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OG Xbox Appreciation and Lack of Emulation Thread of the big black box of doom

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
I just turned on my OGXB for the first time in forever and it's asking me what the time is

should I be worried
 

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
_fuck_ the two screws on the immediate left and right of the disc drive. I've come so far but I cannot remove them as the space is far too cramped on both sides. sigh.
 

shanafan

Member
I am thinking about buying an original Xbox. What are some things to look out for when purchasing?

I can think of two..

1) Look under the Xbox and see if the rubber feet and sticker have been tampered with. Tall tale sign that if they were, the console may have been opened.

2) Open the DVD tray. If the tray has two holes (besides the big main hole), that means it's a Samsung drive and has a longer life.

What other things?
 

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
oh god that was such a frustrating night

I never got those screws out and gave up, but somehow couldn't get everything seated properly in the case. damn thing wouldn't close.

sigh
 

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
ok, where's this capacitor?

XRflT6oh.jpg
 

tbb033

Banned
I just turned on my OGXB for the first time in forever and it's asking me what the time is

should I be worried

My launch OG and my falcon 360 have both always done that any time they're unplugged or there's a power outage for even a fraction of a second. Meanwhile my Gamecube can go years without power and not completely lose the time (though it does run a little slow so after so long the time needs resetting anyway). I think the only non MS system I've actually completely lost the time on is the Saturn, but that's because it eats batteries as much as a Dreamcast VMU does (and the same battery type, to boot!)

I still want to know whose idea it was to have the PSU exposed in the original Xbox

I know! I accidentally touched the wrong thing on it once when I had the system open for some minor maintenance and shocked myself silly on the thing. My arm was tingling for days. I suppose it could have been worse and I should consider myself lucky.
 

shanafan

Member
I am thinking about buying an original Xbox. What are some things to look out for when purchasing?

I can think of two..

1) Look under the Xbox and see if the rubber feet and sticker have been tampered with. Tall tale sign that if they were, the console may have been opened.

2) Open the DVD tray. If the tray has two holes (besides the big main hole), that means it's a Samsung drive and has a longer life.

What other things?

Followup to my original post.

Picked up an original Xbox today with component cables and Type S controller for $35.

I looked for the manufacture date, and it was 10-06-2004. I figured that was a pretty good date to go with. I did open the drive, and it was a Thomson. Is that OK? I do have the ability to get a Samsung. Would that be worth the effort?

(I do have experience with opening Xboxes)
 

REDSLATE

Member
Followup to my original post.

Picked up an original Xbox today with component cables and Type S controller for $35.

I looked for the manufacture date, and it was 10-06-2004. I figured that was a pretty good date to go with. I did open the drive, and it was a Thomson. Is that OK? I do have the ability to get a Samsung. Would that be worth the effort?

(I do have experience with opening Xboxes)

That's a great deal!

To answer your question, no Thomson drives are the worst. Samsung drives are the best. Since you have access to one, I'd seize the opportunity. A fair price is $50 for one in good condition (though I've seen much higher). Anything less is a deal. Swapping out the DVD drive doesn't take much effort at all, especially since you've opened consoles before.
 

Mzo

Member
My Xbox just started doing this thing where the tray won't open and I have to use my thumb to move it down to help it come out. WTF Xbox, I thought we were cool.
 

Jaeger

Member
vote here and help us bring OG Xbox backwards compatibility to Xbox One!



someone has had my disc for the last 5 years so I can't check right now, but IIRC it's a port. it had the option to change the OST to CPS1/CPS2/arranged, and i'm not the most technical dude out there but I think most likely means that it isn't just the rom.

That's what I remembered. Same for the PS2 version.

I have it, I can check when I get home from work.

I appreciate that. I need to know because I collect ports and not emulated collections (of Street Fighter II).
 

REDSLATE

Member
I have this monitor: http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-syncmaster-215tw-black/specs/

I like it because it has component inputs in the back, for example. I plan to hookup my OG Xbox to it with the component cables. Looking at those specs, would I be able to crank up the video settings on the Xbox to 1080i? I am not sure if my monitor supports that. I haven't tried it, just curious!

No, your monitor doesn't support 1080. Also, I believe most current monitors only support progressive, not interlaced. Just stick with 720p. There's only a handful of games that support 1080i anyway.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Is there any way to verify which update I have on my Xbox? I just got mine back from when it first came out. I want to start buying games and such, but I don't know if I'm supposed to update it (???) or what.
 

Shaneus

Member
Is there any way to verify which update I have on my Xbox? I just got mine back from when it first came out. I want to start buying games and such, but I don't know if I'm supposed to update it (???) or what.
As in software update/version? I'm sure there was a "system info" screen or something that had that on there. And from memory, if there ever needed to be an OS update I think some games came with them on-disc.
 

REDSLATE

Member
As in software update/version? I'm sure there was a "system info" screen or something that had that on there. And from memory, if there ever needed to be an OS update I think some games came with them on-disc.

Bang-on. Halo 2 has the most recent update (5960). Pop it in and select Xbox Live.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Alright, thanks guys. My system was built in 2002, so I don't have to worry about that capacitor junk. I am still contemplating modding mine. Anyone have any opinions one way or another?
 
Alright, thanks guys. My system was built in 2002, so I don't have to worry about that capacitor junk. I am still contemplating modding mine. Anyone have any opinions one way or another?

Correct if I'm wrong, but that capacitor will still leak and should be removed. It doesn't need to be replaced like the 2004 v1.6 models which have a gold capacitor that last longer but they do need to be replaced eventually.
 
Ok, because I have nothing going on tonight I figured I should probably do this.

I have 2 xboxes, the first one is from 2002 that sits in storage because my CD drive works whenever it feels like it.


This is what I found when I opened it up and removed the capacitor.

Not a lot, but it was starting to leak.


The second it a 2004


This has the gold capacitor that supposedly is longer lasting but eventually needs replacing

 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
My system has the Thomson drive. Is it worth worrying about? I intend to softmod it
so I can just backup my collection to the HDD
.
 

Raldoh

Member
Been playing Rallisport Challenge 2 lately, having a great time with it. Perfectly balancing arcades while still having a sense of realism (to me at least), making it a perfect "pick up and play" game. Add 60 fps and some great lighting effects for its time. Play it if you can!
 

shanafan

Member
Is there anything I can do? If I intend to copy my games to the HDD, how much of an impact will it have?

In my opinion, if the disc can be read and backed up successfully, then I wouldn't worry about it. However, if you start to encounter errors during the transfer process, I would consider looking at getting a Samsung model for example. Replacing the DVD-ROM in the Xbox is fairly straight forward.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Bought a bunch of games today...

Booting up Marvel Ultimate Alliance for the first time ever. I've heard good things about this game.
 

Borman

Member
That's a great deal!

To answer your question, no Thomson drives are the worst. Samsung drives are the best. Since you have access to one, I'd seize the opportunity. A fair price is $50 for one in good condition (though I've seen much higher). Anything less is a deal. Swapping out the DVD drive doesn't take much effort at all, especially since you've opened consoles before.

Not 100% true. Later Thompson drives were built a bit better and did pretty decently. Later Samsung drives were actually a bit worse. The Hitachi drive is pretty good too.

Early Xbox boot sequence btw:
FlimsyJoyousGhostshrimp.gif
 
Not 100% true. Later Thompson drives were built a bit better and did pretty decently. Later Samsung drives were actually a bit worse. The Hitachi drive is pretty good too.

Early Xbox boot sequence btw:
FlimsyJoyousGhostshrimp.gif
I had a US Xbox at launch, I don't remember that boot up. Maybe another region?
 
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