XBMC4Xbox

Hi Buzz, Hi everybody,

after 10 years while playing and using it as a media center, yesterday, my son tried to turn the xbox on, without success.

just pushing the power on button, the xbox started, all the leds were on... but nothing more.

also by pushing the dvd button, the box starts, but the drawer doesn't open.

after hitting both sides a little bit, it started... (huh!! I'm a programmer and I work on POS registers since 20 years, but sometimes a nice knock works...)
I said, well, ok, now we are back! but today, the same, and no way to awake it.

so, now, from were do you suggest me to start?

actually no strange blinkings of the lights (standard controller ones), no sounds, no strange led colors.. so, can you tell me (please....) what can I try to do, at least to start understanding?

thx a lot!

Have you had the Aerogel capacitor removed / replaced? What version is your box?

Is it a chipped xbox? Sounds to me like maybe the chip could have come loose and is causing the box to act funny when booting. I would check that out first and go from there. Report everything you see happen here and we'll try to keep the old girl alive and kicking for you. Your title threw me off, i thought maybe your wife was leaving you

He, heee, heeee.....

Well you know, I have the box since 2005, and is part of the family.

Ok, it's a model 1, modded.

Actually i'm not at home. Tomorrow i'll checkand post all infos. Thanks a lot for the support.

Nextelhalo wrote:Is it a chipped xbox? Sounds to me like maybe the chip could have come loose and is causing the box to act funny when booting. I would check that out first and go from there. Report everything you see happen here and we'll try to keep the old girl alive and kicking for you. Your title threw me off, i thought maybe your wife was leaving you

That would be in "off topic" section, unless of course she was taking the xbox with her

ok, as the box is definitely dead (so, when pressing the startup buttons something starts, but doesn't boot), I've found a new modded one on ebay (and waiting for it)... kids are shouting too much!!!

btw, I will open the dead one to see what's up with it (at least see if it is the HDD... and I think so, as it is too quiet!)

I've found some more info regarding the mod:

soldered one (aladdin XenoFX) and the box is a model 1.0

A unit with a dead drive should still give you some video output. Most likely it's the leaking capacitor unless that's already been addressed. Check the replacement box you're getting as they all versions need to the capacitors replaced and the damage repaired before it gets too bad (aside from some of the 1.6 units).

thanks for the hint but... which capacitor? how can I check?

If there is a schema, I can try to check: currently I have no doku to work on... any hint/link?

thx a lot

That's the one, near the left controller ports. However I'm not convinced that's what causing your problems, but no harm in taking it out if it is leaking.

Could be the PSU too..

while waiting for a good xbox (ebay's not my friend... 2 boxes arrived, and 2 boxes that have been returned as not functioning) I opened my old box, found full of dust, tried to clean up a bit... and turned on.
now, I don't say that it is working, I prefer to wait before starting jumping around...

btw, thanks for the schema, but capacitors look fine (well, at least looking at them they don't seem to leak)

ok, as I suspected, it happened again. the box got stuck again: just played a little bit and watched a movie, then tried to restart to play again, and it was presenting same symptoms.
the box starts, green ring on, the dvd tries to start... and nothing: even pushing the dvd button, the drawer dosn't come out (I had to push the dvd button through the tiny hole to take out the dvd).

no idea at all!

The only thing that I could detect is that every time the box starts, the dvd drawer does something like a 'bonk', and then the system comes up.

take care that I opened it completely, and I tested the dvd on another xbox, and it works perfectly (so, I think that the dvd is not connected) and I took the dvd from the other xbox, and also with this one it doesn't start.

UFFFF!!!!!

Kinda sounds to me like it's a hard drive or a PSU problem. When you hear that loud clunk on start up are you sure it's the DVD drive? Put your hand on the hard drive when your doing your power up tests and see if it spins up or see if you feel the loud clunk coming from it.

Thanks for the hint. I'll try

b9b9b9 wrote:btw, thanks for the schema, but capacitors look fine (well, at least looking at them they don't seem to leak)

You need to look at it in the light. Look at the light reflection on the board around the cap and you'll see a dull or dusty area where the leaked electrolyte is. Trust me, it's there unless the cap has already been replaced.

Check the power connector from the power supply to the mother board is fully home. Actually, unplug it and reinsert it. Also check the video cable is fully home. If you open it up, locate the mod and make sure it is fully home if it is on a pinheader. Heat will cause this plug to disconnect.

it doesn't seems a motherboard or power malfunction while the xbox starts every time the same you said.have you tryed to change the dvd drive with another?i have 4 xbox and no one dvd drive that it works well..two won't open and if i insert a disk nothing happens ..the other two don't read nothings too.. or the hard disk..for me one of this two

well, as finally I managed to get a "new" xbox, I will try all the things You suggested

p.s. I already tried to test the dvd on a working xbox, and it is working perfectly.

actually the guy who sold me the working xbox, gave me another one almost dead, so I will try to find out the correct components (if possible) to have a working one (both my old one and this new are 1.0 boxes)... my son are pushing me to can play in a coop way...

I have similarly had 2 XBOXes behaving much like yours.

this is what my thought was: "fragmented disk."

Xbox cannot be defragged because of reasons top do with the FATX filesystem. You can find the tutorial for formatting your drive. i opted to build it from scratch, so i could access an F partition and stop doing all my r/w on the single position anymore.

works like a charm. also opted to boot to a small dash with link to xbmc.

i recall the xbox not being very tidy managing its HDD.

do you just have the E partition, and have you been updating xbmc periodically all from on the single part? i hope I'm on to something for you

best of luck

i have the simular problem with 1 xbox i have here and it is a problem with the video encoder chip i suspect.
if i press down on it the xbox boots up but when the xbox is warm it wont boot up if i press down on it.

i brought it as an auction with 7 others and i had a red sticky dot covering the video encoder chip.