Xbox:General Troubleshooting

If your Xbox is having issues, check the below general troubleshooting information for help. If you are receiving an error screen or an LED light change, see the Console Error Codes page.

DVD Drive won’t Play Discs
See this page.

Hard Drive is Clicking
If it won’t boot, it’s likely done for. See this page for information on how to replace it. If it does still boot, immediately obtain a backup of your EEPROM and copy it to your PC to ensure that you can lock a new hard drive with it if the hard drive does completely give out.

F and/or G Drive Aren’t Showing
Check your dashboard settings to make sure that F: and G: are enabled.

Xbox is Randomly Freezing
If your Xbox is freezing, it generally comes down to four possibilities: The hard drive, the DVD drive, a corrupt game, or overheating issues.


 * If it happens for multiple games, it likely won’t be a corrupt game
 * If you are playing the game purely off of a hard drive, it is likely not the DVD drive
 * If you play a game for a while, then quickly go back to the dashboard and the temperatures are within a normal range, it is likely not overheating issues
 * If you have a Thomson DVD drive and you are playing the game from a disc, it is more likely to be the DVD drive, as they are prone to failures
 * If you are using a new SATA to IDE adapter and it freezes while playing a game or watching a video, it may be a bad adapter
 * If you suspect it may be your hard drive, you can boot into XBlast OS or connect it to your PC to run a S.M.A.R.T. test to check if it is a bad drive

Hangs at Bootup on Xbox Logo
Usually indication of a hard drive issue. If you are using a SATA hard drive, ensure you’re using an 80 wire IDE cable.

Dashboard makes Bootup Sound, but no Other Sounds
If the Xbox loses audio after the bootup sound, you likely need to repair your dashboard with a recovery disc such as Hexen.

Screen not Displaying Correctly (UnleashX)
If you recently changed the video settings, your Xbox may not display correctly or at all. You can fix this by booting UnleashX into safe mode by holding the Back button while starting the Xbox. You can also try inserting a disc such as Hexen or AID and change the config file with the file manager or FTP.

“Broken” Softmod
Problem: Your Xbox boots to the MS Dash, even if powering on the console using the eject button. Attempting to boot into SID using the Game Save Exploit only reboots the Xbox. This may be caused if you installed the MS Dash as both the primary and secondary dashboard on a dual boot configuration, or if your dashboard software is corrupt.

Solution: If you used the Game Save Exploit, boot up the game, and try and load the SID game save. This will reboot your Xbox, and may change your eject button LED color. Now press the button combo RT+LT+Back+Black or RT+LT+Start+Select to reboot the console. With luck, it will reboot into your old dashboard and allow for repair by installing a new dashboard. Alternatively, reinstall the softmod via the Hotswap method, or install a modchip to boot into a repair disk such as AID or Hexen.

Files will not Copy to Xbox
Assuming that you have enough hard drive space, the Xbox will reject any file longer than 42 characters, including the file extension. You will need to rename the file in order to use it. In a select few games, the game developers use this to their advantage and purposely name some files to very long names as to prevent piracy. These games can still be played by burning the backup to a disc or using the original game disc.

DVD2XBOX won’t Launch
If you recently updated DVD2XBOX or messed with skins, you can fix it by deleting the “dvd2xbox” game save with the game save manager. You may also need to delete the following folders using a file manager, then reboot: E:\0facfac0 and E:\0facfac0.

New Games not Showing Up
If you added new games to your hard drive and they are not showing up, first try browsing to your game list, pressing Start, and then selecting “Refresh List”. If that doesn’t work, try using a file manager to delete E:and reboot.

Parental Lock is Set
If you have a parental lock on your console and do not have the password, navigate to Settings → Parental Control, and enter the failsafe password X+Y+L+X. You will gain access to the parental control settings from which you can turn off the blocks on movies and games.

Game Names are Incorrect on Dashboard
If you wish to rename a game, you can browse to it’s directory with a file manager, then press Start on the default.xbe file, select “Rename XBE Title” and change it to your desired name.

Xbox Randomly Powering On/Off
This is usually due to a corroded trace. Search your motherboard for rusty looking traces, or a leaking clock capacitor. If your clock capacitor is leaking, see this page, otherwise see the process below for repairing a trace.

Xbox Powers Off After Inactivity
Boot into the original Microsoft dashboard and turn off the “Auto Shutdown” setting.

Corroded Trace
Often times, especially with v1.0 Xboxes, traces can rust due to poor sealing. You can attempt to replace a trace with a sharp knife (such as an X-ACTO knife) and a circuit trace pen or small piece of wire. A window defogger repair kit also is a cheap alternative to a circuit trace pen.

= Use the knife to scrape off the surface above the damaged area of the trace, including a little bit extra on either side to expose a bit of undamaged copper. Cut out the damaged area. You may need to do the same to the other side if it will not come out. = Clean the area using isopropyl alcohol and a Q-tip. Make sure to clean the undamaged copper areas well to make sure they aren’t covered in silicon dust. =* If using a circuit trace pen, fill the gap between the undamaged copper areas and cover some of the undamaged copper on both ends. Allow it to dry as directed in its instructions.


 * If using wire, make sure that it is close to the same width as the trace, then cut it to the size of the missing trace or slightly smaller, place it in the hole, and smooth some solder over each end, connecting the undamaged copper to your new wire. It may help to apply flux to the wire and copper first, and hold the new wire in place with a small piece of electrical tape.
 * (optional) Apply epoxy, hot glue, or electrical tape over the new trace to protect it from the elements.

The Colors on Screen are Messed Up / Grey
If it is in greyscale, check that you are on the correct input channel on your TV. If you are using 3 colored cables, select “AV”, if you are using more than 3 colored cables, select “Component”. If your screen is green or pink tinged, this usually indicates that you selected “RGB” as your video type instead of HD when installing a softmod. You can fix this by reinstalling your softmod and choosing a different option. If you just installed a modchip, try using regular 3 color video cables instead of 5 color component cables and flash a new BIOS.

Xbox won’t Power On
Completely unplug your controllers from the Xbox and try starting it. Sometimes if a controller is plugged in half way, the console will not start. If that doesn’t fix it, try an option below.

Keep in mind that you can only replace:
 * 1.0/1.1 power supplies with 1.0/1.1 power supplies
 * 1.2-1.5 power supplies with 1.2-1.5 power supplies
 * 1.6/1.6b power supplies with 1.6/1.6b power supplies

Popping Noise when Moving Power Plug
If you’re hearing noises when moving the power cord, it is most likely due to poor solder joints connecting the power port to the motherboard which cause electricity to arc. This issue is common in the first version of the Xbox (1.0) with Foxlink power supplies, and can cause fires if not taken care of. You can fix this by either replacing the whole power supply with a new one, or by resoldering the power plug firmly onto the console. Ensure that the power supply is set to the correct voltage for your country (110V or 220V), there may be a switch on the power supply itself.

Suspected Power Surge
If you suspect that your Xbox may have been fried by lightning, or had a large power surge, you may need to replace the power supply. You can do this by unplugging the old one and plugging in a replacement. It’s recommended not to use a Foxlink power supply.

After Swapping Motherboards
If you swapped the motherboard into another case; check what versions each are. Without modification, version 1.0-1.5 motherboards will not work in 1.6/1.6b cases, and 1.6/1.6b motherboards will not work in 1.0-1.5 cases. This is due to a grounding issue which can be fixed with modifications to the metal shield. Having swapped a motherboard into an incompatible case can permanently damage the motherboard.

Checking the Q7C2 Transistor (1.6 Xboxes)
An issue exclusive to 1.6 Xboxes; check the Q7C2 transistor to make sure it is above 3.3V. If it drops below 3.3V, the Xbox will not boot. It can be replaced with a new transistor with part number MMBT3906LT1.

Xbox Freezes upon Eject
This is an issue common with softmods with buggy code. Updating your softmod should resolve this.

Highlighting DLC in UnleashX Save Manager Restarts Xbox
This is a known issue in the most recent build of UnleashX.

Video won’t Display (sometimes)
Try completely unplugging your video cable, blowing out the port and cable with compressed air, and plugging it back in. It may also be caused by cheap component cables.

Ripped Game won’t Work / “Dirty Disc” Error
If you ripped a game and it won’t work from the hard drive, try ripping it with the latest build of DVD2Xbox and then delete the game’s UDATA folder from the E: drive and clear the cache (delete everything in X, Y, and Z drives).

Xbox is Showing 0.00MB Space Used for F: or G: / Cluster Size is “ER”
First, check that you have F: and/or G: drive enabled in your dashboard settings and, if on a hard modded system, a BIOS that supports the desired drive. BIOSes are generally labeled /  or  /, with 6 representing the F: drive, and 7 representing the G: drive. There is no reason not to use  variants.

If you still have the issue, open XBPartitioner 1.3 and see if the cluster size on the drive is labeled  (error). This indicates that it was formatted incorrectly, so you will need to format it using the steps for the Can’t use all Space on Hard Drive / Can’t FTP in One Partition section below.

Can’t use all Space on Hard Drive / Can’t FTP in One Partition
If you have issues transferring files to a specific partition or can’t move files onto a partition, it was likely formatted with the wrong cluster size, which you can check in XBPartitioner 1.3. The only true fix for this is to move your data to a PC, format that partition with the correct setting, and then move it back. Due to a glitch in XBPartitioner, you will need to change the size of the faulty partition by using the controller triggers to a smaller size, format, then increase the partition size back to what it was and format again, or else it won’t actually do anything when you start the format.

For large drives, you will need to format each partition to have these cluster sizes or you will not be able to access all the space of a partition:
 * 16KB clusters for up to a 250GB partition
 * 32KB clusters for a 250GB-500GB partition
 * 64KB clusters for a 500GB-1TB partition

Can’t Modify Video Settings or EEPROM
If you have a softmod installed, it is likely that virtual EEPROM is enabled. Create a blank file named “eeprom_off.bin” and place it in etiher E: (if your softmod is NKPatcher-based) or E: (if your softmod is Krazie’s based).