Trying to revive a "dead" Xbox

Stremon · Jun 27, 2018

Hi guys,

I recently got an old "junk" Japanese Xbox for few bucks.
When I first got it, it had a red and green blinking light without video signal.
I figured out it might be a leaking cloc capacitor, and indeed it was, so I removed it and cleaned the motherboard. It doesn't seem to be a lot of damages on the board itself.
Later I also cleaned the DVD drive, replaced the drive belt, and did a potentiometer tweak (it's a Thomson drive).

So I finally got a video signal, and the Xbox boots, but I still got some issues:
- when booting, it either freeze at the Xbox logo for few minutes (sometime with a green blinking light), then display an error 13 or 16, or sometime boot properly into the dashboard.
- when the dashboard correctly start, if I try reading any disk (CD, DVD, game...), I sometime get a reading error, sometime the dashboard freezes (I get a green flashing light again sometime), and sometime it acts as if there is nothing in the DVD player.

Other than those issues, when it boots correctly everything else seems to be working, I can read the HDD, browse through the save files of the previous Xbox owner or listen to the music files he downloaded on it.

So I've been trying to find a way to fix this Xbox:
- first I wanted to softmod with a game, but since I can't read any game disc, I can't do it.
- second, I wanted to softmod with a hotswap, but it seems this method doesn't work with a 4034 dashboard, and that's the version I have.
- there is also the TSOP solution since the motherboard is 1.0, but again I need a softmod to make it work.

Is there anything else I can try to make it work? It looked like the DVD drive have a problem, but would it cause an error 13, 16, or make the dashboard freeze when it seems to read a game disc?
Could it be a damage in the motherboard I didn't see?

Edit: I forgot to mention, the Xbox was unopened/unmodded when I got it.

DinohScene · Jun 27, 2018

I'm trying to think of a probable cause.

You said the clock cap leaked.
I know (also personal experience) that a leaking clock cap can cause all sorts of odd errors.
Mine was the thing powering up on it self and ignoring the power button input due to the corroded traces.

I'd say start by examining the traces on the motherboard, especially near the clock cap.
As for the unable to read discs, either your laser has been tweaked the wrong way or it's dead.

Stremon · Jun 27, 2018

DinohScene said:
I'm trying to think of a probable cause.

You said the clock cap leaked.
I know (also personal experience) that a leaking clock cap can cause all sorts of odd errors.
Mine was the thing powering up on it self and ignoring the power button input due to the corroded traces.

I'd say start by examining the traces on the motherboard, especially near the clock cap.
As for the unable to read discs, either your laser has been tweaked the wrong way or it's dead.

Thanks for the answer,
I will check the motherboard again, I probably missed something!
I hope the laser will work at least once to be able to update the dashboard and do the softmod...
If it's dead, is there any place I can find a new one for not too expensive?

DinohScene · Jun 27, 2018

Ebay still has DVD drives.
Basically any model will do, Xbox doesn't care about DVD drive other then it being connected.

Check the traces for any brown spots or any spots that look off.

Stremon · Jul 7, 2018

Thanks for your answer

So after cleaning and tests, I realized that the issue come from the Xbox DVD drive laser bloc which looks pretty dead, even with a pot tweak no way to revive it.
On ebay can't find any affordable DVD drive to send in japan sadly, would cost me more than buying a working Xbox here

I tried the trick of connecting a working PC DVD drive to the xbox (connecting the IDE to the PC drive while leaving the yellow cable connected),
and it boots correctly to the dashboard, it even tries to play the discs in my PC DVD drive, but again it gives me a reading error, no matter what media I try (audio CD, DVD...).
I saw there was a way to fully replace the DVD drive with a pc one by doing some soldering directly on the drive PCB to the yellow cable, but couldn't find any simple/reliable way of doing so.
Also I found the Aladdin XT-4032 modchip which is very cheap and doesn't need the dvd drive to be installed.
But again, for that is there a way to install the softwares/change the HDD without a dvd drive?
Like with Xbox HDM or something.

DinohScene · Jul 7, 2018

Hum... only way is hotswapping without a chip.

Modchips are the best solution tho.

Stremon · Jul 7, 2018

Yeah I did some hotswap and ruined my HDD... It worked perfectly in XboxHDM until I try to rebuild the C, then it gave me a lot of errors and... well bye bye hard drive! :wacko:

I might buy a chip and try to build a new bigger disc from XboxHDM since it should remove the need for HDD lock, but I wonder if it's really possible to do...

I mean I will need all the Dashboard files and all, I saw that everyone using an Aladdin XT had to burn a CD and install some stuff from it, so I wonder if that's possible to do directly on the new HDD from XboxHDM

DinohScene · Jul 7, 2018

Nah, just solder in a chip, bang a HDD in there and boot up Slayers CD.
That'll install a freshly hacked drive for you.

Stremon · Jul 7, 2018

DinohScene said:
Nah, just solder in a chip, bang a HDD in there and boot up Slayers CD.
That'll install a freshly hacked drive for you.

Yes indeed, but how do I do with my dead Xbox DVD Drive? :rofl2:

That's the whole challenge, doing the complete mod process without a DVD drive hahaha
If it was working I would have done a softmod with Splinter Cell or a TSOP

DinohScene · Jul 7, 2018

Haha yeh true.

Hum, I think Party buffalo driver supports Xbox HDDs.
You could try and unlock the HDD (once your chip is on) and connect it to PC to browse it with Party buffalo driver.

Stremon · Jul 7, 2018

Oh yeah I forgot about party buffalo driver.
But is there a place I can find the HDD files to restore the HDD or including softmod files?
I found some links but they are all old or dead...

DinohScene · Jul 7, 2018

Check your PM.

IvanB · Sep 8, 2018

Hi there I found an original Xbox dumped on the street with no cables or games. I plugged in a power cord and it turned on giving me flashing yellow and green. I bought an RGB cable for it and a controller for it now I get blinking red and orange light and nothing on the screen. The DVD player opens and closes no problem. It sounds like the hard drive is getting stuck or something. I've never had an Xbox so I don't know what to expect should I get something on the screen even if the hard drive has failed ? I'm ok with electronics and have test equipment can someone point out common things to check ? Thanks

Stremon · Sep 8, 2018

If you get no image at all, you might want to check your video connectors and clean them.
Then if nothing changes you should check the clock capacitor, remove it and clean any leak on the motherboard. It's the most common problem there is on those old Xbox.

DinohScene · Sep 8, 2018

Checking clock cap and removing it is needed for 1.0-1.5.
You don't want them to damage it even more.

Next to that, only way to recover from a fucked HDD is a modchip and booting Slayers CD.

Stremon · Sep 8, 2018

DinohScene said:
Checking clock cap and removing it is needed for 1.0-1.5.
You don't want them to damage it even more.

Next to that, only way to recover from a fucked HDD is a modchip and booting Slayers CD.

Oops yes you're right, I forgot to mention that :rolleyes:

If needed, I can help on the whole process of modchip and install a new ata or sata drive, as I did it on 5 Xbox the past few weeks

IvanB · Sep 9, 2018

I opened her up there was nothing obviously damaged. Just bit of rust which cleaned up nicely with IPA and toothbrush I will check this clock capacitor and change it. The video cable is brand new, I did read somewhere that some people have this problem using AV cable yet not RF modulator. If the last person that had it powered on had it set to display for RF maybe that's what the Xbox is trying to do or is it smart enough to switch ? Is there some way to get it to cycle video modes from the front panel? On second thought I'm not convinced the hard drive is dead it spins up just fine I just need to get something on the screen first. With no dvd or hdd connected I still should see something on the screen yeah ?

DinohScene · Sep 9, 2018

No need to change it, just remove it.
It works fine w/o the clockcap if it's a 1.0-1.5.

I think that it shouldn't make a difference really.
Still getting christmas lights then?

IvanB · Sep 9, 2018

Yeah that cap has definitely leaked, corroding the general area. I've removed it. From looking at the various guides I definitely have a 1.0 or a 1.1 board. Yep no difference there's no picture green ring, tries to boot three times then flashing red and orange light no picture. The GPU fan doesn't spin at all, the main case fan spins fine. I haven't been able to find anything on this failure.

DinohScene · Sep 9, 2018

Hmm.
See if there's any trace corrosion, if so, repair it.
Might also cause the issue.

Trying to revive a "dead" Xbox

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