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Home > Archive > Xbox forum > February 2005 > X-box repair help.
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X-box repair help.
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| drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| I'm looking for some assistance in repairing my xbox. I'm not
interested in mailing it away to Microsoft. Before I go pulling the x
box apart, I'm wondering if anyone has any previous experience with
this problem and what could be causing it.
Here's how it works:
If I turn the XBox on and it's not been used for a long time, it will
turn on just fine. If I hit eject, it will eject. Once the xbox has
done initialising, and begun reading the disc in the drive, the eject
button will no longer work. If I hit eject, the system will reset, the
light will blink as though it's about to eject, but it does nothing.
And at this point, the box is now unusable. The reset turns the screen
black, and the box won't work anymore.
If you leave it alone again for an hour or so, it will work again and
the whole process repeats.
If you put a game in before the CD reads, or just use the game
currently in the system when you turn it on, it will work just fine,
and you can play that game and/or leave it running for DAYS and it will
work just fine.
Any suggestions or assistance would be appreciated.
| |
| Kendrick Kerwin Chua 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| In article <1109605683.321531.113090@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com <drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com> wrote:
quote:
>I'm looking for some assistance in repairing my xbox. I'm not
>interested in mailing it away to Microsoft. Before I go pulling the x
>box apart, I'm wondering if anyone has any previous experience with
>this problem and what could be causing it.
>
>Here's how it works:
>
>If I turn the XBox on and it's not been used for a long time, it will
>turn on just fine. If I hit eject, it will eject. Once the xbox has
>done initialising, and begun reading the disc in the drive, the eject
>button will no longer work. If I hit eject, the system will reset, the
>light will blink as though it's about to eject, but it does nothing.
<snip>
quote:
>Any suggestions or assistance would be appreciated.
Okay, at first glance this looks like a bad DVD drive, plain and simple.
The OEM part diverges greatly from the ISO standard for PC-spec DVD
drives, so you have to order a specific part that will cost you between
$80 and $120 for a single unit. If you have an early-run Xbox console,
it's also possible that you have a bad front-panel daughterboard, or at
very least a bad cable leading to said board.
Least likely but also possible, your Xbox power supply might be going bad
and is therefore giving too high or too low a voltage to the DVD drive or
the IDE controller. Replacement Xbox power supplies are cheap (under $30
usually) but you have to make sure you get the right one for your board
since there are like seven or eight revisions of the thing so far.
Do you mind posting the date of manufacture from the bottom of your unit?
That'll help me (and others) narrow down your problem. Don't post your
whole serial number though, that would be an issue.
-KKC, very hungry.
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
| |
| drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| It's one of those 'special edition' x-boxes with the translucent green
case.
Manufacture date is 2004-02-13.
| |
| Kendrick Kerwin Chua 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| In article <1109611941.063226.203360@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com <drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com> wrote:
<Asking for help with an Xbox that does not read game discs
and doesn't return an error message...>
quote:
>It's one of those 'special edition' x-boxes with the translucent green
>case.
>
>Manufacture date is 2004-02-13.
This would be a version 1.6 Xbox and has most of the buggy problems worked
out of it. Unless you've dropped the console or been using it to prop up
your couch, then I think we can rule out failure of the DVD drive or the
power supply. This means we're on to exploring possible software issues.
Do you use the Xbox Live service, or otherwise have the console connected
to a network? If so, it's possible that an update from the Internet was
interrupted or otherwise caused some of the code on your Xbox to become
corrupt. However, you describe situations where you are able to run games
if you're lucky, so this is probably not the case. However, there are
certain games that perform similar updates when loading, so it's possible
that only certain games will exhibit this problem. Can you see more
specifically if any particuilar games run more or less often?
Let's see how far this takes us, and then we'll go more in-depth as we get
more information out of the console. Pretty soon we'll be able to put
Microsoft's service organization out of business. 
-KKC, long day at work.
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
| |
| drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| OK. First, no the x-box isn't used to prop up furntiture -- although
the thought has crossed my mind since this stuff started happening. ;)
No, it's not connected to any network nor x-box live. Hever has been,
either.
Someone came over and wanted to watch a movie in div-x (I think) they
burned on a CD.
They put the CD in, and turned the x-box on. It played and worked just
fine. Then, the x-box turned off.
The next time it was turned on, it started doing this. Eventually, we
were able to get the CD out, and put another in, but this problem crops
up every time you go to change a cd from the one currently in the
drive.
And I forgot to specify: it also does this with movies. The only time
it won't do it is if the dvd drive is empty. The x-box is also not
modded in any way shape or form.
| |
| drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| Oops.. I realise my last post might seem a bit ambiguous.. where I say,
"the x-box turned off" i mean it was turned off by somone properly and
normally, it didn't just shut off on its own out of nowhere...
| |
| Kendrick Kerwin Chua 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| In article <1109615037.916048.244250@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com <drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com> wrote:
quote:
>No, it's not connected to any network nor x-box live. Hever has been,
>either.
>
>Someone came over and wanted to watch a movie in div-x (I think) they
>burned on a CD.
>
>They put the CD in, and turned the x-box on. It played and worked just
>fine. Then, the x-box turned off.
Okay. By DIVX, do you mean the proprietary, pay-as-you-play DVD format
that Circuit City was attempting to promote in the late 90's? Or are you
talking about the popular compression codec presently in use for video
file distribution? Either way, the next question I have to ask is whether
or not you have the Xbox Media Extender installed on your Xbox.
quote:
>The next time it was turned on, it started doing this. Eventually, we
>were able to get the CD out, and put another in, but this problem crops
>up every time you go to change a cd from the one currently in the
>drive.
Are you sure it was a CD-R? Would it maybe have been a DVD-R (plus or
minus) or maybe a CDRW? Also, did it have a printed label applied to it,
or was it maybe a multi-layer or double-sided DVD? I'm trying to see if
we've stumbled on one of the known media incompatibilites that have been
documented for the Xbox.
quote:
>And I forgot to specify: it also does this with movies. The only time
>it won't do it is if the dvd drive is empty. The x-box is also not
>modded in any way shape or form.
Now that we know this occurs for all media, I'm back to the hardware side
again. I'm inclined to believe at this point that the laser in the DVD
drive needs to be calibrated. This involves cracking open the drive and
locating the adjustment potentiometer on the lens mechanism. You then use
a tiny screwdriver to adjust it this way and that, painstakingly noting
each adjustment and documenting whether or not it helps with the reading
of the discs. You may end up deciding that it's worth the $100 just to get
a new drive after you see the inside of one of these things.
-KKC, trying to sneak out of work early today.
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
| |
| drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| I mean DIV-X as in the popular compression method. I'm almost positive
it was on a CD-R disc. Brand or anything like that I have absolutely
no idea.
Even if it was an incompatible disc type, I don't see how that could
cause permanent damage to the unit.. (?)
And forgive me for being confused, but how could a mis-calibrated lens
cause the drive to stop opening and the system to stop turning on?
Maybe I wasn't clear in describing my problem before -- I can be a tool
that way...
The system will turn on, but the screen will remain black. I won't
even get the dashboard. If the system is turned on for the first time
in a really long time, it will turn on and I'll get the dashboard just
fine. If the DVD drive is empty, I can play with the dashboard, and
turn the x-box on and off all I like and it's just fine.
As soon as the DVD drive starts to read ANY disc, then it's past its
point of no return. At this point, I can choose to watch whatever
movie's in it, or play whatever game's in it, or turn it off, and wait
a while and then turn it on, remove that game or movie, and play again.
The xbox will read *ANY* game you put in it (that I've tried) and *ANY*
movie with no problems at all. The issue comes in when you hit eject
to put a different movie or game in, then you're screwed. The screen
will turn black, and the xbox will not return from its reset. Ever.
Sometimes the x-box won't work after sitting for 3 days, but it will
NEVER work within about 30 minutes once a CD has been read.
Understand? I hope so, because even I'm confusing myself with my
messages. :S
| |
| drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| Oh, and I use the terms (stupidly) CD and DVD interchangeably. It
happens with music CDs, DVDs, CD-Rs, and DVD games. None are any
different.
For example, if I go to my x-box right now, since I haven't used it
since last night, and turn it on, it will turn on, read the game in it
right now just fine, and I can play for days on end and nothing will
break, it will work properly and all is well.
The second I touch eject or power, it's screwed for at least 30
minutes. The screen will turn black, the system will reset, but the
dashboard will not come back. Also, the DVD drive will not open. If I
hit eject, the light will flash as though it's going to eject, and it
even sounds like it's trying, but it doesn't budge.
Disconnecting the power supply from the box does nothing.
Disconnecting the AV hookup does nothing. Controllers, dvd remote, all
nothing.
As a result of all of this, I've gotten terribly good at SSX tricky. ;)
| |
| Kendrick Kerwin Chua 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| In article <1109616880.240675.193460@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com <drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com> wrote:
quote:
>I mean DIV-X as in the popular compression method. I'm almost positive
>it was on a CD-R disc. Brand or anything like that I have absolutely
>no idea.
Xbox DVD drives don't ordinarily read CD-R media (which is a complaint of
many Xbox users who have music on that type of media.) Xboxes have fewer
problems reading DVD-R and CDRW media. However...
quote:
>Even if it was an incompatible disc type, I don't see how that could
>cause permanent damage to the unit.. (?)
The Xbox DVD drive is known to receive physical damage if you try to play
a disc that's thicker than normal, or otherwise unbalanced. It's uncommon,
but possible to knock the lens or any number of gears out of alignment by
trying to play improperly labeled discs or double-layer DVDs on an Xbox.
It's actually documented that some discs aren't compatible, but I don't
have links to the manual pages handy...
quote:
>As soon as the DVD drive starts to read ANY disc, then it's past its
>point of no return. At this point, I can choose to watch whatever
>movie's in it, or play whatever game's in it, or turn it off, and wait
>a while and then turn it on, remove that game or movie, and play again.
>
>The xbox will read *ANY* game you put in it (that I've tried) and *ANY*
>movie with no problems at all. The issue comes in when you hit eject
>to put a different movie or game in, then you're screwed. The screen
>will turn black, and the xbox will not return from its reset. Ever.
Since we're back in hardware land, I have to wonder at this point if we
have a good connection on the IDE and power cables on the back of the DVD
drive. Not that any media would have caused the cables to become loose,
but it's possible that you just need to reseat the cables. But at this
point, I'm stumped. The correct thing to do now is to pull out each
component one by one (eject switch, USB ports, DVD drive, etc.) and
replacement them with known good hardware to see if we can produce the
same error independently of the components. Of course, unless you have a
workshop full of spare parts like I do, it's probably cheaper and safer
just to get new hardware.
Sorry I can't be more help. Would any of the MVPs care to share any home
repair tips, or is that not an appropriate topic for official discussion
still?
-KKC, still waiting for an answer on his question about the regino-free
Xbox games.
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
| |
| drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| I can't bring myself to buy new hardware if I can't count on a unit
that's barely a year old to behave as expected -- that, and I've read
enough horror stories about this product on the web to steer clear from
any Microsoft hardware console solution for the rest of my life.
Should have known, based on the quality of everything else to come out
of that company. :S
All things aside, thanks a bunch for your assistance with this. It's
appreciated.
| |
| Kendrick Kerwin Chua 2005-02-28, 6:17 pm |
| In article <1109624392.128002.71580@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com <drunkennewfiemidget@gmail.com> wrote:
quote:
>I can't bring myself to buy new hardware if I can't count on a unit
>that's barely a year old to behave as expected -- that, and I've read
>enough horror stories about this product on the web to steer clear from
>any Microsoft hardware console solution for the rest of my life.
>Should have known, based on the quality of everything else to come out
>of that company. :S
One last thing then... If your hardware isn't a year old yet, you should
still be eligible for warranty replacement of some parts. If you
registered your hardware when you bought it, you should at least call and
check to see. You might not have to blow any money on the repair at all.
quote:
>All things aside, thanks a bunch for your assistance with this. It's
>appreciated.
No problem, happy to help. I wish the official representatives would pipe
up, but as they have an interest in promoting the licensed repair options
I don't really blame them for keeping quiet. Not too much, anyway.
-KKC, luxuriating in new Sega Saturn games. Mechwarrior 2, woo! Command
and Conquer, didn't know that was two discs. Double Switch... did I
actually buy this? Am I going to play this, or just show it off to friends
of mine who are Debbie Harry fans?
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
|
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