Xbox won't read game discs

[toobladink]

I am mostly making this post to see what the best option is for me to enjoy my xbox for a much longer time. Like if my problem is the disc reader, but there are other options to get around even using it in the first place, I'm very open to it.

I got a used Xbox a while ago but over the past few months I've been having to reboot games just to play them, and now it's to the point where the console can't even read them. The disc looks fine, but obviously it could not be fine. However, I think it's the drive itself.

I've thought about just replacing the disc reader so I can use my games again, but recently I've been looking at mods and I'm curious about a few things. I think it's best for me to show my desires and then get a suggestion on what to do. I am willing to pay any price to keep enjoying the games I love, so cost is a non-issue. But I don't know much about what a modded Xbox is capable of. There's so much info on here, it's hard to digest.

All I want is to play Corvette Racing and Sonic Mega Collection Plus. That is my only desire.

 

Is there an Xbox mod where I can avoid using the disc reader and have the games on an SSD or hard drive?

How can I verify that the disc reader is the problem, and it's not my discs? I have like ten games and they all give me the same error when I put them in, so I am leaning towards that the Xbox itself may be the issue.

It would be cool to easily get more games or just use the discs to download them to whatever storage thing I have on the console. Then I can easily change games without having to get up and put in a new disc and I don't have to rely on a disc reader or having a scratched disc. Is this a thing or am I crazy?

[MadMartigan]

Welcome to the forum.

First thing you could try is cleaning the lens of the disc drive. It’s not too difficult to get to them. If that brings no improvement, you could then try pot tweaking. If neither of those work, then chances are the drive is nearing its end. 
 

The good news: You can most definitely modify the console to ignore the need for a disc drive and run all your games from any HDD or SSD of your choice (Up to 16TB currently).

Further advice: I would limit using it for the time being. Until you can get it modded. 

Edited February 16, 2023 by MadMartigan

[toobladink]

On 2/15/2023 at 8:13 PM, MadMartigan said:

Welcome to the forum.

First thing you could try is cleaning the lens of the disc drive. It’s not too difficult to get to them. If that brings no improvement, you could then try pot tweaking. If neither of those work, then chances are the drive is nearing its end. 
 

The good news: You can most definitely modify the console to ignore the need for a disc drive and run all your games from any HDD or SSD of your choice (Up to 16TB currently).

Further advice: I would limit using it for the time being. Until you can get it modded. 

Thanks MadMartigan!

I think the SSD/HDD route sounds better to me, I was getting pretty irritated with the load times (assuming the upgrade would bring an improvement). However, I have a few questions regarding that.

I've seen a couple videos and I still have questions. How do I make sure I get the games that I want? IIRC Corvette Racing is a little harder to come by. Could I possibly fix the drive and then it will write the game to the SSD? I imagine this involves some sort of software hack to pull off.

If I did mod it, and fixed the drive, would I be able to insert media like I normally would into my Xbox?

What guides do you recommend? Or are there vendors out there that do some modding? I'm pretty confident in my ability to solder, especially tiny connections. However, I think I would rather pay someone who's done it a bunch of times if it's something I can afford.

[MadMartigan]

12 minutes ago, toobladink said:

Thanks MadMartigan!

I think the SSD/HDD route sounds better to me, I was getting pretty irritated with the load times (assuming the upgrade would bring an improvement). However, I have a few questions regarding that.

I've seen a couple videos and I still have questions. How do I make sure I get the games that I want? IIRC Corvette Racing is a little harder to come by. Could I possibly fix the drive and then it will write the game to the SSD? I imagine this involves some sort of software hack to pull off.

There are many ways to obtain games in various formats. Cerbios’ .CCI format seems to be the best currently due to the smallest size available. This allows the entire Xbox library to be stored in a mere 1.8TB. Leaving plenty of rooms for old emulators and Roms if desired. 

12 minutes ago, toobladink said:

If I did mod it, and fixed the drive, would I be able to insert media like I normally would into my Xbox?

Yep, it will still play retail disc with the added ability to read burned discs. 

12 minutes ago, toobladink said:

What guides do you recommend? Or are there vendors out there that do some modding? I'm pretty confident in my ability to solder, especially tiny connections. However, I think I would rather pay someone who's done it a bunch of times if it's something I can afford.

I actually have plenty of consoles for sale. I can make them to your liking also. DM me and we can talk if you want. Here is a link to my selling thread.

 

[Galindrada]

Sorry to revive this old post.

MadMartigan, is it possible to mod the Xbox without using the DVD tray at all? As far as I can see the sofmod needs a game to run the Rocky software. Cheers

[MadMartigan]

Yes it's possible if you have the proper tools. Hard mods such as TSOP flash and Mod Chips do not require disc drives to be modded. However, you will need to one of the few bios' that allow the xbox to run without the presence of the disc drive. Soft modding, will require the disc drive because it needs to run an exploit within the game to perform the mod. Hope that helps 

[Bowlsnapper]

Iso sites seem to have any game I'm looking for so far... Although I could be wrong.

And hey Marty! I have the origins image and my games took up exactly the same space! What's smaller than the actual files themselves?