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Monday, March 7, 2011

Goodwill Hunting and Original Xbox Repair

Ace-Xbox
Not to bad for $25.00 if I don't say so myself.
So, like other collector's I'm sure, on the weekends I enjoy frequenting my local Goodwill and other various area thrift stores. On this particular occasion however, I was astounded to not only find an Xbox, but also a mint-condition Ace Combat 5: Flightstick 2 bundle. Sure the jewel cases for the games that were in the box were empty, but that was a $10 fix, and the sticks work perfectly. I think I'm gonna throw this sucker up on ebay. My flight sim days are somewhat behind me.


BustedXbox
Error code 16. Not uncommon, but no less a pain in my ass.
The Xbox's fate would be different however. I actually got Microsoft's first console some time after I received the Xbox 360 for Christmas. I found the thing in a heap leaned up against a decrepit PS2 and a box full of VHS tapes, a few football games, a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest strategy guide, and a broken Gamecube controller. I discovered the haul by a dumpster behind my local Giant Grocery in Alexandria. I knew they didn't work most likely, but I was still excited to see if they'd be fixable. The PS2 had a bad laser (gave that sucker away), as did the Xbox. For some reason, the local Play'nTrade actually had DVD-ROM drives for the thing lying around so that was a quick, cheap fix. The end result? I got a mostly free original Xbox! There was even a copy of Fable in the bad DVD drive.

Fast-forward a year and my "Dumpster-Box" ceases to power on. The problem was the cheap-ass Foxconn PSU that Microsoft initially issued new power cables to combat, and would later replace on the manufacturing line. Mine was toast, and from the sounds of it, I'm lucky the damned thing didn't decide to burn my house down. I was biding my time before I went out and dropped  another $20.00 to fix my "free" console, but then I found the beauty above. You can't see the tag in the picture, but that sucker only cost $14.95! When I powered the new unit on I received error code 16, but since it was in such a nice clean case and had a running power supply, I figured that a little operation was in order. More on that in my next post!


3 comments:

  1. I picked up an XBOX at a flea market recently for about $10 it came with nothing no cords just the console.

    But the vendor a few stalls down had the A/V composite cables and a duke (FAT) controller for about $2.00 for both so that was a steal.

    When i got home i fired it up and it worked ! I even picked up a copy of TIME SPLITTERS 2 from a store and it plays ok.

    But i occasionally get the "Dirty Disc Error" which means the laser is weak or NEARLY DEAD ! LOL

    After some investigation its a n XBOX with a Thomspon DVD drive !

    From what i hear the worst !

    BUT I AM ONE HAPPY GAMER !

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  2. Great find! I got really lucky with my first original Xbox. I found it with a bunch of VHS tapes and a PS2 next to a dumpster behind a grocery store. The DVD-ROM and AV cable were bad right off the bat, but the local Play 'n Trade sold me a new drive and AV cable with no questions asked :D.

    I ended up giving them the PS2 and they repaired it's optical drive and donated it to a rec center. I thought that was pretty cool.

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  3. Yeah i will definitely need to change the optical drive on the this XBOX i found a few on line but all refurbished and the SAMSUNG DVD-ROM is impossible to find !

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