SEGAMan Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 Hi everyone, I am new here and fairly new to console repair and modding and trying to get in some practice. I recently picked up an OG Xbox with a bad DVD drive. I also bought a different drive to attempt to repair. The drive that came in the Xbox is a Samsung. It is the model without adjustable pots and the laser seems to be dead since it just will not read discs. It does not give any errors, opens and closes fine, disc spins, but it never reads. I am fairly certain the laser has failed and it's not worth saving(though if I'm wrong, please tell me). The other drive, I think might be salvageable. When it is hooked up, I get an error message on the screen telling me to contact Microsoft for repair. The drive does open when the system is turned on and it turns on when it is plugged in with the drive attached. The thing that caught my attention is, whenever I press the eject button, it causes the system to shut off. There is no noise or anything, it just turns off and I can turn it back on right away. This does not happen with the other drive, so I suspect it is the drive and not the eject button itself. I do plan to recap the board this weekend, but wondering what else I should check? Any advice is welcome and thanks for reading. I look forward to getting more involved with this community in the future as I gain more experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 10 hours ago, SEGAMan said: I am fairly certain the laser has failed and it's not worth saving(though if I'm wrong, please tell me Have you tried to load a Audio CD, If that doesn't load then you have a PCB issue and if it loads then the Laser is shot. 10 hours ago, SEGAMan said: The other drive, I think might be salvageable. When it is hooked up, I get an error message on the screen telling me to contact Microsoft for repair. The drive does open when the system is turned on and it turns on when it is plugged in with the drive attached. The thing that caught my attention is, whenever I press the eject button, it causes the system to shut off. There is no noise or anything, it just turns off and I can turn it back on right away. This does not happen with the other drive, so I suspect it is the drive and not the eject button itself. Make sure the 40 pin connector doesn't have bent pins. Failing that fit a mod chip and scrap the DVD drive all together. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEGAMan Posted February 14 Author Report Share Posted February 14 Thanks, I will give that a shot with the Samsung drive this weekend. Going to have to hunt down a CD, haven't seen my collection in years. I'll also be sure to check the pins on the Philips. I did forget to mention in the original post that I do have an Aladdin modchip on the way, so getting the drive working is really more of a want and for experience than actual need for the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 What version board have you got? If it's a 1.0 to 1.4 then use EndGame to re-flash the on board bios chip with Cerbios then use FatXplorer to build a new large HDD. No DVD drive needed an the only soldering is 2 links on the mother board. 50% of the builds I do don't have a working DVD drive as a 2tb drive holds 99% of games and emulators Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEGAMan Posted February 14 Author Report Share Posted February 14 (edited) It is a 1.1(already removed clock cap). I will look into that and hopefully give it a go this weekend since after doing some more research on the Aladdin chip, it looks like I will need a separate device to actually flash it since it's a clone. Am I correct in assuming this qualifies as a softmod? Would it even still be worth flashing and installing the Aladdin if I reflash the stock BIOS using Endgame? Thanks again for your help, there is so much information on modding the og Xbox that it is a little overwhelming just getting started. Edited February 14 by SEGAMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEGAMan Posted February 15 Author Report Share Posted February 15 After doing some more research, I have answered my own question regarding endgame and the tsop flash. It also seems that someone likely swapped the shell at some point because the serial number indicates it is a 1.1, but the tsop and bios version number suggest 1.4. It’s late and I’ve been soldering on a model 2 genesis for the last 3 hours, so I will confirm tomorrow before i attempt the flash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadMartigan Posted February 15 Report Share Posted February 15 If it’s a 1.4, it will have a Focus chip near the A/V port 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEGAMan Posted February 15 Author Report Share Posted February 15 Indeed it does. I just finished up recapping my Genesis, so time to get to work on the Xbox. Thanks for confirming that for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEGAMan Posted February 15 Author Report Share Posted February 15 Quick update, I soldered the points and it still boots, so I at least didn’t muck it up too badly, but it doesn’t like any of my flash drives, so waiting until tomorrow for a 1gb from the rainforest Also, the Samsung drive will read music CDs, so seems to be a dead laser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted February 15 Report Share Posted February 15 2 hours ago, SEGAMan said: Quick update, I soldered the points and it still boots, so I at least didn’t muck it up too badly, but it doesn’t like any of my flash drives, so waiting until tomorrow for a 1gb from the rainforest I use a 64meg USB drive I have also used a Sony PSP in USB mode and a old digital camera basically any USB that's old and USB1 2 hours ago, SEGAMan said: Also, the Samsung drive will read music CDs, so seems to be a dead laser That's how I would quickly determine if the laser was faulty in-car entertainment systems and in 90% of the time the car was full of burned DVD's and or dirty or scratched DVD disk's Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEGAMan Posted February 17 Author Report Share Posted February 17 So, I attempted to do the TSOP flash Sunday with the new flash drive. ENDGAME worked, but I got an error "Unsupported modchip", so I guess my soldering job failed. I have ordered some conductive paint to use instead of risking soldering those points. It was supposed to arrive today, but Amazon dropped the ball, so it will be Wednesday before I am able to try again. I will update once it comes in and I am able to try again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEGAMan Posted March 2 Author Report Share Posted March 2 So, I finally got around to modding my Xbox. Repairing the drive is going no where. I ended up doing a modxo install with Cerbios and everything is up and working. Thanks for the help 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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