Fix Your Own RROD With Free Console Repair Guides

[V8 Ninja]

Wait: it took four years before people found a professional and cheap way to fix a RROD'd Xbox 360? Am I the only one that finds this odd?

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I have a dying DVD drive in my 360 and looked up the guide to replace it:

The Xbox 360 is designed so that the DVD drive works only with the particular game console it is installed in. Replacing a defective DVD drive with a replacement DVD drive does not work, since the replacement has a different DVD drive key, which the game console won't accept.

Wow, Microsoft, those guys are dicks. I guess they would rather I spent that money buying a new Xbox instead of spending 20 bucks on a DVD drive that will last twice as long.

I think that's more an anti-piracy thing, coupled with the fact that thee things were never intended to be user-serviceable. Crack the firmware on a 360, install replacement firmware and a rewriteable drive and capture and burn images of games.

Trust me with Microsoft it is not that. It really is all about your money. If you want I could link you to a big post I did outlining Microsoft's business practises but in short they make sure you have to come to them to get upgrades and repairs and make it as difficult as possible for you to do self upgrade. For example to replace the HDD on the Slim you will probably have to break the case on it. Well until people find out a new way of doing it or Microsoft release their own money greedy way of doing it.

 

[Shycte]

Maybe I'll try something on my old Xbox with no warranty. I never use it so if I could fix it that would be great.

My handcontrolles bumpers also a bit sick, maybe that can be fixed too....

 

[DustyDrB]

Mine conked out a few months ago. Then just 3 weeks ago, I gave it a Fat Tire and it's been working perfectly ever since.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Well I don't personally see the difference between that and the N64 upgrade pak if I'm honest. Or the proprietary playstation memory sticks. Or the Sega cd add-on. Or Apple's refusal to supply a drive formatting tool on their OS. A lot of things require servicing at company outlets, things like cars. The only reason we're not mad about the cars is because as a rule we know jack shit about cars. It's the same rule; you can tinker but don't think they're going to compromise their design or insure you for it.

Honestly I don't see the problem when the hard drive is removable and can be replaced. If you really want to you can either buy a replacement drive or kitbash one if you don't mind voiding the warranty, because let's face it, when you fit a PC drive you void any warranty on the PC you may have had. That's to stop them having to repair pebkac issues every time some twit bends a pin installing a CPU.

Ok I may as well get the post I am talking about at this point. I do see what your trying to say but how Microsoft works is once you buy from they do everything in their power to make sure that what you bought HAS to be repaired and upgraded by them. Just look at the increasingly bigger HDDs on the 360 and the fact that at launch you could of bought a 360 without one. They even tried to sell you Memory Cards at the start while the Slim no longer even has ports to support this feature.

Also look the fact that it only uses a disc tray with no locking system and an overly loud fan. This really tries to force you to install games thus taking up more space on the HDD. Installing means your disc won't be scratched and that you ca have a much quieter gaming experience. This is also increases the need for a new HDD along with the DLC as that takes up quite a lot of space. Well that is the bigger gist of the post. Basically if Microsoft didn't build their company on this attitude I might be more inclined to believe it is anti piracy or just a desperate effort to squeeze a few extra months/years while they work on a new console.

 

[johnman]

that said i'm all for making them free and more public but its gonna screw over the people that have made a business out of fixing 360's :/

Most people wont use this guide, having no internet skills at all. I would be happy if I never had to repair a 360 at work, they are a pain in the ass and take up more time than a Pc repair.

 

[johnman]

I have a dying DVD drive in my 360 and looked up the guide to replace it:

The Xbox 360 is designed so that the DVD drive works only with the particular game console it is installed in. Replacing a defective DVD drive with a replacement DVD drive does not work, since the replacement has a different DVD drive key, which the game console won't accept.

Wow, Microsoft, those guys are dicks. I guess they would rather I spent that money buying a new Xbox instead of spending 20 bucks on a DVD drive that will last twice as long.

It causes no end of problems for us at work.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Hang on...when you say 'Microsoft' do you mean specifically 'the xbox 360'? See every console has been designed to only take official plug-ins, no company supports unofficial peripherals by intent. Frankly if you want to be pissed off at closed-house accessory design then the Nintendo Wii is a far better example, I've literally never seen a third party wii controller. The drives were always intended to be optional because the 360 was never supposed to be used the way it is now and Microsoft wanted a scaled down console to be sold on the cheap but that would still be capable of playing all the games, the slim is an acknowledgement of the changed usage model. I'd almost be interested in the argument that the fan and disk tray were to force you to install to drive...except that the option to wasn't part of the original design. Again that is a refinement of the device to match the usage pattern and was adopted in 2008.

My PC also has the DVD trays with no locking spindle and I've never had a disk scratch with my PC or my 360. I don't tip them over whilst running so maybe that's why. I have noticed that the fan is thermostatically controlled, which means it gets louder because it's getting faster when the console is hot. The big killer for the 360 is heat and dust, dust clogs vents and most people seem to have theirs stood up which blocks ventilation, thus forcing the fan to rev up. The fact is that 360s are being used in ways they were never designed initially to be used, the memory sticks were fine for game files but the popularity of DLC and using the console as a media centre were never expected in the initial design. Since then the 360 has undergone a change to allow this new usage.

Ok I'll address the second paragraph first. While I understand this wasn't in original design I think it is very short sighted for people to even consider buying it without a HDD since Sony scrapped the 20gb PS3 almost straight away to make it future proof. Without any DLC you could survive on a 20gb HDD drive for its lifespan probably. Yes I understand people use their 360s horribly mine is kept on my chest of drawers in stable equilibrium(horizontal position) with a good six inches of space on the side vents away from any solid objects. Even with that and fan maintenance the fan and disc noise playing without installation is ridiculous.

Also PC don't scratch discs because everything on a PC is installed so the disc does very little moving and also people don't move the PC what so ever. Some people move the 360 from horizontal to vertical while the disc is in which moving a spining object about a different axis to the one it is rotating is pure idiocy. Also the 360 do spin at a higher RPM that most other things if I remember correctly which adds to the problem.

On the first paragraph I really don't Microsoft are as short sighted as you are making them out to be. Bill Gates didn't get to be the richest man in the world by building his company on short sightedness. He did it by making sure when he started off after he sold someone something that they had to come to him and his company for support and upgrades to guarantee customers. Also when I say MS I don't just mean the 360 as this is the business practise Microsoft has used to get where it is. I know because when I was in Business Studies we watched an interview with the CEO and Co founder of Microsoft and he explained this as their business practise to getting where they are.

So while I accept the Wii is awful for Third Party Support and maybe even worse than the 360 on the hardware side for third party support. Microsoft wanted a scaled down console that could easily be upgradable so that they could bring it up to standard of what it should be. The Slim really should of been what the 360 release should of been. Either that or the Elite model atleast with the level of memory. Microsoft wanted a cheap console to try get as much of the market as they could as that is why the PS2 excelled so much over the original xbox it was cheaper.

I do see your angle but overall given how Microsoft does business I reall think it was part of their original plan in the begining as once you have all your games on it which would you rather do upgrade your 360 or switch to get a PS3.

 

[Little Duck]

These do work. I bought my 360 from RRoD and fixed it up. It's been running for 2 years now quite happily. I will say this though. Even if you try the fix there's about a 4 in 5 chance of it succeeding. That's my current success rate.