Xbox 360 Optical Drive Replacement

[britechguy]

A quick search on "Xbox 360" didn't turn up any topic that had a discussion of this as obvious content.

I have just been contacted by a local treatment facility that has a number of Xbox 360s that have bad optical drives. Given that their target populations include those with psychiatric disorders and autism spectrum disorder I can imagine that occasional outbursts of temper can put a quick end to the drive trays, just for one possible issue.

In any case, I am wondering if anyone here has experience with replacing these units and, if so, if there are any "secrets" to doing so that make the process significantly different from doing an optical drive replacement in your run of the mill computer. This is one of the simplest and most foolproof things I can do on a regular computer, be it laptop or desktop, but some of what I have already read suggests that there are a couple of potential booby traps. I'd like to hear from the voices of experience on this one.

If its as simple as it is for most computers, I'd agree to do it. If it's a nightmare just waiting for me, I'd rather avoid it.

 

[Sky-Knight]

They're firmware locked, so you have to move the daughter board off the unit that's broken and onto a compatible similar device and hope it works. I was able to scrap two 360s into a working one doing that... but you can't just stuff another optical drive in there sadly.

There are tools you can use to read the keys and flash them onto drives, but you need the same drive model number. I found it easier to just move the board over.

 

[britechguy]

I'll have to take a look at some YouTube videos to see how involved "getting in" is as well as what's involved with that daughter board.

If the daughter board is pretty much a "pull and plug again" with the new drive, that's doable. I don't want to get into reading and flashing keys because the probability of my ever having to do this again is very small indeed and the equipment to do so becomes a dead asset (which means not an asset, really).

 

[MichaelBits]

Coincidentally I just read this article yesterday...
Talks about how they link the drive to the board (for copyright protection... so they say) so it's not possible to just swap drives.

Copyright Law Is Bricking Your Game Console. Time to Fix That

Repairing your own console is either impossible or illegal. An exemption to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act could change that.

www.wired.com

 

[britechguy]

Fascinating article, but it seems to me to confirm what Sky-Knight mentioned earlier and I've now seen much more of.

I would not hesitate, for one second, to repair a broken optical drive on copyright grounds. It's hardware, and unless I were reverse engineering it to make a pirate copy, and I'm not . . . I live very often by the philosophy, "When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty." Others may differ.

 

[Sky-Knight]

There are no ethical issues I'm aware of in simply fixing something. But in this case, you have to have a drive firmware with a number in it that matches what's in the BIOS on the main board.

So you're stuck finding old stock drives from busted systems and moving parts around to find a combination that works. But under no circumstances can you separate a drive's IO board from the main baord it comes from... if you do... splat.

Ok well there are tools that can read the code out of the BIOS so you can flash a drive, but if you're trying to keep the work to a minimum you're back to stealing parts from another matching optical drive to fix the damaged disk. Even if that means all the parts, save the controller board.

I've done it once... took me a couple hours to futz through it. I'm sure I could get better at it if I did more, but honestly 360s are so cheap at the used game place across the street it's cheaper to just get replacement consoles.

 

[HCHTech]

Don't think I would touch this project - it's not your fault MS made the task impossible/obnoxious.

I remember getting "convinced" into replacing the hard disk in a Tivo unit with a larger-than-supported unit back in the day. I made it work, but it took hours of reading/searching/failed attempts before I figured it out. Determined to get some mileage out of that hard-won knowledge, I did some marketing among my existing customers to see if anyone else was interested. Never got a single bite, and was too afraid to market wider.

 

[britechguy]

@HCHTech,

I've pretty much arrived at the same conclusion you have based on the input that's been offered so far. And it's not only because it's obnoxious/impossible, but that even if it can be accomplished it's just not cost effective once labor is factored in. It's all the worse when there is no way I could or would guarantee I could revive any given one of these machines, and my business policy is that if I can't fix it, you don't pay, unless I arrange otherwise at the outset. In this case, given the organization involved, I could not in good conscience put a "you pay me no matter what the result" proviso on to the work.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Yeah, that's a project that only works when done on personal time, and funded with donations. Or... you take in all the damaged units on disposal, and sell repaired units back.

Given the cause I'd probably be insane enough to try, but I wouldn't be compensated but for the units I actually managed to fix. I have a very similar business mantra of "if I don't fix it, you don't pay" as well.