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OG Xbox Forums => Hardware Forums => General Hardware/Technical Chat => Topic started by: NTICompass on March 23, 2005, 03:59:00 PM

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: NTICompass on March 23, 2005, 03:59:00 PM

My friend has a Thompson drive in his XBOX.  And, yes it sux.  It always givees dirty disc errors or freezes in the middle of a game.  In my XBOX, I have a Phillps drive.  Mine works fine.  In my closet I have a Hitachi-LG (H-L) and a Samsung drive.  I already know that the Samsung is the best, which is why I am installing it in by XBOX and taking out the Phillps drive.  But, my friend with the Thompson drive, should I put my Phillips drive, or the H-L drive into his XBOX.

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: TKramka on March 23, 2005, 03:32:00 PM

I would go for the Philips.  Do a pot tweak and it might even read CDR's.  HL-DT's cannot read CDR media no matter what.  Both drives are about the same speed.  I would keep the Philips if the Sammy is a Rev. F (made by toshiba)

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: NTICompass on March 23, 2005, 03:39:00 PM

What does Rev. F mean?  I think the frive isn't Rev. F, but how do I tell?
I would do a pot-tweak, but if I mess up........
And my friend really needs a new drive, his Thompson SUCKS.

By the way, this is the Samsung drive I have, and this is the H-L drive I have.  As you can see, the front doesn't have the "XBOX" logo on the front.  Can I take the "XBOX" logo off the front of my current DVD drive and put it on the new one?

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: TKramka on March 23, 2005, 06:34:00 PM

If your drive says Samsung SDG-605 whatever designed by toshiba it is a Rev. F.  These drives do not read any CD'R at all and can be quite picky with other media.  The LG drive is essentially the same as a SDG-605F in terms of media compatability.  To tweak the philips, find the model # on the drive.  Both models, the VAD6011/21 and the VAD6035/21 can be tweaked by turning the left pot counterclockwise.  For the 6011, I took off 200 ohms, but I suggest you try incriments of 50 at a time until it reads CDRs.  For the 6035, I reccomend that you do not turn it down more then 150 ohms.  75 ohms off set it fine.  The 6035 laser is much more sensitive then the 6011, so tweak with caution.  Always write down the original value so if it fails, you can fall back to it.  I have found that some Philips drives will read just as good as a Samsung if it is tweaked right.  Even the Thomsons can be tweaked, that might be a fun project.  See XBox-Linux.org under the CD/DVD burning HOWTO section for tutorials.  And remember, TWEAK WITH CAUTION!!

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: NTICompass on March 23, 2005, 08:38:00 PM

Is thre a way to take the "XBOX" logo off of one drive and put it on another?

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: ChInEsE ChIcKeN on March 23, 2005, 09:42:00 PM

QUOTE(TKramka @ Mar 23 2005, 05:38 PM)

I would go for the Philips.  Do a pot tweak and it might even read CDR's.  HL-DT's cannot read CDR media no matter what.  Both drives are about the same speed.  I would keep the Philips if the Sammy is a Rev. F (made by toshiba)

AGREED...... i personally perferr the philips drive...........with a modchip it can read anything..........but the good thing is that it can also read sopme cheap media it dosnt have to be good media like the samsung drive............

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: TKramka on March 24, 2005, 08:58:00 AM

Yes, the Philips drives have grown in popularity, at least in my eyes.  The xbox front bezel is interchangeble between drives.  Just look under it for the 2 locking tabs, pull those out and lift it up.  Then just slip it on the new drive

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: loki21 on March 24, 2005, 01:49:00 PM

if i'm running games or movies from the HD, will it matter if my dvd drive (thomson) cannot play cd-r's? thanks!

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: NTICompass on March 24, 2005, 02:37:00 PM

QUOTE(TKramka @ Mar 23 2005, 07:40 PM)

If your drive says Samsung SDG-605 whatever designed by toshiba it is a Rev. F.  These drives do not read any CD'R at all and can be quite picky with other media.  The LG drive is essentially the same as a SDG-605F in terms of media compatability.  To tweak the philips, find the model # on the drive.  Both models, the VAD6011/21 and the VAD6035/21 can be tweaked by turning the left pot counterclockwise.  For the 6011, I took off 200 ohms, but I suggest you try incriments of 50 at a time until it reads CDRs.  For the 6035, I reccomend that you do not turn it down more then 150 ohms.  75 ohms off set it fine.  The 6035 laser is much more sensitive then the 6011, so tweak with caution.  Always write down the original value so if it fails, you can fall back to it.  I have found that some Philips drives will read just as good as a Samsung if it is tweaked right.  Even the Thomsons can be tweaked, that might be a fun project.  See XBox-Linux.org under the CD/DVD burning HOWTO section for tutorials.  And remember, TWEAK WITH CAUTION!!

My Samsung is a "SDG-605" but, nowhere on the drive does it say "REV. F" or "Toshiba."  It says OCT. 2002, and "Ver.B" on it, though.

QUOTE(loki21 @ Mar 24 2005, 02:19 PM)

if i'm running games or movies from the HD, will it matter if my dvd drive (thomson) cannot play cd-r's? thanks!

If your playing stuff off the HDD, why would it matter what media your DVD drive can read?

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: TKramka on March 24, 2005, 07:13:00 PM

Good God your lucky!! That is the best drive you can find on the market today,  By all means keep it.  This Samsung drive is by far the best, I would keep it.  By the way, I can attempt to fix the Thomson drive for the cost of shipping.  Or you could do it yourself, it would be a good learning experiance, what do you have to loose.

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: NTICompass on March 25, 2005, 11:10:00 AM

Actually, couldn't I just put my Phillips or the H-L drive, into the XBOX with the Thompson drive?

I am gonna try to fix the thompson myself, because that would be fun!

YEA, I'm Lucky!!!

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: TKramka on March 25, 2005, 04:51:00 PM

I'd put the Phillips in the box w/ the Thomson, the HL drives seem to be going for a lot of $$$ on eBay lately.  See if you can get 60 same dollars for it.  As for the Thomson, there is a good tutorial on the XBox-Linux website on how to do the.  I am pretty sure that it said to take 1975 ohms off the pot and it might even read cdr media.

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: NTICompass on March 26, 2005, 09:24:00 AM

OK, so I opened up my XBOX.  I took out the HDD and DVD.  I took out the IDE cable (ATA33).  I replaced the IDE cable with a ATA166 cable from here.  I connected the Samsung DVD drive and the HDD, and powered up the XBOX.  It booted into the M$ dash.  I then inserted Madden 2005.  The DVD drive made funny noises, and wouldn't load the game.  I turned off the XBOX, with the game still in.  I turned it back on, and it gave me the "XBOX can't read this disc" error.  I took out the Samsung DVD drive and put my Phillips back in, and Madden 2005 worked perfectly (and loaded faster becasue of the ATA166 cable).  Why doesn't my Samsung drive work?  I don't think the ATA166 cable should be a problem, if it works with the Philips and the HDD.  And, no, I didn't try the Samsung with the original ATA33 cable.

P.S. Why on the Phillips DVD drive the power cable is on the right of the IDE cable, and on the Samsung DVD drive it's on the left?  And, why does my Phillips drive have a bulge on the bottom of it?

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: TKramka on March 26, 2005, 09:58:00 AM

So sorry to heat the Samsung isn't working.  i would tweak the Philips to read burned media whilst the Samsung awaits repair.  Can you give a better desciption of the noise.  Like a clicking noise, a grinding noise.  If its a clicking noise, then it has a bad laser, try a pot tweak on that... However... if it is a grinding noise, it can't spin the disk, the disk clamp is probably bad, try opening it up and cleaning it off.   the reason Philips drives have bumps on the bottom depends on what drive you have.  If it is the VAD6011, there is no reason for the hump except for a dust trap.  If you have a VAD6035, then it is for the laser, the new models have a laser that looks like a NASA expirament (its huge!).  As for the power chord, what side it is on depends on the manufacture, you'd have to ask them why they move things, it dosn't matter that much though.

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: NTICompass on March 26, 2005, 10:43:00 AM

The samsung drive makes a grinding noise, so I'll get right on to cleaning the disc clamp.  I hpoe I can fix it.............

This post has been edited by NTICompass: Mar 26 2005, 06:46 PM

Title: Dvd Rom Drives
Post by: jaskm on April 27, 2005, 11:41:00 PM

hey, kinda lil late on this topic but, i swapped my thompson for a hitachi i bought.  everything worked perfectly, until today when the hitachi wont read ANYTHING.  any disk u put in all it says is the infamous cant recognize the disk message.  ill post what new i learn from this problem, but i think that the hitachi has a "kill switch" or sometin like that that locks it up when swapped.