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[RDC]

I just had one that the Motor Controller IC was bad on, but it was 100% bad, no spindle motor, no tray open/close, no sled movement and that laser didn't do a thing, even though it is still good as are all the motors for every other bit of the drive. If your motor was all gunked up and hard to spin that could have but more of a load on the IC and caused it to die, this is just a theory at the moment, but the shoe fits pretty well for now.

I've seen some drives where this IC has actually burnt up, so something is giving them fits or a lot of people are all doing the same wrong thing and not knowing it. I haven't nailed down exactly what to check to see if the MCIC is bad yet. If you have another Hitachi drive swap the entire logic board and see if the thing still doesn't spin, my guess is it will not and that IC is bad, but that's just a guess for right now.

[TorchMach1]

Well, curiosity got the better of me, so I tried swapping the motor from the known good drive to the bad.  Bad drive still wouldn't work.  So I guess your theory on the IC board being bad is true.  Thanks for your advice!

[RDC]

Not the entire board, just the motor controller IC. The really nasty thing is finding a replacement IC. What version is your Hitachi and what part number is on the IC? It's the rectangle shaped one with the exposed metal in the center.

[RDC]

Yeah it has to be desoldered to be replaced, and should really be done with a hot air rework setup for best results.

The part isn't easily available, unless ya want to order 1000 of them or so, and I'm still after a suitable replacement myself. Right now the only way to get one would be from another logic board.

[RDC]

QUOTE(esslan @ Jul 16 2007, 05:47 AM)

This last week i have accidentally started my 360 while messing with my media pc that is located above it (the 360 detects my remote). Most of the times i have just shut the damn thing off in an instant. Can this have affected my drive in any way?

I don't really see how, but the jury is still out on what exactly is causing said MCIC to go bad, it may just be a crappy design to start with, go figure.

QUOTE

So I'm just wondering, can there be some other problem with my 360 or will a new drive solve the problem?
Is there any test a can make to see if it really is the drive? Just so I don't buy a new drive and it's not the problem at all.

You may have a bad laser or dirty spindle motor, if either of those are the case it will not spin up the disc either. So you're problem is a shade different from the before mentioned one since he's tried a new laser/motor and had zilch for results. There are a couple of things you should try first before assuming the drive is shot.

1. Take it apart and see if the spindle motor spins freely, the motor that spins the disc. If it feels all stiff or like it's binding up on something it will have to be taken apart and cleaned and may be the only thing wrong with your drive.

2. IF the motor feels like it spins freely then you have 1 of 2 problems, either the laser is bad or the MCIC is bad. The only way to tell if the laser is bad is to try a known working one. Then if you know the laser is good and it still doesn't spin the disc I'd say the MCIC is bad.

QUOTE

And IF thats the problem is the original firmware I extracted from my old drive when I flashed it the only thing I need to get a new drive working in my system?

Yes the original FW is all you need to get a new drive working on your 360. It has the "key" that is unique to that motherboard, without it the new drive would only read CDs and DVD movies.

[RDC]

Nope, if the laser is crap the disc doesn't spin, likewise if the IC or motor is screwy the laser doesn't light up, kinda makes it a mess to troubleshoot.

As you power on the 360 you should see the sled (the laser assembly) move to the center of the drive, then back out a little, like it's resetting, see if it does that or not.

[esslan]

QUOTE(RDC @ Jul 16 2007, 03:40 PM)

Nope, if the laser is crap the disc doesn't spin, likewise if the IC or motor is screwy the laser doesn't light up, kinda makes it a mess to troubleshoot.

As you power on the 360 you should see the sled (the laser assembly) move to the center of the drive, then back out a little, like it's resetting, see if it does that or not.

Yeah, It does that.

And now when I tried it the laser lit up once! Never got it to do it again tho. Tried a bunch of times. Maybe some  
socket is lose or something. Any ideas?

BTW, Great tech support!

[RDC]

QUOTE(TorchMach1 @ Jul 16 2007, 10:41 AM)

Thanks for the help RDC.  Happen to know of anyone who sells drive parts?  Sounds like I could just replace the ROM board and fix the thing, but I'm not sure other than checking Ebay where to find one.

You can look or post in the 360 B/S/T section of the forums, other than that eBay is about yer best shot and there aren't too many boards on there at all. You'll need to make sure you get the key from your drive and inject it into the other ones FW before ya can use a new board 100% too.

QUOTE(esslan @ Jul 16 2007, 10:42 AM)

Yeah, It does that.

And now when I tried it the laser lit up once! Never got it to do it again tho. Tried a bunch of times. Maybe some  
socket is lose or something. Any ideas?

The flex cable that goes from the laser to the board is really the only thing that can cause an issue, but you shouldn't have any problems with it unless you unplugged it and then messed the contacts up on the end plugging it back in. Other than that, unless you can actually see damage done to it that thing usually stays in pretty good working order.

Even though the laser lit up that doesn't mean it may still be good, the light can be on and no one home, so to speak. Without having another laser to try I'd have to lean more toward the MCIC being shot in yours as well, though I still wouldn't rule out the laser being bad. Most of the time, not all though, they start acting up and fail gradually, reading some games and not others or just being a pain to get even one game to read, since yours is completely dead either the laser went all out, which can happen, or the MCIC is the cause.

[esslan]

QUOTE(RDC @ Jul 16 2007, 05:17 PM)

The flex cable that goes from the laser to the board is really the only thing that can cause an issue, but you shouldn't have any problems with it unless you unplugged it and then messed the contacts up on the end plugging it back in. Other than that, unless you can actually see damage done to it that thing usually stays in pretty good working order.

Even though the laser lit up that doesn't mean it may still be good, the light can be on and no one home, so to speak. Without having another laser to try I'd have to lean more toward the MCIC being shot in yours as well, though I still wouldn't rule out the laser being bad. Most of the time, not all though, they start acting up and fail gradually, reading some games and not others or just being a pain to get even one game to read, since yours is completely dead either the laser went all out, which can happen, or the MCIC is the cause.

haven't touched the cable at all and it looks fine.
I'm gonna order an new drive, since the place I'm going to buy from is out of lasers for the time being(Yes, I lack patience   ).

Just one last question: I can use a drive with rom ver 0047DJ even though my original drive is an 0074FK right?
According to the tutorial in one of the stickies you can "spoof" the model number.

Thanks a lot for all the help, really appreciated it!

[RDC]

Never heard of a 74fk, you sure you don't mean a 78fk?

[RDC]

Yeah you can spoof the v47 to report it's a 78fk.