GCHDDC- aBuilding your own adapter -X h n

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GC HDD ADAPTER TUTORIAL

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PARTS REQUIRED: Part 1 Old PS2 Mod chip (XILINX Based) the best is RIPPER III clone, MAGIC-S or similar Mod chip Preferably one with CPLD + parallel flash EEPROM... (BLUECHIP and others that not use EEPROM can be used too, but this is more difficult as youll see later on)

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2 Serial Port 1 cover, from GC (optional) J

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w 3 Male IDE Connector (this one was taken from an old PC main board)

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BUILDING THE ADAPTER: Cut out a hole in the serial port cover to place the IDE connector, and make a small hole to put an activity LED:

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Secure the IDE connector to the cover, using screws and some nuts:

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Building the firmware & Re-programming the Mod chip to suit our needs: (hardest part) Uncompress the file "gcide.zip" ... inside you will find the firmware source! Note: If you can obtain one of the following PS2 Mod chips: RIPPER III clone, MAGIC-S or BLUECHIP, you will only need to replace the file gc_ide.ucf with one of the files mentioned below, but make sure you use the correct one for your Mod chip! gc_ide.ucf_BLUECHIP gc_ide.ucf_MAGIC-S gc_ide.ucf_RIPPER

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If youre using one of the above mod chips, rename the respective file to: gc_ide.ucf (overwrite the old one in the folder) This file contains the pins assignments of the particular Mod chip. If you get a different mod chip from these, you need to check carefully the PCB and locate the needed pins, then edit the file. Otherwise, you can skip the next step and go directly to programming the CPLD. Configuring Pin assignments: (If using a Mod chip mentioned above, i.e. Ripper, Magic-S, Blue Chip, skip this step) Below are the IDE signals used in the adapter. You will need to assign one Mod chip PAD or CPLD pin to each IDE signal:
IDE Pin No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Drive Cable Signal name RESET Ground D7 D8 D6 D9 D5 D10 D4 D11 Ide_dat<7> Ide_dat<8> Ide_dat<6> Ide_dat<9> Ide_ dat <5> Ide_ dat<10> Ide_ dat <4> Ide_ dat <11> Signal Name in .ucf file

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12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

D12 D2 D13 D1 D14 D0 D15 Ground Ground WR Ground RD Ground -

Ide_adr<12> Ide_ dat <2> Ide_ dat <13> Ide_ dat <1> Ide_ dat <14> Ide_ data <0> Ide_ dat <15>

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Ide_wr

Ide_rd

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27 28 29 Reserved Ground 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 A1 A0 A2 A3 A4 DASP Ground Ide_adr<0> Ide_adr<2> Ide_adr<3> Ide_adr<4> Ide_adr<1>

(Table 1)

And these are the EXI signals: exi_clk exi_cs exi_out exi_in

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Ide_ dat <3>

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If you need to edit the .ucf file, the format of this is simple, for example: NET "exi_clk" LOC = "P97" ; --> signal "exi_clk" located to pin 97 of the CPLD . . NET "ide_adr<1>" LOC = "P13" ; --> signal "ide_adr<1>" to pin 13 of the CPLD And so on ... you need to locate at least 27 pins that have traces and if possible PADS to solder easily. That is why the better Mod chips are the ones that use a parallel EEPROM, since they have plenty of pins easy to trace and PADS attached on to solder to! Other Mod chips can also be used, like the BLUECHIP, but these do not use EEPROM and only 23 pins have traces, therefore youd need to solder direct to the CPLD pins. Building the firmware: Now, well need to build the project with XILINX ISE... Go to the Xilinx web site and register so you can download their free ISE Web Pack software which well use to program the CPLD: http://www.xilinx.com/products/design_resources/design_tool/index.htm Install it, and open project file exi2ide.ise then right-click the Implement Design process in the Processes tab, and select Rerun All . Wait until the implementation completes. (Ignoring the warnings)

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Building the JTAG Cable and Programming the CPLD: The above process will generate a programming file named gc_ide.jed that you will need to program onto the CPLD. To do that, only you need a simple JTAG cable, like the one below (which can be easily made at home): http://warmcat.com/milksop/cheaptag.html Now well use a tool called iMPACT to program the CPLD. This tool is located in the Processes tab.

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Click Generate Programing file Configure device (iMPACT)....

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Complete details of this can be found in the attached documentation, or see the link below: http://www.dspassme.com/docs/html/pm_04_programming_cpld.html Soldering it all together: Once the chip is reprogrammed, well need to wire it to the IDE connector: (Some good soldering skills are needed)

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At IDE connector level:

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(Refer to table 1) When building the adapter, all grounds (GNDs) go directly to GND of the Gamecube. Connect Pin 1 (RESET) to a PULL UP (10K) to 3.3v and Pin 39 (DASP) is output to LED indicator of drive activity.

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After this, the adapter is complete and ready to be hooked up to our Gamecube! Set up EXI signals to the Gamecube... and were done! (Use memory card slot B) Pin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Signal name EXTIN GND 3.3V DO DI Red White Yellow Used Color Connected to Pin 12, EXTOUT Ground +3.3V supply MOSI - Master OUT, Slave IN MISO - Master IN, Slave OUT

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8 w 9 10 11 12
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3.3V CS GND CLK EXTOUT

Red Blue Green

+3.3V supply Device select Ground Clock To Pin 1, EXTIN

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Notes: Pins 1 (EXTIN) to 12 (EXTOUT) Pins 2, 10 (GND) connected to ground Pins 4, 8 (+3.3V) supply Credits:
Many thanks to all contributors that helped me in collaborating this project in one way or another: - tmbinc (debugmo.de) (his great work is the base of the actual GC and Wii scene, this project inclusive) - xt5 (ingenieria-inversa.cl) -

nuke (USB Gecko) emu_kidid (for SD-Boot and other great GC homebrew) and the countless others who have helped along the way :)

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