Xbox 360 dvd rom drive

REPO FANGNASTY

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I have to replace my dvd drive , and just heard about the fact they have to be flashed with firmware.Well I'm non the wiser.

Is there any kind soul out there that can shed some light on this for me :):)
 
Nope no flashing required if your changing for the same make of drive.Ie benq to benq.

If you were'nt you would have to the spoof the new drive

The bad news is each motherboard has its own dvd key.You will need to retrieve the key from the old drive(google)and put it on the new drive otherwise you will just have a nice dvd player:eek:.

If you not that computer savy(ie don't know what a sata port is and don't want to play with your computer and xbox then a few people on ebay offer services for around £20 where you send the old faulty drive in and the new drive and they swap the keys around.
 
wow had no idea it's that complex, learn something new everyday :smashin:
thought it'd be ready after install and bootup, obviously not quite as simple as a pc.lol
 
Why do you have to replace your DVD drive in the first place? If you've bricked the drive messing with firmware flashing then you need to get somebody with more experience to look at it so they can recover your DVD key if possible.

If it's a case of the drive is faulty and you just want to swap it then the best method if you must get another drive is to be sure you get the exact same make and model and just swap the controller board PCB from your old one to the new one. On Samsung and Hitachi drives it's a 1 minute job, on Benq drives you need to do some soldering to switch the boards out.

If you want anymore advice I'll need some details of whats actually wrong with your drive first.
 
Thanks for the advice.The problem I have is the drive won't read the disk unless I stand the console on an angle and then its hit an miss.Never had a problem with it until I sent it off to get the red ring of death sorted.Then a few months after the drive starts acting up.

Its a Samsung drive inside .

The option I did want to go with was to just get a replacement drive.

On another note I.ve done 3 Gamer PC home builds over the years so maybe.... a bit tech savvy :):)
 
the samsung, and toshiba drives were ****, just ****.
its up to you, roll a dice, and pick one way or t'other.
but if it was a choice of getting a samsung drive replaced for another, i would try to get the old one repaired from microsoft - who more than likely would change the motherboard/and drive for a nice new benq/liteon drive.

i think they are about £60 for a repair on average, but i would give them a phone and see how much a repair for a drive failure is.
 
The Samsung drives are fine until they get dust contamination inside, once the resistance builds up on the drawer runners the belt start slipping and you get a lot of faulty drawers. I would say if you get a drive cheap enough then just swap them, it really isn't hard as all you have to do is swap the controller PCB and the new drive will work fine then.
 
Well I opened up the drive took it apart an noticed the board was covered in what I could only discribe was a mass of black heatshrink.the black cradle was broken around two screw points . It was not the the workmanship you would expect to find . i would sack the guy that put this back together after it had been opened up to fix the red ring Thats if they had to open up the drive to deal with some aspect of the red ring ,but why ?
The only other thing I couldthink of was the drive retaining screws had been tightened far to much when put back together....................A s**t job all round.
So I need a new drive and advice on both the drive to get if not a samsung an the PCB........Over to you Cheers.:):)
 
I personally would get another Samsung as it will be so much easier to just swap the controller board over. If you got a different model drive then you would have to extract the security key from your old drives firmware then hack that key into a new drives firmware. It's certainly possible with all the guides online but if you just want to get it fixed quickly then the straight swap over is the best bet. Also the only main issue of the Samsung drive is they have problems with the tray if they got clogged with dust. If you take good care to not fill your console with dust then the drive will outlast the 360.

By the way when I say swap the controller board it's the only PCB in the drive. It will be covered with some black goop over the firmware chip to stop people chipping their drives, this is quite normal. When you get a new drive just remove it's PCB and insert yours then install it and you should be good to game, just be careful not to damage the laser ribbon cable..

I cannot comment on the guys work who you dealt with but its a good idea for any repairer to service a DVD drive in a 360 when they fix RROD, obviously the understanding is you put in better condition than when you started though, not wreck it.

One small suggestion is if the broken plastic you're referring to isn't on the inside of the drive you could try cleaning the lense and spindle rubber as it may solve your issue. To clean the lense you need some pure alcohol (or lens cleaner fluid) and just soak a little into a cotton bud and gently wipe the lense. Then if you do the same and remove the muck around the rubber ring that the disks sit on you may find the drive will work anyway. Might be worth a shot first.
 
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Thanks for the advice ,you have been a great help.

Could you by any chance recommend a site to aquire the new samsung drive from ? :):)
 
Hello again.
I know I have a TS H943a drive in the box and I can get a replacement but mine is a ms25 version and the ones on offer for £20 brand new are the ms28's.
Apart from changing the PCB is there anything else I need to do ? :):)
 
go here: Xbox-Scene.com

everything you could ever want to ask has probably been asked, and there are some experts on there,as regards swapping drives, self repairs, etc.
 
Hello again.
I know I have a TS H943a drive in the box and I can get a replacement but mine is a ms25 version and the ones on offer for £20 brand new are the ms28's.
Apart from changing the PCB is there anything else I need to do ? :):)

If its a new drive then no you should be fine mate. Make sure the rubber "spinner" is clean as thats what causes most disk scratching before you install it, a cotton bud and alcohol will clean it up if required.
 

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