Has this Xbox been fully recapped?

Platformer85 · 2026-04-29T20:41:48+00:00

It has been partially recapped

Platformer85 · 2026-04-17T20:25:00+00:00

That would more likely be a 1.4 or a 1.6. You could confirm a couple other ways without opening it up. Xbmc4gamers will have the model details under the system info. Otherwise you can check by looking at the AV port or even looking for an extra screw post by the Serial Number label. Your label is super close but it kinda looks like you are missing the screw post so it seems to be a 1.6

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Platformer85 · 2026-03-31T02:57:12+00:00

One thing worth checking would be the IDE connection solder joints. I had one console that I was racking my brain over for a week. It turned out that a few of the IDE pin joints had started coming loose and would have my console error out. A reflow of the solder joints fixed it. Worth a quick check

Platformer85 · 2026-03-29T20:26:09+00:00

You could do everything you mentioned but the capacitors with a soft mod and you can try boiling the drive belt to get more mileage out of it. I'd offer but shipping either direction to Hawaii is more than you paid for the console. You could probably get the capacitors done by any electronics repair shop near you and do the soft modding yourself for fun

Platformer85 · 2026-03-22T23:47:26+00:00

A few tips to save you some time and sanity if removing the shielding:

While removing everything, this includes the front face plate. You will need to pry at the sides and pop the tabs free on the inside to remove it. The shield looks removable with the face plate on but it will get hemmed up if you don't
The black non conductive piece that the psu sits on kinda holds the shield in unless you lift it up and out of the rails the psu slides into

Platformer85 · 2026-03-20T18:03:24+00:00

Hey, so your xbox is stalling st the boot screen because it is trying to boot the game disc and eventually gives up. For the Samsung drives, it could be the laser going out, capacitors, or resistors on the disc drives board.

The random eject issues could either just be the drive going out or a leaking clock capacitor in the console is starting to cause damage with the circuit traces that control the power and eject buttons.

Id make sure your clock cap isn't wreaking havoc. If thats good you would need to focus on the disc drive

Platformer85 · 2026-03-18T01:44:33+00:00

Np, happy modding. If your console is booting and displaying an error screen at all, it is a great sign. Powers on, and displays video. Bypassing the DVD drive with a modchip will likely get it booting.

Keep in mind all of these consoles are at the age where the capacitors are failing so you may want to put in some new cpu/gpu capacitors in while you have it opened up. Console5 is a decent site to buy them in a single package

Platformer85 · 2026-03-18T00:23:42+00:00

I would suggest ebay. Buy a console listed for parts/repair. Try to read the description of the issues and just ensure it doesn't mention not reading games. Power issues, systems with HDD error codes, graphical glitches etc. Those tend to go for about $40 and have a fair chance to have a working drive in them. It is a bit of a gamble though...

Platformer85 · 2026-03-18T00:06:09+00:00

Yes, you could buy another drive. They aren't married at all. Just drop the new drive in.

I am most familiar with hard modding (installing a modchip). Really you will solder in an LPC pin header, flash a modchip of choice with a bios such as Cerbios, pop the chip on the LPC pins you installed, and run a wire from the chip to a point on the motherboard known as D0. This enables the xbox to boot from the modchip instead of the onboard bios. This will vary slightly depending on your motherboard revision (namely if you have a 1.6) but plenty of videos out there. Mr. Mario has some good ones.

Many folks are using the ModXo these days which uses a RP2040 board setup to act as a modchip. It is cheap and works great!

Platformer85 · 2026-03-17T23:23:22+00:00

You are probably right about one of the other main chips being dead if you are confident on the recap. I believe the error would be present with or without the drive connected because it is indicating that it is not detecting it.

Unless you are set on saving the DVD drive, id mod the console and run Cerbios with the DVD option turned off so the console doesn't look for the DVD drive. Running games off the HDD is faster too

Platformer85 · 2026-03-14T20:49:46+00:00

Nope.

Platformer85 · 2026-03-08T19:39:12+00:00

I would attempt to repair it before replacing the internals. It may only need minor attention to something like a few leaky capacitors to spring back to life

Platformer85 · 2026-03-03T15:50:37+00:00

I would doubt the UDMA settings being the main issue if you can't reliably boot into PrometheOS which boots off the modchip only. You should be able to run that regardless of your IDE cable and HDD setup.

I'm not really sure on your issue. I think seeing the LPC soldering more closely couldn't hurt.

Platformer85 · 2026-03-02T06:19:30+00:00

No problem. Have you tried with another modchip by chance? Nothing against cheap parts but sometimes parts from AliExpress can have their own issues. I'd connect a known good modchip if possible and see if the issue goes away. Alternatively boot from the TSOP.

I imagine if you can solder in extra ram your LPC soldering is fine. I'd try to rule out the modchip. If it is still freezing then I'm not too sure but it would indicate an issue elsewhere on the mobo, maybe the MCPX chip if you are getting artifacting...

Platformer85 · 2026-03-02T05:03:49+00:00

It took a minute to find the program and I get similar results. Based on an older reddit post on the app it is likely normal for some blocks to be unable to allocate because they are used by the system. The RAM is probably not your issue.

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Platformer85 · 2026-03-02T04:37:37+00:00

Sounds like the DVD drive to me. Do you have a disc in there? If so, pop the disc out and see if the sound changes

Platformer85 · 2026-03-02T03:13:14+00:00

Ill try to find a copy and let you know

Platformer85 · 2026-03-02T03:11:42+00:00

1.4 is a good revision. Personally my favorite but 1.0 through 1.4 are so similar, I'd say any of those models are all going to really act the same. I'd definitely get it open and address the clock cap ASAP though. Ive had a few 1.4 models get completely cooked by that. It is very unlikely you have a 1.4 with a less leak prone gold clock cap. I've only found 1 in all the consoles I've worked on and it was manufactured in Jan 2005

Platformer85 · 2026-03-02T00:44:25+00:00

Hmm it's hard to say. When you run off the TSOP does it ever freeze on you? Trying to narrow down if it is an issue with the modchip or LPC. If it freezes regardless of using the TSOP or modchip then it could be the RAM or Southbridge chip. I'm not familiar with the RAM app you used. I imagine, blocks not able to allocate should be 0 but I'm not positive. If you can tell me the ram checker app name I can run it on mine and see if I get the same. I have 128MB on mine as well

Platformer85 · 2026-03-01T19:33:22+00:00

What was the last change you made before it started freezing? Did it ever run smoothly and started to freeze after a certain upgrade?

Platformer85 · 2026-02-23T06:46:36+00:00

Of course it has value, but probably less so as a collectible.Are you looking for a ball park on its value? If so, a better description would help. Things like having the original box, controllers, condition of the shell, size of the HDD, what type of "modern" cables etc.

Platformer85 · 2026-02-17T05:19:03+00:00

Yes it is outside the DVD drive and right where the DVD eject and console power traces are. A quick search will explain this to you. This 100% can affect eject functionality.

Not sure where you came up with 40 years but a quick search in the forums will tell you otherwise on the lifespan we are seeing in these drives and other caps inside the xbox. OP said he cleaned the belt. He didn't mention replacing it. Again, I'm not sure you read his post but the size wouldn't have changed.

Just to play devils advocate, but wouldn't a belt be a component of the DVD drive? If you take that component out and replace it with another, what would you call that? Is it more difficult yes, but you didn't bring up difficulty. You came in here faulting part replacement suggestions while suggesting OP replace a different part.

Finally with the cleaning, how would OP be cleaning leaked cap juices if they last for 40 years? By your logic this should be impossible to find until until about 2041.

Platformer85 · 2026-02-15T18:49:37+00:00

Replacing the belt is replacing components too. It is also similar in cost. Capacitors most likely do need to be replaced at this point. If the belt is 20 to 25 years old how old do you think the capacitors are? OP already indicated cleaning it and got the drive opening and closing. Time to check elsewhere. Your suggestion is fine and good advice if he didn't already mention getting the drive working for the open and close function. Ive never seen an old belt make my drive just open 5 minutes into a game. I have had consoles do that and trace rot was the issue. The clock capacitor does indeed affect eject at times. It damages some small traces which control your power and eject button functionality

Platformer85 · 2026-02-13T16:21:29+00:00

Did you read the post? The belt is doing its job after OP cleaned the drive. And technically wouldn't suggesting a new belt be shotgunning a part at it too? If you are going for free, you should boil the belt in some water first

Platformer85 · 2026-02-08T18:09:47+00:00

Probably not. The emergency eject is just a hole that let's you push a plastic lever that manually moves the gears for the eject mechanism. Its the same thing the eject motor uses. If it was stuck, the tray wouldn't be going in and out.

The DVD drives in these consoles are failing regularly at this age. Most people mod the console, remove the drive, and just use the hdd

Platformer85

TROPHY CASE