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[perrin26]

I bow to you.  

All I did was reset the bios and immediately it recognised the drive.
The firmware transfer was successful.
NOW For the hard part.  Wiring, new at this, I may have to come back again for a question tonight, either way I will let you know how it goes.

After four days of struggling on the first step I can go on to the next problem.  Thankyou.
I will update you next problem or at the end of the night if it all goes well (fingers crossed.)

[perrin26]

Well now to go get some wire.  20 guage ok?  hope so.

[perrin26]

My first wiring question,
I am using a Y-splitter for the power,
The two Grounds  do I still need to wire them?  (the two between the two power )

[perrin26]

Ok, it didn't fully work.  To make sure here, the drive opens and closes alright
but it doesn't read the disk, or even recognise that a disk was put in.
There is one cord, DATA ... on 9, in the guide there was no mention as to where this one connects?

[The Zep Man]

QUOTE(perrin26 @ Jul 21 2006, 02:19 AM)

I bow to you.  

All I did was reset the bios and immediately it recognised the drive.
The firmware transfer was successful.
NOW For the hard part.  Wiring, new at this, I may have to come back again for a question tonight, either way I will let you know how it goes.

After four days of struggling on the first step I can go on to the next problem.  Thankyou.
I will update you next problem or at the end of the night if it all goes well (fingers crossed.)

I would first test if the drive worked at all by connecting the IDE-cable of the DVD-ROM drive to the 8163B, a Molex splitter to power to the 8163B for power and the yellow cable to an original Xbox drive. Put in both drives a retail Xbox disc and boot it up.

QUOTE(perrin26 @ Jul 21 2006, 02:47 AM)

Well now to go get some wire.  20 guage ok?  hope so.

The tutorial uses something that looks like floppy drive wiring. Use it as a reference. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

QUOTE(perrin26 @ Jul 21 2006, 03:51 AM)

My first wiring question,
I am using a Y-splitter for the power,
The two Grounds  do I still need to wire them?  (the two between the two power )

No. If you use a Molex splitter, you only need to solder four wires to the connector (eject, ready, tray out, tray in). Off course, you must also solder VRCD to the specified ground points. Make sure that you use the right resistor(s).

QUOTE(perrin26 @ Jul 21 2006, 08:13 AM)

Ok, it didn't fully work.  To make sure here, the drive opens and closes alright
but it doesn't read the disk, or even recognise that a disk was put in.
There is one cord, DATA ... on 9, in the guide there was no mention as to where this one connects?

As far as I know, pin 09 simply isn't used.

Make really sure you have done your wiring correctly (did you solder VRCD?) and use only the four wires I mentioned above. In your situation, I would disconnect the 8163B and only reconnect it with power and IDE. Put an original yellow wire between the Xbox mainboard and an original Xbox drive. Put in both the LG8163B and the original Xbox drive a retail disc and see if it boots off the 8163B.

[edit]
If you look at the final picturese covering the wires in the tutorial, you'll notice that there are eight wires coming out of the drive. Four are for the magic signals and four are for power (which you will not use).

This post has been edited by The Zep Man: Jul 21 2006, 09:12 AM

[perrin26]

If I still had an original yellow wire (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)  Ah well.  C'est la vie.  I wired all the above mentioned, but it was not easy for the points on the back to get the solder to stick to the board.  I will recheck those points.  I am guessing that since tray in and out are working (at least hitting eject from the xbox ejects the 8163b's drive) that in some manner the two are communicating.  I should find a place to find extra xbox yellow wires, is there a pc equivilant that I can purchase?  

I will message again tonight, Going to go over the drive again.  Can't mess up more than I have I suppose, however it has been a learning experience, if I were to find a cheap drive again, I think I would be able to do this withough any hitches, I still wish there were an easier way to solder the back, top was easy, back was a little more difficult.  

[The Zep Man]

QUOTE(perrin26 @ Jul 21 2006, 05:52 PM)

If I still had an original yellow wire (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)  Ah well.  C'est la vie.  I wired all the above mentioned, but it was not easy for the points on the back to get the solder to stick to the board.  I will recheck those points.  I am guessing that since tray in and out are working (at least hitting eject from the xbox ejects the 8163b's drive) that in some manner the two are communicating.  I should find a place to find extra xbox yellow wires, is there a pc equivilant that I can purchase?

As long as you have the connectors, pieces of solderable wire on them and some shrinking tube, you are cool. Just strip a floppy drive cable for the PC and recreate the yellow cable with it.

QUOTE

I will message again tonight, Going to go over the drive again.  Can't mess up more than I have I suppose, however it has been a learning experience, if I were to find a cheap drive again, I think I would be able to do this withough any hitches, I still wish there were an easier way to solder the back, top was easy, back was a little more difficult.

You know that you can take the complete PCB out of the DVD-drive if you remove the three wires carefully out of the ports?

The yellow wire is meant so the Xbox can control the tray using an alternative interface (eject), to check the status of the tray (tray out, tray in) and whether a disc is in it or not (ready). This allows the Xbox, for example, to reset when you open the drive while it is in use, to power up and eject the drive when you push the eject button and to close the drive when the Xbox is powering off. I guess it's cheaper to do this using a seperate interface than by doing it over IDE.

[The Zep Man]

Just a reminder... you did remember to put the drive on 'slave', didn't you?

[perrin26]

QUOTE(The Zep Man @ Jul 21 2006, 07:23 PM)

Just a reminder... you did remember to put the drive on 'slave', didn't you?

Yes I remembered to put it slave,
The point I had the most problem with was soldering tray in, would it not check the status if the connection wasn't good there?  

either way, Iw ill crack it open tonight, and I will let you know, you have been very helpful.  Whether or not it works, the experience i guess it is worth the cost, I just wish these drives were easy to find.

[perrin26]

Alright, another day another problem.

Well probably have damaged the drive somehow,  The wiring at least sticks properly now, I took the drive out of the xbox rewired to make sure, eject, tray in etc all work properly, however it doesn't detect disks, or is having problems, once it did give me a dirty disk error, but most of the time it just doesn't do anything when the tray goes in.  

SO I took it to the pc and reflashed it with the 8136b bios, windows detects it fine, but it doesn't read disks either, like the xbox, I can get it to eject the try through the Windows program (not pressing eject) and pull the tray back in, but I can't get it to read disks, so once again, since it's hooped, is there something inside the drive I can check?

TTFN!  Thanks for your help.  I have the feeling I could do this in my sleep now if I only had another drive.

You don't happen to have an extra xbox lying around you don't want anymore do you? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[perrin26]

I don't think that the drive is even recognising that a disk is in the drive, when the tray goes in, it doesn't flash like it is trying to read the disk, (once then stops)  It is acting like when you close an empty tray
I tested this theory, and it really isn't even noticing a disk was put in the drive.

[The Zep Man]

My guess is that one of the three wires which are connected to the PCB are damaged or not properly connected somehow. If I had to pick which one, I would guess the one for the laser.

Sorry, don't have a spare Xbox and no 8163B's either. I'm going to mod the one I have in a few days (still waiting for some parts to make it a more 'clean' mod). If you think you now really can mod one, I'll give you a hint: although it is a bit hard, you could buy a beige 8163B and use the tray from your old 8163B in the beige one (if it was black). Off course, you can also paint it black. It is said that beige 8163B's are easier to find.

Unfortunatly, I don't know in what general area you live so I can't help you find one.

[perrin26]

I live in BC (Canada)

The cord...err whatever it's called strip that has lots of attachments that goes to the lazer was a little damaged I noticed this time, somehow some solder must have dripped and melted the wires a little, they still look like they are seperate, but they don't look pretty... could be the problem?

I want to find that type of wire to check, however nowhere I know would sell it.

I will keep you update, it's probably the last thing I will try.

Take care!

[The Zep Man]

QUOTE(perrin26 @ Jul 22 2006, 10:38 PM)

I live in BC (Canada)

The cord...err whatever it's called strip that has lots of attachments that goes to the lazer was a little damaged I noticed this time, somehow some solder must have dripped and melted the wires a little, they still look like they are seperate, but they don't look pretty... could be the problem?

Well, the symptoms are that you can't read any discs with it and that it also doesn't recognize the type of disc. I would really think you have the problem right there.

QUOTE

I want to find that type of wire to check, however nowhere I know would sell it.

I somehow don't think it's easy to get a replacement wire (unless you can get another broken 8163B with the wire still intact), unless someone knows another device which uses it. Whenever I look at these type of wires I tend to be very careful around them, since even looking at them creates the illusion that they'll get damaged.

QUOTE

I will keep you update, it's probably the last thing I will try.

Take care!

Thanks. And good luck. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This post has been edited by The Zep Man: Jul 22 2006, 08:58 PM

[toxickiwi]

Greetz guys,

Hope one of you can be of some help.

I'm wondering if the "Tutorial" you both refer to is the one by Superfro  

http://xbox-scene.com/articles/lg-dvd2.php

It's for LG 8160 Version dvd rom drives  so  I'm wondering where to find one for an LG 8163 if they are different to modify.

Ive picked up a 2nd hand 8163 for $20NZ and have the firmware pack.  
Just need the right hardware mod guide.

Thanks for your time.