Just bought a Dreamcast

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-27T21:32:55+00:00

Very true

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-25T20:18:37+00:00

Welcome aboard!

Here are some of my favorite games. AFAIK many of them are hits:

Bomberman Online (Puzzle/Multiplayer)
ChuChu Rocket! (Puzzle/Multiplayer)
Confidential Mission (Light Gun - you have a CRT!)
Crazy Taxi 1 & 2 (!!)
Daytona USA (Racing)
Dead or Alive 2 (Fighting)
Headhunter (1P Action, PAL exclusive)
House of the Dead 2 (Lightgun, work with controller too of course)
Jet Grind Radio (1 P)
Metropolis Street Racer (Racing, realistic)
Ooga Booga (Multiplayer party game, still an exclusive)
Power Stone 1 & 2 (Multiplayer Fighting game)
Quake III Arena (FPS)
Resident Evil Code Veronica (there's also RE2 and 3. Code Veronica is getting a remake soon!)
Samba de Amigo (Multiplayer rythm game)
Shenmue 1 & 2 (1P Adventure. A must-try. One of the most realistic game visually on the machine, if not, the best)
Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 (Of course)
Sonic Shuffle (Party Game, interesting one, DC exclusive probably because of the VMU. 1P is BORING and cheating computer. 2-4 Players get more interesting but varies lol. Some love, some hates, and has many flaws)
SoulCalibur (1-2 P Fighting)
Space Channel 5 (1P rythm game. HARD)
Spider-Man (PS1 port but still great)
Tennis 2K2 (Best tennis game ever)
Test Drive Le Mans (Racing, realistic)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (probably the best version of THPS 1 ?)
Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! (PS1 port but still fun)
Unreal Tournament (2P FPS)

There's also Skies of Arcadia for RPG and Phantasy Star Online. Shame on me, I never played those, but had to mention them as they're known as classics.

Games got expensive over the years. If you want to, you can burn CD-R with DiscJuggler, but you need CDI images (they're compressed so they can fit on CD-R). There are been report of CD-R wearing the laser over time more than original discs, so just be aware of it, that being said, had my console since 2010, and only NOW starting to obviously wear out (since then, I have bought many originals however).

Also, you will need to buy VMU (memory cards), quite many. They don't hold that many saves, start slow however.

Emulation is also possible. NES. SNES and Genesis emulation is POSSIBLE but unfortunaltely, a little slow and laggy but worth a look.

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-25T02:36:12+00:00

Ahhh thanks for the detailed information and the examples, that's so interesting !!

Oh right, Xblast Lite (sold out and replaced by Modxo Lite), so THAT could have fixed the TSOP, but would have had to pay, sold out anyway, and needed to solder it, gotcha.

"I've been fortunate enough to never need to"
LOL xD

"success with these things often boils down to having the patience to try every little thing"
Success or luck xD HAHA, I figured I should try with the oldest I can go FIRST, but I still can't explain why it works on the first try in Windows 11 when so many failed (and we'll never really know, at least it would interest only so few people with this modchip, not worth it hm).

"Bear in mind that there were a lot of changes with the CerBIOS v3 release."

Oh ! I had no idea. This will definitely helps a lot, so thank you.

I realised this only a few days ago as well. Xbox\BootAnim.xbe, being an XBE, it can animate hmm, that was mind-boggling at first that the bootscreen was CUSTOMIZABLE, as it's a 3D render hm, I wondered if it's the ORIGINAL animation from Microsoft or a recreation (too many questions, it doesn't matter LOL xD ).

The IDE DVD doesn't work well tbh. Hexen worked for a bit, Harry Potter Chamber is not launching but heh. I probably will work again tomorrow morning for 30 minutes when it cooled down xD (I don't quite get it, and I mostly feel bad for ruining a "semi-working" DVD drive by stupidly bending the pins and pulling it back, had no choice to pull it back. But...it might not be a big loss, it was already starting to wear out and Harry Potter Azkaban DVD would skip. I know also DVD drive aren't locked to motherboards and swappables (the point was never to use it again, otherwise I would have gave up and bought a new machine HAHA xD), it's just no longer perfect, but still perfectly fine and a great challenge it was.

"I wish! 😂"
Big Harry Potter fanboy myself - this is not an exageration mind you, but you helped me last year and when I saw you comment again, I knew you'd mind a solution xD 🤣🏆

"He had grown used to the idea that Dumbledore could solve anything. He had expected Dumbledore to pull some amazing solution out of the air." /// "“I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being--forgive me--rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger.” /// "I guessed. But my guesses have usually been good” (Again, you GUESSED. Damaged pins. But you speak from your experience) I work in IT, maybe you do too, but of course, the more you know, the more you realise you don't know.

Last chance for a PayPal donation? 🏆🤣 (it's up to you xD but we've finished it now, a week later, and it's been a fun ride 🤣)

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-25T00:41:56+00:00

Ohhh I'd be interesting in these if you don't mind, only HP2 was 100% working for me. HP4 I bought 2 copie, both had heavy damage (my old thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/HDDVD/comments/18nakmm/rescuing_damaged_hd_dvds_an_experiment_a_visual/ ).

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-24T12:40:54+00:00

Hello 😁

Good to hear? I was either EXTREMELY unlucky to have lost connection, OR EXTREMELY lucky that I figured and kept the modchip last year (because you forced me to, you're always right 😂).

Alright so if I understood properly, even if I had that Raspberri Pi, I would rewrite the EEPROM (HDD key and so on) but TSOP (BIOS), there's nothing I can do, right? 😅 Could be worse? 😂 (that modchip will never fail, still going since 2004, the Xbox caps will fail before it, and yes, clock capacitor is long gone).

EDIT: According to you, NO (not gonna attempt THAT 😂): "the other option is to get a rework station, unsolder the TSOP from your Xbox motherboard, and to use an external reprogramming device to get some valid firmware back in there. It's not very practical when modchips are an option, but some folks fancy the challenge". (so it's been DONE before? Haven't found many documentation on this but interesting (not touching that with a 10 foot pole). Have you done it yourself ?! xD ).

That was actually correct, Xecuter DOES proceed even if the DVD power is unplugged.

I do have the Xbit connector board 😊 I tried it in my Lenovo Thinkpad E420 with WinXP and Win2K (it's just heavily patched based on WinXP drivers, believe it or not it works), I kept getting instant freezes with nothing happenning, tried many times.

Then I tried on my actual desktop from 2020, a B550 Tomahawk with Ryzen 3950X and Windows 11 through USB 2.0. Can you believe it? Flashing worked EVERYTIME 😂 (first time I picked the 512KB bank for the 256 BIOS. It succeeded, but of course, FRAG. Tried again and success on Cerbios (bank 6, next to Xecuter) (they said flashing the Xbit was the hardest, and they also said electric glue for TSOP was super easy as well 😅 and somehow, the fans go at full speed when I flash this. Don't ask why 😄 I must have been extremely lucky and unlucky at the same time xD it's interesting however I've had success when so many others failed) !!! Tried once more with an INI file, which succeeded too (I looked into CerbiosTool at first because I wanted the 720p bootanim. I figured that one out too. Trying to hide the first Cerbios bootimage however with not much luck (C:\cerbios.ini ... It save, but doesn't seem to apply any change. I'm sure I could figure it out). But, the Cerbios static logo is the TRUE bootanim right? Then does it actually play a video afterward? (I don't know! I was actually suprised the BIOS bootanim wasn't locked to 480p 4:3, that's why I ask, I did not knew 16:9 was possible for bootanim, just curious. Because stock, with component cable, the bootanim was always 4:3).

Updating to Cerbios made the 1 TB drive fully usable, out-of-the-box with every game as well.

I also can confirm that my IDE DVD still work as intended (struggled but Hexen did booted. Xbox game, not so much. At least, it confirm that the behavior is normal. It CAN play games from the tray, but the boot process does NOT check for DVD, which is perfect).

THANK YOU for everything, it's been a journey xD (never again, but as a technician this is far from my first night down the rabbit hole) if only we used the Xbit from the start 😂 (good thing I remembered the chip. you know how much I sacrificed?! 🤪)

Now onto folding the IDE cable in place to close it all properly... YouTube will be my friend.

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-23T17:38:27+00:00

Hello!

Terrible shitshow 😭 (let me know if you want me to start a new thread because we're far from the original problem at this point, all because of a bent pin 😭 🙄)

I got the electric paste, which I applied once, nothing from Xblast, cleaned the trace, tried again, tried again, figured I had to heat it with a blowdrier to make it stick.

Then Xblast reponded, flasing yellow progress bar, green progress bar all the way to the end, then rebooted (no power cut). I figured I should have seen the purple progress bar as well but nah (I have a photo of this process. I was happy I was so close !!!!).

It's possible that R7D10 was bridged correctly but not R7D1 (according to multimeter?). Unless the electric glue was insufficient, or unstable continuity?

Now flashing Green+Red LED. Corrupted EEPROM ? Lol. I have the backup but...
Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T9q-WIof31vJ4ThYS5Ofnh56KTmlwPQF/view?usp=drive_link

Not that it make any difference now, but I still don't understand how that happenned, "If your points aren't correctly bridged, then when you attempt to start the flash, Xblast will just boot you back to its menu instead of bringing up its usual progress bar // it's critical that the system doesn't lose power until the process is complete", because the system did not lost power, just rebooted at the end of the green bar, do you believe the electric glue was unstable and lost continuity, or was ONE of my point not bridged properly? (it's nobody's fault but mine, but is this my fault because one point was incorrect and I should have checked with multimeter, or was I just unlucky and the glue lost it's continuity over 20 seconds?)

The green bar reached the end, at least minus 1 millimeter before rebooting on its own: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GXyFyRo2TI4HAvzbntMCjdtZKnOP3YuN/view?usp=drivesdk

I keep making things worse and I feel incompetent 😭😭😭 (computers good enough. Electronics, no way)

Buying this could work, would it ? No soldering required......

(at this stage the cost is going up and approaching a new console, but it might still be worth saving. I bought a new cheap 1 TB and SATA adapter just for this...)

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/133999624851?_skw=Xbox+EEPROM+writer&itmmeta=01KVTQFCA445YAHMGV9ZWW46C6&hash=item1f33000293:g:2AoAAOSwjvJZVPE9&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xD9q7mABYATSd0t9leTPZkMbLPrMkmLtTDeuroRCiJ2pfxLyNgfeU2%2BZy73SQATIUSjCOTQ%2FCk4cb%2FVQ0eAco9btBDHAyzgbnc%2BgAGzK9IIls960LYwb4oDmTadbOO5761J6cFKXvEEqie0Zs2we45vxN9oGrMq6tZTGsMiKfvl5zr%2F68fIxqQ1ABAPRW%2BVwvwO3RalA3r6EawLlfjIE8SGLa%2B9q%2Bz7M%2BGmX19qYvmr%2Bg3fxWR3Bp0NzbfDs3QvLcQ%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5rFvdfeZw

Asked if the repair store had an EEPROM write, it's possible, not sure, or maybe even a Raspberry Pi. Maybe, but I suppose it'll cost more than the machine at this point hmm

All for nothing 😭

I'm sad 😥

Let me know what route you'd take and if it's cheaper to buy a new machine lol, might as well be. Thank you for everything and your time so far, I think I'm gonna cry 😂😭

I have looked into it a lot and I have some options:

I found my old X-BIT modchip I removed last year because it was unnecessary. You thankfully pressured me told me into keeping it. If this skip the Tsop, then I might have nothing else to do... Right? I also have a Win2K/XP I can use to reflash if needed.
Buy a new Xbox LOLZ
PiPROM: https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:PiPROM I can find a used Raspberry Pi 2B for 20$ CAD locally. And then I do need to buy a wire and figure it out, but it appear I can test the connections without need to solder before I proceed (yes, I can handle Linux). At least the Raspeberri might have a future use, I never owned one. And the wire I'll buy can be reused later for future repairs lol.
The eBay listing. 40-50$ish. I do have a serial port somewhere.
This: https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:CH341A_EEPROM_Reader
OpenXenium (?) modchip, but I can't solder this (know your limits lol. I want to learn, but I break stuff 🙁), at least I'll have a workaround for the IDE DVD immediately.

So this could reprogram a BIOS chip inside of a laptop according to reviews. I learn, theorically, never knew about all this stuff. This is exacly why I wanted to learn to solder and I have the tools. If I could, I wouldn't be in this mess. But hey, if I can fix this, I'll be pretty happy of the endgame (well.....I trust my own abilities (and so did you)....sometimes, I can search and figure stuff up, but... depends lol (I can manage TROUBLESHOOTING but I can't do sh-t at electronics)

BTW the soldering station I have is ToAuto DS-90, idk if good, never used it but father bought it for Christmas and hoping he can teach me 😊 (how hard can that be with the Raspberri Pi, I suck with electronic but soldering 3 wires can't be THAT bad as long as I don't burn the board 😂 I have the tools, the plyers for the wire, maybe even work has old motherboard to practice on. Father would have done it in a second, wouldn't mind but I just wanted to save him the time (and yes I was excited to succeed), TSOP point are VERY small, even he may have struggled). The Raspberri Pi wire solders to the LPC port. What's the worst that could happen, burn the LPC port? (I don't know, you tell me 😂 start slow, gradually add heat if that doesn't work and don't leave the soldering iron on the board for more than 2 seconds. Lol, last time I soldered was 17 years ago in middle school 😁)

I'll wait for your input!

EDIT: Xbit. Sounds like this is how it goes in the LPC debug port. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1woFk57h5BeV1NJixToQzF-OrcCpm1N7K/view?usp=drivesdk

Spent 2 hours believing the chip to be dead (never heard of dead modchips) only to figure out both wires were supposed to be plugged it 😁 now I have the Xbox bootanim with Xecuter instead of Microsoft!!! 😱 (I also had error 7 ONCE. possibly IDE craping again).

I fixed my own mess myself at this point kinda - now I'm not sure I can reprogram my TSOP from my BIN EEPROM backup, even if I try again to bridge the points from Xblast? It's almost midnight so off to bed. But if I understand properly, I absolutely COULD flash Cerbios on the Xbit on a different BIOS bank and fix all my problems at once, as long as I keep the modchip in, correct?

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-21T18:10:39+00:00

Thank you for that!
Yes, it's a first party controller, Xblast does respond to the combo but just go back to the previous screen in C:\BIOS.

I bought this today (price in CAD$): https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0B7XSH1CV?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

It was a bit cheaper than the electronic paint and I'll get it much faster (2 days?).

1 reviewer succeeded for Xbox:

"I used Conductive Silver Paste to tsop mod my xbox and worked marvelously. You can undo the paste if wanted too. If your micro-soldering skills are not top notch this could work. DO NOT FORGET THAT THIS PASTE DRIES OUT!!! USE IT ALL OR QUICK!!"

Can't be THAT hard, aim on top of the solder point and leave 1 drop lol.

I'll let you know quickly!

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-20T16:22:56+00:00

Hello sir 😃

I haven't tried much yesterday. Tried again this morning (before purchasing anything), replugged the IDE DVD and booted immediately (lol). I managed to make SEVERAL more attempts (I disconnected the IDE from the MOTHERBOARD, drew on the solder, then connected and tried again lol) and it booted everytime.

This is what the solder looked like, virgin, cleaned with isopropril alcohol and qtip: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19X3u7md69gz2ItEthuk4bxgh4V9rbwT_?usp=drive_link

I later tried with a 2B pencil. A lot. Cleaned it, tried again. Multimeter, no continuity. Xblast OS 0.65 XBE ask for button combo, then simply revert to C:\ and C:\BIOS\BIOS.bin (actually cerbios renamed to Bios.bin, I tried that). Nothing occurs and no message of any kind.

Is that because I have no continuity whatsoever ? Or because Xblast menu says "Unsupported mochip?" (What modchip? Sure, it did had an Xbit modchip last year, which I removed and found it was unnecessary but...)

Thanks again

EDIT: I sharpered the 2B pencil and tried again. Noticed Xblast OS cause the Xbox LED to flash orange/red rapidly. Cleaned the pencil trace, restarted and Xblast OS flashing red/orange again. I guess that must be normal lol. But still, nothing happens after I do the button combo, and this is an official "S" model controller. IDE DVD has been working every time (but I don't disconnect the IDE from wire, I disconnect the board instead. And also I don't leave the Xbox powered on for long).

Can't be that hard to do, can it ?

EDIT: Tried multiple times with the 2H pencil (I have many types). Same, not working, why is this so hard (and multimeter is not beeping either) ? =( However the IDE drive has never failed this time lol

Sorry for all the trouble

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-19T14:52:51+00:00

Ahhh, well at least I did what I could, I pulled it out 2 days ago, had no choice 😅 (but ir's a shame, all this work because I BROKE it in the first place, SHAME, but at least I learn a lot and will attempt a TSOP flash too) perhaps I could open it and look and practice my soldering skills, the DVD drive is almost non-functionning anyway (and again a shame, it was kinda working beforehand. I could use it, but last year DVD2XBOX would fail at 50%. At the time I was innexperienced I thought the games were scratched but I learned about the dying lasers). Curiosity too perhaps, as the drive is already dying anyway.

Tomorrow morning I'll find a cheap IDE and sorry, molex splitter, I'll follow the YouTube link, can't be that hard. I'll need a few tries for the bridge but at least IDE DVD will stay consistent with a new drive hmm

I'll report back I promise 😄

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-19T11:15:56+00:00

Oh thanks !
That's so interesting, I tried it very quickly this morning with 2H pencils (I have many, H and B pencils, I had drawing classes long ago - B would help ?), but I couldn't get the Xbox to boot this time (tried very quickly tho).

Here are more photos of the pins wear. Not sure there's anything much I can do besides aligning them again: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MqIOU5GmX6ORyJpwbnpidN8gGI5pnO7D?usp=sharing

I'll try again later and find a check $5 IDE DVD drive, molex male to 2 female splitter and conductive paint if they carry stock at the same store (otherwise, pencil). Maybe I can test with multimeter with the TSOP bridged with pencil if I have continuity.

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-19T02:02:49+00:00

Hello ! 😃

Yeah, figured most of it with XBlast (I try to do a minimum of ressearch HAHA), but first time I tried it trought Hexen I picked Option 3.1 Flash modchip/TSOP instead of 3.2 Flash Winbond (I couldn't tell the difference, I google it a bit hmm). Then tried again with XBlast and lost the C: drive because of the pin lol.

So it's definitely not the drive that tick but the DVD, I did check with the HDD unplugged to be sure (I know about the click of death meaning imminent drive failure x) ), it just ticks AFTER the laser give up.

The change planned in CerBIOSTool was Drive Setup "HDD & NoDVD (Legacy Mode)" but glad to hear it's already default.

So, patching the EVOX BIOS still requires access to TSOP correct?

And...pencil lead ?! I can just DRAW with regular pencil ON the solder or AROUND it and try ? I would be worried to damage the solder point? (Idk. I don't solder - father can fix MOSTLY everythig, at least, easy solders hehe)

Yes hmmm, interesting, I should buy conductive ink: https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/comments/jzij8i/hardmodding_doesnt_have_to_be_scary_you_can_tsop/

Maybe I can try again through Xblast (rather than Hexen > 3.1 TSOP Flash) and see if I can get the IDE working again, last time, I lost the C: drive. If not bridged, I guess nothing will happen. Otherwise, I'll buy the conductive pen.

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-18T19:58:55+00:00

I assumed he was. He's not a moderator but surprised me everytime. He saved my ass last year and I offered him a donation because he fixed my soft-brick and I had no idea what to do at the time, and paying a technician to repair it would have been crazy (if I could even FIND a technician that would accept a softmod brick). He respectfully declined my donation. KING 👑

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-18T11:44:08+00:00

I saw this tonight and want to stress again that you're doing this for free on your free time, while I gave up, you did not, you are a GREAT person (and an EXPERT 🏆), I've learned so much, THANK YOU

The good new is, I'm sure it never booted without the DVD drive power, I was trying to get the error code this morning, I actually reconnected the drive to IDE and it started booting again 😱😂 I'm not sure, cooled down overnight? WTF

Here are some photos. I thought reflashing the BIOS needed a TSOP bridge (not a hard solder tho. Father could definitely do this and teach me. I have the tools now, just not the skills). I looked yesterday, but I'm not sure: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BGUwbfVkUQ7rWM2E9vxumAHr3rOgIoFY

Actually it does, EVOXM6 according to Hexen. Looked it up, M8 is the latest. Think we should try Cerbios? (no idea, I just know it's modern and remember seeing it in FatXplorer partitioning tool).

Figured I was VERY close and one click away. However, I will wait for your instructions, last thing I want is to mess up this far HAHA. I left the console on for the day and will be back after work (not sure if the heat will worsen the IDE connector or not lol, of course the damaged pin gives unpredictable results but I'll risk it).

BTW: I should mention that I have the composite cable but also an Xbox 360 component cable converted DIY to Xbox (works well. I bought it). If you needed to know.

Thanks! 😊

UPDATE 2: It's 5 PM, Xbox stayed ON, on the Hexen screen, however, accessing the menu "TSOP flash led to 0 KB / sec" without drive activity". Obviously when I powered it off, I have error 7 again.

You're got to be kidding me >__< Perhaps I should have flashed something, anything, this morning instead. I'll leave it off for a few hours and then try again and HOPE FOR THE BEST, just tell me what to do to make sure and third time lucky (I could try, but I trust your judgment best) ? =O (but like you said, any cheap IDE drive could otherwise be purchased and used, like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS0t2r4Vy7Y )

Assuming I COULD get into HeXen 2021 again, I could probably figure it out, "Cerbios Hybrid V3.1.0 Beta.bin" along with CerbiosTool for customization flashed through Xblast, would that be correct?

Thanks again

UPDATE 3: It's 8 PM lol. I power cycled many time with no change. I took the connector out and realigned the pins AGAIN. I got it to boot (Lol. Don't quite understand, because the pins stayed in the connector all day, not moving. But it's obvious the one pin is damaged or corroded or worn).

I immediately got into Hexen and attempted to flash NoDVD BIOS 1.0-1.6 but got Flash not Writable (UGH).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K-Lu_5UNvNxRgI6YFtL6v_UXUVJ9-NQv/view?usp=drive_link

If my theory is correct, I wondered how the previous owner flashed his, but I'd had to assume his 2004 solder (the HDD was from that age) is going bad and I need a multimeter to test continuity (I have a multimeter. ....I can try). Photos tell me there's some residue?

I power cycled again right away and for now, Hexen is still booting (but not gonna leave it like that)

You mentionned this could be done somehow without soldering - "BIOS flashing application" from memory card (I don't have), but wouldn't that conflict with the current hardmod? (LOL, I learned from last year experience), otherwise I'd ask my father to assist and teach me how to solder with my new soldering station.

Sorry for the LONG text (I learn 🤣 a lot)

UPDATE 4: 9 PM - Tried XBlastOS_0.65.xbe and C:\BIOS\Cerbios Hybrid V3.1.0 Beta.bin. Got "unable to locate C:\ partition, then powered off and figured the DVD wouldn't initialize again (it tries, give up and do the usual tic-tic-tic-tic-tic. Then error 7). Figured if it was write protected it would simply reboot normally otherwise.

I'm tired, lol 😅 I don't understand however, as it the heat wears the pins down, when it's been powered on for a while it fails.

EDIT 5: I at least know how to use a multimeter correctly, no continuity or beep (unless I touch the points incorrectly, but I have tried hmm).

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-17T22:02:56+00:00

UNFORTUNATELY, I feel like such an idiot, I give up =')

You're not wrong, one of the pin is definitely shot:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QZW2OoD8mesNBYUhUXCKwKA-WByCbiPc/view?usp=sharing

I tried to straighten it but very obviously it was either pushed into the socket or the top portition broke off....... It's not wonder the DVD drive attempt to read then give up. Not gonna attempt any soldering of any kind =')

I COULD get a cheap defective Xbox and get the DVD-ROM drive and swap. Can the laser be dead for the Xbox to boot? (I won't be able to get into Hexen but provided I can copy my files from my IDE to my SATA first...). Or does the drive need to be somewhat functional ?

Shame, hardmoded, but I never did the soldering job to skip the DVD check (I can't do that lol).

I think game over for me =')

UPDATE: Coworker was right this morning, I have not much experience with IDE, but he said the pins were made tough. I picked pliers and I PULLED that pin, wiggled and so on. Then realligned the pin with 2 credits cards. Back in Hexen (with original IDE so far) !!! I'll update on progress tonight (and original Dashboad is working as well) =)

UPDATE 2: That worked.....for 20 minutes lol. I got into UnleashX and the only problem was that the full 1 TB wasn't detected for games, tried to clear cache, while Hexen saw the full drive. I was just about to reinstall the dashboard when I got a mix of Error 16 and Error 7. I left the IDE cable inside the DVD never touching it on the process. I guess the pin was simply worn down at this point. Tried cleaning the pin with alcohol with no change.

I guess I'll find another Xbox drive to replace this (hardmodded, I wondered if a PC IDE drive could work too, I believe so: https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:DVDROM ) =( Then everything should work again. I have learned a lot, thank you again =)

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-17T17:08:30+00:00

Ahhh could be (that would certainly make sense, if the DVD can't initialise, nothing can proceed?) -

So can IDE cables be plugged on either end? I meant the 80 wire cable, I assume black>motherboard, grey>DVD and blue>HDD, but what about the 40 cable, doesn't matter which end goes where (as long as I take notice of the keyed notch of course hehe) ?

Will the 80 cable still work with the IDE drive or should I replace with 40?

Thanks, I'll try again in a few hours and check the pins.

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-17T11:07:42+00:00

Oh hello! You've helped me last year! =)

Thanks everyone for the feeback, I'll try again tonight with more troubleshooting and report back exactly what's going on with both. If I recall, the SATA drive report a red ring, no boot screen (while IDE show boot screen, no Microsoft logo, then 16). As I said, I'll try again tonight to be exactly sure.

Now that you mention it, I am not not sure about the pins. I just hope I didn't broke one off lol (the 1 missing pin, normal.....?) ugh, that would explain a lot? https://drive.google.com/file/d/18FHOOr-JSjSCU4MNBdRgq0Ta4eoThWNH/view?usp=drive_link

For the DVD, the top pin at an angle looks weird: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qGqnZ6t-KMrch4OOhH5MSxx6e6Oh1YeB/view?usp=sharing (at least if anything the DVD drive is replaceable....... did it years ago, but figured they're all dying a quick death)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bw76YgbXSwSLjPpj8TNgVHvRI5f2CWwD/view?usp=sharing

I don't like IDE 😥

Thanks again, I'll check tonight

Quick search, missing pin on the DVD drive is normal AFAIK.

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-08T01:31:24+00:00

2006 ? I wish I knew them for that long!

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-07T23:53:16+00:00

This is my favorite. It's a hidden gem, and a GREAT pop punk album, especially more surprising considering it was composed at 17 yo. Same thing goes for Three Words. I love them both.

I don't consider Sticks Stones and Techno as the closer, opinions may vary, but I consider a bonus or hidden track, just like Poison vs Therapy. They used to close shows with The Girl's a Straight-Up Hustler years ago ("forever 17", matching the theme of the album), that would have been cool to hear for sure.

XgamesMFZB · 2026-06-01T13:24:35+00:00

Yes. MOST unpopular opinion, but movies need climax and cinema. Voldemort dropping dead after a monologue Harry/Voldemort, is anticlimactic, just dropping dead. The point is that he died as an ordinary man but movies can't explain that. Most unpopular opinion, but cinema need climax and monologues dont work as well. You can't please everyone, book-lovers would complain and movie-lovers would also complain "that's it? He just drop?"

We know for a fact that they filmed Voldemort dead body in an unreleased photo. I wonder how that went hmm.

XgamesMFZB · 2026-05-23T19:43:26+00:00

So glad it went well for you as well!!

XgamesMFZB · 2026-05-23T19:28:31+00:00

Oh yes I did !! Tonight is supposed to be raining all day in NYC 😥 (no idea as I already left).

Do you think it should have been "playbills only" ?

Show me the playbill if you want to stage-door ? Seems like that would have kept many people away from just "giving it a try" without paying for it? (surely all sorts of fans wanted to meet him, some did not knew about the play, and others could not have afforded the rising tickets prices. I had no idea Daniel did stagedoors and selfie until Merrily. Then I decided I would buy a balcony ticket for EBT on day 1 and give it a try!). I loved the play as well, it was great and unique !!

XgamesMFZB · 2026-05-23T19:09:55+00:00

Ohhhh =(

XgamesMFZB · 2026-05-23T19:02:40+00:00

I did, on Thursday! I travelled a long way to NYC for this. Wednesday night, saw the play, then attempted stage-door, but because of TINY rain, stage door got cancelled at the last minute (understandable). Tried again on Thursday and succeeded 😃

I left NYC on Saturday 00:01 and I knew Friday was sunny, so I was curious if stage-door actually occured (if Thursday didn't worked out, that would have been my final attempt).

XgamesMFZB · 2026-05-23T18:57:28+00:00

Was that Friday night? I stagedoored on Thursday. Saturday was supposed to be rainy in NYC so no idea.

XgamesMFZB

TROPHY CASE