one man/woman who is able and willing to pull this of just because he/she can and just for the fun of it. And that is the major problem here.
You may have more luck in the XBox discord since there are more of the guy's/girl's who can do and/or have at least more infos on how you can or can not do it. You need 1: ppl with knowledge from the 360 scene as well as 2: ppl from the OG scene and join them for a project like this. Or you pay an engineer who then can do it as a full time job.
What you plan is a huge project which didn't pay of at all. However, it's super nice nerd stuff and I would like to see it happen but I highly doubt it.
And one thing more. This topic has round about 600 clicks. I bet my ass that some ppl with huge knowldge have read this topic but no one has made a post. And without looking at your sub reddit I would say, that there is also no good post that takes the project a step further.
So if I were you, I would start a request on the xbox discord channel (if not already done).
And again, sry for bursting a bubble or meybe being rude in anyway. It's not my intention.
Nothing gets done with a closed mind. I’m gunna keep going and posting here, and hop on discord and something will happen. You should know, I seldom get support in what I do. If you haven’t guessed, I literally can swim; I was the number 1 swimmer in North America in my race for over a decade. Every coach doubted me till I broke records and brought home medals. Thanks for the support
I still think tweaking a new drive or a 360 drive is the best way. SATA to IDE Conversion and matching wiring on a new drive are the main problems I see. The firmware is already available for download and trial. If it’s not known yet if it works, how can it be disproven?
Board Life Status
Board startup date: April 23, 2017 12:45:48
REPLACEMENT LASER
in General Xbox Discussion
Posted
As far as I’m aware, the major fail points are the laser (diode failure), and your capacitors. A Reddit user has thoroughly documented the replacement process for capacitors in the disc drive, including best places to order from. Being able to replace both fail points should ensure the drives continue to operate smoothly.
https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/s/Ui8BX547Ea