Print

[col_klink]

Hey guys and gals,

   I am working on a 360 that I just  can not get to properly read backups.  Its a m25 samsung manufactured in april of 06.  When I got the xbox, it gave dirty disc errors.  I opened it up, and it had a strange layer of black soot-like material on the inside of the xbox.  I cleaned it up nicely, cleaned the laser, and it would boot up games properly.

  So, I decided to modify the firmware.  I used the xtreme 5.2a firmware using the same method as for my other MS25 that reads backups like a champ.  Hell I even have a hitachi drive that runs them perfectly.

  The problem I'm getting is the "unreadable disc" error on half of the backups.  On the other half, the drive really seems to be struggling to read them.  The backups should be fine, because they run perfectly on my other two 360s.  They are on verbatim discs burned with a pioneer 111 drive.  I've scoured the forms trying to find a good answer, but I can not figure this out.  I've  tried adjusting the pot, which seemed to help a little bit but does not seem to be the solution.  I've adjusted it at slow incriments all the way from the original 4.89 (seems really high) down to 3.10. The sweet spot seemed around 3.5.  I plan on slowly moving it back up.

   The only thing left that I can think of is a laser replacement.  It's one of the 63 lasers, so they are not that expensive.  Is this the next step I should take?

Thanks for the input.

Also wanted to add that I burned using xbox backup creator 2.3, and burned at 8x.  Should I try at a lower speed, or a different program?  Whats strange is that these backups work perfectly in my two other 360's.

[col_klink]

bump

[tandao2002]

you really shouldnt burn them at 8x. if you burn them at 2.4x, EVERYTHING gets written correctly

[fierygt]

I would probably move on to the laser replacement.  If it's reading some games, and not others, and you have also attempted to adjust the pot, which you said it seemed to help a little...then logically it would point to the laser.  The lasers aren't too expensive, and you'll invest more time trying to make this thing work, with unfavorable odds of it actually doing so, or you can try a new laser, and eliminate the most likely trouble spot.  Just remember to desolder the bridge on the new laser, before booting it.

[col_klink]

yeah, what is this anti-static bridge?  I've heard that come up a couple of times.  What is it even doing on there?

I will try burning slower, but burning at 8 speed works without a hitch on the other two 360s'.

Anything else to try before laser replacement?  Does it read backups better if you use the xtreme firmware where it reads the backups at a slower speed?  Or does that really make no difference?

Thanks for the replies guys.

[jabroniekilla]

I would say you just have a picky drive.  Obviously if the backups work on other consoles, then there is nothing wrong with them.  Changing the f/w to read slow on backups could help, but probably not much.  A new laser could help, again might not be much.  Burning your backups at a slower speed could help.
I think it really boils down to you have a crappy drive.  It happens.

[col_klink]

I suppose I will tinker this weekend, and post the results.  I will put the pot back up to close to where it was before, and start from there.  I will burn at a slower speed, burn with a different prog, flash a different speed firmware, or an older version of the firmware to find the right recipe.  And last resort, a new laser.  If all of that fails, then I will chalk it up as "crappy drive", flash it back to stock, and just sell it as a regular 360, as it reads originals great.

Thanks for the help guys.

[KiDx]

before you spend any money try the rubberband mod! what have you got to lose? 75% of the time its that

[col_klink]

I was under the impression that the rubber band mod was for "open disc" errors?

[KiDx]

i never got an open disc error only unplayable disc but i still decided to try it and now ALL of my backups play 100% regardless of media. i thought it wouldnt work but i decided what have i got to lose? did this on a friends 360 also now he has no problems at all

[col_klink]

I tried the rubber band trick, and I'll be damned if it didnt help some. (although, I shouldnt be surprised, one time I fixed a noisy hitachi with a drill and a q-tip)  Now instead of it immediately saying "unreadable disc" right from the start on some of the backups, it loads them up, then decides to dump the error message on me a short while into it.  Its funny how the rubber band helps the laser find where it needs to start reading on the disc.  Anyway, I'm going to put the pot back where I started, and start tweaking again.  If that doesnt work, looks like I'm ordering a new laser, or if I get ballsy, pull one out of a known working drive to see if thats definitely my problem.  Thanks for the input guys.  Maybe at least this thread will let everyone know all the things to try, as I feel as though I've pretty much tried them all. haha

This post has been edited by col_klink: Feb 17 2007, 04:15 PM

[Smok3y666]

Have you tried changing the media you're using? Some makes are better than others.

[col_klink]

I decided to take the risk and swapped the laser out of my good hitachi drive, and the problems cleared up.  Either this laser is going bad, or it just doesnt like backups.  I guess I will keep it as a spare and order another laser.  Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

[tandao2002]

did you pot tweak the new laser? I just recently bought a new laser for my 46d due to the open tray errors. I pot tweaked it from 3.76 to 3.36 (reason i tweaked it because i was still getting open tray errors on medias that were working on the old laser)... still getting open tray errors from everytime i put in a new backup, pressed eject once and closed it. it works. should i tweak it even lower? any suggestions?

[xTKxhom3r]

wow i might just go buy a laser then iv tried every thing and my drive wont read originals or backups or dvd's i dont know whats wrong with it but if you say buying a laser worked then ill start looking for one how much does one for a hitachi cost ? its a 47d