XBOX 360 Advice Needed

[mmartell]

By its nature this device could fit in almost any sub forum but I chose here because the question is regarding the optical drive...

So I bought this fat 360 cheap at a yard sale last week. I knew nothing about these before but have done a fair bit of reading since. The unit operates fine except will not read games but will play dvd movies. This seems very common.

In order to decide whether to order a new laser I tweaked the pot for the laser expecting to see some small success at least if the laser was dying, but got no change.

So my question is, is it possible the laser is still at fault ? Also I don't understand the boot process but I think a game disc will spin quicker after detection but this never does.

It's also possible this drive is a replacement and the PO didn't transfer the drive keys which makes this a parts unit.

What you think ?

[zeke79]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

What model of drive is it? Did you pot tweak by lowering .3 and trying each time? I have more luck that way than just lowering it to the safest low level in one adjustment.

Was the warranty seal intact on the console? If not it is possible it has had the drive swapped without flashing the drive key from the original drive. The disc drives are paired to the motherboard so if you put in a drive from another console it will read dvds but not games. Unfortunately faulty lasers will do this also sometimes.

[stj]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

if it plays dvds (films) and audio from cd's then it's fine but the key is wrong from a driveswap.

consider fitting a glitchmod and jtagging it.

[mmartell]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

It's a Samsung drive. The unit was already opened that's why it's possible the drive was already swapped.

@stj it's my understanding the laser can fail where it reads dvd's but not games but I was still expecting something by tweaking the pot but got nothing.

@zeke I only made a couple of adjustments b4 I went all the way down to 2.8k ohms. I don't care about the laser as I planned to replace it had the test been more conclusive.

[stj]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

the games are on dvd, it either reads dvd's or it dousnt.
messing with the pot just screws up the eye pattern, you will need a fast scope to correct that properly.

[mmartell]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

No point in correcting it if it doesn't do what it's supposed to lol.

I was trying to square in my mind why there were seemingly random results to read attempts. One disc would say "Put disc in an xbox 360", another would have swirling animation before saying the same thing and yet a third would say "play game" then freeze on the XBOX 360 splash screen. Took me a bit to realize each game disc responded in a predictable manner leading me to believe microsoft left it up to the game developer.

Are all Fats jtagable ?

[stj]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

i think so, but if the firmware is too new you also need a glitcher and those may only be for hdmi models.

[mmartell]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

That's what I have, will look into it.

[wills123]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

Having fixed a lot of Xbox I would suggest putting a known good laser in that drive first, I can't remember which way round it is but for some reason (possibly ap2.5 checks) if a ms25 or ms28 will sometimes play DVDs but not games with a failing laser. I think it depended on the exact error I.e play DVD, insert in Xbox 360 or just dumping you back to dashboard. might be worth reading the firmware off the drive to see if it been messed with!
Before you go about glitching console for DVDs key look at the power plug and determine which m/b type you have

[mmartell]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

I get all three of those errors, just depends on which game is inserted.

Was thinking of dumping the keys just to see they weren't zero'd out by accident by PO. I've not used jungleflasher, zeroing the keys would be an odd "option" to have lol.

Like stj said earlier seems a strange fault for a laser if it can read a movie but not a game if they are both dvd's but if you've seen this in the real world I will order a laser. Less than $5 so nothing to lose.

[mmartell]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

No change after swapping in the new laser. Unless I have some obscure spindle motor problem it seems likely the drive and cpu keys are mismatched.

[zeke79]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

A "new" laser is different than trying a known working laser. 4 of the last 7 "new" lasers I have installed were junk. It's the nature of the parts supply anymore. A lot of junk out there.

[mmartell]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

Crap that doesn't help me any lol.

I did not pot tweak it either. Is that necessary with a brand new laser ?

[ngth82]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

Crap that doesn't help me any lol.

I did not pot tweak it either. Is that necessary with a brand new laser ?

Not sure if you got this resolved or not, but my advice is the following:

1. Get a known good DVD laser and see if the console will read DVD movies. If it does, continue... if it doesn't, the laser is bad, or the connections to the drive is shot.

2. You also mentioned that the console was previously opened... that is a shotty start bud. :/ I would assume that the drive is not original to the console.



IF the console reads DVD movies:
1. If you have the tools, dump your NAND from the console using J-Runner.
2. Install a glitcher of your favorite choice
3. Run Xell on the console (unsigned software).
4. Grab the CPU key from it
5. Use the J-Runner software to decode the actual drive information (OSIG) that the console thinks it should have.
6. Match that up against the drive that you physically have in hand.

If the OSIG information doesn't match the actual drive, then you will have problems with some games that does a security inquiry -- the game asks the drive to do a security check, and if the check doesn't work, your console gives you an error (single Red light).


If you want additional help, i'll be more than happy to help you out...

[mmartell]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

Not resolved. I bought another for $20 with a stuck drive and changed the tray drive belt which went great so this one went in a pile into a dark corner awaiting execution. The working unit has a Liteon drive so no help in diagnosing the bad one.

I have two lasers that both read dvd's but not games.

Dumping the nand for the dvd drive key is not striking me as worth the effort - at least not with what I already have on my plate atm.

But absolutely, thanks for your input.

[stj]

Re: XBOX 360 Advice Needed

you should jtag them and put patched firmware to play the games from a harddrive.
then the dvd's wont even matter