Old Xbox Isssues

[rikitheshadow]

I'm sure plenty of people have had issues with the old Xbox disk drives and all, as so do most of the older consoles. Anyway, Me and my friend wanted to play some of the older xbox games, sadly they are what are considered the non-compatible type with the Xbox 360. They simply refuse to work on the 360 period.

What i started this thread for is to ask a question to any old xbox modders that have some experience with the older units. Is there a possible way to replace the disk drive in the xbox? And I only ask that because the older xbox is just nearly like a computer, IDE cables and everything. Or if not a way to replace it, is there a way to fix some disc read issues? Trust me, the first thing we have tried is to clean the discs.....

[nevermind1534]

I'm sure plenty of people have had issues with the old Xbox disk drives and all, as so do most of the older consoles. Anyway, Me and my friend wanted to play some of the older xbox games, sadly they are what are considered the non-compatible type with the Xbox 360. They simply refuse to work on the 360 period.

What i started this thread for is to ask a question to any old xbox modders that have some experience with the older units. Is there a possible way to replace the disk drive in the xbox? And I only ask that because the older xbox is just nearly like a computer, IDE cables and everything. Or if not a way to replace it, is there a way to fix some disc read issues? Trust me, the first thing we have tried is to clean the discs.....

You can swap out xbox DVD drives. I think there's even a normal one that you can reflash or buy an adapter board to work with it.

[XCVG]

You have two options:

1. Buy a replacement XBOX drive. I think there's more than one version.
2. Use a PC drive and a modchip. I think there's another method to do this too.

EDIT: Wait, one more option: get a new (used) XBOX.

[rikitheshadow]

Ok, I was generally thinking along the lines of replacing it with a PC drive, but did not know it needed a mod chip. But this is aso why I made this thread to ask. Any links or instructions on how to setup your own PC drive with a chip?

While I wait for a response, I'll see if I can locate some old xbox drives(working of course) that are for sale on the net.

I have thought of purchasing a new xbox, but they no longer keep em at Gamestops, and well I know there is online options to finding some cheap ones, this one is in fairly good condition besides the disc drive, and it has a dashboard mod loaded on it.

[64M320N3]

You have two options:

1. Buy a replacement XBOX drive. I think there's more than one version.
2. Use a PC drive and a modchip. I think there's another method to do this too.

EDIT: Wait, one more option: get a new (used) XBOX.

Even one more option:
4. Softmod it (free) and replace the drive with any other regular one.

EDIT: rikitheshadow:
ya, GameStop still carries xboxes, you just have to do some searching because they do not buy them anymore. Any ones that they already had they still will sell.
You'll either need to get an official one, flash one that is compatible, or mod you xbox, which makes it clueless enough to think a HDD is a DD, so it'll work then.

[rikitheshadow]

EDIT: rikitheshadow:
ya, GameStop still carries xboxes, you just have to do some searching because they do not buy them anymore. Any ones that they already had they still will sell.
You'll either need to get an official one, flash one that is compatible, or mod you xbox, which makes it clueless enough to think a HDD is a DD, so it'll work then.

Ya, thats pretty much what I meant. They no longer take in Xboxs and my local stores are fresh out. Softmod sounds like an idea!

Details or links on softmods?

[XCVG]

Most softmods require a working disc drive. However the hot-swap method does not. The downside is that it requires you to hot-unplug the HDD and hot-plug it into your computer.

[64M320N3]

Oh, it's not even that hard.
That's the way I did it! (I think that's because it was the only way to do it when the xbox was still in its infancy, other than hard modding, of course.)

[Harlequin]

Just because I love brining back month long threads - you don't need to mod your box to use either a PC DVD drive, or replace your xbox dvd drive. You will need one of the following:

1. replacement xbox dvd drive - they are completely interchangable and can be found on the web. I think Llamma is still selling them(?) and they are still on ebay of course. With a replacement dvd drive you just open your xbox, remove the old drive, put in the new, close and test before screwing everything back together. This is the easiest way to replace a xbox DVD drive.

2. modded xbox with a bigger HDD. softmod chip mod tsop mod, whatever mod you want. Get it modded (I prefer softmod since it requires me to buy nothing) and put in a bigger HDD. Download games to HDD and never use DVD drive again.

3. Get a Samsung T616, or and LG 8163B, or a Lite on HD166S, or another PC DVD drive that you choose to sacrafice for the cause. instructions for the first three are readily available, the Lite on is listed under a different name, pioneer I think, but they are the same board lay out. Anyways, with a genereic PC DVD drive you need a few points identified on your DVD board. This is a long and annoying task if you have a double sided board. You need to isolate and identify 4 signals. Tray in, Tray out, CD ready, and Eject. The only easy one to find is Eject, because it is usually right next to the eject button. Tray in and out are usually pretty close Tray in test point on the board will show a value of 0v or around 0v when the tray is in (closed) and either 3.3v or 5v when it is open. Reverse this for tray out. Eject will show a constant high of 3.3v or 5v or so, but when the eject button is held in it drops to 0.3v or 0.5v. Last but not least, the data ready signal (hardest to find) will be at or close to 0v when a disc is put in and is completely spun up and ready, and will be at 3.3v or 5v when it has nothing in it. Due to Spin down being used on most drives (something the xbox isn't natively compatable with) I recommend using a softmod or some other mod if using this method. Actually, if you are using anything other than the first two drives listed with flashed firmware, you would be required to mod anyways. Anyways, I don't want to get too far of topic here so suffice to say that you would likely need to use XBOX media center as your dashboard after completing this with a typical pc DVD drive and use the PC DVD drive option in XBMC. Don't ask me where it is, I don't know, but google is your friend and it should be easy to find.

So once you have isolated those signals mentioned above, you need to put a 1K ohm 1/4 watt resistor on each line and feed the wires out. I also recommend getting a spare Molex power connecter from a dead power supply. Use the molex that is the "middle" connecter going from the power supply and to the next molex power line. Clip the power leads with an inch or so of length. The signals you need are 2 red, 2 yellow, and 3 black. Attatch a wire to each one and connect a pin to each point. take the XBOX native DVD connecter and feed each pin into the corresponding points for each of the wires. Remember red is 5v and yellow is 12v, black is ground. This, with the 4 wires from the DVD drive will give you everything you need to make a PC DVD drive work on an xbox. So we are all done right? Wrong. The PC DVD drive also needs to be trimmed up so that it can fit in the case. Usually you have to take off the metal on the front of the drive where the face plate connects to the drive. You also need to take off the bezel on the tray and cut it to match your xbox's dvd bezel (easier that you think). You may also need to cut the front of the dvd board, and remove the useless junk from it such as volume control and headphone jack. After doing that you have the choice of try to cut more of the DVD drive to fit into the tray that the DVD drive sits in, or cutting the front post on the tray to make it fit. I chose cutting the tray, but regret doing so now. That said, it is far far far easier to do. Finally, the two front posts above the controller slot 1 and 2 ports need to be cut off entirely. They won't serve a purpose now anyways and need to be cut to make the DVD drive fit. Finally, I recommed lining up where the screw goes in for the DVD drive and putting a hole through the DVD tray so you can screw the DVD drive into the tray and make it less noisy. Yes this is going to be a very loud experience with just about any DVD drive. So if you can get a PC drive other than the first two listed to work, you are an xbox dvd modding god. If you get the third one working that is pretty awesome too. If you get the first two working, then you are good at following the instructions of others and still deserve a pat on the back. My first drive died completely (smoke) and the second I was lucky enough to hit a LG 8163 and flash firmware to it. Final note, other than the first two with modded firmware, these drives will NOT play original games. Burnt only from here on in.

[eagle5953]

If you flash the TSOP, almost any disk drive will work (the power cable is different, not the data cable). As long as you can get the pinout for the weird power plug and make it use the standard 4 pin molex, it should be fine. You will have to mess with the drive to make the eject button work from the front of the system, though.

Of course, I just skipped a step and copied all my games onto the hard drive, basically eliminating the need for a disk drive.

[17daysolderthannes]

[
Even one more option:
4. Softmod it (free) and replace the drive with any other regular one.

uh oh, does this mean a non-soft modded XBOX will NOT work with a DVD drive from another XBOX? I ask because I bought an XBOX and soft modded it, but hated the crap Thompson drive, so I bought another XBOX from a friend and swapped the Samsung ver. b drive into my modded XBOX, but I never tried out his unmodded XBOX with the Thompson drive. Will the XBOX reject it? I was really hoping I wouldn't have to mod it, and I imagine the disc drive will fail before anything else, making his XBOX approximately worthless now if that's the case.

[samjc3]

if he still needs a drive, i have one i would be willing to part with for a meager 90 precursor orbs

[Black Six]

[
Even one more option:
4. Softmod it (free) and replace the drive with any other regular one.

uh oh, does this mean a non-soft modded XBOX will NOT work with a DVD drive from another XBOX? I ask because I bought an XBOX and soft modded it, but hated the crap Thompson drive, so I bought another XBOX from a friend and swapped the Samsung ver. b drive into my modded XBOX, but I never tried out his unmodded XBOX with the Thompson drive. Will the XBOX reject it? I was really hoping I wouldn't have to mod it, and I imagine the disc drive will fail before anything else, making his XBOX approximately worthless now if that's the case.

No, you can change CD drives on the original Xbox with no problem and modding. It's the 360 that has issues with that.

[eagle5953]

Yup, Black Six is right. XBox doesn't care about swapping DVD drives.

[Harlequin]

Love quoting myself.. as I mentioned in the original post

"1. replacement xbox dvd drive - they are completely interchangable and can be found on the web. I think Llamma is still selling them(?) and they are still on ebay of course. With a replacement dvd drive you just open your xbox, remove the old drive, put in the new, close and test before screwing everything back together. This is the easiest way to replace a xbox DVD drive."

As far as TSOP modding to use any drive, I haven't found a TSOP or softmod that will use the correct signals right out of the box yet. The pin out and power thing is an easy issue to fix, I'm just wondering how the PC DVD drive works when the xbox cannot tell if it has data ready, or if the tray is in or out... I am wondering if you are refering to the "use PC DVD drive" option in XBMC?