Xbox Thomson Dvd Drive Disassembly Repair Guide

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

Time Required

                          30 - 45 minutes

Sections

Hard Drive
9 steps
Disc Drive
2 steps
Xbox Thomson DVD Drive Disassembly
4 steps

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What you need

Step 1

              Hard Drive

Make sure your Xbox is safely unplugged and is laying on a flat, stable surface.

Make sure your Xbox is safely unplugged and is laying on a flat, stable surface.

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Step 2

Turn the Xbox over to reveal the four rubber feet.
Use a metal spudger to pry off the four rubber feet.

Turn the Xbox over to reveal the four rubber feet.

Use a metal spudger to pry off the four rubber feet.

Step 3

There are 2 more screws hidden under the two labels on the bottom of the case.
You can either remove the labels or simply feel for the screw holes through the labels and then cut or punch a hole through them.

There are 2 more screws hidden under the two labels on the bottom of the case.

You can either remove the labels or simply feel for the screw holes through the labels and then cut or punch a hole through them.

Step 4

Remove the six T20 Torx screws securing the top cover to the bottom cover.

Remove the six T20 Torx screws securing the top cover to the bottom cover.

Step 5

Once the bottom and top shells are no longer attached, carefully turn the Xbox right-side-up, lift and remove the top cover.

Once the bottom and top shells are no longer attached, carefully turn the Xbox right-side-up, lift and remove the top cover.

Step 6

Remove the three 3 mm T10 screws securing the hard drive to the Xbox.
There is one screw on the rear left side of the hard drive that is only visible when the IDE ribbon cable is lifted up. The other two are at the front right and left sides of the hard drive.
The screw on the lower left corner of the disk drive is not in the hole that it appears to be in, but rather just closer to the corner.

Remove the three 3 mm T10 screws securing the hard drive to the Xbox.

There is one screw on the rear left side of the hard drive that is only visible when the IDE ribbon cable is lifted up. The other two are at the front right and left sides of the hard drive.

The screw on the lower left corner of the disk drive is not in the hole that it appears to be in, but rather just closer to the corner.

Step 7

Free the hard drive power cable from the carrier for sufficient slack to lift the hard drive out.
Lift the plastic hard drive carrier out of the Xbox case.

Free the hard drive power cable from the carrier for sufficient slack to lift the hard drive out.

Lift the plastic hard drive carrier out of the Xbox case.

Step 8

Remove the four 3.4 mm T15 Torx screws from the plastic hard drive carrier (two screws per side).
Carefully remove the hard drive from the plastic carrier. Gentle rocking will see the hard drive come out quite easily.

Remove the four 3.4 mm T15 Torx screws from the plastic hard drive carrier (two screws per side).

Carefully remove the hard drive from the plastic carrier. Gentle rocking will see the hard drive come out quite easily.

Step 9

Pull both the hard drive data ribbon cable and the power cable straight up from the hard drive.
They may be firmly seated, so be careful trying to remove them. DO NOT pull the wires as you may damage the cable assembly.

Pull both the hard drive data ribbon cable and the power cable straight up from the hard drive.

They may be firmly seated, so be careful trying to remove them. DO NOT pull the wires as you may damage the cable assembly.

Step 10

              Disc Drive

Remove the disk drive. It should come right out.
Unplug the ribbon cable and yellow cables from back of disk drive.

Remove the disk drive. It should come right out.

Unplug the ribbon cable and yellow cables from back of disk drive.

Step 11

Pry back the black plastic tabs around the disk drive in order to remove it from its housing. Once removed, set the drive aside.
ONLY REMOVE IF DEAD!

Pry back the black plastic tabs around the disk drive in order to remove it from its housing. Once removed, set the drive aside.

ONLY REMOVE IF DEAD!

Step 12

              Remove Screws & Housing

Remove two #1 PH screws
Remove upper metal housing
Remove two T10 Screws
Remove lower metal housing

Remove two #1 PH screws

Remove upper metal housing

Remove two T10 Screws

Remove lower metal housing

Step 13

              Drive PCB

Remove two PH1 screws
Gently pull up on the ribbon retaining tab. Do NOT pull on ribbon. It will slide itself out in final step
Orange/Yellow steps only required if you need to remove the entire PCB
Gently pull up on the ribbon retaining tab. Ribbon is attached to underside of PCB via a sticky pad. Gently pull the ribbon away from pad
Desolder both points. Red (Left) Black (Right)
Gently press up on the PCB where you removed the two PH1 screws and rotate the board upside down
If your drive is “dead” this is where I would suggest replacing your electrolytic capacitors. There are 12 on the Thomson drive

Remove two PH1 screws

Gently pull up on the ribbon retaining tab. Do NOT pull on ribbon. It will slide itself out in final step

Orange/Yellow steps only required if you need to remove the entire PCB

Gently pull up on the ribbon retaining tab. Ribbon is attached to underside of PCB via a sticky pad. Gently pull the ribbon away from pad

Desolder both points. Red (Left) Black (Right)

Gently press up on the PCB where you removed the two PH1 screws and rotate the board upside down

If your drive is “dead” this is where I would suggest replacing your electrolytic capacitors. There are 12 on the Thomson drive

Step 14

              Manually Eject Drive

With the drive upside down slide the white lever to the right
Drive door will eject about a half inch
Flip the drive over and slowly pull the door out
Don’t forget to slide the white lever back to the left during reassembly

With the drive upside down slide the white lever to the right

Drive door will eject about a half inch

Flip the drive over and slowly pull the door out

Don’t forget to slide the white lever back to the left during reassembly

Step 15

              Apply Grease & Clean Laser

These drives are seasoned. Model 1.0 Xboxes were made in 2001 and nearly 20yrs old now. It’s wise to re-lubricate them anywhere moving parts or friction is applied
If your drive door sticks when pressing the eject button, now is the time to replace your drive belt. Do this before applying grease to eliminate accidentally getting it on your belt
Apply grease to highlighted areas
Don’t forget the tooth track, highlighted yellow, shown in previous step
Apply a liberal glob of grease along the tooth track and insert/withdraw the drive door a few times to easily lubricate the gears highlighted pink
With a cotton swab, gently clean your laser with 91% or higher isopropyl alcohol

These drives are seasoned. Model 1.0 Xboxes were made in 2001 and nearly 20yrs old now. It’s wise to re-lubricate them anywhere moving parts or friction is applied

If your drive door sticks when pressing the eject button, now is the time to replace your drive belt. Do this before applying grease to eliminate accidentally getting it on your belt

Apply grease to highlighted areas

Don’t forget the tooth track, highlighted yellow, shown in previous step

Apply a liberal glob of grease along the tooth track and insert/withdraw the drive door a few times to easily lubricate the gears highlighted pink

With a cotton swab, gently clean your laser with 91% or higher isopropyl alcohol

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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Austin Perdue - May 3, 2020

What is the plastic disk at the top of the drive above where the dvd sits is called?

can it cause error 12 even if it opens drive? talking 1st gen xbox i also move the laser am not sure if i need to realign the spinning disc or both?

laser did get clean but even with opening drive gets error 12….

Member-Contributed Guide#

What you need#

Member-Contributed Guide

What you need