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I’m finishing up a custom Seattle Seahawks console for someone. The clear coat on the case is drying as it type this. Tomorrow I’ll install a dual color (green/blue) 80 LED kit, with on/off switches for each color. All that is left to do is the Jewel. I’ve been thinking for weeks now and can not decide on what to do with it. I don’t want to be lazy and leave it clear. The best thing i have come up with is blue with clear letters and that’s just lame to me All ideas are welcome. Some of them may get laughed at.

Hi guys TLDR: - My xbox's Samsung disc drive no longer works, already tried the usual things. - Am I using the correct replacement laser? - have I overlooked anything for optical drive repair? - Can I still mod my xbox with an OpenXenium chip + can I properly upgrade the hard drive without ever needing the disc drive again (eg for running Hexen or OGXbox installation Disc, or can I use another way to properly set up a 2tb hard drive I've got for the planned upgrade). ________________________ Full version. Hi guys. I've got a stock OG PAL Xbox (v1.1?) that doesn't read any kind of discs anymore. I found this out 3 weeks ago when I took my xbox out for the first time after a few months. It doesn't ever give disc errors. It does not have any hard or soft mods applied yet, but I've got an openxenium chip on hand ready for when I eventually get to modding (also have a 2tb Seagate Barracuda drive set aside as an upgrade). I'll add that I've already removed the clock capacitor almost 2 years ago when I bought the xbox and had zero associated issues. I usually run my xbox via RGB scart on my CRT, and it previously ran without any problems. My OG xbox has a Samsung drive: SDG-605 version B, and originally has a SOH-D16 laser. I initially tried the usual stuff and none of it worked : - cleaned the laser lens - tried lowering the DVD Potentiometer resistance through various ranges (1800ohms from factory, lowered down to 830ohms testing every 100 or so Ohms) - checked the lubricants and deep cleaned the console for any dust/debris. - Eject button and disc tray works fine. I can't find any spare optical drive replacements in the UK currently, so I opted to replace the laser assembly. I purchased the replacement from AliExpress, though the laser model number I received was actually SOH-DR16S, rather than the SOH-D16. The listing stated it was for SOH-D16, but I received the SOH-DR16S instead (I can't seem to find any of the former anywhere). I couldn't find any confirming information about whether these laser assemblies are completely cross compatible in my DVD drive (but all the connector assemblies and ribbon connectors seem to fit perfectly fine). I also followed Bahamutfan64's reddit post and the linked guide to try and prepare the laser for best compatibility*: - swapped the white houseing onto the new laser - desoldered the static protection/storage solder bridges for both potentiometers (and tried my best to minimise static discharge risk when working with the lasers after the safety bridges were removed) - reassembled the laser assembly into the Samsung drive and removed the blue lens protection film - cleaned the lens with 99% IPA to remove any residue from the protective film. - recorded both potentiometers' factory resistances. The CD pot was 800ohms from factory, whilst the DVD pot's factory was 2010ohms. These values failed to boot any of my games or CDs. - I then gradually tweaked and tested my DVD pot down to about 1240ohms, testing at roughly every 100ohm intervals, and still couldn't boot into any of my games. I'm not sure if I should go all the way down to 800ohms onnthe DVD pot on a "brand new" laser. Here's how the Xbox mostly seemed to usually behave with the new laser (and even with the old laser with Pot tweaks): with the game disc inside, the eject button would keep flashing. At the same time the optical drive motor would try a few short bursts of spinning the disc, followed by a longer spin. After this longer spin it gives up reading the disc and the eject button stops flashing. I don't know if this is a sign of the optical drive's spindle motor failing, but I think it may be unlikely. I don't get any error messages, and the xbox simply remains in the green home menu screen (even last year when I had occasional failed disc reads, I would never receive error messages). I tried a range of different known working games and CDs to no success. I want some help and was wondering where to go from here. I have a few questions: Is there any way of telling whether the optical drive's PCB is gone? There aren't any obvious signs such as leaky caps or burnt componenents. I don't own an oscilloscope or any really seriously fancy equipment. The ribbon cables are all intact and I've even tried cleaning all of their contacts and reseating. All the necessary moving parts/gears appear/feel lubricated (doesn't appear overlubed) and the laser's worm gear/motor seems to be working fine. The eject/disc tray motor and associated parts also seem to be working. Is my replacement laser assembly actually compatible? I actually tried ordering 2 laser assemblies, sadly I received SOH-DR16S and not SOH-D16. Would these differences in lasers even matter for my Samsung Drive? They both appear identical. As far as I know, I believe an SOH-D16 can be used in place of a SOH-DR16S, but not sure if it works the other way around for my specific context. Would it be worth me trying the second brand new SOH-DR16S laser as well? I have no way if telling if these new lasers were dead on arrival. If I fail with disc drive repair, could I still successfully install the openxenium chip without ever needing the disc drive? Is it possible to run the OG xbox without an optical drive ever again and still get the key modchip benefits? Ie changing the bios/nand file, upgrading to a 2tb hard drive from stock (and boot my backups from this drive). I know that the Hexen disc/OGXBox installation disc would still require an optical drive, but could I still run these (or at least their features) without an optical disc drive? Is Hexen/OGXbox install disc even necessary in my setup is using OpenXenium? Ideally I'd like to avoid grabbing a second xbox just to salvage a working DVD drive that will likely fail soon anyway. I'm also aware with a modchip I can grab a PC dvd drive to play CD/DVD/burned media if absolutely needed (sadly I don't have one of these to hand, and I won't ever be able to use this to boot my original discs). Sorry for the long post, I wanted to include as much detail as possible including everything I've already tried and considered. *Guides I followed for laser replacement: https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/comments/phuhy3/samsung_sohdr16_laser_replacement/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share http://fillwithcoolblogname.blogspot.com/2011/02/xbox-dvd-laser-replacement.html?m=1

Hi, i'm new to the scene and got my first chipped box a few weeks ago. Because i'm interested in tinkering around it happend that my Flashchip somehow got corrupted in the process of trying out another BIOS ... i'm kinda stuck now and absolutely want to recover from this situation by myself, so there have a few ideas risen and i may ask more veteran people about them: Ideas: 1. Boot the XBox of a friend of mine, remove the Flash with power on and flash mine. Did this years ago regulary on PC Mainboards but also know that these devices aren't built for hotswapping them and so i'm a little bit afraid of killing the circuitry with voltage spikes. 2. Softmod the Box and Flash the Modchip then. Question 1: Possible in general? Question 2: Is it possible to Softmod "externally" on a PC. I have a eeprom backup of my box and the key isn't nulled. 3. Invest a few bucks and buy a USB Flasher which is compatible with PLCC32 chips - mine is a SST 49lf020a. Question: Can i use other Chips with similar specification too? I'm thinking of ordering a SST 39SF02070-4C-N which has very similar specifications compared to the original one, which is no longer produced or available. Just a sidenote: The Modchip i use is a Alladin XT Thanks, Egon

Hello everyone! This is my first post, so apologies if it’s formatted incorrectly. I’m currently having a tough time trying to diagnose what could be causing my Xbox to output a wobbly video signal as seen here. I’ve tried -swapping power supplies -replacing the 5 caps near the cpu -giving the board and console a deep clean I’m thinking maybe it’s a grounding issue? Or perhaps the video encoding chip is about to die? Honestly I’m at a loss. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you guys.

I opened an xbox that I picked up at the weekend last night. There was a problem with the disk drive as it kept opening an closing and wouldn't read a disk when it was held closed while the disk was spinning. I suspected a faulty drive but when I opened it I found that it was absolutely filthy inside and that something had leaked - I have attached pics - I think it's a 1.6 so I don't know what is leaking or if it is repairable - any help greatly appreciated. Thanks

Whats up OG"S? im new to the site and pretty new to the mod scene. tech really has become my passion from cellphones to xbox mods and anything I can get my hands on to fix.. totally self taught and looking to learn every dang thing I can so PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DROP ANY KNOWLEDGE, TIPS, OR JUST COOL $HIT!!!! much appreciated