My very poor Ebay xbox. any advice or help?

[DubbedTheBeast]

so i picked up this xbox for 35 bucks including shipping off ebay and the guy said that the sound and video works but the disc tray will not open. so im thinking cool i can practice some modding here. which i guess i still can but this thing has been gutted. he has removed tons of components and damages the board. i don't know how it will open the menu and allow you to change settings with as many parts that has been removed.

i have decided to look at the bright side though. i still may be able to try some things out, like LEDs and maybe a window. i could possibly even try to rebuild it if i can get my hands on a board that has been toasted with all the necessary parts. clear and detailed pictures of a fully intact board would be extremely helpful in this also. the last option would be to part it out to who ever would buy them.

so this is what i have:
good sound and video chips(intact and no signs of heat damage)
all external sockets are functional
both heat sinks(seem to be in great condition.
12v fan(look stock but dusty)
disc drive(looks to be missing parts also)

i know i am missing:
disc drive cables(that connect the drive to the board)
the internal fan shroud(the directional shroud for the heat sinks)
if you notice something that i didn't please let me know, this is my first time cracking one open.

here are the photos i took.
top

bottom

one of the Xclamps(didnt know if this would help identify the model or not)

the clamp/heat sink mounting holes. the handy work is not mine, i did not make the marks, they were there when i was giving the bard a look before removing the clamps. the hole in the top left of the picture has what looks to be 2 broken traces but on of them is clearly broken at close inspection.

missing parts

looking to the left of the black square chip in the bottom middle you can see a missing programmable timer and at the bottom left of the photo another missing programmable timer.

small and scattered part missing here

more missing parts

the disc drive. i did not remove the cables here for fear of not being able to put them back. it seems to be missing some parts on this side of the board but all of the cables seem to be in place. i have no way of testing the drive.(model# DG-16D2S-06C) (Manufacture date July,2009)

top of the face button. this is missing many things.

bottom of the face button. this is also missing things including a programmable timer just below and to the left of the approval sticker.

[aZiZ1]

theres just too much... this is too much for one man..

[crazy-modder]

Well i hope this gets your hopes up.  But all those open solder points that you see are supposed to be like that, its not missing any mosfets/transistors as you may be thinking.  All xbox 360 motherboards, same version or not are different in some way.  The only problem that i see with that mobo are the 2 broken traces.  try to fix those 2 traces and replace the heatsinks and fan and see if she fires up.

[DubbedTheBeast]

it does start up and i can change settings and browse the off-line menu. it is incapable of going online but does register that it is connected to a network. when i look at pictures of other boards that have been opened they are heavily populated in the areas where i have nothing. i don't doubt that you know what your talking about, because i of course have no reason to do so but from what i have seen in all of my research is that those are suppose to have things there. i would like to fix it up just to see if i can and to gain knowledge of what is going on inside of there but i think that it would in the end cost me more than buying a new one. i have considered opening my functioning xbox(the one i use) but it is still under warranty and i don't want to ruin that. i am just incredibly bummed about my first beater being in this condition. 

[crazy-modder]

Well its your xbox and you can do what you want, But i have been fixing xboxs, reflowing/reballing for awhile now and i have seen alot of crazy looking things on these motherboards.  I would highly suggest not putting anything in those mosfet spots.  It would ruin your xbox completely.  The guy you bought it from did not remove anything from those empty spots that you are seeing, Microsoft made it like that for a reason.

[DubbedTheBeast]

i guess when i look closely at some with my eye piece i can see some gold plate on the edges of some pads. that tells me that the paste could have been screen printed and nothing put in place, removing something there would cover everything with solder. ive seen you post in lots of places and i can see you do know much more about this that i do.

so for now i think i will try to repair the broken traces and look up some of the things that are clearly missing like the disc drive cable and the fan shroud. does anyone have any suggestions or maybe something the wont mind selling cheap?
Post Merge: August 03, 2010, 09:00:07 PMi managed to successfully repair the trace but i wont be able to test it until tomorrow when i will be able to pick up some heat sink paste from radio shack. unless you guys think it would be okay for a minute to see if that helped my internet problem. would it be safe to set it inside the bottom of the shell and plug it in for a very quick test?

[crazy-modder]

Goodluck....

[DubbedTheBeast]

thanks, i think i will need it lol.

[Modded Matt]

I dont even see any broken traces. and I agree with crazy those empty spots are there on all xboxes... the key here is that it works. oh, I would not run it for more than a few moments without the fan shroud. if you do, take the fan and place it directly on the heat sincs to pull heat directly off them.

from the picks the disk drive looks ok, but I cant tell. 
why wont it go online?
My openion, for what its worth, this box was jtaged, or the drive was modded to run copied games, and has been banned, or he messed up the drive in the process of a flash.

I have a shroud and some cables. look at my post in BST (that is wehre all discussion of buying parts should take place.

[DubbedTheBeast]

i hope its not jtagged. i would like to think that i can make this a sexy modded xbox i can sell away (for cheap). this is just my first shot at modding something of this tech level. i did manage to get it to try an update last night but i cut it off before it had a chance to heat up. only had it on for about 60 seconds. right now i am going to add some heat sink compound but first i'm going to look in the tuts section for a few examples before clamping it down for good. thanks for the support guys.
Post Merge: August 04, 2010, 05:06:43 PMokay so i'm thinking the broken trace had something to do with the ability to sign in to xbox live. though the xbox has been banned for breaking the terms of use policies(all it says) but it seems to be fully functional. i can't get the disc drive connected to test that but i think if i had cables to connect it, i think it would also work. i am really bummed about this xbox being banned though. i am happy that i managed to reinstall the heat sinks without any problems using the stock clamp system first try though.

i really don't want to put anymore money into this unit so i think i will just put it aside until i get my hands on a unit that can be worked with. i take it that there will be no way to restore the ability to go online with this unit ever so it just screams take what i need for future projects. i did get a chance to work with a disassembled unit so i think i will look for one that will have an online ability. i may try some lighting mods just to get practice here too.

thanks for the help guys, you were both very helpful.