Xbox 360 drive tray/eject dead

It's not the tray motor. I replaced that already from another machine (even after testing the original motor with an external power source and finding it was still good...)

It's not stuck. The tray functions properly. The pickup/sled/whatever isn't stuck either.

When the eject button is pressed, it makes a faint electronic squeak/beep if you listen closely. Initially I thought the motor had died, thus my replacement/testing of it. Again, this is not the problem.

I remember in the PS2 days, someone would stall-out the tray and the BA/LA chip would blow, probably taking a fuse with it. Replace the chip (carefully...) and the SM fuse and you were good to go.

There isn't any documentation on this "complex" of a problem, that I can easily find, for the 360. The nature of the console and maturity of the internet litters the field with 14 year old kids with screwdrivers.

Could this be a similar problem, a drive controller IC that blew up?

Obviously, if I could just put in a new drive altogether I would do that... but since the 360 DVD drive is married to the motherboard and I don't think its worth it to try and extract/reprogram keys (if that's even actually possible), I'm kinda out of luck.

Worst case scenario I will give it back to its owner and tell them it's f***ed and pat them on the back.

If it matters (and I remember correctly - the machine isn't in my lap right now), the drive is a Lite-On.

 

Why is it with you? Did someone try to mod it and fail? This sounds like a dead controller chip, caused by putting the power cable in wrong. This is only off the top of my head, so could be inaccurate - but it rings a bell. Good thing is, worst case you could replace the pub and just get the key via temporarily rghing it

 

I just did this for a friend and it worked splendidly.

If you buy another xbox drive that is the exact same model as the broken one then all you have to do is de-solder the board from the broken drive and solder it into the new, working drive body. That way your xbox still thinks that the same drive is in it, but now it will actually function properly!

 

Yeah, but the circuitry for powering/controlling the motor is located on that board. So if I were to snag another "identical" drive, I would end up with the same problem since the busted board would get transferred over.

I think I need to sit and weigh the work:benefit factor... This is a repair for a colleague/buddy and I won't be getting reimbursed much monetarily.

I don't know the history of the 'box. I doubt it has been modded nor has that been attempted. It has been opened before, I know that (broken seal). I think they had been manually opening the tray for a while, as the front is a little bunged-up.

"Temporarily RGHing it" - it would then be unsuitable for XBL after that, right? The owner probably wouldn't enjoy that.

I'm thinking it's not worth the effort, especially considering, in his line of work, he can find another one quickly and cheaply. I'd hate to see another machine end up on a shelf but...

 

If it's a lite on phat, they're easy to dump the firmware from, after that just flash it to another drive. Additionally, you can use any lite on or BenQ, but avoid any other drives as you'll get issues with any XGD3 stuff.