DTL-H10000 Boot issues

@Sk8er000
I'm glad that you got it to work.
However I don't know the DTL-T14000 enough to have any idea what could be wrong with it.
Maybe you should take a detailed photo of each side of each of the two boards of the CDVD Emulator (if you haven't already), because I couldn't find such on the net.
From what I could see from photos on the net, on the board that connects between the CDVD Device board and the PS2 board, there is only a single programmable logic IC - some of the Altera MAX series. The HDD also connects to it, so this PLD is most likely what takes care of emulating the CDVD DSP and passing information from the HDD to the emulated CDVD Device. Quite possibly it works under the (real-time) control of the MCU (ADSP-2181) on the other board, which most likely takes care of more complex (processing-intense) parts of emulating the CDVD Device, among other things. On the board that connects to the PCI slot there is an Altera MAX EPM3256ATC144 CPLD as well, which interfaces the MCU to the PCI slot.

Given that there is an MCU in the CDVD Emulator, it might do some check on the HDD, even without the knowledge of the SBC driver, changing the state of the CDVD Emulator in such a way that causes the issues (this is unlikely though).
I don't know if the CDVD Emulator would work (be initialized) fine without a HDD or with HDD containing "bad" data (how (and if) should it be partitioned and so-on). Other users would have to give ideas on that.
- Now, when the CDVD Emulator is completely disconnected, what error does the driver for it show on initialization (with tool2hdd1)?
- Please compare the BIOS configuration of your SBC with that of another one with known-working CDVD Emulator (somebody who owns one will have to help on that).
- If you have a multimeter and feel like doing it, check whether the cable between the two CDVD Emulator boards is OK. (Connect it to both boards and check for connection between a pin on one end to the corresponding one on the other.)

Once all possible tests that require the CDVD Emulator to be disconnected are carried-out, try the following:
- Connect only the CDVD Emulator board that connects to the PCI slot and see how the driver will react on initialization. (Don't connect the other board, neither to the PS2 and CDVD Device board, nor to the PCI-slot-board. Leave the CDVD Device board connected directly to the PS2 board.) Compare that with the way it reacts on known-good CDVD Emulator (somebody else would have to give information on that).
- Do the same as above, but this time connect the CDVD Emulator board to a different PCI slot.

 

Yes, I've also looked for a similar one laying around but I don't have one, I'll probably order one and check the continuity with a tester in this one.

I'll post some photos as soon as possible

I've always tried with the hdd2 I've received, as soon as I get a new IDE i can try to write the tool2hdd2.gz image an to reassemble the board on the Tool

 

In the meanwhile if someone is interested here's the dump of my hdd2, if someone tries it please let me know if there is something interesting inside: https://mega.nz/#F!z1VxQDbT!RzejFfZH2XWR0KjJK67iNQ

 

Thanks, there's obviously something on it...

 

If you try the dump please let me know if there's somenting interesting, I'm very curious, in the meanwhile I'll go on with the test on my t14000