Modifying The Xbox 360 Dvd Drive For Pc, Help!!! Options

[NathanJC]

Hi all,

I am not sure if this topic has been posted before (I did a quick search and found nothing of the topic), but I have acquired a spare Xbox 360 DVD Drive from a dead Xbox 360 and I want to use it in my PC permanently 0800 enabled to read Xbox Discs on my PC. The only problem is that I have to plug the power cable into the Xbox 360 motherboard everytime I wish to do this.

Is there any way I can modify the Xbox 360 to work enclosed in a PC?

Thanks in advance!

[RDC]

Don't ya think it would be much easier to make an adapter to power your 360 drive in the PC alone instead of stuffing the whole 360 in there?

Both Xecuter and Xeno make an adapter to power the drive from a typical 4 pin molex connector that you'll find in the PC. You can also just make one up yourself, which would be better since you'll want to be able to mount the Eject switch somewhere convenient, it's only a handful of parts. Just a molex connector, 3.3v 1A fixed Regulator, a push button for Eject then a power cable from a 360 so ya have that connector to plug into the drive.

[NathanJC]

Don't ya think it would be much easier to make an adapter to power your 360 drive in the PC alone instead of stuffing the whole 360 in there?

Both Xecuter and Xeno make an adapter to power the drive from a typical 4 pin molex connector that you'll find in the PC. You can also just make one up yourself, which would be better since you'll want to be able to mount the Eject switch somewhere convenient, it's only a handful of parts. Just a molex connector, 3.3v 1A fixed Regulator, a push button for Eject then a power cable from a 360 so ya have that connector to plug into the drive.

RDC, I am only trying to fit the DVD drive in my PC with the appropriate plugs. I was unaware that Xectuer and Xeno made these, thats what I was looking for. Anyone got tutorials for making these parts?

[RDC]

Is there any way I can modify the Xbox 360 to work enclosed in a PC?

Doesn't say drive there, and I knew what ya meant, it was a joke.

Anyone got tutorials for making these parts?

You don't make the parts, again with the meanings so literal, though this is a forum and all anyone has to go on is what they read. I've already listed off what parts you'd need and I've diagrammed out how it all would get wired up around here a couple of times, should probably add it in the tutorials, but here it is again for now.

The DPDT switch isn't really needed, unless you want to be able to power the drive on/off independently from the PC.



CAP is short for Capacitor. The exact value isn't really that critical and leaving them out isn't going to hurt anything in this case.



You can use a SPDT switch for Eject or any push button type that has 3 connections, like a Cherry switch of an arcade button. Ya don't want to use any plain old 2 connection push button for this since you need 3.3v or Ground on that line.



You don't need the modeB switch at all since you have a Samsung drive, just putting it in here for anyone that does.

[NathanJC]

Doesn't say drive there, and I knew what ya meant, it was a joke.
You don't make the parts, again with the meanings so literal, though this is a forum and all anyone has to go on is what they read. I've already listed off what parts you'd need and I've diagrammed out how it all would get wired up around here a couple of times, should probably add it in the tutorials, but here it is again for now.

The DPDT switch isn't really needed, unless you want to be able to power the drive on/off independently from the PC.



CAP is short for Capacitor. The exact value isn't really that critical and leaving them out isn't going to hurt anything in this case.



You can use a SPDT switch for Eject or any push button type that has 3 connections, like a Cherry switch of an arcade button. Ya don't want to use any plain old 2 connection push button for this since you need 3.3v or Ground on that line.



You don't need the modeB switch at all since you have a Samsung drive, just putting it in here for anyone that does.

So if I want to just hook up a molex adaptor, I should use the following based on your diagram:

Yellow Wire on Molex (12v) - Position 12 on Xbox 360 DVD
Black Wire on Molex (GND) - Position 11 on Xbox 360 DVD
Black Wire on Molex (GND) - Position 7 on Xbox 360 DVD
Red Wire on Molex (5v) - Position 8 on Xbox 360 DVD

is this correct?

This post has been edited by RDC: May 23 2008, 09:44 AM

[RDC]

Not exactly, you're completely forgetting the 3.3v that's needed on Pins 3, 4 and 6 from the Regulator. The one at Pin 3 will need a SPDT switch installed to be able to Eject the drive manually, ya can probably just do it via Windows really, though I'd add it in there anyway, never know when/if you may need it.


Pins 10 and 12 of the DVD power connector should have 12v connected to both of them,

Pins 5,7,9 and 11 are all Ground, and should all be used,

Pin 8 is 5v, ya got that

[NathanJC]

Not exactly, you're completely forgetting the 3.3v that's needed on Pins 3, 4 and 6 from the Regulator. The one at Pin 3 will need a SPDT switch installed to be able to Eject the drive manually, ya can probably just do it via Windows really, though I'd add it in there anyway, never know when/if you may need it.
Pins 10 and 12 of the DVD power connector should have 12v connected to both of them,

Pins 5,7,9 and 11 are all Ground, and should all be used,

Pin 8 is 5v, ya got that

Ok, one more try... (*big sigh*) Can you please explain the 3.3v thingy. I do not wish to add a SPDT switch as I am going to manually eject the drive using Windows.

Yellow Wire on Molex (12v) - Position 10 & 12 on Xbox 360 DVD
Black Wire on Molex (GND) - Position 9 & 11 on Xbox 360 DVD
Black Wire on Molex (GND) - Position 5 & 7 on Xbox 360 DVD
Red Wire on Molex (5v) - Position 8 on Xbox 360 DVD

Hope I got the molex connection right this time - I've wired plenty of things before in my Xbox 1, 360 and PC but this time I feel like a complete noob

[RDC]

You need to put a 3.3v Regulator in there (the big black thingy in the diagram, says 3.3v Regulator on it) because the drive needs 3.3v, 5v and 12v to work. You have the connections right now, but you need the 3.3v ones as well. All you can get from the molex connector is 5v and 12v, hence the need for a Regulator, unless ya want to go hacking into the 3.3v line of your PCs ATX PSU to get it, I wouldn't.

Most Fixed Voltage Regulators are about as simple as they can be, Input, Ground and Output, just 3 legs, just like in the diagram.

Ya connect the Input leg to anything over what the Regulators output voltage is, in this case it's a 3.3v Regulator, so it needs to be 5v or more, which is fine because ya happen to have access to 5v right there on the molex connector, Red wire. Then the Ground leg seems fairly obvious, but it needs to go to a Black wire if it's not. Then the Output leg of the Regulator is your 3.3v that needs to go to Pins 3, 4 and 6 of the DVD drives power connector.

[Talioangelus]

I apologize if resurrecting old threads is taboo here, but the project/issue I have run in to directly correlates with this thread's line of dialogue. This is my first post on xbox-scene and if I've posted improperly please forgive me.

The project I have been working on involves placing the 360 motherboard, dvd drive, hard drive, and possibly soon the PSU into a PC case. Routing the on/off switch for the system itself proved easy with a simple push-button attached to pin 5 and ground on the RF module.

I am trying to avoid soldering on the board itself, and thus is why I have not simply done the same thing with the eject button on the DVD drive. I would very much like to create a separate eject button for the DVD drive while it is still attached to the 360's motherboard. Based on the schematics provided in this thread, this should have been a relatively easy process but I have run in to some issues following these directions.

What I have tried is using the 360's original DVD power cable as my source of powering the drive, thus I have everything I should need in order to eject and return the drive. Instead of locating a 3.3v regulator of any sort, I simply used the 3.3v from pin 6 to eject the drive. So it's as follows...

A simple push button from pin 6 (3.3v) tied to pin 3(eject)... then another push button from pin 5(GRN) to pin 3(eject). This should provide the same scenario as a SPDT, where unless both button are pushed at once (eww bad times) then one should eject and one should return. However, this is not the case, and only half of it works properly. I will continue testing, but I'd like to know if 2 separate buttons will work? or if I should try to find myself a proper SPDT? Will the 3.3v from the board work?

Again, sorry if this is not in the right location.

[RDC]

Pin 3 of the connector already has 3.3v on it, ya don't need to put 3.3v on there and ya can't just short it out to Eject the drive, which is all you're doing with those kind of switches wired up that way, it has to be either Ground or 3.3v, hence needing the SPDT switch.

Soldering the the motherboard would be much easier and ya know it would work with just one push button type switch, and unless ya plan to pull the board over and over again there's really no reason not to just do it that way. You'll also have to solder to the board for the Sync switch as well, so no reason to not go ahead and hit the one spot for Eject while yer there.

[Talioangelus]

Well I'm trying to avoid soldering to the board as much as possible as getting things snug and secure inside was a quite a bit of a hassle to start with, lol. Was hoping that an eject button from the cable to the DVD drive would be simpler, so I'll have to find myself an SPDT switch. Single Pull Double Throw? So basically a switch that rocks to one end and back to the other but centers in the middle with no active connection?

I guess what confuses me is that on the diagram above it has one actuation of the SPDT activate a connection between Pin3 and a regulated 3.3v... the other throw connecting Pin3 and GRN, hence why I was hoping two buttons would work for the same end. I figured that 3.3v was for ejecting the drive and GRN was for returning the drive.

Prior to this guide I had used a simple throw switch that went two ways, and it seemed to work for ejection and returning, but since it kept Pin3 at 3.3v or GRN it failed to work properly otherwise.

[RDC]

Ya can solder to the little bit of the switch contact that sticks up from the original Eject button, no need to pull the board.

The SPDT switch kinda goes 'in place' of Pin 3, that is the center lead of the SPDT goes to Pin 3 alone, not with the wire that's already there, just by itself, so you decide if Pin 3 has 3.3v or Ground on it by which position the switch is in.

[Talioangelus]

Thank you kindly for explaining that more clearly to me, I very much appreciate it. In the end I hope to just solder a pushbutton directly to the board, but for this stage of the game I'd rather have a cable capable of doing it all on it's own. This way I'll also have a cable relatively prepared to modify for ModeB switching if the need arises.

Again, thank you! The whole thing makes a lot more sense now.

[zevdogs]

do you know a dvdrom flashed with kreon bios does the same thing and they are around 30.00 bucks???

[RDC]

do you know a dvdrom flashed with kreon bios does the same thing and they are around 30.00 bucks???

Do you know (obviously not) that he's putting the entire 360 in a PC case, not just the drive. Try reading all of what people post if ya plan to comment/answer on it in the future.