Homebrew HDD adapter for Gamecube Tutorial

[yamaharacer]

havent time to test it. maybe next weekend. have to much to do for my studies.

i will test it with ide und sata hdd.

it does work with ide to sata.

ok thats fine then i will try to get mine work with a sata hdd. but could you explay how the behavier of sdboot is? does it boot directly into it or do you get a screen like me?
do you see the games on the hdd immediately ehen sdboot has booted?
which filesystem do you use on your hdd?

[emu_kidid]

yamaharacer, antalpromille used a private beta of sd-boot, I'll send it to you when i get some time.

[yamaharacer]

would be great. i still dont get it work. it seems to recognize the xilinx because when i disconnect the kabel from gc to xilinx i get the screen which i described on the last page. after i have pluged it in again, the screen disappears and sd boot loads.

but there i have no access to the hdd. i cant see any games or other things.

i have already tried different hdds, sata and ide. i have messuared every point to check if i have soldered something wrong. but i cant find anything.

by the way on pin 1 and pin 39 which voltage need to connect there? also 3,3V?

[yamaharacer]

think i give up, it doesnt work, tried two different xilinx, programmed them three times new, messured every point three times, tried three HDDs, three different IDE cables and no programm recognize any hdd.
dont know what I should do. The HDD LED doesnt toggle it just lights. so I think that anything is wrong. but cant find the misstake.

[emu_kidid]

Pin 1 needs to go to 10kohm and then 3.3v, pin 39 needs to go to 330ohm then the led, then 3.3v. Check that you didn't ground too many pins. It's a tedious process, mine took me days to get working as well.

[yamaharacer]

pin 1 and pin 39 is like you said. but which pins exactly need to be grounded? mine is: Pin 2, Pin 19, Pin 22, Pin 24, Pin 26, Pin 30 and Pin 40. is that right?

[yamaharacer]

now I have messured everything for the fiveth time and I still cant find any error. I think that the file on my xilinx is wrong. I have 2 different PCB layouts and non of them looks like that one which antalpromille has posted on page 8 in his zip file.

here are some pics of my work maybe someone else can help me too. There you can see both of my bluechip v9. Quality isnt very good but you can see that both are different.
http://img413.imageshack.us/i/pc260001.jpg/
http://img801.imageshack.us/i/pc260003.jpg/
http://img269.imageshack.us/i/pc260005.jpg/
http://img442.imageshack.us/i/pc260009.jpg/

[emu_kidid]

http://img269.imageshack.us/i/pc260005.jpg/ In this picture, remove the capacitor from the bottom right hand corner and ensure that the pads in that corner are still going to actual pins on the CPLD.

[yamaharacer]

I removed it, miso, mosi, cs and clock are still going to pins of the chip but it still doesnt work. the LED also doesnt light up.

[yamaharacer]

ok it still doesnt work. I have also tried an other power source. but nothing works. Is it possible that it wont work because I am using an external power source instead of the 3.3V of the Cube or does it not matter?

[antalpromille]

ok it still doesnt work. I have also tried an other power source. but nothing works. Is it possible that it wont work because I am using an external power source instead of the 3.3V of the Cube or does it not matter?

that does not matter, as long as it is connected to the cube trough ground. i tried both ways.

[yamaharacer]

ok sounds good. maybe its the HDD. I will try a 10GB of my Xbox tomorrow. But first I have to unlock it. Hope that it works with this.

@ Emu_Kidid.

I have tried your emulators with IDE support. I get everytime an error that IDE-EXI couldt be detected or similar. Does this message appear when the HDD isnt detected or when the emulator cant connect to the xilinx?

[emu_kidid]

If the LED doesn't light up, then it's a xilinx/connection issue.

[yamaharacer]

i think i have done something wrong while programming. what do i have to do with the UCF file?

[yamaharacer]

ok i give up. i have changed my bluechip against another, flashed it, meassured everything and so on, the LED lights up, goes off and stays off. It still doesnt work. So I throw it in the bin and buy me a 32GB SD Card so that i will become happy.

[emu_kidid]

the changes you make to the .ucf file are not recognized until you rebuild the project. I had made this same mistake. see in "Building the firmware" at http://www.gc-forever.com/gchdd/build.htm

[yamaharacer]

ut i havent done any changes to the ucf file. I am using the jed and usf file of antalpromille. He said that I just need to open a new project in Impact and load the jed file and programm it to my chip. I have already thought why there is also a ucf file when I only need a jed file.

Do I have to do the same with the files of antalpromille?

@emu_kidid do you use the file of antalpromille or dampro for your device?

[emu_kidid]

used one that Dampro sent to me. Just trace all the CPLD pins to IDE pins and I can make a .jed file for you.

[Jaecus]

I'm going to attempt to make this, i have ordered 2 bluechip v9. (hopefully atleast one is correct)
one thing i can't find is how to make the J-tag cable, can anyone help with this please?
I can use DB25 M/F Extension Cable? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170811
And will I need anything else or its just wired straight to the modchip / circuit?
How can I tell which pins in the Cable need to go where?

Other than that I think most of the information here is enough to help me make it.
Great work guys!

Thanks

[ct_the_1]

Hey Jaecus,
have you read the first post in this topic?

There is a link to a how-to for the jtag cable...

Hope this helps.

regards

[Jaecus]

yeah it helps but theres a link on that page which is down. Anyone know looking at the end of the DB25 in relation to that J-tag Guide, which would be pin1

Edit: DB25 Pin Layout Is:

1 --> 13
. . . . . . . . .
\ . . . . . . ./
14 --> 25

[ct_the_1]

internet archive ftw:

http://web.archive.org/web/200611181610 ... aptag.html

[Jaecus]

cool webarchives...

thanks Ct_the_1

[kevstah2004]

Robots.txt Retrieval Exclusion. Here
Did u retype the url http://warmcat.com/milksop/cheaptag.html back into WBWM?

[ct_the_1]

wierd... yesterday it was still available... now its blocked...