BENQ replaced my laser but still won't read

[063 xobx]

the laser had absolutely no signs of wear and was packaged in an anti static bag sealed in a new box. the seller said they have started removing the solder ball because too many customers were installing them without removing the ball. we will see if the new one has the solder and if it works or not when it gets here.

bb

Better if you ask the seller to just leave the solder blob untouch to be sure that somehow new[/QUOTE]

i think a new one is already on the way. we will just have to wait and see.

yea i think they should leave it on anyway. when they removed it is probably where the laser went bad.

bb

---------- Post added at 17:29 ---------- Previous post was at 17:23 ----------

I've had several ebay lasers that turned up.without anti static balls.and they were duds, as the above said tell.them.to leave the solder ball.on, that way you know they are brand.spanking new.

On an additional note I've replaced 3-4 worm motors.i. the last 6 months, mostly on slim drives which i see.more and.more.have disc.price.problems these days.

interesting, what were the reasons/symptoms that warrented replacement?

bb

 

[RROD!]

norm if you look at the lens of the laser it should look a brighter blue than the old one as all the others said its nothing new to get crap lasers from ebay and have to ask for another ..did you try a cd as they can some times work when games and dvd dont one other thing that it maybe but dont mess till you try new laser is the rails if there out you can get open tray error too but try the new laser first ..all the best and post back let us know how you get on buddy

 

[Ticallion]

interesting, what were the reasons/symptoms that warrented replacement?

bb

Laser not travelling properly, normally this is due to the teeth on the white plastic piece holding the laser to the worm drive being worn, but having replaced that and still no cigar, I took the worm drive out and upon turning it by hand could feel it grinded slightly, not smooth and seamless like it should. Sure enough replacing with a worm drive out of a spare drive (any drive, they appear to be all the same) allowed it to work again.

Other than that if the laser is travelling, it's a new laser but only spins for a brief second before stopping and giving open tray then I would look towards adjusting the rails themselves via the screws underneath. Be warned you could spend a long time finding the sweet spot for each though, I've found so much as a quarter turn out and it will not work, longest drive took 8 solid hours before I clocked it.....

 

[Timez]

If this laser does not work either (even when it came with an anti-static solder blob - how do you know they have not just added it) - send it back to the seller asking for a refund - and get a known new one from someone on here.

You have no way of doing any real tests on whether it was the laser unless you are 100% sure it is new.

Timez

 

[063 xobx]

ok, well i received the replacement laser today, and it still won't read. i contacted the seller and said the solder ball being removed could be the problem. he said they send out 50 of these a day with usually 1 or 2 failing.

so he is sending me another with the solder ball on. all this without requiring me to send back the dead ones first. he has been an exlemplary seller with great customer support. if the next one doesn't work i will send all three back and get one from someone here. i think i might replace the mobo too.

bruce

 

[063 xobx]

since this xbox came to me already opened (looks like many times, maybe even dropped once or twice), is it possible that the drive is not reading because the drive key does not match the mainboard? the box works perfectly with the exception of the dvd drive.

bruce

 

[Rome 16:16]

If the key is not correct, it would throw "PLAY DVD" error.

 

[Astromine]

Have you tried replacing the worm motor?

If you have one just give it a shot, it doesn't hurt to try.

 

[063 xobx]

If the key is not correct, it would throw "PLAY DVD" error.

this is good news then.

bb

---------- Post added at 16:56 ---------- Previous post was at 16:53 ----------

Have you tried replacing the worm motor?

If you have one just give it a shot, it doesn't hurt to try.

i have not, however it spins very smooth and easily. it also does move the laser back and forth some. this is the only benq drive i have. is the worm drive the same accross platforms? ie. hitatchi, benq and samsung? i do have a couple hitatchi drives.

bb

 

[Loomingx]

You're best bet is to just spend an extra $15-20 and buy a new drive matching your model. All you have to do then is swap the PCB or spoof it through Jungleflasher.

You can get hitachi and samsung drives for $20-25 on Ebay. Benq and Lite-ons generally go for $30-35 and most come with a 3month to 1 year warranty depending on seller.

 

[063 xobx]

You're best bet is to just spend an extra $15-20 and buy a new drive matching your model. All you have to do then is swap the PCB or spoof it through Jungleflasher.

You can get hitachi and samsung drives for $20-25 on Ebay. Benq and Lite-ons generally go for $30-35 and most come with a 3month to 1 year warranty depending on seller.

yeah, but i am doing this as a hobby for the most part, and i like a challenge. the more this thing doesn't want to work, the more i want to figure out the problem and fix it.

i bought a used dvd drive main board today. we will see if that fixes it when it gets here. that is, if the next laser to arrive doesn't do it.

bb

 

[063 xobx]

ok,...

third laser still no good. i tried flashing a different benq firmware but no change. i bought a used board and flashed it with the ofw from the original board and still same thing. i also tried adjusting the pot and went all the way down to the lowest setting from the factory reading of 4.75 in 0.2 incriments using a fluke multi meter. i then tried a worm motor out of a lite on drive but still no change. is it possible the spindle motor could be at fault, even though it spins up?

i shot a little video, and maybe someone with more experience can tell me more?

http://youtu.be/rr-3jKi-Rqc

x

first flash;



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JungleFlasher 0.1.92 Beta (304)
Session Started Fri Mar 09 16:11:52 2012

This is a Wow 64 process running on 2 x 64 bit CPUs
portio64.sys Driver Installed
portio64.sys Driver Started, thanks Schtrom !
Found 8 I/O Ports.
Found 2 Com Ports.
Found 3 windows drives C: D: E:
Found 1 CD/DVD drives D:

Drive is Benq..
Drive is Benq..
Drive is Benq..

Sending Magic Keys to Drive on port 0xC900
Drive is Benq..
Drive is Benq..
Drive is Benq..

Sending Magic Keys to Drive on port 0xC900
.................................................
Done!
Sending Vendor Intro
Requesting Device ID
Manufacturer ID: 0xC2
Device ID: 0x11
Flash Name: MXIC(MX25L2005)
Flash Size: 262144 bytes

Getting Status from port 0xC900
Serial flash found with Status 0x73

Reading Bank 0: ................
Reading Bank 1: ................
Reading Bank 2: ................
Reading Bank 3: ................

Dumped in 4615mS

Benq Dump file saved to BENQ-OFW.bin
Loading firmware from buffer
Inquiry string found
Identify string found
Drive key @ 0xB030 457789D23D0FE45417D888199E907272
Firmware Osig: [PBDS VAD6038 0442]
Firmware is: Stock
Key added to database


Loading MTK_Flash source file
Loading firmware file C:\Users\Ace\Desktop\xbox\dvd drive tools\JungleFlasher.0.1.92.Beta(304)\JungleFlasher v0.1.92 Beta (304)\firmware\Stock firmware\BenQ\BenQ_Pre_13141\orig-64930C-A030.bin
MD5 hash: 98f845cf61ac39e3c8cc75bc798446b4
Inquiry string found
Identify string found
Drive key @ 0xA030 00000000000000000000000000000000
Firmware Osig: [PBDS VAD6038-64930C ]
Firmware is: Stock
Spoofing Target
DVD Key copied to target
Inquiry string copied to Target
Identify string copied to Target

Key data saved to C:\Users\Ace\Desktop\xbox\dvd drive tools\benq key\Key 1.bin


Getting Status from port 0xC900
SPi flash found with Status 0x73

Sending Chip Erase to Port 0xC900
Erasing:
Writing target buffer to flash
Writing Bank 0: ................
Writing Bank 1: ................
Writing Bank 2: ................
Writing Bank 3: ................

Flash Verification Test !
Reading Bank 0: ................
Reading Bank 1: ................
Reading Bank 2: ................
Reading Bank 3: ................
Write verified OK !

Sending Vendor Outro to port 0xC900
Drive is Benq..


second flash;



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JungleFlasher 0.1.92 Beta (304)
Session Started Fri Mar 09 16:46:13 2012

This is a Wow 64 process running on 2 x 64 bit CPUs
portio64.sys Driver Installed
portio64.sys Driver Started, thanks Schtrom !
Found 4 I/O Ports.
Found 2 Com Ports.
Found 3 windows drives C: D: E:
Found 1 CD/DVD drives D:

Drive is Benq..
Drive is Benq..
Drive is Benq..

Sending Magic Keys to Drive on port 0xC900
.................................................
Done!
Sending Vendor Intro
Requesting Device ID
Manufacturer ID: 0xC2
Device ID: 0x11
Flash Name: MXIC(MX25L2005)
Flash Size: 262144 bytes
Loading firmware file C:\Users\Ace\Desktop\xbox\dvd drive tools\JungleFlasher.0.1.92.Beta(304)\JungleFlasher v0.1.92 Beta (304)\firmware\BENQ-OFW.bin
MD5 hash: a7bb963d0f7aa5aeb4cee70a4964bc58
Inquiry string found
Identify string found
Drive key @ 0xB030 457789D23D0FE45417D888199E907272
Firmware Osig: [PBDS VAD6038 0442]
Firmware is: Stock
Loading firmware file C:\Users\Ace\Desktop\xbox\dvd drive tools\JungleFlasher.0.1.92.Beta(304)\JungleFlasher v0.1.92 Beta (304)\firmware\BENQ-OFW.bin
MD5 hash: a7bb963d0f7aa5aeb4cee70a4964bc58
Inquiry string found
Identify string found
Drive key @ 0xB030 457789D23D0FE45417D888199E907272
Firmware Osig: [PBDS VAD6038 0442]
Firmware is: Stock
Loading firmware file C:\Users\Ace\Desktop\xbox\dvd drive tools\benq key\Key 1.bin
MD5 hash: ee8763c060d0e58986ead82f6f55dbb0
Parse Failed !

Loading firmware file C:\Users\Ace\Desktop\xbox\dvd drive tools\JungleFlasher.0.1.92.Beta(304)\JungleFlasher v0.1.92 Beta (304)\firmware\BENQ-OFW.bin
MD5 hash: a7bb963d0f7aa5aeb4cee70a4964bc58
Inquiry string found
Identify string found
Drive key @ 0xB030 457789D23D0FE45417D888199E907272
Firmware Osig: [PBDS VAD6038 0442]
Firmware is: Stock

Getting Status from port 0xC900
SPi flash found with Status 0x73

Sending Chip Erase to Port 0xC900
Erasing:
Writing target buffer to flash
Writing Bank 0: ................
Writing Bank 1: ................
Writing Bank 2: ................
Writing Bank 3: ................

Flash Verification Test !
Reading Bank 0: ................
Reading Bank 1: ................
Reading Bank 2: ................
Reading Bank 3: ................
Write verified OK !

Sending Vendor Outro to port 0xC900
Drive is Benq..

 

[sarah1331]

When you installed your laser did you adjust the guide rails ??

 

[Rome 16:16]

Have you tried to change to laser ribbon? If you have spare try replacing it.

 

[063 xobx]

When you installed your laser did you adjust the guide rails ??

no, the laser slides back and forth very easy, there is no binding.

x

---------- Post added at 07:54 ---------- Previous post was at 07:51 ----------

When you installed your laser did you adjust the guide rails ??

Have you tried to change to laser ribbon? If you have spare try replacing it.

not yet, i was thinking about ordering a new one. i don't have any spare cables. would the lite-on cable work in the benq?

x

 

[sarah1331]

I not saying it cannot move but of you have one rail too high it won't read
This is from experance it still moved it just wouldn't read discs

Ps liteon and benq phat ribbons work with each other

 

[063 xobx]

I not saying it cannot move but of you have one rail too high it won't read
This is from experance it still moved it just wouldn't read discs

Ps liteon and benq phat ribbons work with each other

ok, tried a lite-on ribbon cable, no change. the lite-on cable is a little too short for full travel but it did work for the purpose of testing.

the azimuth adjustment will have to wait till i have more time to mess with it. this thing is driving me crazy!

noob question alert!

could i spoof a sammy or hitatchi drive just to test the box? not too concerned about xbl with this box because i have others.

x

 

[Rome 16:16]

Yes you can , but no spoofing. Just inject the key into the sammy or hitachi firmware.

 

[063 xobx]

Yes you can , but no spoofing. Just inject the key into the sammy or hitachi firmware.

thats what i needed to know. thanks

x

 

[icebrg5]

I've had similar issues with two drives(both Benq) recently both displaying open tray errors. I bought two new replacement lasers off of ebay from a previous seller i used before in which i had success from.I tried both lasers out in the drives and could not get either of them to work properly.I even took the known working laser from my 0800 ripping drive and i tried it in the drives that were giving me the open tray issues and it still showed open tray error even with the working laser in it.Once i put the working laser back in the 0800 drive it worked just fine again.

I gave up on them and figure that there must be some other issues with the drives themselves that i do not know about.Both drives open and close fine and the lasers move up and down the track just fine when trying to read discs but they seem to hang on "reading" for a good 1-2 minutes before finally saying open tray. All other open tray errors I've encountered has also went straight the open tray message with 10 seconds of trying to read the disc.