The Xbox Portable Arcade

[madstanners]

I'm starting a project with one of the two broken Xbox 360 consoles I have. I've come to ask you good people help in starting my project. I've already stripped down the system, I'm going to take the final metal casing off of the motherboard tomorrow or on Thursday. The problem with both consoles is that both of the DVD drives no longer read discs properly, so I was planning on using this system as a console for just playing games off of the hard drive (legal games only, no pirated games or backups). The removal of the DVD drive I thought, would allow me to cram a lot more into a smaller space.

I am using an Xbox 360 with the Jaspar motherboard and I have one spare in case anything goes wrong (which it hopefully won't, because if this project is successful, I'd like to build one for my brother).

I want to use a fairly small screen for this, perhaps a 15" widescreen, as I want this to be a truly portable system, but I don't mind going a little larger to possibly a 17". I have a 15" 4:3 monitor spare that I wouldn't mind tearing apart for this project, or would it be better to spend the money and get a 16:9 widescreen? I want to make the hard drive internal, so that I can access by unscrewing the top panel or a side panel. I would like to have a keyboard, but this isn't completely necessary. I would like to implement WiFi, though it's not completely necessary at the moment and it doesn't seem too difficult to do.

I am planning on cutting down the CPU heatsink to reduce the size of the unit and adding some small 10-15mm fans to the front and back of the unit (preferably two intake fans and two exhaust fans) to compensate for the reduced heatsink size.

The main issue I'm having with this build (and it's preventing me from wanting to advance any further) is that I don't quite know what the methods are for powering the LCD monitor from the same power socket. Can anybody link me to any resources that can help better explain these methods of LCD powering. I have space for extra components for power as the removal of the DVD drive has left me with lots of spare space. I'm pretty much set on everything else, I'm just really confused with the LCD powering. I've searched these forums and I've googled and I'm completely confused.

Thanks for your help, in advance.

[humakabula1]

Welcome,

have you tried cleaning the dvd drive lasers with isopropy? That can usually fix any disc read related errors.

In terms of screen the one you have should be fine, also the 16:9 wouldnt hurt either

Wifi is simple, like you said. just connect a wifi adapter to the console.

With the heatsinks/size of final unit;
Because of the size of the screen it would be easy the current size of the 360 mobo sitting behind it.
One thing you cant skimp on with 360's is cooling, I would recomend keeping the heatsinks stock, and maybe swapping them for aftermarket ones..

Addign the fans would be a good idea, you could even go bigger than 50mm, never hurts to have more airflow, makle sure you have decent intake/outtake vents.

Powering the screen:
Does the screen have its own psu, if it does its pretty simple. splice the cables together.
If it doesnt i suggest looking at ben heck's 2nd(?) xbox 360 laptop, he shows how he split the internal pcb.

good luck with your project

[madstanners]

I've sort of got myself set on the idea of a drive-less (DVD) Xbox 360 portable now. I also think it's a little different and it hasn't quite been tried yet. I don't trust myself to not wreck discs in the console anyway. Thanks for the reply and the disc drive makes a whirring noise a lot of the time and takes a while reading before displaying 'Open Tray' again. I'll have a look at it though, because my little brother might be interested in a fixed Xbox 360.

As far as the monitor goes, the actual screen is just a little larger than the motherboard, so it's a perfect size. The 4:3 monitor just takes a standard kettle lead, so I'm presuming all the AC conversion gubbins are inside the back of it. How do I go about splicing the cables together? Which cables exactly are we talking about? There's the cable from the mains to the power brick and the power brick to the Xbox. Can you link me to any low profile after market heatsinks? I'm looking to use as many 10mm fans as necessary, simply because I'd like to capitalise on how much height the unit loses thanks to the removal of a DVD drive.

I appreciate your reply and await your next response.
Thanks.

[madstanners]

I stripped down the spare monitor I had earlier and it looks like there'll be no point in splitting the power board because there are components that stick out all over it and I'm honestly not that bothered. I also don't know where to split the board. Where abouts do I attach the live and neutral wires to? The Xbox plug does not use the earth pin, but my monitor's power has an earth pin. Do I solder the live and neutral pins to their corresponding position on the LCD power board plug socket and just ignore the earth? What kind of wire do I need to use for wiring the live and neutral?
Thanks.