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[Jreb892]

OK, I realy want 2 leds for my xbox. I want one to blink when the dvd-rom is in use and one to blink when the HDD is in use. I dont want 2 IDE activity leds! I have no idea how to do this, any help???

[tsom111]

a led place on the ide cable only tells if there is any traffic in the cable. in other words u can't place one for the dvd and one for the hdd, unless there connected to 2 different ide cables, because both will pick up dvd and hdd traffic and both will blink the same

This post has been edited by tsom111: Mar 30 2003, 06:27 PM

[Jreb892]

What do you think I ment by

QUOTE

I dont want 2 IDE activity leds!

[methadone_pretty]

what dvd drive do you have? try and find one as close as possible in PC flavour - rip both of said drives apart and look where the LED is wired.

hdds..u'll have to settle with the ide activity led - unless you could arse around with diodes further down the line to prevent it reading a signal from the DVD - but then im only guessing and so prolly talking total shite

[Jreb892]

QUOTE

what dvd drive do you have? try and find one as close as possible in PC flavour - rip both of said drives apart and look where the LED is wired. hdds..u'll have to settle with the ide activity led - unless you could arse around with diodes further down the line to prevent it reading a signal from the DVD - but then im only guessing and so prolly talking total shite

I compaired the xbox dvd-rom to 2 other dvd roms, they dont match up, plus I dont have a multimeter  

[Jreb892]

NO ONE KNOWS?

[oRIDDLERo]

here you go slappy...

Open the xbox dvd drive locate (if it exists) an activity trace on the system board wityh you multimeter.  (yes i know the xbox dvd has no led, but i bet there is a good chance there is an unused LED activity point on the DVD drives main board)

After you locate it solder a lead to the base leg of either a NPN or PNP transistor (depending on the controlling voltage polarity you find in the drive)

throw the right voltage to the collector of you new transistor, solder the transistor emitter to the led you want to drive.

There... you are done!  
sounds like a fun project... let us know the results

[oRIDDLERo]

QUOTE (methadone_pretty @ Mar 30 2003, 03:27 PM)

what dvd drive do you have? try and find one as close as possible in PC flavour - rip both of said drives apart and look where the LED is wired. hdds..u'll have to settle with the ide activity led - unless you could arse around with diodes further down the line to prevent it reading a signal from the DVD - but then im only guessing and so prolly talking total shite

that was a very good idea using a diode to block the DVD IDE activity on pin 39... then I suppose you could tap the -v at a point above the diode for DVD activity, and below it for HDD activity.  Assuming pin 39 is used solely for LED purposes.

Sounds so easy I just might try it on my RGB XBOX LED’s (I never got around to the dvd activity)

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?act...=24&t=37339&hl=

This post has been edited by oRIDDLERo: Mar 31 2003, 04:04 PM

[methadone_pretty]

cool - let us know if it works, i dont have time to try it myself on the xbox, but in simple theory - it would work

[-Gadget-]

which why did ya find the best ??
And can ya use pin 39 on both HDD and DVD if ya split it ? ..
or does the MoBo need a signal from both etc .. ?
But then thinking about it, if there was activty from DVD on pin 39 then u would see it if u just used 39 on HDD ..
HMMMM, kinda answered me own Q !!

Mick ..

PS used search so its a resurected old post

This post has been edited by -Gadget-: Sep 3 2003, 07:29 PM

[sk8ermike6789]

DVD ACTIVITY IS PIN 8 ON THE YELLOW CABLE, DONT USE THE IDE CABLE, THATS JUST STUPID.. THATLL GIVE YOU TWO HDD LEDS

[-Gadget-]

been messing about .. and found summit interesting ..
if u JUST connected onto pin#39 on HDD (like all the tuts on here)
to get ya Activity light, u will  be getting the activty of the DVD as well as!! (not just soley the HDD)

try it, its very easy to try if u connected it on the cable it selfe ..
by just unplugin the HDD and booting ya will see when it starts acess the dvd the light will go)

so what need to be done is to CUT the wire that leads to the DVD drive ..
also if u do this u can then add another wire from DVD to a LED ..
(so pin 39 on both drives will not linked)

i have'nt really tested this as yet so not sure if xbox will like not getting any activity feed ..  now gonna try it, using an old IDE cable

Mick ..

PS .. have been re-arranging the HDD activity wheel diagram/circutry around and got a MUCH better way of usng the feed from the drive.. so the animation is MUCH smother
so u dont get the situation were its moving so fast (when loading a game) it just looks as all lights are on constant .. (not anumated)
once refined will post all my findings

This post has been edited by -Gadget-: Sep 4 2003, 10:24 AM

[-Gadget-]

Ok OK OK .. bit of a boo boo here, all my testing was on my test PC
PC cd/dvd drives do have activty out on pin#39 (well cd's do !!)
THought i had it all OK, so started on me xbox now (didne wanna mess it up ya see)


BUT it seems to behave diferent !
OK so first of pin#39 on DVD does NOT send activity !!  
(i know that pin 8 on yellow wire does but wanted to only cut up/modify one of the connectors !)
second u HAVE to keep pin#39 connected HDD to DVD and that to Mainboard if u break any of these the xbox will stutter on boot and not reed anything from disc !

so my suggestion of saying when u just wire up activty at hdd u get DVD activty was wrong im sorry
althou my search thought the boards and the ingo i found was true ..

HDD IDE connector, on pin#39 IS 5Volt NEGITIVE (when activity)
DVD On yellow connector pin#8 is 5volt Posotive (when activty)

hope this helps people from doing all the messing and research !, if it helps just one person it was worth the post ! (but basicly xbox does not behave the same as PC)

Mick ..

[dzv]

QUOTE (-Gadget- @ Sep 4 2003, 01:14 PM)

been messing about .. and found summit interesting .. if u JUST connected onto pin#39 on HDD (like all the tuts on here) to get ya Activity light, u will  be getting the activty of the DVD as well as!! (not just soley the HDD)

I don't believe this to be true, although all of my activity LED mods have been done slightly differently that what you are describing.  I solder to the bottomside of the motherboard to pin39, rather than directly to the HDD or the cable.  

I can say with 100% certainty that this method does NOT show DVD activity.  And I'm pretty sure that even soldering to the HDD or cable will not show DVD activity either.  From what I understand, the 39th pin is only designed to be used by the HDD.  It's exactly how the HDD LED on PCs work, and as you know, they do not indicate the activity of a DVD or CD drive on the same IDE cable.

As sk8ermike6789 said, pin8 of the DVD drive cables (the yellow wires) indicates DVD access activity.  I believe I was the first person to discover this.

EDIT  Sorry, I wrote that reply before I read your next post.

This post has been edited by dzv: Sep 6 2003, 01:53 AM

[-Gadget-]

heeh thats ok ...
init odd tho that a PC dvd-drive does output its activity on pin#39
(so if u do the same mod on PC u would get activty of both)

but on xbox dvd drive there is no activty out ?.. specially that if u disconnect pin39 atall at any point xbox gets all choppy and dont read dvd's
makes ya wunder how a PC DVD works in an xbox !

tis nice to know tho huh !
Mick ..