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[LoXodonte]

Hello, I'd first like to give a lil thx to the great tutorials on this site. This weekend I installed my 616, moded the xbox to fit it, installed the y cable 12v fan mod, removed/cleaned my jewel, and cut a hole in my xbox, all thanks to this site!

Now, the problems lies within the device that I did not actuall mod myself...the samsung 616. I bought it off ebay, received it on saturday. At first glance I was very impressed with the professionalism of the whole thing. From what I've read, modding one of these drives is not an easy task. On to the problem...

After I've loaded a game, if I press the eject button, the drive will open, the Xbox logo will appear on the screen, then I start to see the xbox dash load, then I get the unrecognized disk error. This is pretty strange considering the drive is open with the disk sitting out their infront of my face. I can't access the dashboard unless I either: take the game out and close the tray, or, turn off the xbox and turn it back on.

Man, for those of you wanting to get a 616 who are totally new to xbox modding, you might want to think twice. It's very hard to find trouble shooting steps for this drive! Hopefully you guys can help me out.

With the exception to purely cosmetic enhancements, and the y cable 12v fan mod, my xbox is completely stock, which is probubly a rare environment for a 616 to be running in. Not sure which xbox version I'm running, but it used to have a phillips DVD drive. Strangely enough I had a VERY strange probelm with it, but that's a different thread. Regarding my current 616 issue,  I've only read of a similiar problem one time, but it sounded like everyone was running it in a moded xbox.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/lofiversion/i...hp/t334423.html


Oh, I'm also kinda in a crunch for time here because they guy's warranty I bought it from is really short. I basicly want to know if I need to replace the drive, or if this is a common problem with 616's running in stock xbox's.

[Stitch_626]

I modded quite a number of sd616e drive using my interface board. I don't have any problems. A member used my tut to do his own conversion by not using the interface board. He used a y splitter for the power. He experienced similar problems.  My suspicion is to do with the power sharing with the hard drive. Its possible this is the cause of your problems. Many posts in the past have discussed the effect suggesting is power related.

[LoXodonte]

well, the the 616 is actually using the original yellow power cable. They Y is being shared by the hdd and the fan. I'll give it a tray anyway.

[LoXodonte]

that's a big negative. Same problem even though I removed the y cable. I've had 2 dvd problems on different drives  in 2 weeks that nobody can figure out.

[LoXodonte]

Think we got it figured out:

Xboxman was able to help me out on this one:

"it is a known problem for a modded SD-616T/F drive which isn't really a problem at all, the code within the ms dashboard do not regconize the eject function but the hardware part of the xbox does, as soon as you close the tray that message should be gone and load your game just fine. If you use a diff dashboard, like EvoX, you will not see that error. Short answer, your drive is working perfectly fine."

Thanks Xboxman!

This post has been edited by LoXodonte: Apr 26 2005, 03:21 AM

[Stitch_626]

Weird, I have done some test and finally replicated your problems. My original test were on v 1.0 xbox's and quite a number of drives have not shown the status problem. However, with a v 1.6 the story is different out of two modded drives one is ok and the other is like yours. Until these two drives are tested on v 1.0 extensively the reason is not clear to me why this is so. The other strange  behaviour about this xbox launching M$ dashboard always throws up  dirty / damaged message on screen. Yet booting with the disc loaded in the tray the game launches successfully without a hitch. My inital suspicion is this box has not taken chipping well!
 

[LoXodonte]

Forgot to give props to modcase for helping me with my xbox faceplate.

Not sure which version of Xbox I have. Had a phillips dvd drive in it originally if that tells ya anything. I bought it on newegg almost a year ago, and has not yet been chipped.

[Stitch_626]

Found problem with modded drive it just reinforces my initail comments regarding y splitters. In this case the interface was faulty the logic low was 465mv...... the xbox did not see cd_ready therefore no disc or unknown came up with a disc loaded. On replacing the interface the logic low varies between 65 ---- 240mv everything is fine even the 1.6 sees the  correct status. Its clear if the earth (power) return intoduces extra millivolts approaching 400mv with system noise this can be interpreted not as a low then, the rom can misbehave by signalling incorrect status. Mind you the rom can function correctly in the box with this condition untill the noise increase too far!.
 :popcorn:

[LoXodonte]

heh, I don't get the disc errors with disks going into the xbox box, I only get it when ejecting disks out! All disk's read fine, I just can't access my dashboard very easily. :\

I see an executor in my future...

[LoXodonte]

Was wondering if some of you could try and reproduce something I just noticed. When the tray is open on the xbox, and you're at the dashboard, turn up your volume a bit, then close the tray. Now listen to the background sfx. Do you hear pops and clicks? Do you notice about 1 second of the background audio repeating over and over? This only last for about 5 seconds, but it does it everytime I close the tray at the dashboard with no cd in the drive. :\

Now, onto the original problem we already talked about:

Originally, when I'd open the tray the unrecognized disk thing would pop up on the screen, and stay their until I closed the tray. Now, when I eject the tray the error pops up only for a second, and then goes away. What is going on! The only thing I did different was pull the drives out so I could solder the black fan wire to the metal case as a 12v fan mod instead of using a y splitter.  I ran the system completely without a y splitter a couple day's ago but it didn't act like this...which makes me nervous. I was getting to the point of thinking that this was a common problem, but now it's acting differently a day latter. I'm beginning to think this maybe a dud 616.

[LoXodonte]

I just tried putting my phillips drive back in. It worked perfectly. It didn't do any of the weird stuff the 616 is doing, so unless the 616 uses more power then the phillips drive, I think it would be safe to assume this problem is not related to power.

grrrrr

[Stitch_626]

The noise problem is what is being induced whatever device you string onto the earth line it can be random from day to day. HD draw amps so if you use a y splitter for the dvd rom the HD current will create enough noise to upset the reading of cd_ready etc. Thats why M$ used a separate lead for power / signals connecting to the motherboard in an attempt to reduce interference. The only analogy is earth loop problems with sound sytems
 

[LoXodonte]

Hmm, don't know much about electrical stuff, but I assume a earthline and ground are the same thing. I did just recently ground the blackwire on my fan to the case so it would run at 12v's. Sucker is soldered right on their now, but, I tried my old drive after doing the soldering, and it didn't have any of the 616's symptoms. The drive is runing games and audio perfectly, just doing some rather strange things here and their.

[Stitch_626]

<quote>
Was wondering if you could try and reproduce something I just noticed. When the tray is open on the xbox, and you're at the dashboard, turn up your volume a bit, then close the tray. Now listen to the background sfx. Do you hear pops and clicks? Do you notice about 1 second of the background audio repeating over and over?

Now, onto the original problem we already talked about:

Originally, when I'd open the tray the unrecognized disk thing would pop up on the screen, and stay their until I closed the tray. Now, when I eject the tray the error pops up only for a second, and then goes away. What is going on! The only thing I did different was pull the drives out so I could solder the black fan wire to the metal case as a 12v fan mod instead of using a y splitter.  I ran the system completely without a y splitter a couple day's ago but it didn't act like this...which makes me nervous. I was getting to the point of thinking that this was a common problem, but now it's acting differently a day latter. I'm beginning to think this maybe a dud 616.
<quote>

Well, on an ver. 1.6 and an evox chipping here are the results.

1 Lastest Phillips drive with volume flat out there are no extraneous noises in either mode
2 A dual f/w modded sd 616e is the same except in M$ mode there was a only once a tiny squark whilst the eject button was pressed.
My conclusion your problem is earth loop related!
I don't think this makes the drive a dud just an undesirable side effect.
Next test, console messages

1 On boot up no disc in tray console message ---> unknown
2  Once tray fully open console message ----> open
3 Press eject tray starting to close console message----> checking
4. Once game is recognised console screen changes with Xbox logo and message "Loading <game name>" pretty quick with sd616e drive
Look at my tut and see how the power is derived from the 12 pin lead and how it's connected to the std 4 pin power connector.

http://www.xbox100.com/tutorials/turbochargesammy.pdf
 

[LoXodonte]

Ok, I've deffiently determined that  the actual clicking sound is caused from the audio repeating itself...kinda like a broken record or somin. Only occurs when loading in disc's at the ms dashboard...