Hacking How can I disable the disc drive

[HK29]

Hello guys, I have borrowed my friend's modded Xbox 360 to play RDR. I don't know which mod he has, but he claims he has flashed it (On startupthere is the "Aurora" menu).

I don't know anything about X360 hacking so please guide me how I can disable the disc drive. The console is having an issue where the disc drive keeps on opening and closing by itself. This makes playing games unplayable. As I am playing games off an HDD, there is no need for the disc drive. My friend doesn't need it either. Thing is, I don't wanna risk breaking someone else's console by taking it apart to remove the disc drive.

Looking up online, I have found a method and it involves the nodvd command in a freeboot image. My question is, will disabling it like that be safe? Only results for disabling the drive through this I have found are people who have already physically removed their disc drive. Will just disabling it through a freeboot image flash work?

If yes, please tell me how it can be done.

Thanks

 

[DinohScene]

You can pull the powercord of the DVD drive and bridge 2 pins with a jumper to stop the flashing ROL dot.
Using the NoDVD command when building a new hacked NAND is also possible.

I recommend using Jrunner to build a new NAND.
Make sure to dump the NAND with Nand flasher 360 and grab the CPU key from XeLL.

I'd flash the original image back when you give the 360 back as a courtesy for him.

 

[FAST6191]

Possible alternative might be removing the rubber band within the drive.

Normally we get to do this to fix read issues but going the other way and removing the band should hopefully stop any issues here.

While I can't speak for every model you might be able to do this with just a pick.

That said I would look into why the drive feels the need to press the eject button of its own accord as it should not have been pressed enough (it usually takes years for a mouse to happen and I have clicked that possibly a thousand times today) for the switch to fail, and that leaves grit in the case of the original style and problems with either the front panel or the ribbon connector in the case of the slim.

 

[Xtwizted]

If you are capable, just open the drive up and clean out all the dust inside. It's just a dirty drive no big modifications needed. There are tons of videos online and it's pretty easy to do.

 

[godreborn]

if the disc drive keeps opening and closing, the eject button might not be flush. on phat 360s, there's kinda a long ribbon shaped piece that presses the actual eject button. see if it's aligned properly.

 

[HK29]

You can pull the powercord of the DVD drive and bridge 2 pins with a jumper to stop the flashing ROL dot.
Using the NoDVD command when building a new hacked NAND is also possible.

Is the NoDVD method an alternative to bridging 2 pins with a jumper or is it an alternative to pulling the powercord?

I am bad at this stuff so if possible I want to fix this issue through software only so that I don't break something.

A little update on the situation: I changed the console position from vertical to horizontal (had it standing at a place where there were wasn't enough space for lying it flat. Changed the location now) and the rate of the disc drive acting abnormally has reduced a lot. I can play for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour without it happening.

 

[godreborn]

Is the NoDVD method an alternative to bridging 2 pins with a jumper or is it an alternative to pulling the powercord?

I am bad at this stuff so if possible I want to fix this issue through software only so that I don't break something.

A little update on the situation: I changed the console position from vertical to horizontal (had it standing at a place where there were wasn't enough space for lying it flat. Changed the location now) and the rate of the disc drive acting abnormally has reduced a lot. I can play for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour without it happening.

why don't you try removing the "ribbon" looking piece? it's somewhat large just to push the eject button. you could try leaving it off to see what happens. it's just a plastic piece, so it won't affect the system in any negative way.

 

[DinohScene]

Is the NoDVD method an alternative to bridging 2 pins with a jumper or is it an alternative to pulling the powercord?

I am bad at this stuff so if possible I want to fix this issue through software only so that I don't break something.

A little update on the situation: I changed the console position from vertical to horizontal (had it standing at a place where there were wasn't enough space for lying it flat. Changed the location now) and the rate of the disc drive acting abnormally has reduced a lot. I can play for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour without it happening.

Sound to me that your eject button might be iffy, try @godreborn his suggestion first, before you start doing more drastic things.

 

[HK29]

why don't you try removing the "ribbon" looking piece? it's somewhat large just to push the eject button. you could try leaving it off to see what happens. it's just a plastic piece, so it won't affect the system in any negative way.

Ribbon looking piece? Uhm I haven't taken apart it (yet). So don't think I can do that, unless it's something that can be done from the tray itself.
As I said before, I will much prefer to use a software solution.

 

[godreborn]

it could be software-related, but then again, it could be something as simple as that. you don't have to take the system all apart. when you separate the bottom and top of the console, you should see the button. it's a very small button compared with the piece of plastic that ejects a disc. my suggestion is under the possibility that that piece isn't on there correctly. I've had that happen to me actually. this is a phat, right? my knowledge of slims is limited, since I've never owned one.

 

[HK29]

Didn't realize that I haven't mentioned it yet but it's an S version.

I found a YouTube video for this issue for an S and the guy explained why the issue could have happened. Apparently there is a plastic piece holding the button in place but it broke off for him. Said if you hear a rattling noise when you shake your console you also have it broken. I did and....there I heard the piece colliding colliding around with the walls.

Don't think I can repair that. Disabling it through a freeboot image seems like the only option.

Or maybe, there is a way to make the console just not shut down games when the disc drive opens? I can just tape it up and ignore it if it doesn't interfere with my gaming. There are 2 games in his HDD that actually aren't affected by this, actually. Those being Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD. I guess it's most likely because they are digital only releases. Maybe I can modify RDR in a such way it becomes like that too?

 

[godreborn]

yeah, there is a patch to disable it. there's also a way to disable it through soldering.
.

 

[HK29]

yeah, there is a patch to disable it. there's also a way to disable it through soldering.
.

Can you direct me to such a patch? (And how to apply it)

 

[DinohScene]

No need to patch anything, just open the console and remove the loose piece of plastic.
If anything, you can remove the powercord of the DVD drive and put a jumper on pin 4 and 6

Alternatively, remove the powercord of the DVD and flash a new NAND to the console with Nand flasher 360 and a image build in Jrunner that has the noDVD option enabled.

 

[HK29]

Alternatively, remove the powercord of the DVD and flash a new NAND to the console with Nand flasher 360 and a image build in Jrunner that has the noDVD option enabled.

Is removing the power off necessary? Can't I just flash with noDVD enabled?

It seems people are misunderstanding my goal here. It's just that I want to play games without the console closing them everytime the drive opens. I don't care if the disc keeps on opening and closing, as long as games work, I don't care. I can just tape it up.

And I will make it clear enough here, I am not looking for hardware solutions, just software ones.

 

[DinohScene]

Your games shouldn't have any problems playing with out without a fucked DVD drive on a RGH.

A software solution is to dump the NAND with NAND flasher 360 and build a freshly hacked NAND with JRunner with the noDVD option enabled.
Flash it back to the console with NAND flasher 360 and reboot.

It should stop the blinking all together, if it doesn't, you'll likely have to pull the powercord of the DVD drive.
Altho I doubt that.

 

[HK29]

Your games shouldn't have any problems playing with out without a fucked DVD drive on a RGH.

A software solution is to dump the NAND with NAND flasher 360 and build a freshly hacked NAND with JRunner with the noDVD option enabled.
Flash it back to the console with NAND flasher 360 and reboot.

It should stop the blinking all together, if it doesn't, you'll likely have to pull the powercord of the DVD drive.
Altho I doubt that.

Alright I am trying this now and I have dumped the NAND and loaded into Jrunner, want to know if I am doing things right. This is how Jrunner looks like: <removed>
and I have selected this option:

But it is under JTAG options while the console is an RGH2 one according to jrunner. Will this work?

If yes, do I build an xebuild image or create a NAND?

 

[DinohScene]

JTAG and RGH are different hacks but they achieve the same thing.
You'll need to create a NAND and flash it back.

Make sure to keep the backup NAND in case things don't work out correctly and or when you want to restore it.

Edit: I'd censor your CPU key mate.

 

[godreborn]

yeah, that's what I was thinking too with your cpu key.

 

[HK29]

Oops, removed the image