How to replace a disk drive on a 360 console that's unmodified.

TheMooseInNam

Hi all,

Looking for a bit of advice and I'm guessing that you're the guys to ask.

I just attempted to repair two of my 360 consoles today that were suffering from "open disk" errors by realigning the laser head. Managed to repair my elite perfectly without a problem but the other one, I broke the alignment screw head off, unfortunately.

I'm guessing I either have to replace the laser head or the complete BenQ VAD6038 drive? I believe it isn't possible to simply buy another disk drive and slot it in due to a firmware key that needs to be flashed. Is that correct?

Does this mean I'm going to need to mod the console in order to repair it? I only ever use that console as a media extender with TVersity anyway, so the drive isn't that important to me and I believe if I mod the console I won't be able to connect to Xbox Live, which will cause a problem playing some of the codecs that require the XBL's Optional Media Update and also require to be logged into Xbox Live at the time.

So, in summary, do I have to mod the console to replace the disk drive? If so, is there a mod that can offer an upgrade to the console's media server/extender abilities so the lack of XBL isn't an issue?

I'm sorry if this has all been posted and explained before, if so just point me in the right direction. I've been thrawling Boards and other sites all evening and can't get a definitive answer, so I've resorted to finally asking

Reamer Fanny

It's simple really just buy a similar drive take the old PCB and drop it into the new drive

TheMooseInNam

justryan wrote: »

It's simple really just buy a similar drive take the old PCB and drop it into the new drive

The PCB is the printed circuit board, I take it? Does that require soldering?

Reamer Fanny

Yep just detach the ribbon cables by flipping the tabs and drop it in

TheMooseInNam

justryan wrote: »

Yep just detach the ribbon cables by flipping the tabs and drop it in

That's awesome, thanks a million.

As for the modding, I take it there's no mod out there for the 360 that makes it a better media center then?

Reamer Fanny

Not as far as I know for the 360, although it does work well with windows media centre if you have a PC on your network with media content. I haven't seen anything as good as XBMC on the original Xbox but I bet they're is some homebrew in development for the 360

TouchingVirus

justryan wrote: »

Yep just detach the ribbon cables by flipping the tabs and drop it in

Not quite, I'm fairly sure there are 6 wires on the PCB that require soldering. But it's the simple type of soldering - one wire on each pad (big pad) and a big glob of solder on each, fairly simple stuff

Reamer Fanny

Ah yes forgot about that doh! Make note of the colors when desoldering the PCB

Kxiii

That must vary from model to model I've swapped a few and haven't had to solder anything

docentore

Kxiii wrote: »

That must vary from model to model I've swapped a few and haven't had to solder anything

samsungs and Hitachis have just ribbon cables, benq and lite ons require soldering. but as TV said its simple job. take a picture of original PCB before desoldering focusing on cables.

TouchingVirus

On LiteOns there isn't a need to snap a picture - the PCB pads are labelled Y+, Y-, W+, W-, R, B (Yellow, Yellow, White, White, Red, Black). The pairs of wires (Yellow and White) don't have a polarity, so it doesn't matter which wire is which as long as you put them in the right spot

Don't know if it's the same for BenQs, so it might be best to take a picture

TheMooseInNam

That's brilliant, guys. Thanks for the head up. Been a long time since I soldered anything. Looking forward to it now.

Would Ebay be the best place to locate a drive or are there dedicated parts suppliers that you would recommend?

TouchingVirus

Ebay is grand, Dealextreme if you're not in a hurry. Then there's modding suppliers like CK3.co.uk

Hangover

Might be a good idea to dump the firmware of the drive in case you kill it as there will be no going back, then you can flash the new drive with the correct key and update the firmware at the same time;).

rebel12

I am currently suffering from a different problem as i got the open tray i fix it fine and tested it before putting it back in the shell but somehow the sata cable fell out and burned out the drive board!!!!!
Help!!!!!:(

TouchingVirus

It'd be a very strange problem to have the SATA cable burn out a drive. I reckon you put the power cable (the cable with the white connectors on the ends) in upside down.

There's no coming back from it unless your drive key was previously dumped. If not then your console is a paperweight.

rebel12

would that happen when it was flashed

TouchingVirus

Yes, the flasher should have taken a dump of your DVDkey and given it to you, or kept it themselves to make later flashing much easier.

If they didn't, and you don't have a copy of it, then once again it's game over