xbox 360 repair question

[1MileCrash]

maybe this belongs in computers...if it does move it there...but i figured video game console not computer whatever here it is.

anyway...

so a friend of mine has an old xbox 360 which crapped out on him and so he got a new one. he says that all it needs is a new disk drive and if i want to go ahead and take it and repair it and keep it.

my question...how hard is it to repair something like this and is it worth the time and money. i currently don't have an xbox and have been considering getting one. obviously this thing would have no warranty...but if it shit out on me i'd just be out the cost of the disk drive.

thoughts...opinions...

[rajiv1998]

A new optical drive? I can replace on in about 10 minutes. Not hard at all. The hardest part is finding the damn push pins on the top and bottom vents. Once they come off, its about a 5 min job.

[1MileCrash]

do i need special tools to remove things like some of the screws or the case itself?

talked to him again and he's "pretty sure" that it's the dvd-rom drive but he's not 100%. once i get this thing is there any way that i can tell for sure what it is? he's giving me the thing at no charge so it's not like i'm gonna be out much here

[rajiv1998]

do i need special tools to remove things like some of the screws or the case itself?

talked to him again and he's "pretty sure" that it's the dvd-rom drive but he's not 100%. once i get this thing is there any way that i can tell for sure what it is? he's giving me the thing at no charge so it's not like i'm gonna be out much here

I would ask why he thinks its the optical drive. Does it open/close? If its the famous red rings, its def not the drive, its the heat sinks. You will need to completley tear it apart, right down to the mother board. Its not hard, but I would have some1 who did it before be with you, should something go wrong. I had mine apart last week to fix the problem.
You can see the optical drive right underneath the tip of the hair dryer


As far as the drive goes, you will need a really small screwdriver to poke the push pins on the top and bottom vents and to take the cover off the system. (There are 7 small pins in the back of the system) You will also need a T8 and T10 hex screw driver to unscrew the screws that hold the motherboard and optical drive in palce.

[Aetos]

You can't just swap optical drives and be done. Optical drives are locked to each individual motherboard. You would have to clone the data located on the current optical drive and throw it onto the new optical drive to create a clone, it's not as simple as one may think.

What are the symptoms of your friend's 360 that make you conclude its the drive? The most common reason is a person tried flashing the drive with third party firmware(to play downloaded games), but failed it and bricked the drive.

[1MileCrash]

like i say i'm not sure i'll have to ask him further why he thinks that that's what it is. as far as i know it's not a red ring of death case.

i see optical drives online for prices between $15 and $60. what else needs to be done and what would it cost to do it (what would be needed) to swap out an optical drive if that's what's wrong with it.

either way i told him i'd take it and he'll bring it up with him the next time he's coming to town.

[rajiv1998]

like i say i'm not sure i'll have to ask him further why he thinks that that's what it is. as far as i know it's not a red ring of death case.

i see optical drives online for prices between $15 and $60. what else needs to be done and what would it cost to do it (what would be needed) to swap out an optical drive if that's what's wrong with it.

either way i told him i'd take it and he'll bring it up with him the next time he's coming to town.

Never heard about remoiving softare data from the OD and putting it on the new one. Thats a new one for me. As far as the actually install is concerned, it will only take a few minutes. Not hard at all.

[LS1WS6]

Never heard about remoiving softare data from the OD and putting it on the new one. Thats a new one for me. As far as the actually install is concerned, it will only take a few minutes. Not hard at all.

they are locked together to prevent swaping/using a different drive and as someone said its that way to prevent playing copied games..

[1MileCrash]

okay...so i asked him further on it. he said that some games worked fine while others he would insert the disk, close the door, and it said "reading" as if it was reading the disk...but it never loaded anything. but then again like i said other games loaded fine. not sure what that's an indication of.

[Aetos]

okay...so i asked him further on it. he said that some games worked fine while others he would insert the disk, close the door, and it said "reading" as if it was reading the disk...but it never loaded anything. but then again like i said other games loaded fine. not sure what that's an indication of.

Is he by any chance using self-burned games?


If not, I'm guessing the optical drive lens is slowly dying, or the dvds he's using are scratched up and unreadable.

Just read up on it some more, if its the optical drive, you can do the swap, it's just a bit more complicated. You're going to have to find the same model drive on ebay, and swap the key from the current drive to your new modded drive. You get the key by connecting your 360 to your PC sata port and making your computer read the 360 dvd drive. If you ever decide to do it, I can probably find some tutorials for you. Just don't expect it to be easy if you're not tech-savy.







while your 360 is connected to the pc you should just hack the firmware for downloaded games

[1MileCrash]

i've been finding new and rebuilt optical drives online on various different websites for decent prices.

would i have to connect the 360 to the computer at every use then or just once to place the key code?

i'm not going to say i'm tech savvy by any means...i can change my startup programs, used to know how to change the appearance of my cursor, and other updates/maintenance...but as for modding and shit like that...no. i've installed ram and other hard parts on my old computers and set up the new one...with the assistance of tech support hotlines walking me through it.

and as far as it goes i know that he takes good care of his games and equipment and does everything that he can to prevent them from becoming scratched or damaged...so i'd rather doubt that it had anything to do with scratched games. i'm not sure about downloading though...never asked about that. i know that he does enjoy playing online multiplayer with his system...but not sure about downloading games...would have to ask about that.

[rajiv1998]

i've been finding new and rebuilt optical drives online on various different websites for decent prices.

would i have to connect the 360 to the computer at every use then or just once to place the key code?

i'm not going to say i'm tech savvy by any means...i can change my startup programs, used to know how to change the appearance of my cursor, and other updates/maintenance...but as for modding and shit like that...no. i've installed ram and other hard parts on my old computers and set up the new one...with the assistance of tech support hotlines walking me through it.

and as far as it goes i know that he takes good care of his games and equipment and does everything that he can to prevent them from becoming scratched or damaged...so i'd rather doubt that it had anything to do with scratched games. i'm not sure about downloading though...never asked about that. i know that he does enjoy playing online multiplayer with his system...but not sure about downloading games...would have to ask about that.

I would buy a new optical drive, not a used one.

[1MileCrash]

http://www.consoleshop.com/home.php?cat=264

this is one of the sites that i found that has new repair parts

[LS1WS6]

why not try and clean the old one and adjust it first since you say it does play some games but not all..

[1MileCrash]

i've got a cd and dvd player cleaner that i can try first.

[rajiv1998]

i've got a cd and dvd player cleaner that i can try first.

Also, make sure your lens is clean on the optical drive. If the laser is dusty and cant go through, it has been known to not play games.