Re-furbishing The Wife's Red Xbox

[xman]

This is the wife's red XCM case...

I built this for her over 5 years ago and since that time it has gone through 3 controllers, mainly through people tripping over the cables. Other than that it has given no issues until about a month ago when the DVD tray started to stick. It was a Samsung DVDrive and although the machine is 98% used for playing on board content, she has recently started playing DVDs in the DVD player. So, I thought it high time to "blow the dust out of it" and have a bit of a look around inside while I swapped the DVDrive.
Here's what it looked like inside...



Even the X3 clone modchip had dust under it which is flashed by the way with an M8 bios so these modchips are flashable because I did it on this chip at some time ...

Anyway, rather than dusting the machine out with a fine paint brush as I would normally do, this time I used my leaf blower this time so instead of taking a good two hours to clean it out, the leaf blower did just as good a job in 30 seconds leaving me more time to drink some rum. ....

I did take the time to pull the fan out after this picture and hand cleaned it by the way but this is how the board turned out with the leaf blower...

This is the machine with the replacement DVD player installed with the old one behind ready for the lid to go back on...

I'll be opening this machine up again in the next couple of days to drop in a new 1TB sata HDD that I am still preparing on another machine because she has maxed the 500Gb HDD it has in it at present. I couldn't take this machine off line for any real length of time as she uses it daily and this machine is powered on for weeks at a time. She does love her music videos and the machine has over 700 music videos and audio on auto play playlists and these are what the machine is mainly used for during the day and movies on board during the night.
Anyway I thought I would share this re-furb with you guys because I think this is a fine example of a machine that cost me about $40 for the machine originally, $37 for the XCM case, $120 for the original 500GB IDE HDD I installed and a $12 modchip has been a very reliable machine for over 5 years and for that price, I find it near impossible to find an alternative product with such endurance on the market today and this machine is likely to continue working reliably for another 5 years since I "blew the dust out". My eldest son's Halo machine is next, it is actually older in use than this one by over 2 years. That should be interesting as it was my very 1st Xbox I bought and after some time modded. It has a 400GB IDE HDD, the biggest at the time available and it will go up to a 2TB HDD. I can't even remember what modchip that machine has in it.

[spicemuseum]

Leaf-blower is a great idea.

Presumbly the lid is just completing its run through the dishwasher...?

[xman]

I'm seriously thinking of swapping this case as she wants a clock mod in the machine so the room has a clock she will use and I really can't see myself hacking into this rare now, XCM red case's face to put the clock in. It may be time to sell the red case along with my son's Halo green case as he wants a clock mod as well when I do the 2TB upgrade on it. If I don't sell them, they can sit on the pile with my other rare cases like my crystal and a ghostcase clear. Seems funny how I have less use for rare cases and my choice is actually stock black ones so I can mod and paint them.

[Rocky5]

What's the thing at the back of the dvd drive?

[bigkidoz]

Leaf blower , i just take them down to the shed and fire up the compressor .

[professor_jonny]

you have to be carefull with an air compressor as they can squirt water all over the show from the condensing of the water in the air.

definalty not the dirtyest xbox i have seen xman but it is up there.

[RoyalX]

The blower did the trick.

What is the black cable going from the power button to the back. And I also see some black cables at the back of the PSU going to a grey cube at the back of the DVD rom. What kind of a mod is this? Perhaps a modem/router?

You can do the clock mod, and then paint this case red again. Meanwhile you can use the HDD in another modded xbox for the wife.

[xman]

What is the black cable going from the power button to the back.

That goes to the RF receiver so the unit could be turned on and off via the remote that the wife has since lost.

And I also see some black cables at the back of the PSU going to a grey cube at the back of the DVD rom. What kind of a mod is this?

The black cables are the mains supply cables for the receiver module that is the grey cube. I soldered the black cables direct to the mains input solder joints on the power supply and sourced a mains powered receiver solely so I wouldn't need to stuff around looking for 3.3vDC or 5vDC receivers so the unit would work in standby mod. Problem with the receiver was it needed a dedicated remote to operate it. I'm seriously looking at going back to the original "code catching" IR receivers I bought some time ago that also are mains powered but have the ability to "catch any IR remote button code" and use that to turn the machine on and off.

You can do the clock mod, and then paint this case red again.

That case isn't painted, the plastic it is made from is red. Picture a green Halo Xbox case. This is exactly the same texture but is red in colour. They were sold by Llamas in the UK several years ago.

Meanwhile you can use the HDD in another modded xbox for the wife.

That HDD will go straight into another Xbox. My machines are all chipped, all use compatible bioses and the HDDs are never locked allowing for HDD swaps amongst different machines plug and play. We did have an Xbox in the bedroom some time ago, till I sold it. We may end up with one in there again using that old HDD.

[bigkidoz]

you have to be carefull with an air compressor as they can squirt water all over the show from the condensing of the water in the air.

definalty not the dirtyest xbox i have seen xman but it is up there.

Thats why they have a water trap in the filter.

[RoyalX]

@xman, what kind of remote control was it?

I know about the XCM cases. And they are clear. But yours does not look so clear (maybe it is the picture). It looks dark, thatswhy a paint wouldn't hurt it.

[Geeba]

Gesssss does your Misses work on a building site? thats a shed-load of dust!

[xman]

@xman, what kind of remote control was it?

I know about the XCM cases. And they are clear. But yours does not look so clear (maybe it is the picture). It looks dark, thatswhy a paint wouldn't hurt it.

The colour of the ones I got were like the shade of red at the very bottom of your avatar. Is is very dark red and it is frosted like a green Halo case. Are you sure your not thinking of Ghostcases?. They are clear and don't have the frosty appearance. The XCM cases have the base plate of the Xbox included and therefore the same colour as the XCM case where as the Ghostcases only have the top and face plate supplied and you need to use your original Xbox base to make up the complete Xbox case. Probably why Xbox Ghostcases are only $15 and XCM cases were significantly more.

[RoyalX]

The colour of the ones .....

I did not know that. And yes, those other cases are more transparant.
That explains why the 6 screw holes are also in red on the base plate. That struck me right on.

How does the remote controle look like?

[xboxprince]

your leaf blower idea was ingeinous, now i don't have to buy those expensive air canesters anymore for my xbox mobos, thanks man

[fxmech]

ack. everything about the leaf blower makes me nervous.

[xman]

How does the remote controle look like?

Well she lost it some time ago and I have been looking for the unit solely to show you but can't find one on line any longer.

your leaf blower idea was ingeinous, now i don't have to buy those expensive air canesters anymore for my xbox mobos, thanks man

Saves time and cash, good. I was mainly after the time saving factor myself because prior to the leaf blower, I was using a fine haired paint brush and it was a good 2 hours. Now leaf blower....10 minutes.

ack. everything about the leaf blower makes me nervous.

Exactly my initial thoughts till I tried and that thought only left when she booted back up. I still do the fan by hand and the brush because the leaf blower WILL kill the fan. I hold the fan in one hand and a finger lightly on the fan blade putting no pressure on the bearing, just enough to stop it spinning and lightly brush the dust off. I found a long time ago not to spin the fan blades or put any pressure on the bearings and that probably explains why all my machines have original Xbox fans still. Some were noisy when I got them but I had good ones from slims to swap them for quiet ones but all my stock sized Xboxes all use original Xbox fans. I think I have read ever fan mod post waiting for a fan of mine to die or become noisy but until now, I haven't needed to.

[Nextelhalo]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that uses a blower to dust off my xbox/pc hardware. Cheers X

[looney bin jim]

If you do decide to swap the case I would be highly interested in purchasing this piece and refurbing it myself...that is if you would want to part with it....

[nigelp12345]

I'd Buy this right now for a good price