how would i go about putting a laptop dvd drive into an xbox with all the capabilities of a regular drive? Xbox detects open/closed tray, read originals, etc.

No laptop drive will ever read original xbox disks. However you can still use burned xbox game disks. You will also need to find(or make) an adapter that will probably be specific to the model of laptop you got it from.

If you're hoping to build a slim box with the ability to read original xbox disks you're better off putting a large hard drive in the xbox and setting up the xbox drive as an external attatchment.

ok well i can deal without playing originals.

when you say adapter, do you mean like the serial adapter or the power adapter?

Can anyone add anymore insight on putting a laptop drive in a xbox?

I know its possible to get all the drive functions if its the right full-sized PC drive...but is it possible with a slim drive laptop drive? Also, will any laptop drive work with the right adapter? I'm thinking of doing this for my case swap project

No. The adapter is only responsible for allowing the slim drive to be connected to an xbox. The ability for said drive to read originals is a firmware thing and since none were written for any slim drives, it isn't possible.

Hmm, well okay. So besides being able to read originals, would it work?

Yeap, it would work. I have got one working in mine. you will need an IDE laptop drive, and you will need a laptop optical ide to regular ide adapter. Like this: DVD adapter

As for the signals, it's going to be tricky. I am still strugling to get all my signals.

Don't worry about the signals for now, just get the drive going, you can trick the xbox to thinking there is a cd in the drive all the time by pulling on the cd-in signal with 5v, then every time you switch a cd you just restart the xbox.

If you are serious about this I can help you out, but right now I am too sleepy, good luck.

Is there any way to hard mod the laptop drive in order for the xbox to recognize if it is opened or closed?

The short answer is no. I had a lot of hurdles with this one. XBMC was coded for non-Xbox drive support so it's a lot more flexible. Depending on the drive, you can get most dashes to recognize them by inserting the disk and soft resetting them. Slim drive replacement was really only popular for the media center aspect of the Xbox.

Oh man! Hello all. I am Atlas and I am glad to finally have made sense to myself and got user access to this site. I have one of the first and best modded original xbox. In it's time, it was hood, knaamean. So when my homey finish playing w/it, I'll look up the build and whatnot. I come to this site enough for tech support. Now I'll come inconspicuously. I'll be askin lotsa question, I'm sure. Thx all and game on :]