I'm looking to buy my first XBox, and I found this listing for a cheap XBox, but it's currently non-functional.



I'm pretty technically inclined, so if it sounds like a cheap fix, I'm all for it. I just don't want to go after this, and then end up spending more than the cost of a decent used XBox to fix it.

Someone already told me to ask the seller if the light was green or red when he turns it on, and I'm awaiting a reply on that, but they also told me to come here and ask for some insight.

Any help would be much appreciated.

You should definitely ask if the XBOX appears to have been opened before. It's as simple as looking at the bottom stickers.

I just sent another e-mail, still waiting on a response to the first one. Thanks.

I also just found a couple XBoxes on eBay with disc read errors, how cheap are XBox compatible DVD-ROM drives?

Can I just use any EIDE drive, or does it need to be an XBox specific one?

Got an e-mail back from the first guy



Thoughts? Comments?

In regards to the two I saw on eBay:

I read about the XBox DVD-ROM having a non-standard power connector, but a common IDE connector.

I've got an extra DVD drive in an extra PC. Could I just splice the power connector and use that, or is there more to it?

I just checked the FAQ forum like a good little noob.

From what I gathered, I should hope it's flashing green & orange. If not, I probably shouldn't get it without expecting an expensive repair bill, right?

I'd just go with one of the DDE xboxes.
If it has a Thomson drive, a $15 laser will fix it.

Its hard to say. Since it has been opened before (even before the person you would buy it from) there is no telling what was done to it to make it stop working. Did it ever work for the current owner? Did he do something to it? As for the dvd drive. Original xbox drives have the same ide connector but different ones for the power supply and it isn't just a quick splice. There are only a couple of regular computer drives that will work in an xbox. Some of which require a firmware flash and I think all require upening up the drive and soldering in some wires to connect to the regular xbox rom connector. I think you can get an unmodified regular cd rom for like 45$ and a pre-modified plug n play cd rom for like 55$. Search around and you will find plenty about putting in regular drives in an xbox. http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/203870 that might help steer you in the right direction but there is tons about it elsewhere as well as on xbox-scene I'm sure. (otherwise you could just buy a regular xbox drive although they are more expensive (except for maybe just buying a new laser as alex548 said), read slower, and read less types of media. good luck and don't buy an xbox that you cant fix cause taht would suck.

Or if you are going to mod it, you could just use a standard pc dvd rom drive, and splice the power off the hard drive.. It wont play originals though, only backups..

mstandlee

i buy atleast 1 xbox a week off ebay i only buy ones with dirty disk errors. thats 100% a simple fix either buy a new dvd off ebay or buy a laser for the type of dvd it is and replace it.


i will also grab ones flashing red and yellow or red and orange as those are simple too throw a modchip on them and bam sam for boot three times and stay off throw a modchip on and bam good to go..

its hard to say what the problem iswith ebay its all a bunch of crap... they all lie about what happened.

ill almost guarenteee you that guy opened the xbox up and either screwed up a mod or was trying to softmod the xbox and totally screwed something up.


but it is possible the eeprom died..


you need to ask him if the front led light flashes red,, or stay solid red.. or flashes red yellow or red orange or whatever..

it could also simply need to be powered off unplugged from the wall.. and sit for a day i have fixed boxes like those its a piece of cake.. ut i always throw on a modchip or do a tsop flash and they never fail again..





id do a tsop... its free.... takes about an hour or 2 total... and you then have a fully functional modded xbox.



the tsop does 100% everything that a modchip can do unless you get some of the higher end modchips that have extra features.

just do the proper research into doing mods or fixes you can EASILY!! take a broken xbox and make it into a big fat paper weight.

I got an e-mail back from the original guy, he says "it flashes green, turns off twice then flashes red and green and won't open the cd tray."

What am I probably looking at here?



It won't play originals, even after being modded?

How close in color are the orange and red blinks? Is it possible this guy has mistaken the colors and it's actually blinking orange and green?

And if it's orange/green, is it DEFINITELY just the cable? Or could the actual AV connector on the XBox be bad?