2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boot

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skeletor64
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2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boot

Post by skeletor64 »

Hi Guys,

I'm new at this so please bare with me and i'll try to report back with as much info as I can gather on this particular box. I'm experiencing extremely long load times and freezing on booting up CoinOps, Final Burn Legends and others. I upgraded to a Seagate 2 TB drive (will update with model number later)

Quick Run-down
Softmodded the original HD using Ndure (Mechassault) to Unleash X v.38.
Swapped out 40 pin IDE adapter to:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/280560513073?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Bought this SATA/PATA adapter - NOTE I did switch to the Kinwin after I did mod, before I loaded all my files and it booted fine (I liked the tape on the Kinwin to make it more permanent)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/381459010587?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

the drive booted fine, albeit a little slower than some smaller builds i tinkered around with (250 GB Upgrade using same method without the adapter and new 40 pin as the drive was IDE). I figured okay, it's a large drive, probably normal.

I FTP'd over XBpartioner 1.3, and also updated the dash to the latest version as my Ndure file on memory stick was a version behind. Loaded new dash, no issue, ran XBPartioner 1.3 and formatted F & G to 927.78 X 64 Cluster etc. No problem there.

Then I loaded all of my content. I filled up all of about 50 GB on F, and all but I think 2 GB on G. I takes a Very long time to boot up, maybe like 20 seconds or so. Once I'm at my dash, my menu loads with all my emus, apps etc. If I choose and App (like Final burn for example) it hangs at the final burn loading screen and just freezes there.

I'm not sure where to start troubleshooting. Any advice would be helpful. Thank you.
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Re: 2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boo

Post by Geeba »

Hmmmm I usually find modded xboxes faster to boot with the newer higher performing drives... I was going to suggest cluster size, but it looks correct.

I've had some IDE/SATA adaptors that are a bit flakey... could be worth trying another, and some dont like 80 strand cables, try it back with the xbox one.

Xman is your 2Tb man, he does loads of them... hopefully he'll be along soon. Dan is another wealth of knowledge too. ;)
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Re: 2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boo

Post by skeletor64 »

I tried the original cable and couldn't get it to boot when I first cloned with chimp and it cloned very slowly. I re-did that process using the 40 pin X 80 conductor and it cloned faster and booted. You may be right about the adapter, and I hope that is all it is.

I ordered some more online and will of course give that a shot before I re-do the whole process or try another drive. I'm also in the process of building 2 other 2 TB boxes. Both are using a different drive than the seagate which is a ST2000DM001.

On the second box I have the F partition loaded up fully with all my Emus, and a small batch of games, and before proceeding to start copying the G partition I tried it out and it seemed to run smoothly and booted quicker/didn't hang upon loading the Arcade emus. I'm not copying G over so that may take until tomorrow. The 3rd box I'm basically 3/4 the way through loading up the F drive, and will test the same way. I just don't know if it's a thing where i'm just not leaving enough room on drives, if that seagate doesn't want to cooperate or it's a bad cable or adapter.
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Re: 2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boo

Post by skeletor64 »

Follow up - I modded the 2 other 2TB consoles I had both using the same hitatchi drive for each. Both take about 25 seconds to boot the dash after the yellow unleash x screen pops up, same case for the seagate I've been having trouble with. However with these 2 the emulators boot pretty quickly and I'm not getting the freezing. I'm not sure why other than maybe there being an issue with that hard drive. I'm very curious if there is a way to get the dash to load faster though. I'm relieved the other two are working but I know I have some room for improvement. Any suggestions?
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GoTeamScotch
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Re: 2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boo

Post by GoTeamScotch »

I would suggest trying out a different SATA to IDE adapter. I usually use the same Seagate ST2000DM001 drive for my 2TB upgrades and I've noticed that some adapters work better than others. For example, this adapter will cause super long boot times just like you mentioned. There is another adapter made by Startech that I switched to that boots just as fast as a stock hard drive. This is using the same 80-wire IDE cable between the two by the way. Here is the adapter I now use: http://r.ebay.com/3wjqTI.

By the way, you're using a 36" ide cable. Just throwing it out there that if you moved the middle connector (dvd drive) and it is now more than 18" from the motherboard, you might run into issues because of that.
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Re: 2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boo

Post by xman »

My adapters all resemble the one GoTeamScotch linked to and I have never used other than the stock IDE cable with Seagate HDDs. Make sure your booting app is on either your C or E drive, never the F or G drive. Booting times using modchipped machines with EvoxDash and 2TB satas is usually around 12 seconds from cold booting. My Seagate of choice is the original Thailand made 2TB satas over the Chinese made ( post flood) 2TB sata Seagates that I imagine are getting harder to get. The Thailand made ones are thinner and run a lot cooler than the Chinese ones. If your 2TB is roughly as thick as the original Xbox HDD, you have a Chinese made one. If it is about 6mm thinner than the original Xbox HDD, it is a Thailand made 2TB Seagate. The Chinese ones also seem to suffer the dreaded "not loading F drive in time" symptom where the machine seems to boot fine and in under 12 seconds however there is no F drive available and can be confirmed in XBMC filemanager with a message like "Invalid path" when trying to open F drive. Rebooting the machine again cures this till the next time it happens.
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Re: 2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boo

Post by skeletor64 »

Thanks for the tips fellas, I'll try using the stock cable or find a shorter one, and will order that adapter for my next build. The dash is booting from the E drive currently. I don't want to give up this drive and will find out where it originated from.
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Re: 2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boo

Post by skeletor64 »

GoTeamScotch wrote:I would suggest trying out a different SATA to IDE adapter. I usually use the same Seagate ST2000DM001 drive for my 2TB upgrades and I've noticed that some adapters work better than others. For example, this adapter will cause super long boot times just like you mentioned. There is another adapter made by Startech that I switched to that boots just as fast as a stock hard drive. This is using the same 80-wire IDE cable between the two by the way. Here is the adapter I now use: http://r.ebay.com/3wjqTI.

By the way, you're using a 36" ide cable. Just throwing it out there that if you moved the middle connector (dvd drive) and it is now more than 18" from the motherboard, you might run into issues because of that.
I will of course try the original cable first as xman mentioned. With the 36" cable I Ran the blue connector to the hard drive which has more distance to the middle connector, so it's essentially in reverse. It doesn't fit the other way with that cable because the distance between the two black connectors is short. What overall length should I be looking for if I need to use an 80 conductor? If you could possible give me a link to one that you recommend i would appreciate the help. Thanks again!

EDIT - I ordered the Startech adapter, and also found what looks to be a decent 24" IDE cable and ordered one of those as well. I should have both this week (at least I hope before the American Holiday this week). I will first try the adapter with the original IDE cable to see if it works with that Seagate, then try with the 24" cable if needed and use it correctly instead of reverse (If I can manage it). I want to also try those combo's with the two hitachi units I built. While they do seemingly work, waiting 25 seconds or so (from Yellow UnleashX logo) feels like a long time. I'll report back when I receive those items. I very much appreciate you guys taking the time to reply. Hopefully by noobish woes will help someone else who is just getting started.
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Re: 2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boo

Post by GoTeamScotch »

I look for a cable that's as close to the stock cable's length (24" I believe) as I can find. If needed, I unclip the middle (dvd) connector and move it so that it's close the motherboard connector just like the stock cables. It's fine if it's backwards (blue / master connected to hard drive). Cables can be up to 36" but I've never used anything longer than about 28" myself. The main thing to focus on is to keep the length from one connector the other at or under 18" max. I'm going off of IDE's specs. Again, I personally have not used long (36") cables. According to your reply, you're using a 36" cable and the middle (dvd) connector is closer to one end that the other, which tells me that there must be over 18" between the connectors on one side. I would suggest either getting a new cable, or if you're comfortable with modifying your existing cable then go that route. It's not difficult to move connectors but if you've never done it it can be tricky to get all of the pins to align on the cable just right, especially without the special tool.

I don't use 40-wire cables when using SATA adapters. I'm sure there are probably some adapters that work with the stock cable, but in my experience I haven't come across an adapter/hard drive combination setup that does. If you're not 100% sure that your adapter is compatible with a 40-wire cable, then it's probably wiser to go with the safe bet and get an 80-wire cable just so you don't spend a lot of effort troubleshooting your setup only to later find out that it was the cable all along. Using an 80-wire cable that is the proper length is a good way to rule out that as a factor when troubleshooting.
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Re: 2TB upgrade - Freezes when loading apps, really slow boo

Post by skeletor64 »

Update - I bought the Red Star Tech adapter, and a 24" IDE cable, tested in the Seagate - No luck. I think I just have an issue on this drive, and it is the made in China version. I'll likely re-purpose and move on.

I just built a 3rd box using a Hitachi drive. I used this same (noted above) adapter/cable and before putting any emus or xbox games on the drive, bootup took about 6 seconds from yellow unleash X splash. Note: I do use custom Icons for emus, apps etc (have been making the files smaller than 50kb just in case thats slowing things up). I read a thread on another forum that Rocky5 posted in, and he mentioned that UnleashX pre-caches all of the games and emus upon boot. I then proceeded to load up all of my emus on the F drive. After all of them loaded up, I was somewhere in the 6-7 second count (so pretty much the same which is good). I then filled the rest of my F: partition with about 60 or so xbox backup games (most except maybe a couple all have jpegs and/or png files that show up in the list). After filling up this partition, I restarted the xbox, and my boot time was around 13 seconds from yellow splash, to dash. I'm willing to bet once I fill up my G drive with the other 470 xbox games, I'm going to have that same slow boot issue as mentioned before (at least the 2 two hitachi drives are working).

Rocky5 mentioned that you could add a delayload="true" in the header of each list tag. His example was <list text="Games" Sort="On" Delayload="True">

I want to give this a try, and my games categories look something like:

<list text="Games" AltIcon "E:\Icons\filename.png">

Would this be the correct way? <list text="Games" Delayload="True" AltIcon "E:\Icons\filename.png">
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