Samsung SDG-605B repair help

[hchien]

I have an unmodded 1.4 Xbox with a Samsung SDG-605B drive that won't read discs.  The drive sounds like it's trying to read a disc, but then gets kicked out to the Xbox menu.  I've tried all the usual things: cleaning the laser, greasing the rails/gears, adjusting the pots (anywhere from +10% to -20% of the original resistance) with no luck.

Determined to get this fixed, I ordered a few replacement lasers from:

https://alltroniccomputer.com.sg/products/cd-dvd-xbox-optical-pickup-sohd16-soh-d16-xbox360

My original laser pickup is SOH-DR16S, but it should be interchangeable with this one-- SOH-D16.  I ordered 2 just to be sure and neither one of them worked.  And yes I desoldered the anti-static blob and played with the pots.

I read on another thread that the SDG-605F resistor arrays NR601 - NR606 can commonly fail.  I checked the analogous resistors on the SDG-605B but they seem to measure the correct resistances.

Lastly, I swapped DVD drives with a working Xbox and sure enough the working Xbox won't read discs, while the broken Xbox is fixed.  So I'm pretty sure the problem is isolated to the DVD drive.

There is such a scarcity of information on this drive on the internet and this forum seems to be the best resource.  Any ideas on what it could be/what I could do next?

[hchien]

Oh wait, I think I realized my problem... I ordered the wrong laser. 

https://alltroniccomputer.com.sg/products/cd-dvd-xbox-optical-pickup-sohdr16s-soh-dr16-samsung

vs

https://alltroniccomputer.com.sg/products/cd-dvd-xbox-optical-pickup-sohd16-soh-d16-xbox360

but they still seem interchangeable:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802421555838.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt&_randl_shipto=US

Edited December 29, 2022 by hchien

[KaosEngineer]

11 hours ago, hchien said:

I have an unmodded 1.4 Xbox with a Samsung SDG-605B drive that won't read discs.  The drive sounds like it's trying to read a disc, but then gets kicked out to the Xbox menu.  I've tried all the usual things: cleaning the laser, greasing the rails/gears, adjusting the pots (anywhere from +10% to -20% of the original resistance) with no luck.

Determined to get this fixed, I ordered a few replacement lasers from:

https://alltroniccomputer.com.sg/products/cd-dvd-xbox-optical-pickup-sohd16-soh-d16-xbox360

My original laser pickup is SOH-DR16S, but it should be interchangeable with this one-- SOH-D16.  I ordered 2 just to be sure and neither one of them worked.  And yes I desoldered the anti-static blob and played with the pots.

I read on another thread that the SDG-605F resistor arrays NR601 - NR606 can commonly fail.  I checked the analogous resistors on the SDG-605B but they seem to measure the correct resistances.

Lastly, I swapped DVD drives with a working Xbox and sure enough the working Xbox won't read discs, while the broken Xbox is fixed.  So I'm pretty sure the problem is isolated to the DVD drive.

There is such a scarcity of information on this drive on the internet and this forum seems to be the best resource.  Any ideas on what it could be/what I could do next?

Check for leaking or bulging electrolytic capacitors on the DVD drive's controller board?

 

Edit: The SMT electrolytic caps may be bad without showing any visible external signs.

[KaosEngineer]

10 hours ago, hchien said:

https://alltroniccomputer.com.sg/products/cd-dvd-xbox-optical-pickup-sohd16-soh-d16-xbox360

I think this listing's title is wrong.  It is not for an Xbox 360 but for the original Xbox DVD drive.

[JimmyTheFist]

On 12/29/2022 at 3:22 PM, KaosEngineer said:

Check for leaking or bulging electrolytic capacitors on the DVD drive's controller board?

 

Edit: The SMT electrolytic caps may be bad without showing any visible external signs.

Hi, I'm having same issue as OP, is there a way to test if its the capacitors and not the laser itself? I also tried playing with the laser pots about + and - 20% from original setting although I was going blind without a multimeter.

[Alugard]

Hey guys,

there is a bunch of similar topics here so i don't know which one is better to talk about the issue again but this is about these damn samsung drives. I saw probably 20 of them for the last few years and all are dead = not reading discs right from a start or with a slight delay. At the same time, there is a laser beam which to me means laser is more alive than dead. Tweaking pot doesn't help at all. The issue i think always in drive board, same as with Gamecube. I replaced electrolytic capacitors (5 of them) on 2-3 drives - no help. Checked the resistors arrays - most read fine, some were faulty, i replaced these. But drive still not reading! What else can it be? Any ideas/suggestions on what else to check? There are no leaks or corrosion, some boards look like new. 

[sweetdarkdestiny]

Probably the 47nf & 220nf (maybe the 100nf as well) caps are dead. If you have one at least ne working drive, you can check the pcb's in it. If the drive refuses to work with the PCB you have put in you can assume that, if the reisitors are fine, the caps are dead. And doing it, no leaser tweak needs do be done! Replace the caps and check again in the woking drive. 

[Bowlsnapper]

4 hours ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:

Probably the 47nf & 220nf (maybe the 100nf as well) caps are dead. If you have one at least ne working drive, you can check the pcb's in it. If the drive refuses to work with the PCB you have put in you can assume that, if the reisitors are fine, the caps are dead. And doing it, no leaser tweak needs do be done! Replace the caps and check again in the woking drive. 

I was wondering why certain Samsungs would not respond to laser tweaks. This was probably why. It never occurred to me that components could die on a DVD ROM controller board. That seemed like the kind of thing that would happen to motherboards. Lol.