Thompson drive going bad? Options?

ragtop70

ragtop70

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My uncle's Xbox has been giving him dirty disc errors lately. He had to turn it on and off about 15 times to get GTA San Andreas to work yesterday. He has used a lens cleaner before, so it's not dirt on the disc or lens. I'm assuming it's because of the dreaded Thompson drive residing inside his Xbox.
What are his options? He can't afford a Samsung or Phillips drive, not at $50 - $60 on ebay. How difficult would it be to install one of the laser assemblies sold on ebay? Would it even be worth replacing the drive with another Thompson for about $25?
Thanks.
 
Seriously, have him call Microsoft (1-800-4MY-XBOX). Don't toss around the "Thomson" term. Just have him give them the symptoms of the problem and then have him follow their troubleshooting. Get a reference number, if he has to make more than one phone call. When they've exhausted the troubleshooting, they'll say it needs to be repaired. Here's the thing though - depending on a number of factors, especially if the Xbox was manufactured close to launch - they'll occasionally replace defective Thomsons for free, he may just have to foot the shipping to the repair center. It's worth a try.
 
When I called about this with Microsoft a couple of months ago, they said that the repair charge was $79, including shipping both directions. If it's sent to them and diagnosed without a problem, you're still out the $79. Regardless of the items needed for the repair, it's still the same $79.

Also, either diagnosed without any problems or repaired, it's covered for a full year against any issues, and they'll fix it for free within the year's time, including shipping charges both directions.

Keep that in mind about spending the money on repair, since it'll be covered for a year, either way, for not much more than the Samsung drive cost from eBay.
 
i called back in August of last year about mine (got christmas of launch) and simply told them what the problems were. i had a thompson and it was crapping out hard core.
the people were really nice and all i had to do was foot the shipping bill to them (14 bucks or so). and i got a new samsung drive back in about a week.

i was about ready to buy a new xbox (with halo 2 launching and what not), but i figured i would give it one last try and it worked. so i agree with the above poster, give microsoft a call.
 
[quote name='specialk']i called back in August of last year about mine (got christmas of launch) and simply told them what the problems were. i had a thompson and it was crapping out hard core.
the people were really nice and all i had to do was foot the shipping bill to them (14 bucks or so). and i got a new samsung drive back in about a week.

i was about ready to buy a new xbox (with halo 2 launching and what not), but i figured i would give it one last try and it worked. so i agree with the above poster, give microsoft a call.[/QUOTE]

Did they send you a box to ship it in, or did you have to find one on your own to send it to them?

Also, did they just fix it without any warranty attached to the repair, or did it assume the 1 year warranty like they would for you spending the $79 on it to fix it?
 
I don't know when launch was, but his (and mine, this is why I'm worried) was manufactured on 7/25/2003. Is that close to launch?
 
[quote name='ragtop70']I don't know when launch was, but his (and mine, this is why I'm worried) was manufactured on 7/25/2003. Is that close to launch?[/QUOTE]

It launched for Holiday 2001, so I'd say no.
 
[quote name='specialk']i called back in August of last year about mine (got christmas of launch) and simply told them what the problems were. i had a thompson and it was crapping out hard core.
the people were really nice and all i had to do was foot the shipping bill to them (14 bucks or so). and i got a new samsung drive back in about a week.

i was about ready to buy a new xbox (with halo 2 launching and what not), but i figured i would give it one last try and it worked. so i agree with the above poster, give microsoft a call.[/QUOTE]


That's interesting. I bought mine on launch day so obviously I have a Thompson. The drive is really starting to crap out...playing GTA: VC is an exercise in futility due to frequent on-the-fly loading. I was just about to drop the cash on a Samsung drive and do it myself but I may call and try my luck with them. I kind of find it hard to believe they'd fix it for free besides shipping, especially because I didn't purchase their expensive extended warranty beyond one year. We'll see.
 
Heh, excuse my naive question here....but how can you tell which drive you have? I've been getting the same problems lately (every once in a while) & I figured the drive was going bad. I'd probably just buy a new XBOX if this one hits the dirt.
 
You can tell what drive you have by the bottom of the DVD tray.

xbox_dvd_drives.gif
 
If you bought your XBOX at launch, and if you call support tell them its the Thomson's fault they will usually replace it for the cost of just one way shipping.
 
has it happened with any other games? It could be a faulty disc. I wouldnt bother fixing if it is in fact a bad drive and would put the money you would spend to fix it down on a 360
 
He had trouble with Forza as well. GTA was so bad that he exchanged one copy for the disc he's currently having trouble with. So, unless there was a bad printing on San Andreas, it's probably a bad drive. As far as the 360 goes, he could never budget the money to buy one. I may try the LG drive at paccforce if I can find the file to flash the drive with.
 
I bought my Xbox recently and the date of manufacture is 03/24/2005.

I checked my cd tray and seems like its a Thompson..


are Thompson drives that bad?
I gues ill keep it till xbox 360 comes out..
 
[quote name='harunim']I bought my Xbox recently and the date of manufacture is 03/24/2005.

I checked my cd tray and seems like its a Thompson..


are Thompson drives that bad?
I gues ill keep it till xbox 360 comes out..[/QUOTE]

I'd call 1-800-4-MY-XBOX and put $20 down on the 1-year (I think) warranty. Then you're covered for everything, just in case.
 
[quote name='harunim']I bought my Xbox recently and the date of manufacture is 03/24/2005.

I checked my cd tray and seems like its a Thompson..


are Thompson drives that bad?
I gues ill keep it till xbox 360 comes out..[/QUOTE]
Its probably an Hitachi/LG.
drives2.jpg


Notice the subtle differences between the Thomson and the Hitachi. Its not a great drive, but its better than a Thomson.
 
Hey dafoomie,
Do you know where I can get the file to flash the drive that is mentioned in the paccforce PDF file? It is 8050_FW_Flasher_FIXED.rar All I've found on Yahoo so far are mod chip sites. Thanks for the links and the help.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']Its probably an Hitachi/LG.
drives2.jpg


Notice the subtle differences between the Thomson and the Hitachi. Its not a great drive, but its better than a Thomson.[/QUOTE]


Actually it seems like i have Hitachi. Better than Thompson i guess...
 
Another question:
Has anyone done a swap like the LG GRD-8163B that dafoomie provided the link to? This drive, if I can find the firmware flash file, will be going into an un-modded Xbox. I have been able to find info about other DVD drive swaps into Xboxs and they all state that it won't play original Xbox game discs. Original game discs are the only reason this console is ever used.
 
[quote name='ragtop70']Another question:
Has anyone done a swap like the LG GRD-8163B that dafoomie provided the link to? This drive, if I can find the firmware flash file, will be going into an un-modded Xbox. I have been able to find info about other DVD drive swaps into Xboxs and they all state that it won't play original Xbox game discs. Original game discs are the only reason this console is ever used.[/QUOTE]
The ones you're looking at all refer to unmodded dvd drives. If you weren't going to use original discs, you wouldn't have to mod it. The firmware flash is only one part of it. After you complete the mod (to the drive, you don't have to mod the Xbox), you can use original discs with it. It even says so in the PDF.
 
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