Hey guys, I got a couple of LG GDR-8163b's and would like to flash the 8050L.dld firmware to them, but I am a little unsure as to what software to use to flash the drives. On Xbins there is a folder labelled "firmware flashing tools" and in that folder there are these files 8050L_FW_Flasher_FIXED Mediatek-MtkFlash_1.55.zip Mediatek-MtkWinFlash_1.5.3.3.zip Inside the 8050L_FW_Flasher_FIXED folder there are three files Usage.txt sf8163.exe 8050L.dld What is confusing me is whether to use MTKflash to try and flash the 8050L.dld firmware or use the sf8163.exe file contained in the 8050L_FW_Flasher_FIXED folder. I can run MTKflash on windows XP without problems but sf8163.exe will not run in windows xp I believe it needs to be run on startup. Maybe this is why in the tutorial for the GDR-8163B they mention to create a bootup disk. I tried making a bootup disk with a CD-R but was unsuccessful. Has anyone done this before, and is willing to point me in the right direction? Edit: I guess MTKflash only works with optical drives that use the MediaTek chipsets, and after cracking open one of these LG GDR-8163b's I don't see any MediaTek chips inside, so it seems as though I cannot use MTKflash. So now I just need to figure out how to run the sf8163.exe file. If I double click on it in windows, the options screen just shows up for a split second then it closes, so obviously it cannot be used while in windows. Anybody know how to use this piece of software? Redit: So I was able to run the program using command prompt, but for some reason the program does not see the drives. I have tried flash a could of times now but all I get is this I tried adding the /r switch too but no luck. I know these drives work fine, because I have already tested them. I have one of the drives on secondary master and the other on secondary slave. They are recognized and play media without a problem, so why can't this program see the drives? Rereedit: Okay now I see a problem. I tried running the problem without specifying the drive #, so that the optical drive would be detected automatically, but this is what it comes up with I brought up device manager on the left of the screen to show how the drive detected has a vendor id of HL-DT-ST whereas the vendor id the program is looking for is HL-DL-ST. So does this mean that I have the wrong drive? I can't seem to find the vendor ID HL-DL-ST anywhere on the internet though, maybe this was a mistake in the 8050L.dld file? Could I just edit the 8050L.dld file so that instead of having id number HL-DL-ST in it, it would have HL-DT-ST in it?
Hello, I've flashed plenty of these drives. LG GDR-8163B is the best DVD-drive replacement for Xbox. Proper tool is sf8163b.exe (8050L_FW_Flasher_FIXED). You have to prepare bootable MS-DOS floppy (or USB flash drive, see Rufus https://rufus.akeo.ie/). Then copy all files from archive to floppy/flash drive. When you are done, boot your PC from prepared media, and type sf8163 8050l.dld x /f /c /p /o where x is a channel number: 0 primary master, 1 primary slave, 2 secondary master, 3 secondary slave. When process is completed, turn of PC and proceed with soldering wires to PCB board, according to tutorial.
Thanks for your MrMajst3r, so I guess sf8163b.exe cannot be used from within windows then eh, even with command prompt. I guess I am going to have to buy some floppy disks then, cause my desktop PC will not boot from USB. I haven't used a floppy since I was a kid lol, so this should be interesting. This might sound like a very noob question, but I seriously don't know how to make a bootable MS-DOS floppy so, is it as easy as right clicking on the floppy and choosing "format" then "Create an MS-DOS Startup Disk" then once it is formatted, putting the two files sf8163b.exe and 8050L.dld onto the floppy?
Ready-made bootable DOS floppies of various flavors are easily found online, for example FreeDOS, Balder or a whole collection here. You might get away with creating a floppy image, then making a bootale (el torito) cd image from it and use that to boot from, since you don't want to write anything back to that floppy. Iirc MagicISO was easy to do that in.
imgburn and nero both easily support floppy boot images on a cd too. If you download the exe images from bootdisk.com, download winimage and open the exe, then save out as .IMA - this is correct format to work with the above programs (might need to rename to .IMG for nero, but it works)
Well, I made an MS-DOS 5.0 boot disk floppy and added 8050l.dld and sf8163.exe and flashed the drive with the firmware, then I did all the hardware mods, I used through hole resistors though instead of surface mount one's, put it in an Xbox and nothing The drive doesn't work. The little activity LED on the front of the drive stays on all of the time as well. I am guessing that something must of went wrong with the flash, but I don't for sure. The flash seemed to complete fine. Edit: I ended up trying to flash the drive a few more times and each time it seemed to complete successfully, I even flashed it once with the /l (log switch) and according to the log it completed successfully as well. I was also trying to see if Windows XP would recognize the disk and eventually I found a combination that allowed the drive to be recognized. I had the drive set to cable select, and another GDR-8163b set to master on the secondary IDE channel. Windows not only recognizes the drive but I can still load media with the drive. Here is a picture to show that windows does indeed recognize the drive, and that it does have the 8050L firmware flashed to it. I am not sure if this is how the drive was before when I had the drive in the Xbox or not, but I am assuming that either I had it all right before and just did not get the drive and jumper combination right with the Xbox HDD or possibly the through hole resistors were the problem. Is there any reason why surface mount resistors would only work for this project and not through hole resistors? I did rip some pads off the backside of the drive's PCB trying to solder and then desolder the resistors to the pads, but I have found where the traces connected to those pads lead to. They lead to some VIA's that I can solder some 30 AWG hookup wire to, so I guess I am ready to try it all over again. I am debating whether to try 680ohm resistors this time because in the GDR-8163b tutorial the author mentions that he got reliable results with both 1kohm and 680ohm resistors. What do you guys think, should I try this time with 680ohm resistors? Redit: Okay I tried again, and again it failed, but I think I might know what the problem is now. The drive is a LG GDR-8163b but it has a different rom version to it. Instead of being rom version OL23 it is rom version OD20. Here is a picture of one of these drives that I have I don't know the difference between the LG GDR-8163b from the tutorial and the one's I have, but it seems that the difference is considerable enough to not allow the drives I have to function properly in an Xbox after being flashed with the 8050L firmware. So I guess there is no hope in getting these drives to work in an Xbox then, unless someone knows of a way, and would be willing to share the info with me. I think I am going to have to try and flash this drive back to its original firmware now, and I can't seem to find it anywhere Anybody know where to get the firmware for a GDR-8163b OD20?
Well, I figured out what went wrong. I tried substituting SMD resistors for Through Hole style resistors and they lifted some of the pads on the drive's pcb, following the traces and soldering the SMD resistors to points further down the traces didn't help either. So the first drive I tried this mod on was ruined, but I tried the mod again on another drive, this time using the SMD resistors right from the beginning and it worked flawlessly. I then did the mod again with another drive and it worked again flawlessly. So I guess it doesn't really matter which GDR-8163b you are doing the mod on, or the rom version number, it will work as long as you use the correct style components. Big thanks goes out to MrMajst3r who helped me to push on trying to successfully get this mod to work.
