[enzoferrari650]

does anyone know if there are difference between the different versions of xbox? Do the older versions have problems? I'm planning on buying an xbox that was purchased in late 2002.

 

[raaj]

My personal suggestion would be to save the money and get a new console. Xboxes made before late 2003 came with Thomson or Philips DVD drive, which were prone to develop DDEs (Dirty Disc Errors) where the Xbox would have problems recognizing even good game discs. Around 2003, Xboxes started to come with Samsung drives which were more reliable.

So, I personally would suggest not buying the 2002 model, as it is more likely to develop problems sooner than later.

 

[enzoferrari650]

but i could get the old one for under 75 dollars compared to the new 130 dollars refurbished.

 

[Stephonovich]

Do you have access to it; or can you request a picture of the serial number? If you, try this. While not entirely accurate, it's usually pretty good. Alternatively, if you can get the Xbox open, or have the seller do so, this is always 100% accurate.

Anyway, no, I don't see any compelling reason not to get an older one, other than the DVD drive issue. If you're going to mod it anyway though, there's no reason at all, as the drive can be replaced.

 

[enzoferrari650]

i have acess to it. Its my friends xbox that his dad bought for him but he never opened.

 

[enzoferrari650]

and about the disc read error. Is it an error that happens to all the older systems sooner or later? Or is it just a small percentage of systems that get this problem. Would it be really likely for this system that I get to have the problem after a while?

Thanks for the help.

 

[ChickenScrtchBoy]

Stephonovich's links are pretty much worthless.

If you can look at the dvd drive tray, you can check this out. You want a Samsung drive, Phillips is ok, and the Thompson is horrible.

Just going by the serial/MFG dates, this is useful. A 1.6 is definatly not what you want.

 

[Stephonovich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChickenScrtchBoy Stephonovich's links are pretty much worthless. If you can look at the dvd drive tray, you can check this out. You want a Samsung drive, Phillips is ok, and the Thompson is horrible. Just going by the serial/MFG dates, this is useful. A 1.6 is definatly not what you want.

You're the first I've heard to call Xbox-Scene.com 'worthless'...

Furthermore, your second link is exactly what I posted.

 

[ChickenScrtchBoy]

Rofl

Look me up on X-S.

X-S as a whole is not worthless, just those links when compared to unparreled documentation on serials # and mfg date correspondence to the factory line changes.

Here is the link I meant to post before.

 

[enzoferrari650]

so what are the chances of a thompson or phillips drive getting the disc read error?

 

[Imyourzero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by enzoferrari650 so what are the chances of a thompson or phillips drive getting the disc read error?

IMO the worries about those drives are a bit exaggerated. I owned 2 stock XBOX consoles before my modded one, and neither one of those had the Samsung drive. Neither one had problems with reading discs, either. My modded XBOX has a Samsung drive, and I haven't been able to tell any difference. I'm not saying it's not better; just saying I didn't have any problems with my two non-Samsung drives.

 

[enzoferrari650]

Thanks dude.

 

[Sweet Spot]

Couldn't help notice the thread name, and even though this is only "sort of" related, I don't think I'd be totally out of line asking you guys this: If you do X Box Live, what are your "Tags" ? I JUST bought an X Box two days ago, and am only practicing before going "Live" (bought year sub, and have several 2 month trials) because I'm only used to PC gaming, and am finding using the game controller difficult.

I have yet to come up with a screen name (tag rather), but may stick with Sweet Spot because I've been using it on several forums for over a year now. Games I have: Top Spin (kick ass tennis game) NCAA 2005; Rainbow Six Black Arrow; Halo 2 and some really cool airplane shooter which I forgot the name of. If anyone w/an X box is considering Live, I have extra Live trials that I can give you, but then again, you'd still need a head set. Please only ask if YOU have an X box, not a distant cousin of a former room mates twice removed uncles son who moved to India in search of the inner meaning of it all !

 

[zachary80]

At a Halo party a couple years ago we all started (loading a coop level I think) at the same time because I thought my friends box was slower. Well it was...his was the slowest, another friends was slower, and mine was blazing fast. Eventually we noticed the DVD drives were different. The friend with the slowest (Thompson) did get disc read errors pretty frequently, and sometimes we found if we rotated the dvd a certain way it would be fine.

 

[enzoferrari650]

thanks for the info. But I think I'll be fine. I plan on modding it in the future anyways with a bigger hard drive and I'll change the drive while i'm at it. You cant really beat the 70 dollar price tag though, I have to at least take a chance and hope it doesnt get the disc error problem.