Hey Peoples, I rescued an Xbox Earlier this year from a friend of mine. It had Three red rings. After later fixing this problem i found myself deciding on whether or not to Flash the disk drive... It no longer works (ill let you decide which i chose) Im not in the financial situation to go out and buy myself a brand new Xbox, but i almost exploded when they announced Games on Demand. This made me think... hmmm? by connecting the Hard Drive to the computer (i do beleive it connects via SATA?) Would i be able to Copy My Legally Backed up "ISO" Files to my Hard Drive and play them as i would Games on Demand? When i search this topic on Google, Bing, Yahoo I get the whole "Insert disc, Install to Hard Drive" Crap.... I would be very Greatfull for any help on this subject
Nope, that is not available on the 360 yet, unfortunately. The original Xbox does have that functionality, however.
You can replace the drive itself for a paltry sum compared to replacing the entire Xbox. As long as you managed to get the orig.bin file from your first DVD, or at least the drive key, you can replace the drive itself and not the entire Xbox. Cost runs about $40.
You may not even have to replace the entire DVD drive. You may be able to recover it. Unless it was a Hitachi model, there is really no bricking the DVD drive unless you accidentally plugged in the power upside down in the drive and fried it.
Post the model and what exactly the problem with the drive is here and if it is possible to recover, we can help you recover it.
The drive key is also stored on the motherboard. There are people out there who can read it off the motherboard for you, but it requires specialized tools and knowledge, so they will charge for it. However, I strongly doubt the charge will be anywhere near the price of a new 360.