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Compl et e Tut or i al f or Xbox DVD-ROM Repl ac ement usi ng

SamSung SD-616T
Special Thanks to Tiros, eBoy2003, Xbox-Scene.com, and XboxHacker.net
Version: 1.1 (May 11, 2003)
Please contact me if you found any errors.
http://www.mynikko.com
Purpose:To use PC SamSung SD-616T DVD-ROM to replace Xbox DVD-ROM,
so it can read Original Games / CD-ROM / CD-R / CD-RW / DVD-R /
DVD-RW / DVD+R / DVD+RW.
Apparatuses:
l SamSung SD-616T DVD-ROM
l SamSung SD-605B firmware (you can download it from your original SamSung
SD-605B, by using MTKFLASH DOS v1.55)
l Mediatek MtkWinFlash v1.5.3.3
l Xbox DVD-ROM Yellow power cable
l Torx 10 and Torx 20 screw drivers for opening xbox
l Phillips screw driver for opening SD-616T
l Solder iron and solder
l Solid wire (anything below 26 gage)
l A Y PC power cable.
l A paper clip
l A small saw (for sawing plastic CD tray)
l PVC Insulating Tape
l Desoldering tool (i.e. Soldapullt)
First, connect SD-616T DVD-ROM
to your PC, and flash it with
SD-605B firmware with
MtkWinFlash. After completion, turn
off you computer and take the
SD-616T drive out.
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Now, remove the back cover of your SD-616T (four screws at four red circled
positions).


Take a closer look on the points you need to solder. The PCB is marked SD-616F, but
dont worry; as long as the bar code outside the drive says SD-616T, you are safe. You
need to solder four wires onto each point: M1 (Ready Signal), Eject, Tray-In,
Tray-Out.

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After soldering the wires, remember to tape them with PVC Insulating Tape, and mark
them with labels. You can go ahead and remove the front panel of the drive. Stick a
paper clip into the emergency eject hole (a small hole near the eject button) to force
the release of the CD tray if needed.

Now, we also need reverse the motor. Flip the drive over, pull the CD tray out, and
remove the rubber belt from the motor (and keep it).

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Flip the drive back, and continue to desolder the motor contact points (see the red
marked points). Use your soldering iron to melt the solder on the contact point, and
use the other hand to suck the melted solder away by using desoldering tool. After
completely desoldered the contact points, carefully lift the PCB (see the light-blue
marked point for release buckle.).

First use a marker to mark the
original motor position (see the
red arrow). Now carefully lift
the motor, rotate it 180 degree
(so the marked position is
complete opposite from the
original position), and push it
back it.

You can also desolder the ear phone plug and volume adjust wheel (see light-blue
circles) from the PCB before you solder back the motor (see the red circled parts).

Now, flip the drive, and put the rubber belt back to the motor. You have done all the
internal modification of the drive; we are just half way through, though.
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Now before you put
the cover back, bend
the cover a little to
allow wires to go
through (see the red
circle).

You can also remove the face plate at this point (see the red circled buckles). You
dont need to put the front panel back either (it fits Xbox better without the front
panel).


After put the back cover back to the drive,
you are almost ready to go. At this point, you
can put the drive back to your PC and test it
to see if it works. It should be recognized as
SamSung SD-605B under your Windows.
Push the eject button to see if it works (if you
already removed the front panel, simply push
the small black button at the place where
original eject button was). If eject doesnt
work, there is something wrong with your
motor rotation/soldering, or you forgot to put
the black rubber belt back to the motor.
We are almost done. Now its time to put it onto our Xbox. Remember to set the drive
as SLAVE (see the position mark SL, the factory default was MA).
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Now, we are going to work on the Xbox power cable. On the picture, the right hand
side (larger end) connects to the motherboard; the left hand side (smaller end)
connects to the back of the DVD-ROM.


Now we are looking at the smaller end of the cable (actually both ends are same if I
remember it right, the only difference is the connector size)

1: Ground 2: 12V 3: Tray In 4: Tray Out 5: Ground 6: 12V
7: Ground 8: 5V 9: Ser. Data 10: CD Rdy 11: Eject 12: 5V
Please note that for some reason, the TRAY_IN and TRAY_OUT turned out to be
reversed on my modification. I checked carefully, but it turned out that #3 is
TRAY_OUT and #4 is TRAY_IN on my modification.

Now you can continue to cut the wire
and connect it to correspondent wires. I
recommend that you label each wire
before you cut it. Cut and connect the
wire one at a time. You can use solder to
connect the wire if you want.
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To be even fancier, you can cut a PC
power cable and connect the wires to
correspondent wires of the Xbox yellow
cable (#2, #1, #7, and #8). This way, you
will not need to use a Y-cable to borrow
the power from the hard drive.


I will use a Y-cable
instead of doing the fancy
stuff, so the finished drive
should look like this
(front panel and face plate
are removed).


You will also need to saw the
drive tray so the SD-616T can fit
on it (see the green circled part).
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Now, you can put the drive
into your Xbox and test it.
Connect the yellow cable
onto the motherboard.
Connect the Y-Cable from the
hard drive power cable, and
then connect one end to the
SD-616T, and the other end to
the hard drive.

Test the drive to see if it works. Press the eject button to see if the drive tray opens. If
not, check your solder points for TRAY_IN and TRAY_OUT. Its also possible that
TRAY_IN and TRAY_OUT are reserved. Press the power button while the tray is
open to see if tray closes before it turns off. You maybe want to put in some original
games, and some burned CD-R/DVD-R discs to see if it works. If it fails to read any
of your CD-R/DVD-R that you can read on your PC, you might want to check your
Xbox peripherals. Its proven that 7200 rpm HD, extra fans, or anything else
consumes power will affect the DVD-ROM reading capability.

Now, you can enjoy a fully functional DVD-ROM that reads anything. You may also
want to add a Xbox face plate and modify the top cover of your Xbox, so it will look
better.