I Put a Disc Drive in the DIGITAL Xbox Series X!

[@sscultima]

these little projects are what make watching these videos so entertaining and informational at the same time.

[@Tronicsfix]

Glad you enjoy!

[@cruejones742]

​​@@TronicsfixMaybe you should stop wasting time on dumb things like this that kindergartners knew wouldn't work and maybe make a video on fixing the "Open Tray" error for the Xbox 360. It's not the laser. It has a brand new tested and working laser. Who cares about fixing things you can still buy new?

[@bepohal]

@@cruejones742 basically the vast majority

[@Neopumper666]

​@@cruejones742 definitely the majority

[@Deja117]

@@cruejones742 I mean ye, personally I guessed it wouldn't, but we don't know exactly what was changed until it's tried. It was still fun to watch and interesting to see that it wouldn't even start when installed. You also realise that he works on more than one video at once... Right? Right.....?

[@thisguy0192]

PS5: I see you installed a disc drive. Im not gonna use it. Xbox: Unauthorized hardware! I have lost the will to live.

[@leonardharris9678]

it did not see it, its firmware did not have the instructions to use/communicate with a disc drive....unless modders can add that into the firmware it wont work

[@realhamza2001]

I know this is unrelated but give the Quran a read

[@TakaChan569]

?

[@TheGohthecrow]

​@realhamza2001 give the Bible a read too mate. You will see the similarities & then wonder🤯

[@ICESTORMSx]

Only one truth, choose wisely... JESUS is Lord

[@TheCod3r]

I haven't watched yet but I say no. The drive won't work if the APU key doesn't match

[@t0aster_b4th]

Microsoft definitely does love their component/board marriages

[@Zvxers7]

When is the wedding?​@@t0aster_b4th

[@TheSplines]

Yeah disc drives are married to motherboards for both Xboxes and PlayStations afaik

[@N68dodgeboy]

That's what I was going to guess, since Microsoft has been doing this since the Xbox 360.

[@Lazyman1975]

It absolutely will not work. Unless you feel like changing an entire Chip set. And making sure it has a disk drive enabled bios....

[@boltyourselfin]

I figured this would be the case. MS learned their lesson from the early 360 days where you could flash an aftermarket drive to get it to run "backups". Theyre all married together now.

[@randomchannel9331]

they were married back then too lol, even before that modded dvd drive firmware came out

[@g-wolf9445]

Soldering multiple small scale components is definitely a skillset that requires some patience. Excellent work. I noticed you cleaned up your work as you progressed through the soldering of the components!! Very happy to see that you are staying healthy!!

[@TigerAceSullivan]

my old roommates cat learned how to activate our robot vacuum (eufy, had a big bright button on top) because he liked chasing it around

[@Deja117]

Please tell me the roomba was dressed up as a mouse at one point...

[@1234567890CAB]

There's a good chance that one of the SMD ceramic capacitors is shorted out internally. That is a common failure for them, and they are sensitive to rapid changes in temperature. Ideally, you are supposed to slowly preheat them before bringing them up to soldering temperature. Also, your hot air is probably set too high. If you preheat the board and do the work on a hot plate you can use 300 c hot air. It does take a few more seconds of dwell time, but it is much safer for the components. It is also possible to solder the plastic connectors with hot air set around 250 c, but it does require a good setup, patience, and finesse. During your troubleshooting, you should have also checked continuity to ground and the resistance between power and ground. The connector that had two through hole pins is the SATA connector, and only data goes through that connector. The other rectangular connector is the power connector for the disk drive and most likely sends 5v and 12v and maybe 3.3v. My guess is that one of the capacitors for the 5v rail was shorted to ground. One of those small black IC components was responsible for converting the 12v main power to 5v to send to the disk drive. However, when you were checking voltages, you did not measure anything that was 5v. Also I'd like to guess that the first black IC that you removed was a mosfet that acts as a switch or relay that lets 12v go to the disk drive when the console boots up and tells the switch to close. The disk drive should always have 5v going to it so the circuits inside the disk drive are working to check the sensor to see if a disk is trying to be inserted. The 12v going to the disk drive is mainly for the motors that move and spin the disk. The console wouldn’t boot up because the console is always monitoring its various voltages, so the console was looking to see either 5v in the voltage rail or that the 5v voltage rail was not connected to ground. What the console was seeing was that there was a short between the 5v voltage rail and ground and because it saw the fault it refused to boot up.

[@hawwin]

Great video, Steve. I didn't expect this outcome. Im happy to see you doing well

[@Tronicsfix]

Me neither!

[@phillytitan]

Well that was an interesting experiment. Glad you didn’t brick the new console in the end

[@Lando00100]

I have faith the modding community will eventually figure out a way to add disc drives to digital consoles. Even if it takes a decade or longer LOL

[@lemagreengreen]

@@leonardharris9678 I guess there's a chance some sort of cracked firmware might eventually become available... maybe...

[@RunedGolem1]

​@@leonardharris9678I mean, custom firmware has been made for previous gen consoles before

[@tizzi91able]

@@Lando00100 just don’t buy the digital version. They’re scam. You’re tied to their proprietary store with no competition so higher prices than physical versions

[@Jay-uw4bu]

@@tizzi91able Thats only true for sony. You can buy xbox games digitally on other storefronts than their own

[@ToonyTalesX]

@@tizzi91able It’s not a “scam”. A scam implies you were mislead into spending money on something you didn’t want. It is clearly spelled out in the terms and conditions (that no one bothers to read I might add) that you are buying licenses to use the software and NOT the software itself. You are completely responsible for what you spend your money on when you buy these consoles. You get what you pay for. You’re entitled to not like these consoles. But stop calling it a “scam”. It’s just not true.

[@ONEFATE9]

"Air bags a bit slow! But that's what these tests are for!!!" The Grinch. Sorry to see your experiment failed. But hey, it's what it is! Nice to see you look healthy, and that's all that matters to me.

[@Precurser66]

This is one of my favourite channels on KZbin. Love your work Steve. Stay healthy my dude.

[@tardiswarp1]

I have seen you do these very challenging experiments before and it often don't work because these console manufacturers make that so it can't happen, but nevertheless an entertaining experience to watch. Be well and love your channel.

[@LoftechUK]

19:43 maybe it’s a bios option. You may off did it correctly but needed to be activated

[@DawnApon]

Oh man, incredible feat of soldering and entertainment. When you said we're transplanting all these connectors and all these components I knew this was something else.

[@avx10tech]

I’m glad you’re looking better. I hope your recovery continues to go well.

[@MrGreen7427]

Loved how the music beat synced with your component soldering!

[@Hortonscakes]

I'd love to see you repair or put together a raspberry pi. Thanks Steve! Great video!

[@TC_here]

Great effort.. shame it wasnt possible. but at least you got it back to a working console 😉

[@tobyzilla]

That will be nothing but e waste in the next 10 years when the online storefront shuts down

[@BOBimusRex]

Me- tries a project that requires soldering. Project fails. Me, "that tracks..."

[@michaellessard2011]

Component placement synced to a beat -- nice :-)

[@Chris-cz6hn]

Glad to see the hair coming back in I hope your recovering well and feeling great, love the content and you seem like such a genuine interesting person god bless.

[@JGKingCrusher]

I just find it amazing that you understand what each little thing does. Very fascinating.

[@stavvyburke]

I love your videos, I have learned so much from you! You are truly a blessing to the KZbin community.

[@Steiny5843]

Its been a while since i clicked on your videos. was kinda scared to. once i did i was happy that i did. im happy to see you look healthier! hopefully you are whipping its ass. Much love man.

[@RetroRich91]

Steve youre the man. I just started watching your channel and the arch of your knowledge by experience is badass. Thanks for the content!

[@dodgydruid]

I modified one of my fittings on my hot air station, the extra wide one and fitted a pipe about half the thickness of a pencil using silver solder and made cuts to put flaps into the flat bit of metal which I mig welded it to the existing fitting and it makes a fair very fine heat channel which I find useful in close places, useful for fine work but I did popcorn a couple places on my sacrificial motherboard so I got to learn how it works. Murders the hell out of unleaded solder very quickly but too potent for leaded I found hehehe

[@regorllerref]

"Can you play a disc?" "No, I don't think I will"

[@BrsrkrKnuckles]

You are looking healthier every new video, the real question is how are you feeling? Always great to see another upload.

[@beartackle]

In the beginning I thought you would just get a disc drive from another Xbox and just plug it into the digital system. Didn't realize a lot of work was needed!

[@marianokpo15]

You're looking better Steve, i hope you're also feeling better, wish you the best luck pal! Greetings from Argentina!

[@baxtercdead]

i forgot to pause my spotify when i clicked on the video so for the first minute of this video i had i need a dollar playing quietly under his voice and i thought it was in the video lol

[@Tronicsfix]

Lol, that's hilarious!

[@tokin420nchokin]

I have had this happen, sometimes its actually a vibe

[@MiBrCo4177]

This is a newer video? great job!! You're looking so much better!! Keep it up!

[@MirceaD28]

What a great video. i always wondered If a board can be upgraded. I think the BIOS must be also updated with a software that tell it what to do and has the knowledge of the disk drive

[@thegees]

steves soldering equipment when another digital console releases: here we go again

[@Evergreen64]

Wow. That is surprising. As most people would not have the knowledge, skills, or parts to even attempt this. So the fact that the board monitors for current on those parts is wild.

[@TheGuya]

0:00 already an iconic video

[@Illphaqup]

We're just thankful everyday youre here Steve.

[@collinE83]

I don’t know if the flux you use is much different than the flux I used to use back in the day, but you use a ton. I don’t know why I used so little or if it would have helped for me to use more, but I was always worried about making a mess. Doesn’t seem like your method matters cleanliness-wise and can’t argue with your results. Just thought it was interesting.

[@MarkR874]

Robert is the best salesman. Great ad! lol. Never thought I’d be making comments like this.

[@timtoomuch]

Man I think Xbox missed an opportunity like Playstation to sell a disk drive separately

[@YourXellency]

They still have a chance by releasing an external disc drive with its own motherboard and the console firmware to go with it. It'll probably do a special buffer so that the disc spins on limited occasion while loading videos to be watched. Who knows?

[@aperson5932]

@@YourXellency i highly doubt that will ever happen

[@Lazr1026]

im looking at all these other comments and have a few questions for everyone: What BIOS? This is a modern gaming system, with a secure bootROM that can never be changed. The boot stages afterwards, while can also be changed, is just as secure. If i had to guess, there is some configuration on the consoles OTP (which is also unwritable - One Time Programmable) or an EEPROM that enables/disables the xbox to even use the drive. I find it weirder that just having a few resistors populated wouldnt let it power on. Now one of my own questions - what does the drive key look like on here? Is it all 0s? Is it set to something? Mysteries like this drive my insanity..

[@0neWhoKnocks]

You didn't fail to install a disc drive on a digital console, you succeeded in converting an Xbox into a paperweight and then back again lol very interesting operation though!

[@Tronicsfix]

Lol

[@kazejah1014]

Even if it got power, I doubt very much it would have recognized the drive. I think much like the 360, the drive is married to the console with a key. When soft modding back in the day you had to read the old drive key and then change the key on the new drive. It's likely those driveless consoles dont even have dummy keys that identify them as driveless so it wouldn't work, heck there might be something in the bios/software that disables power through the new components that you connected. Excellent video though!

[@ArcticBuzzard44]

My first comment was kind of rude. You do a great job. Thank you for everything you do within the tech service industry. There’s a few things that you do differently than others that I see and do things differently than I would personally do, but thank you for still teaching me things. 🙏

[@AdrianDX]

Cool experiment! Bummer it didn’t work, but I’m very glad such a beautiful console wasn’t bricked. I still haven’t been able to jump on the Series bandwagon. But those digital versions sure are tempting🤩

[@thebishtable]

Those circuits you soldered down look like a small point of load DC-DC power supply. Those power supplies typically have RUN and PGOOD pins for sequencing. I'm guessing the supply wasn't coming up for whatever reason, and the controller was holding its PGOOD low (normally just pulled up by a resistor somewhere) and thus stopping the next supply in the chain to come-up (or the supervisory circuit to abort the startup).

[@zaxxon4]

It would be easier to take two working consoles and see what parts can be swapped between the disc and discless versions. I suspect there is a ROM chip somewhere identifying it as discless, and causing it to fail a system check. If so swapping or reflashing that chip would be required.

[@Pashiharu]

I was like, no, you can't leave these components like this, but you always make clean work, so I was glad to see them set into place after the small cut 😅😂

[@JDWatkins]

You seem to have forgotten that M$ has locked the firmware down hard. All H/W keys have to match.

[@CuriousGamer022]

u look soo well now mate,more happy now u look healthy and u look wayy happier too😊

[@messynate]

Man I’m waiting for the white model with disc for sure

[@superpuneet007]

I wait for your video every week. 👍🏻

[@Dragzilla66]

Damn, was hoping the boards were the same without missing chips. 😂

[@0wnz0rz888]

I knew it wouldn’t work, it is blocked by the bios checks. But it was fun watching you panic that the Xbox was possibly damaged by your attempt

[@philvt101]

I don't know how you manage to install each of those tiny components with hot air without blowing the rest of them away.

[@TrimeshSZ]

Before watching the video my prediction is that you can physically install it, but it won't recognize games because the drive pairing needs a drive-specific key written into the consoles keyvault in order to decrypt the disc. Edit: OK, after watching the video I see it just crashed - by guess is that when the drive was detected the system tried to read the drive key out of the keyvault, and then panicked and crashed when it couldn't find it.

[@tokin420nchokin]

Your ability to laugh when things go wrong is admirable. I hope your making enough money making these videos to cover it all!

[@bloodravens70]

Maybe not a big deal but at the 7:22 top capasitor move down a little bit .

[@WarlockSRB]

Good to see you're OK man, keep it up... and best regards :)

[@gorancarevic9896]

i am so glad that your ar better now

[@DarkTranqz]

Yeah, I would imagine this would be the classic Xbox 360/One issue of needing to swap the board from the old drive into the new drive, so the key matched the motherboard, otherwise it won't work.

[@char7490]

Glad to see you are looking healthier!

[@AnEyeRacky]

You're a menace! Lol lookin good brother. Hope things are going well for ya, and a happy thanksgiving

[@danielhulan3058]

Im glad you fixed it cause that 3rd soldered component was really triggering my ocd lol

[@Hugo._]

Happy to see your hair growing out !

[@GaussIon]

Have you thought about installing a vapor chamber cooling unit 9n these new consoles and seeing if it runs cooler? Assuming the components fit.

[@MarioMakerSoftlock]

you're an awesome guy, hope you're recovering for good

[@Omega247]

You make it look easy!

[@RyanMercer]

🤘🤘 wouldn't be a Friday without ya!

[@slayer1084]

I think you should do more videos like this and call the series: Dr. Frankensteve’s Reanimation Show 😂

[@lsramonr]

I'm thinking it could be an anti-piracy measure. But for that it should have at least turned on to make a hardware check.

[@messynate]

Cool video that you placed and and took off components 👍

[@JackNormalMemes]

Its almost definitely a board revision with changes that dont pull certain voltages up for having a disc drive. Also the bios would probably be different as well so it would never have worked.

[@jubeh]

Why not try first testing a working I/o board onto the digital compute board to see if it goes deeper rather than modding a digital I/o board to become a disc I/o

[@Zergonzo]

There is a way to flash the drive with the correct key. You might have better luck in dev mode.

[@demon117]

This type of video is EXACTLY what KZbin was made for.

[@jorgeantonini201]

I’m gonna guess some of the other components are different in some way to be able to reroute power and commands to the disk drive. Different amperage fuses, capacitors, routing etc Not to mention the main board/processor are not possibly completely different and/or have different versions for digital vs physical gaming abilities. I’m not an electrician or video game repair guy or anything like that, but I a car guy. And I know certain cars will be the exact same but have one more difference somewhere, but to add whatever it is you also need to replace and or install/change other things that are related to it in the most minute way. Not to mention there’s also programming involved. If it gets the wrong signals or none at all it’s just bricked, potentially permanently. Honestly it would probably be a better idea to figure out some way to have an external disk drive. Similar to the add on memory/storage, in the sense that you can bug the lower sized storage and add to it to make it the same as the larger size capacity, or make the already larger capacity even larger. Something that plugs in is the answer in my opinion - if possible(possibly a few years down the line).

[@kota5437]

Thanks for the video !!

[@Tronicsfix]

My pleasure!

[@Mellydog4000]

Been waiting for this video 😮😄

[@Zastrutzki]

You could always sell it to some crazy person for repairs. Oh wait, that's your businessmodel.

[@BRGKasumi77Main]

Awesome video Steve!

[@Markothebrave]

You need to also change the bios as it will have a digital one.

[@rager-69]

I figured it wouldn't use the drive, but didn't think it wouldn't power on. But before you started working on this, I found it strange that they didn't use the same metal plate. They were needlessly adding metal, like they didn't want you to do this. I also wondered if the PSU is the same or if it delivers less power. Maybe that's why it wouldn't power on.

[@VladThyKing]

I’m gonna need a stations for soldering and a rework station cause I want to be able to take components out and reuse them for future projects

[@haveringpish]

Hope you're starting to feel fitter and healthier Steve, looking well pal.

[@danielhulan3058]

Steve, forgot the X clamp?!? Thats a noob move my man lol 😂. Its okay. We will forgive this time 😝

[@channaly8239]

Back in my days it came with it

[@Ahmad-A-Saleh1]

Steve, Manufacture Develope Console made it & knows!

[@Ahmad-A-Saleh1]

Also Try Disk Motherboard instead all Digital!

[@bokkenka]

9:45 -- Let it be known that I had nothing to do with the pad that was ripped off the donor board. :)

[@oppofieldpower9555]

Ifixit now sells official Xbox parts. You should do a video where you build a Series X from the ground up using their parts.

[@Astral_Drago]

Using the flux to pull the solder into place is genius, now I feel like an idiot.

[@gravionsoldier]

Looking good man hope you keep getting better in health god bless

[@txcforever]

Even if everything was done perfectly and MS didn't try preventing such a thing, you would need a drive that is assigned to that specific Xbox wouldn't you? Been that case since the PS360 days.

[@johnt.848]

PS360? was that a collaboration between Sony and Microsoft? 😂

[@markthomas1455]

I was wondering if you checked to see if there was any differences in the power supplies like another wire to power the drive components

[@snowbofr3ak]

Wow. What a wild ride 😅

[@LiuKangLang]

Hope y’all had a nice holiday.🙏🦃🍗🤤😉🙌

[@Tronicsfix]

Thanks! You too.

[@dodgydruid]

I was just watching your Xbox One S digital for the same reason as I have a working digital and a surplus blown motherboard disc One S and then this video also came up... damn MS and their married components so the digital is gonna stay "en flute" and I will have to find a motherboard for the surplus one and marry that to the good disc drive I have (I have done all my OG Xbox Ones with new stuff so a couple of screws and couple solder points is not difficult lol)(I got one of them USB C soldering irons today and beginning to wonder why I haven't done that before, super cool and very easy to use just hook up at a nearby power point with a USB C brick and means I don't have to keep lugging my various stations and rework stuff out into where the repair needs to be done :) )

[@NikBoff]

There was a component already on the board (KZbin 03:05), possibly a capacitor, maybe it is not required or a different value is required

[@fu1r4]

When you put all those components on the board with that heat-gun you really baked them ... Maybe you destroyed some of them?