Print

[jtstamps]

Modded with NME360 1.2 chip back in January.  worked great for several months.

Recently had some overheating problems that forced me to do the x-clamp replacement.  Everything went smooth and the console was again working perfectly.  Two weeks after the x-clamp replacement I replaced the stock fans with the talismoon whisper fans.  During the fan replacement, the CPU fan unknowingly became obscured.  Upon startup, the fan was not spinning and caused the CPU to overheat.  It took me a couple of times to figure out the fan was not spinning.  After locating and fixing the problem, the DVD tray will not open, close, or read a disc.

Things I have tried/noticed:

-desoldered NME360 chip
-using the manual latch, opened and closed the tray to verify that it was not jammed
-laser positioning motor functions and laser flashes a couple of times on startup
-dashboard says "opening" or "closing", but nothing is moving
-same results if I select "Open Tray" from dashboard


I'm dying to play Halo 3.  I would greatly appreciate any help in the matter.

Thanks.

[RDC]

Which drive, Hitachi or Samsung?

[jtstamps]

It's the Samsung drive

[RDC]

Open the tray manually and then turn the 360 on, see if it closes back up on it's own. If it doesn't, check to make sure the belt isn't broken. After that I'd say the drive is in need or replacing since it's either the Motor Controller IC or the DRAM chip that's causing the problem.

[jtstamps]

The tray does not move in or out on its own.  The belt is in tact and is not stretched or worn in any way.  How would I go about replacing the drive?  Where could I get one?  Could you spare a couple of minutes to chat with me?

I appreciate your help.  Not only that, but I have also seen your posts all over the board and some of your tutorials.  Your service to the xbox community has been awesome.  Thanks

Doesn't it seem entirely too coincidental that this started happening immediately after the overheating?  I don't believe much in coincidence.  Could it be something on the motherboard?

[RDC]

It could be something on the motherboard, but I doubt it. You mentioned the laser lights and the sled motor is functioning, so that mostly brings it down to the logic board (DVD drives motherboard) or motors being bad and for both the Spindle motor and Tray motor to die at the same time is a real long shot, so I'd say something on the board either fried or died. That problem may have been from the overheating as well, kinda hard to say 100% without having another drive to at least stick in there and see if the eject/load function works on that drive or not so you'd know if it was a drive related or 360 related issue.


The 360 B/S/T section of the forums is one place, eBay has them as well and so do other online places. What all  ya have to go thru in replacing the drive really depends on what ya get to replace it though, so I can't be specific about that unless I knew what the replacement drive was.

[jtstamps]

Okay, I see there are hundreds of Samsung drives on Ebay for about $40.  I also browsed the forum for replacement procedures and found what appears to be a pretty solid tutorial.

It mentions many programs and some hardware that I do not have (namely a SATA controller - I only have a laptop).  From reading some of your other posts, it appears that you do xbox work for those who cant.  I have always been a do-it-yourselfer, but sometimes its just more cost effective to pay someone else.  I wanted to know if you might be able to take a look at my system and get me back up and running?  

Thanks

[RDC]

Use PMs for that kind of thing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) If ya need I can look at your old drive and see if a new one is needed. I don't think I'd invest in a new one until you know that one is bad. Just swapping out the drive with any other one from another 360 will tell ya if it needs replaced or not. The other 360 drive wouldn't play games, but the tray would open/close as well and you could play CDs and DVD movies on it. That way you'd know if the drive was bad or if it were something on the 360 causing it, the same test could be done with your drive in another 360 to see if it worked in that one or still acted the same. So if ya have a friend with a 360 that's been apart before as well and they don't mind a swap for a few minutes that little 'test' there will tell ya a good deal of info and let ya know better what path you'll need to go down to get it going again if possible.