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OG Xbox Forums => Hardware Forums => General Hardware/Technical Chat => Topic started by: GhostHavoc on September 24, 2003, 07:27:00 AM

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: GhostHavoc on September 24, 2003, 07:27:00 AM

I have a vers. 1 xbox with X2 lite. I have a 120g HDD, jewel lights, HDD activity light, switches for mod, flash and banks. My box worked fine for 8 months until last night when I first saw the error 7 (HDD error). Since then, I get it five times out of 10. I opened my box, checked the wirings and saw nothing. When I replaced my 120 with the original 8 gig.. it boots perfectly without getting HDD error. I think my 120 gig is failing.... I could be wrong.. I desperately need help here. Any solutions would be greatly appreciated..

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: juan23 on September 24, 2003, 07:53:00 AM

sorry to say man but im sure the Hdd is dead. It has happened to me a couple times. best thing to do now is either flash ur chip with the 4978 bios with ftp in it, or connect to pc to see if u can salvage anything from it.

P.S. I have heard people putting hdd in freezer for about 5-10 mins, however that did not work for me, but hell its worth a shot. another trick is to bang THE SIDE of hdd a few times to see if u have frozen heads this sometimes can loosen them. again this did not work for me.

good luck, and now is a great time to buy that 320 gig hdd for the box

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: GhostHavoc on September 24, 2003, 08:04:00 AM

QUOTE (juan23 @ Sep 24 2003, 04:53 PM)

Thanks for replying to my post...
Do you know what causes this HDD failure? Don't they last longer than 8 months? How many times have you replaced your HDD? I forgot to mention on my post that my HDD was almost full and I deleted a total of 15 gig and started storing newer games. Could the cause be too fragmented? Thanks buddy

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: juan23 on September 24, 2003, 09:02:00 AM

well i had to replace my HDD 2 times.

what will kill it you ask. adding and deleting files all the time will really hurt the hdd, also overheating

u have to remember that a bigger hdd gets hotter faster than the stock drive. Never happened to me.

both my 120 gig hdd died because of constant adding and deleting of files.

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: juan23 on September 24, 2003, 10:02:00 AM

well i can honestly say i didnt have anything undermine, however since i have my 160 gig and my 200 gig hdd i have an 80 mm fan upgrade and havnt had any issues what soever

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: GhostHavoc on September 24, 2003, 10:09:00 AM

So nothing can be done to save my HD? The brand is Maxtor, got it cheap from Best buy about 8 months ago. It still boots 6 out of 10. Is this really a sign of a dying hard drive? This really sucks! Backing up a 120 gig data is a lot of work as data must be transferred to computer first then to the new hard drive. Whats really the point of getting a new hard drive replacement if they won't even last a year?

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: rzyzzy on September 24, 2003, 10:09:00 AM

look up the specs for your hard drive - I doubt you exceeded them even with a stock fan. btw - a flakey hard drive cable is more likely than a intermittant code 7 - usually, code 7= dead, period, intermittant makes me think it may just be a bad cable...

or do you have a cathode? some here have had intereference problems, possibly related to the eletric field generated by the invertor

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: GhostHavoc on September 24, 2003, 10:20:00 AM

QUOTE (rzyzzy @ Sep 24 2003, 07:09 PM)

Thanks for the reply ... I don't know if it is a cable because when I put the original HDD back, it boots 3 out of 3 times. I hope it is the cable.... I do have 3 powerful LEDS and a wire is also tapped into the IDE cable for HD activity light. I have the maxtor 100 gb plus 20 gig bonus which I got from best buy... PLease more solutions...

EDIT: also, I had upgraded my stock fan voltage from 7 to 12V four months ago..

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: GhostHavoc on September 24, 2003, 10:47:00 AM

QUOTE (dvl @ Sep 24 2003, 07:32 PM)

This really sucks. I guess I'll be doing the hdd fan mod. It's scary, but I can't allow this to happen to me.

Yes it truly sucks... I spent a great deal of time storing games on the HD and now its failing... I guess Maxtor brand is no good. Hard Drives are supposed to last longer than 8 months and should be able to survive torture and extreme heat. I can't wait to get home today. I will try to save my drive..replacement is too expensive and there is even no guarantee that they will last long. Juan23 stated that he replaced his 120gig twice... all I can say is "wow"

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: GhostHavoc on September 24, 2003, 11:35:00 AM

QUOTE (dvl @ Sep 24 2003, 08:07 PM)

There are a lot of things that can cause a hdd to fail. Wonder if your system has been roughly handled or anything with the hdd inside? I know it's a stupid question but you never know. I guess I'll be doing a 40mm fan mod this weekend. My only concern now is for all the systems that I've been modding. Should I start including 40mm fans on the systems that mod in the future? The last thing I want is some pissed customer who's rig busts on him 8 months down the road.

There is plenty of room inside my box for my HD to breathe. The only modification I did was, Activity light, Jewel lights, switches and external fan. My stock fan voltage has been upgraded to 12V for about 4 months now. I can afford to get a new hard drive but worst part is spending hours to copy the all the files from old to new hard drive.

You don't have to install a fan to your customer unless requested. If there system fails after 8 months it is no longer your concern. You should only provide support or repair for a short period of time say 90 days. I am restless right now thinking my beloved xbox's HD is dying.. I have about 3,000+ games stored in my HD.

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: SKoT on September 24, 2003, 11:40:00 AM

Well id suggest making some room and fitting a thin 12V diretly under your HDD blowing AWAY from it and make your 5V a 12V(if you already havent done so) shouyld keep it cool enough, does for me anyway.

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: GhostHavoc on September 24, 2003, 07:13:00 PM

I FIXED THE PROBLEM! The HDD activity light was the cause of the problem! I removed it and xbox boots flawlessly now..no more error 7-9!

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: rzyzzy on September 24, 2003, 07:26:00 PM

Great, now all you guys worrying about your hard drives should chill out - there is no need for an extra fan under the hard drive, lots of people are running 7200 rpm drives, with stock systems and not having problems. You're more likely to have a problem from "browning out" the power supply by putting too many accessories (like fans) on it - if youre worried about it, go to your hard drive manufacturers website, and pull the data sheet on your particular hard drive - then check your temps in evox - If your stock fan is working at all, you won't be cooking a drive. If you're worried about it, buy your hard drives in a retail box ( not off pricewatch) - the retail hard drives have a longer warranty than the ones in the white box.

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: GhostHavoc on September 24, 2003, 07:54:00 PM

QUOTE (rzyzzy @ Sep 25 2003, 04:26 AM)

Exactly! hard drive should be able to handle extreme heat! especially if its brand new.. I was really scared of losing 3000+ games on my hard drive now I am happy that everything is back to normal..

special thanks those who tried to help me..

Title: Error 7 Or 9
Post by: dvl on September 25, 2003, 06:46:00 AM

I think I'm still going to put a hdd fan on my xbox. I play for 8 hrs at a time on weekends. Especially in the winter. I don't think it's going to hurt anything. Maybe I'll put a switch on my hdd fan for when I'm playing for long periods of time. Is there a tut for that?