what should i do with my defective xbox??

[H-Town Info]

well, my refurbished xbox with the pretty good thomson drive has been in my life for almost 2 years now. one day, my xbox went into a "coma" state where the xbox does boot up but it doesnt show video or audio and it wont eject my game. on occasion the xbox will work and will play games fine like it was brand new. no slowdowns, no crashes, and only 1 or 2 dde iirc. so i dunno what to do with this right now, i want to get it fix but its going to cost me about 60 bucks to do it to this guy who knows how to fix "coma" state xbox. or i could say on ebay and cut my losses and get a new one so that i'll be ready for halo 2. any suggestions?

[craven_fiend]

If I were in this situation, I'd sell it on ebay and make sure to describe it correctly. Then wait a few weeks, if you have another system to play, and get the holiday bundle and sell the games that come with it if you already own them.

[doubledown]

Yep, sell it....you can get $70-$100 even for BROKEN XBOX's on Ebay.

Get a new one ASAP.....yes, the holiday bundle is omcing out soon too

[H-Town Info]

how much could i get for my defective xbox? about 70 bucks since i know that u have to solder a jumper inside the mobo to reflash the original bios or something. i got from the llamma.com forums

[big_squirtle]

I could help, but first i need to know how techie are you. Have you ever opened or modded a system? I can walk you through it, but you have to be willing to open the box. Let me know.

[H-Town Info]

well i'm sorta of a techie but i dont know how to solder which is the thing to fix it

[big_squirtle]

Ok, first off lets narrow down the problem. Can you boot your xbox, with out a game and tell me if you have any problems.

[big_squirtle]

by problems I mean, can you make selections, mess with the options, see the options etc.

[H-Town Info]

like my xbox can turn on but it doesnt show the flubber intro screen or i dont hear any audio or dont c the error code. when i press the eject button, the xbox acts like it tries to eject it out but it doesnt. check the llamma forums and search for "coma xbox". the problem is that my bios got corrupted somehow but it can be fixed with a jumper cable or modchip but i dont want to open my xbox.

[MorPhiend]

My Xbox boots to the startup and you can mess with the options, but it won't boot an Xbox disc nor a DVD. It's been this way since I bought it and Wal*Mart wouldn't take it back and M$ said that it was my problem, that I broke it and they wouldn't help.

[big_squirtle]

Well I got good news and bad news. Good news is that it can be fixed, not sure if it is the bios corrupting as much as it could be a loose part in you xbox. Bad news is there is no way of fixing the system without opening it, thus the reason I asked if you were a technical person. I could probably walk you through it, but if you are that worried about opening it, then I would advise against it (just for your own safety). If there is a way to fix it without opening it, then i dont know of it........however if the way exists, I would suggest searching xbox-scene.com
if anybody has the answer it would be there. Wish I could do more.

[H-Town Info]

http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/multibios-tsop.php

is this the one that u were going to walk me through?

[big_squirtle]

My Xbox boots to the startup and you can mess with the options, but it won't boot an Xbox disc nor a DVD. It's been this way since I bought it and Wal*Mart wouldn't take it back and M$ said that it was my problem, that I broke it and they wouldn't help.

I will ask you the same question. Are you afraid to open an Xbox? If not your problem is suer easy and has 2 remedies:

1- We take it apart, then take the dvd-rom drive apart and clean the laser, clean the system and the fan. This will kepp your xbox running like a champ and is my recommended remedy.

2- Although I dont advise it, you should know your options. You can buy a cd or a DVD cleaner cd. Insert the CD into the xbox and let it do its job. Repeat 3 times and the problem will be solved. I DO NOT LIKE THIS OPTION. The reasons I dont like option 2 because your not really maintaining your system. Everything else is still dirty and the laser eye will eventually get dirty again (its like taking a shower and then putting on dirty clothes). Another reason I dont like using the cd / dvd cd cleaners is because the bristles on these types of cd's do more damage to your lasers eye than good. Hope this helps you out.

Let me know what you decide, I'll help as best I can.

[MorPhiend]

Any suggestions for me?

[Tromack]

Go buy a new Xbox at Walmart, put your old Xbox in the box, and try to return it. After your ass gets tossed in jail for a couple of months, you won't have to worry about Halo 2 and instead can worry about avoiding anal rape.

[MorPhiend]

My Xbox boots to the startup and you can mess with the options, but it won't boot an Xbox disc nor a DVD. It's been this way since I bought it and Wal*Mart wouldn't take it back and M$ said that it was my problem, that I broke it and they wouldn't help.

I will ask you the same question. Are you afraid to open an Xbox? If not your problem is suer easy and has 2 remedies:

1- We take it apart, then take the dvd-rom drive apart and clean the laser, clean the system and the fan. This will kepp your xbox running like a champ and is my recommended remedy.

2- Although I dont advise it, you should know your options. You can buy a cd or a DVD cleaner cd. Insert the CD into the xbox and let it do its job. Repeat 3 times and the problem will be solved. I DO NOT LIKE THIS OPTION. The reasons I dont like option 2 because your not really maintaining your system. Everything else is still dirty and the laser eye will eventually get dirty again (its like taking a shower and then putting on dirty clothes). Another reason I dont like using the cd / dvd cd cleaners is because the bristles on these types of cd's do more damage to your lasers eye than good. Hope this helps you out.

Let me know what you decide, I'll help as best I can.

Well, when it didn't work (and M$ wouldn't help me), I decided to take it apart to see if anything was loose. So, no. I'm not afraid to take it apart. How do I go about disassembling the drive? Is it easy?

[MorPhiend]

Go buy a new Xbox at Walmart, put your old Xbox in the box, and try to return it. After your ass gets tossed in jail for a couple of months, you won't have to worry about Halo 2 and instead can worry about avoiding anal rape.

1) I'm not investing anymore money on a system that is just going to break on me.

2) Would one really be thrown in jail for that?

Edit: Like I said anyway, I tried to exchange it when it was new and Wal*Mart wouldn't take it back.

[big_squirtle]

http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/multibios-tsop.php

is this the one that u were going to walk me through?

Not unless you already have a chip in your system. The key is getting the system open first to narrow down, if it even is a bios problem. As dumb and simple as it sounds, you could just have something making contact where it shouldn't. Try this, pick up your system flip it upside down, and then turn it right side up. I know its a long shot, but you wouldn't believe how such a simple thing usually makes a big problem.

[big_squirtle]

This is turning into the ask squirtle page.

OK Morphiend- I'm not trying to be funny, but do you know what the dvd Rom is, and can you locate its 4 screws? If yes then make sure do so. To clena the eye I would advise using a pressed air can. If you dont have one let me know, I got another trick.

[MorPhiend]

This is turning into the ask squirtle page.

OK Morphiend- I'm not trying to be funny, but do you know what the dvd Rom is, and can you locate its 4 screws? If yes then make sure do so. To clena the eye I would advise using a pressed air can. If you dont have one let me know, I got another trick.

eh, they're $3-4 at Wal*Mart. I can get one. (I need one anyway.) And yes. The DVD-ROM is already dismounted as is the HDD.

[big_squirtle]

I hope nobody minds I used this pic, but this is what you will see when you take the cover off the dvd drive

http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/2/philipspot/01.jpg

[big_squirtle]

This is turning into the ask squirtle page.

OK Morphiend- I'm not trying to be funny, but do you know what the dvd Rom is, and can you locate its 4 screws? If yes then make sure do so. To clena the eye I would advise using a pressed air can. If you dont have one let me know, I got another trick.

eh, they're $3-4 at Wal*Mart. I can get one. (I need one anyway.) And yes. The DVD-ROM is already dismounted as is the HDD.

Ok, when you get the spray the first thing you want to do is get all the dust out of your system (I hope you unplugged it first). Spray everything the board the vents and especially the fan. Next get some q-tips and moisten them a little bit. Clean every fan blade on your systems fan, this will give you better circulation and it will take longer till the next time you have to do this. Finally open your dvd rom drive and spray everywhere EXCEPT the LASER. There is a reason I say spray everywhere in side the dvd drive EXCEPT THE LASER. Once all the excess dust is gone from your drive, then spray the laser-------DO NOT SPRAY IT DIRECTLY. You dont want to put any unneccesary pressure on the eye. Instead spray it at an angle, at the same time going over it. Left and Right or Up and Down, it doesn't matter. Just make sure you spray at an angle and not directly at a constant.
Next, and this is the most important part.........get a fleece, or very soft fleece like sweeter. Turn the sweater inside out, and with softest side of the sweater, gently wipe over the laser eye. Dont use QTIPS, there are different types of QTIPS soft, hard, big, small, becasue there are so many types (some rougher than others) I do not advise using it to clean your laser eye. Thus the reason I suggest using a very soft fleece like sweeter.
Once completed, spray over the laser once more to remove any hairs or debris from the sweater. Put it back together and in in your xbox, and get your game on. Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions later on.

[nixts]

I'm in a similar position. I have a retail Xbox which works fine, but my debug unit died several months ago. It boots up fine to the debug menu, but it doesn't read betas anymore when I go into Dashboard, I always get a 'Dirty Disc Error.' I think it maybe the drive lens, but the early debugs always had bios problems anyways. I was working for a small game company when I received the debug back in 2001, but I've moved on since then and haven't really had a need to get it fixed. :(

Btw, I know people usually think you're lying when you say you have debug kits, but here's mine. (Notice CAG in the background?) :D Back to work, bleh.

http://members.aol.com/shanona/cagx.jpg

[zewone]

My Xbox wont go past the Xbox logo screen most of the time and makes a loud clicking noise like something is trying to turn inside? Know anything about that? The error screen doesn't have an error code either.

[big_squirtle]

Yeah that debug unit looks shot, maybe you should just um....I dont know..............give it to me :wink:

Just kidding, try cleaning the lense like I said above. That might be the problem, and over time it has just gotten worse. Nice unit by the way.

[big_squirtle]

My Xbox wont go past the Xbox logo screen most of the time and makes a loud clicking noise like something is trying to turn inside? Know anything about that? The error screen doesn't have an error code either.

Could be two things,
1- the laser again trying to read a disk, sometimes if a laser isn't reading a disk properly the laser will raise itself up to read it better, unfortunately this sometimes hits the disk and cause the clicking sound and in some cases scratches on your games.

2 - It could be one of your motors, again in the DVD-Rom drive. When I say one it is because there are 2. One motor controls the movement of the laser, the other controls the spinning of the cd.

My question is do you have pets with long hair? Sometimes hairs get caught in the Spindle motor (the motor that controls the cd spining). This then stops the cd from spinning.

Try this, turn your xbox on without a game. Press eject, verify there is no game, then press eject again to close the drive. Listen closely to the sounds.

Next, eject the drive again. This time put a game in the drive, close the drive and listen closely. Tell me what differences there are in the sounds and puit your hand on the xbox. See if you feel a humm, and how long it goes for (this is to verify if your cd drive is spining and thus eliminates one of the possible problems).

Come back and tell us what you found out.

[Indiana]

My Xbox boots to the startup and you can mess with the options, but it won't boot an Xbox disc nor a DVD. It's been this way since I bought it and Wal*Mart wouldn't take it back and M$ said that it was my problem, that I broke it and they wouldn't help.

Sounds like you opened the box up. That's a big no no.

[Girion47]

I have a release day xbox thats still running but it seems to be taking longer and longer to load games. I put Fable in and sometimes I'm getting killed because the areas havent loaded completely and baddies are already attacking me. would cleaning the lens help with loading times?

[MorPhiend]

Thanks big_squirtle. I'll try that this weekend!

[MorPhiend]

My Xbox boots to the startup and you can mess with the options, but it won't boot an Xbox disc nor a DVD. It's been this way since I bought it and Wal*Mart wouldn't take it back and M$ said that it was my problem, that I broke it and they wouldn't help.

Sounds like you opened the box up. That's a big no no.

How does that sound like I opened it? They just didn't know what was wrong and said it must be me. Although, yes, I did open it after trying to return it and get M$ to help. If they aren't going to support their own product, there is no reason not to open it. All it has been for me is a paperweight.

[zewone]

My Xbox wont go past the Xbox logo screen most of the time and makes a loud clicking noise like something is trying to turn inside? Know anything about that? The error screen doesn't have an error code either.

Could be two things,
1- the laser again trying to read a disk, sometimes if a laser isn't reading a disk properly the laser will raise itself up to read it better, unfortunately this sometimes hits the disk and cause the clicking sound and in some cases scratches on your games.

2 - It could be one of your motors, again in the DVD-Rom drive. When I say one it is because there are 2. One motor controls the movement of the laser, the other controls the spinning of the cd.

My question is do you have pets with long hair? Sometimes hairs get caught in the Spindle motor (the motor that controls the cd spining). This then stops the cd from spinning.

Try this, turn your xbox on without a game. Press eject, verify there is no game, then press eject again to close the drive. Listen closely to the sounds.

Next, eject the drive again. This time put a game in the drive, close the drive and listen closely. Tell me what differences there are in the sounds and puit your hand on the xbox. See if you feel a humm, and how long it goes for (this is to verify if your cd drive is spining and thus eliminates one of the possible problems).

Come back and tell us what you found out.

It makes the same noise and for just as long with or without a disc in the drive.

[big_squirtle]

Sounds like the motor that moves the laser is stuck. It could be from a hair or a slipped gear. Open the xbox, open the dvd rom drive, take a look at the sleds that hold the laser (make sure the are greasy), now look at the laser and try to move it (VERY GENTLY) toward and way from the spindle. Do this for a couple of minutes, to unclog (if that is the problem) any obstruction in the movement mechanism. Let me know if I am getting too complicated and I will try to simplify it more. Then put everything back together and test it out. Dont expect to fix the problem in 2 seconds, especially if you want to fix it correctly. This should take you about 15 minutes (less if its not your first time taking an xbox apart). While your at it you might as well clean the laser too (see the instructions above) kill 2 birds with one fix. Let me know what happens.

[Girion47]

<b>Big Squirtle</b> thanks for the advice(even though it wasnt directed at me) on cleaning the lens. I did it and now Fable runs perfect. I guess I'm just happy my release day Xbox is still running.

[MorPhiend]

Well, I took the DVD drive apart and it was sparkling clean inside. But I cleaned it anyway. And I cleaned the whole inside of the system, even though it too was clean (like I said the thing never worked in the first place). I put it all back together and booted it up. But it still only lets me play with the options. Although, I did try sometihng I never tried before. I put some CDs in it and they all started playing instantly (I have a stereo system, so why would I have needed to try this before?). But none of my movies work and none of my games work. So I was wondering if it was just that the laser doesn't read DVDs, but still works on CDs. But then I opened my Sega GT/JSRF, which I had never put in because I never had opened it because none of my other games worked, so I figured that it wouldn't either. And it works! So, unless that game for some reason was printed on a CD instead of DVDs, I don't know what to think...

[Trakan]

$50 in store credit at EB.

[captaincold]

I sold a disc read error xbox on ebay a few months ago for like $85 + shipping.

With the new xbox bundle coming out with ncaa 2005 & top spin i would just buy that and sell the game.

[LeviathynX]

How much could I get for a GBA SP with a non-working LCD Screen? Or any suggestions for fixing it cheap would be welcomed too!