I know you guys on here may be able to help me I have a query relating to the use of IDE to SATA adaptors with the old classic Xbox console.

As some of you may know it is getting harder to find new ide drives of a reasonable size for a reasonable price so one would like to use a Sata HDD with the Xbox console.

The problem we have is that not all adaptors work and it is hard to find a one that works with the Xbox.

some adaptors will only work with and 80 core conductor ide cable even tho I believe it should not make a difference as #PDIAG (pin 34) should tell the adaptor to not select a speed above ATA-33 with a 40 conductor cable fitted.

Am I able to use the TTL interface pull the log to find out a reason why some adaptors don't work if so what is the easiest drive if one manufacturer is easier to work with than the other?

I have dissected the bios of the Xbox with IDA and commented out relevant areas applied flirt signatures etc... and played but have not managed to get it to work and if I have a direction to look towards I can play a bit more.

I tried to add a wait state in the 2BL (2nd stage boot loader) in a repeated JMP loop to count up to a large number to allow more time to init but it did not fix the problem and caused watch dog reboots from failing to init with in the wait period I think.

Of note some adaptors and Sata drive's wont work from a cold boot some times and some non working adaptors you can power from an external source and will work with the Xbox if powered before you power on the Xbox.

of note some adaptors that fail to work if you actually format the drive an copy files on no commit happen and it looks like nothing has worked but if you pop the drive in a pc and analyse it the drive is actually formatted and placed on a FatX partition table but no files are listed in the file tables on the Drive.

Can any one offer any insight or a possible reason why these adaptors don't always work and or if I can figure out some how by probing the HDD for a reason for this?

I can't use the debug feature of the Xbox over the LPC header as it requires a HDD to be present with the OS on it.

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drugstoredir2014.com

If you need to use big capacity drives as usb, you might find interesting my post on this link:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?p=6862#p6862

I was able to use a normal 500 GB external drive (WD Elements) on my grandchild Xbox 360, i hacked the firmware so now he can use full capacity instead only 32 GB.

WD Elements drive have native usb pcb, but i believe that you might hack the firmware of any WD sata drive and then insert it into a generic sata to usb adapter.

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My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI

I think the original xbox, not 360?



someone made a flirt sig lib? cool. wish I had one when I was playing around with consoles.

There is a lot of detail missing here, but I would wager this is the wrong forum.

IMHO I would be trying to find one that works, and then either stock up on compatibles, or try and find what differences there are to non working.

the flirt signatures mostly bring up all the video related calls there is very little else there is actually.
the source code for the bios is out in the wild for the Xbox but it is only for the Xbox version 1.0 console.

all the Pata to Sata converter IC's are all closed up by the manufactures you cant really get any info looking down that direction, and even some with the same chipset have a different circuit board or missing or added components and effect if they work on the Xbox, yet they all work on the pc?.

I believe we need to give the console more time to init and change the timing on things in the ide in the bios but what I don't know.

I did a hardware method to hold the console in reset on power up while breaking the reset from the sata interface and it made some adaptors work better but it caused other problems.

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drugstoredir2014.com

First off, have you ever actually tried just replacing an original Xbox HDD? It's not a simple task and involves reading out lock codes from the eeprom of the Xbox and then using that as a lock code for the new drive (if memory serves correctly, haven't done this in a decade or so). Not sure if those ATA lock codes will ever translate over adapting from PATA to SATA.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

eeprom lock codes are not an issue unless you run the original bios that requires it to be locked.
so if you softmod your xbox you require it to be locked.

With a modchip or tsop flash the bios is patched to not require the HDD lock.

But yes the ATA-PW master and user lock codes work with a Pata to Sata adaptor after all in theory all the converter does is convert form a parallel bit string to a serial encoding as all the ata commands are the same it just extends by adding NCQ in Sata.

With the later exploits all you do is pop in a specific game and put a special save game on a memory cart and load it and it will print out the eeprom hdd lock key on the screen from a exploit.

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drugstoredir2014.com

Yes, I know it must have gotten easier since those early days when I did it. It was a softmod I was doing, so that's why I had to deal with the lock codes and all. Funny thing is now I work in data and sit in front of a PC-3000 all day. Would have been much easier back then if I had this tool to just read the lock code out of the drive.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

It is depressing to remember when we had time to play with this stuff. I bet the "game" here is to get this thing to work successfully, and once it is working, poor old xbox will be neglected. I have many bucket lists too from back when I never had resources to complete the mission.. but there is this thing called a clock that is my arch nemesis ...

It is sort of my hobby painting them up modding them and selling them off I don't even really make any money but don't tell the mrs!!!

I don't know if you guys have herd of coinops but it is dubbed the holy grail of emulation and make great projects to make an arcade cabinet to put in the man room/ cave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XgQdAI3O8Y

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drugstoredir2014.com

That's really cool!!!
here is my arcade cabinet in the works, in it is going Ultracade guts...

nice cabinet are you going pc xbox based or official.

problem with the xbox can some time be interfacing with the screen so I made this:

http://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/forum/viewt ... =13&t=3644

it will basically give you signals with out having to track down component cables it also offers a buffered h and v sync signals and you can generate vga with the correct bios.

Some other people made this to interface the xbox to arcade sticks track ball etc... looks like you have an I-pac or something simular

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ka ... n?ref=live

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drugstoredir2014.com

cabinet is having an x86 PC running Ultracade. Nice work on the XBOX, don't you love how things start getting REAL technical? I was reading the thread and it just gets deep. fast. Looks like you have a pretty helpful mod going on there!

hyperspin is also a popular pc emulator I did think about that but the xbox is just so nice and easy to setup.

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drugstoredir2014.com