No DVD Rom access with startech sata adapter

[Fringle]

2 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

There's looking at the positive!  Good man.

I just tried an xboverclock modified evox bios and it isn't working there either. I don't know what the HELL the problem is. I'm truly stumped.

Ah, it's all good.

Maybe it's something to do with the tsop.  It's possible that a modchip can somehow override the FSB clock while the tsop can't for some reason.  Could have something to do with the OS that runs on the modchip vs no OS running on a tsop.

[Lisko]

I also have the same DVD drive problems. 1.2 Xbox with Samsung drive, startech adapter and Seagate HDD. I also tried various 80-pin ide cables of good-premium quality but nothing changes. If I put my old 120 GB ide drive the DVD becomes fully working again. I found a workaround to get the DVD drive usable when needed on cerbios:

After powering on the Xbox, once it gets to a dashboard, invoke a full system reset IGR combo with the gamepad and once rebooted the DVD drive unlocks and exit from the busy state becoming working again.

I was thinking until now that this problem was tied only to SATA adapters and Samsung DVDs but seems that other brands are affected too.

The good news is that this could be potentially fixed by a custom bios update that implements the logic of the IGR system reset at coldboot/power-on. A sort of double boot, it could make the boot times a little worse but the DVD drive will be usable from first power-on. Maybe this fix could be as an opt-in option in cerbios tool/ini for who needs it.

[Bowlsnapper]

7 hours ago, Fringle said:

Ah, it's all good.

Maybe it's something to do with the tsop.  It's possible that a modchip can somehow override the FSB clock while the tsop can't for some reason.  Could have something to do with the OS that runs on the modchip vs no OS running on a tsop.

Nah, I'm using my Xblast and TSOP. Both have the same result.

[Fringle]

3 minutes ago, Lisko said:

I also have the same DVD drive problems. 1.2 Xbox with Samsung drive, startech adapter and Seagate HDD. I also tried various 80-pin ide cables of good-premium quality but nothing changes. If I put my old 120 GB ide drive the DVD becomes fully working again. I found a workaround to get the DVD drive usable when needed on cerbios:

After powering on the Xbox, once it gets to a dashboard, invoke a full system reset IGR combo with the gamepad and once rebooted the DVD drive unlocks and exit from the busy state becoming working again.

I was thinking until now that this problem was tied only to SATA adapters and Samsung DVDs but seems that other brands are affected too.

The good news is that this could be potentially fixed by a custom bios update that implements the logic of the IGR system reset at coldboot/power-on. A sort of double boot, it could make the boot times a little worse but the DVD drive will be usable from first power-on. Maybe this fix could be as an opt-in option in cerbios tool/ini for who needs it.

This sounds like a decent idea.  If I wouldn't have completely destroyed the middle connector of my cable I would defiantly give it a shot.  Good to know for when the new cable arrives.

[Bowlsnapper]

I don't mean to tease you... But I pushed it higher.

 

[Fringle]

1 minute ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I don't mean to tease you... But I pushed it higher.

 

Nice, Hopefully it remains stable.  I'm off to sleep for now.  Which chip are you using in the box?  I've read that the limit is about 850.

[Bowlsnapper]

1 minute ago, Fringle said:

Nice, Hopefully it remains stable.  I'm off to sleep for now.  Which chip are you using in the box?  I've read that the limit is about 850.

 

So far, yes!

[Bowlsnapper]

30 minutes ago, Fringle said:

Nice, Hopefully it remains stable.  I'm off to sleep for now.  Which chip are you using in the box?  I've read that the limit is about 850.

Oh my god... 870MHZ. 

It locked up playing halo at 870. Going back to 850.

Edit: 847mhz is stable.

[Fringle]

11 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Oh my god... 870MHZ. 

It locked up playing halo at 870. Going back to 850.

Edit: 847mhz is stable.

Yeah be careful with the tsop flashing the overclocked bios.  Pretty sure this one is a corrupted tsop so going to fit it with a mod chip eventually rather than scrap it for parts.  If I provide both vias a19 and a18 to 3.3v it no longer frags but I don't get any video output.  I can tell it is somewhat working but just tapped the wires in place since I didn't want to drag out my iron.  The cpu and gpu start to heat up so I'm pretty sure it's still working to some extent and would indicate that the tsop has been corrupted.

Edit:  Now where can I find a decent modchip for around 10-20 dollars Canadian. haha

Edited August 26, 2023 by Fringle

[Bowlsnapper]

51 minutes ago, Fringle said:

Yeah be careful with the tsop flashing the overclocked bios.  Pretty sure this one is a corrupted tsop so going to fit it with a mod chip eventually rather than scrap it for parts.  If I provide both vias a19 and a18 to 3.3v it no longer frags but I don't get any video output.  I can tell it is somewhat working but just tapped the wires in place since I didn't want to drag out my iron.  The cpu and gpu start to heat up so I'm pretty sure it's still working to some extent and would indicate that the tsop has been corrupted.

Edit:  Now where can I find a decent modchip for around 10-20 dollars Canadian. haha

Here. Ask @Dtomcat18. I have my XBlast from him. I also have an XBlast lite which can supposedly recover a dead TSOP... Mmmm... Sweetdarkdestiny has chips too. He's a nice Guy. Hit him up and let him know what your situation is. I'm sure he'd be willing to help.

[Marty]

57 minutes ago, Fringle said:

Edit:  Now where can I find a decent modchip for around 10-20 dollars Canadian. haha

Less than $11....shipped.

 

[Bowlsnapper]

5 minutes ago, Marty said:

Less than $11....shipped.

 

Yes, there's always the AliExpress Aladdin. However, most of them are not flashable. Please make sure that you get a flashable Aladdin if you're going to get one from AliExpress. The SST chips have traditionally been counterfeited and are not accessible for flashing. However, there are some that are flashable. @MadMartigan says that he's found some that are.

[Bowlsnapper]

I can recover the TSOP if I need to. And supposedly you can recover a TSOP with an x blast lite. I'm going to test that function in a little bit here. If it works, maybe I can send you the chip and you can use it to recover your TSOP.

I also have a mod chip flasher which can flash TSOP chips.

1 hour ago, Fringle said:

Yeah be careful with the tsop flashing the overclocked bios.  Pretty sure this one is a corrupted tsop so going to fit it with a mod chip eventually rather than scrap it for parts.  If I provide both vias a19 and a18 to 3.3v it no longer frags but I don't get any video output.  I can tell it is somewhat working but just tapped the wires in place since I didn't want to drag out my iron.  The cpu and gpu start to heat up so I'm pretty sure it's still working to some extent and would indicate that the tsop has been corrupted.

Edit:  Now where can I find a decent modchip for around 10-20 dollars Canadian. haha

 

[Fringle]

20 minutes ago, Marty said:

Less than $11....shipped.

 

Sweet and according to the comments it's flashable

 

9 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I can recover the TSOP if I need to. And supposedly you can recover a TSOP with an x blast lite. I'm going to test that function in a little bit here. If it works, maybe I can send you the chip and you can use it to recover your TSOP.

I also have a mod chip flasher which can flash TSOP chips.

 

I'm going to see if maybe I can recover it blindly first.  It does appear to be booting and if I can get the right sequence of button presses while booting the Cerbios flashing disc I should be able to get it working again.  Might try later this evening and solder the wires in place to maybe see if I can get it to output some video again before attempting to flash it blind.

[Bowlsnapper]

9 minutes ago, Fringle said:

Sweet and according to the comments it's flashable

 

I'm going to see if maybe I can recover it blindly first.  It does appear to be booting and if I can get the right sequence of button presses while booting the Cerbios flashing disc I should be able to get it working again.  Might try later this evening and solder the wires in place to maybe see if I can get it to output some video again before attempting to flash it blind.

What size TSOP do you have? Version of Xbox? Like I said, pm madmartigan and ask him about Aladdins if you're going to go down that route... I personally wouldn't and would just spend 8 extra dollars to get an XBlast from somebody here. It's a much better option, in my opinion. XblastOS has a lot of options for flashing and can recover from a bad flash. And if you have a bad flash with the Aladdin, (IMPORTANT) You're basically stuck with it on the chip and bricked. Just like you are a with a TSOP. I always recommend against Aladdins for reasons like that. Although if you do brick and Aladdin, I can always recover the SST flash with my programmer. But yeah, I would just avoid them...unless the 8 to ten dollars for an XBlast is something you don't wanna spend...

I'm gonna go try my TSOP recover method with the lite now. Probably an old wives tale. I'm pretty sure martigan told me that too, but ever since I hit my head in that accident my memory has been worse.

[Marty]

22 minutes ago, Fringle said:

Sweet and according to the comments it's flashable

The Aladdin's I've bought in the last 3 years from AliExpress are certainly not flashable.

But I have 5 Aladdins that I'm planning on flashing custom BIOS on an external USB flasher after Labor Day.

Edited August 26, 2023 by Marty

[Bowlsnapper]

6 minutes ago, Marty said:

The Aladdin's I've bought in the last 3 years from AliExpress are certainly not flashable.

But I have 5 Aladdins that I'm planning on flashing custom BIOS on an external USB flasher after Labor Day.

Typically they are not, no. He says he's found some and I believe him, but I wouldn't chance it since Ali has such a bad record, regardless of seller. And I don't want anybody to get stuck with a bad flash!

[Fringle]

35 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

What size TSOP do you have? Version of Xbox? Like I said, pm madmartigan and ask him about Aladdins if you're going to go down that route... I personally wouldn't and would just spend 8 extra dollars to get an XBlast from somebody here. It's a much better option, in my opinion. XblastOS has a lot of options for flashing and can recover from a bad flash. And if you have a bad flash with the Aladdin, (IMPORTANT) You're basically stuck with it on the chip and bricked. Just like you are a with a TSOP. I always recommend against Aladdins for reasons like that. Although if you do brick and Aladdin, I can always recover the SST flash with my programmer. But yeah, I would just avoid them...unless the 8 to ten dollars for an XBlast is something you don't wanna spend...

I'm gonna go try my TSOP recover method with the lite now. Probably an old wives tale. I'm pretty sure martigan told me that too, but ever since I hit my head in that accident my memory has been worse.

It's a 1.0 with a 1mb tsop.  Xblast might not work for me since I don't have a genuine controller.  I know when I attempted to use Xblast OS to flash the 1.1 with a sharp it wouldn't work due to my controller not being detected.  But maybe it's something completely different that will work.  I feel like if I can get this thing to boot from one of the tsop banks, I could unbridge the wires before I flash and make the full tsop writable again, but I may be wrong on that one.  It's more of an experiment now to see if I can revive it.  If it's gone, it's gone.  Not a huge loss if so.

 

20 minutes ago, Marty said:

The Aladdin's I've bought in the last 3 years from AliExpress are certainly not flashable.

But I have 5 Aladdins that I'm planning on flashing custom BIOS on an external USB flasher after Labor Day.

Damn.  Ah well.  I've read there are a few out there but most of them are fakes.

[Bowlsnapper]

11 minutes ago, Fringle said:

It's a 1.0 with a 1mb tsop.  Xblast might not work for me since I don't have a genuine controller.  I know when I attempted to use Xblast OS to flash the 1.1 with a sharp it wouldn't work due to my controller not being detected.  But maybe it's something completely different that will work.  I feel like if I can get this thing to boot from one of the tsop banks, I could unbridge the wires before I flash and make the full tsop writable again, but I may be wrong on that one.  It's more of an experiment now to see if I can revive it.  If it's gone, it's gone.  Not a huge loss if so.

That's actually a good idea and is exactly what I would do. That's why I wanted to know what flash you had. Definitely try it!

[Marty]

36 minutes ago, Fringle said:

 I could unbridge the wires before I flash

What wires?

Quote

but most of them are fakes.

Technically, they're "clones".

[Bowlsnapper]

10 minutes ago, Marty said:

What wires?

Technically, they're "clones".

The TSOP split wires. Since the 256k bios is written 4 times to a 1mb flash with a 1.0 console, he wants to try to set up switching for the TSOP and isolate either a 256k or 512k chunk of the TSOP to try to boot. Then, when booted, disconnect the wiring, and open up the whole TSOP, all 1mb. Then flash that, recovering the flash. That's the idea anyway and it's not a bad one. Just has to make sure the wires are hooked up until he's actually IN XBlast, since it seems like the flash is read every time an XBE is loaded and XBlast will crash and not load if the wires are disconnected before inside.

Fringle, try to isolate as many chunks in as many different ways as possible in order to try to find a functioning block of data!

@Fringle

[Fringle]

32 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

The TSOP split wires. Since the 256k bios is written 4 times to a 1mb flash with a 1.0 console, he wants to try to set up switching for the TSOP and isolate either a 256k or 512k chunk of the TSOP to try to boot. Then, when booted, disconnect the wiring, and open up the whole TSOP, all 1mb. Then flash that, recovering the flash. That's the idea anyway and it's not a bad one. Just has to make sure the wires are hooked up until he's actually IN XBlast, since it seems like the flash is read every time an XBE is loaded and XBlast will crash and not load if the wires are disconnected before inside.

Fringle, try to isolate as many chunks in as many different ways as possible in order to try to find a functioning block of data!

@Fringle

It's alive.  Didn't even have to flash it but will with a 1mb bios to see if it will boot without wires.

Edit:  No more wires.  It's back to booting normally after flashing with 1mb bios.  Wow, that was a little learning experience.

Edited August 26, 2023 by Fringle

[Fringle]

57 minutes ago, Marty said:

What wires?

Technically, they're "clones".

I bridged a18, a19 and 3.3v.  Got the console to boot off bank 4.  Removed the bridge and did a 1mb flash.  The console is now back to a working state without any wires.

[Bowlsnapper]

14 minutes ago, Fringle said:

I bridged a18, a19 and 3.3v.  Got the console to boot off bank 4.  Removed the bridge and did a 1mb flash.  The console is now back to a working state without any wires.

Dude... I would say I'm proud of you but that would sound weird. But I am very impressed that you did exactly that with no help needed. Nice work my friend! Shit, maybe I should be coming to you with help for problems I have now. Lmao!

I bow to you...

No more overclocking now, I assume? I don't know how it would kill the TSOP, but I'm sure you're not interested at this point. Lol.

My 720p console runs at 824 solidly, but it's not showing on my others... I don't know why. I'm about to try to flash a 1.0 with like a 900mhz overclock that I know won't boot so I can see if it's working even though it's not being reported.

[Fringle]

19 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Dude... I would say I'm proud of you but that would sound weird. But I am very impressed that you did exactly that with no help needed. Nice work my friend! Shit, maybe I should be coming to you with help for problems I have now. Lmao!

I bow to you...

No more overclocking now, I assume? I don't know how it would kill the TSOP, but I'm sure you're not interested at this point. Lol.

My 720p console runs at 824 solidly, but it's not showing on my others... I don't know why. I'm about to try to flash a 1.0 with like a 900mhz overclock that I know won't boot so I can see if it's working even though it's not being reported.

Hahaha, no worries.  I was into the Xbox quite a bit from 2004-2007.  I like to learn the hard way so to speak to get myself out of jams.  The first Xbox I had was a 1.6 that I soft modded and wiped the C partition not knowing what the hell I was doing.  Learned the how to recover from that with xboxhdm and a backup I forgot I made since I had no exploitable games. 

I may order some switches for the tsop before I do anymore overclocking just so it's easier to recover should that happen again.  It also seems to have corrupted my xbmc dashboard on one of my drives since it now throws an error 21 when I attempt to boot that drive.  Must have just been pushing this little beast too much.