The Orange Box 360 [Updated Jul 08]

I' ll be updating this thread with some moderately interesting pictures & explainations every time I strip down something awesome or paint something nifty.






Current Project: The Orange Box - The Box (Page 3)

Edit: Thread name changed once I realized every person I know who refers to themselves in the third person is a twat.

















______________________________________________________________________________________
The Playstation 3

Getting Inside the Freaking Thing!
My first impressions of the inside is that it was like a puzzle. You pull some footies off, unscrew for a while, spend 3 minutes trying to get the lid off before finally, you realise that the lid slides down (down if the PS3 was standing up).

Once that' s off, we were expecting to see the " amazing" Cerr Processoru hard at work doing teraflops of something. No such luck, the first case was just cosmetic, & there was an almost identical lid underneath the first. That one had 5 or so screws that held the whole beast together. A couple clips later & we had the lid tipped off, & were staring at craploads of sheet-metal.

Poppin' Stuff Off
This was the 60 gig model, so we started by popping off the Memory Stick slot. Here I should note something. It doesn' t appear that the power supply takes up any more room internally than externally. It' s nestled quite nicely between the left of the PS3, and the Blu-Ray drive. I' ll explain where that extra inch or so of the PS3' s height came from in a sec.


LOL, Cooling
So we remove power supply & drive & see what? but more sheet metal. Removing the motherboard, I feel something on the back that isn' t flush. We flip it over, and find one of the biggest electronics fans I have ever seen. It was freaking huge. We remove this fan, & here is where I give Sony some real credit.

Their cooling system is amazing. They have their mega-uber huge fan surrounded by a very cool heat sink. It actually surrounds the fan, & still manages to touch Cell and RSX chips. Also, the cooling system is about as tall as the extra addition to the final PS3' s height. Last minute problems with heating methinks? Either way, it was a brilliant solution, & I give them credit.

Final Impression? (on the hardware) B+
I won' t go into detail on the motherboard, that' s what Youtube is for, but my final impression? It took a lot of smart thinking to fit all that stuff into something of that size, not to mention cool it. I probably bored most of you to sleep, but I figured somebody would find it interesting.

Was it easy to put it back together again? Must admit as a self confessed techy, both professionally and hobyist I was waiting to hear from someone regarding the cooling system for the PS3, sounds like they have actually done a good job, here' s hoping it does actually do the job.

Nice post Eddie.

A nice read, i like these insides of machines threads. On a related note, has anyone heard or experienced any hardware problems with the ps3, compared to say the ps2 or 360?

NiGHTS into Dreamcast

Was this the real ps3 or the Eddie home made version?

" A nice read, i like these insides of machines threads. On a related note, has anyone heard or experienced any hardware problems with the ps3, compared to say the ps2 or 360?"

The only thing I' ve seen besides the fact that the display PS3' s don' t seem to work is that the disc loading slot gets jammed preventing you from inserting a disc, the Wii has the same problem. It' s probably just a small minority with this problem. The 360 takes the cake this gen for the console with the most malfunctions.

ORIGINAL: Agent Ghost

The 360 takes the cake this gen for the console with the most malfunctions.

That is bull!! Sheer bull! You just get more for your money with the 360. If you can' t see that, then you' re a blatant fanboy!

There are two rules to success:

1. Never tell all you know.

lol yes tiz.. more malfunctions but that isn' t the kinda thing i want for my money...

NiGHTS into Dreamcast

That is bull!! Sheer bull! You just get more for your money with the 360. If you can' t see that, then you' re a blatant fanboy!

lol yes tiz.. more malfunctions but that isn' t the kinda thing i want for my money...

Thanks for that guys, made me laugh

ORIGINAL: Avarice

That is bull!! Sheer bull! You just get more for your money with the 360. If you can' t see that, then you' re a blatant fanboy!

lol yes tiz.. more malfunctions but that isn' t the kinda thing i want for my money...

Thanks for that guys, made me laugh

Glad what I said had the intended effect.

There are two rules to success:

1. Never tell all you know.

ORIGINAL: Tiz

ORIGINAL: Avarice

That is bull!! Sheer bull! You just get more for your money with the 360. If you can' t see that, then you' re a blatant fanboy!

lol yes tiz.. more malfunctions but that isn' t the kinda thing i want for my money...

Thanks for that guys, made me laugh

Glad what I said had the intended effect.

Me too, and this is exactly why tiz is great

NiGHTS into Dreamcast

*Ends Holy War before it begins*

Was this the real ps3 or the Eddie home made version?

This bad boy?



That one has been retired, I converted it into a cassete player with my mad modding skills (Read as, removing some masking tape ) I' ve still got my " modded" Wii though!

Was it easy to put it back together again?

Easy is subjective. If I had just started modding/tinkering, I probably couldn' t have done it. There was a lot of stacking, with stuff overlapping everywhere, & that confuses some people.
I took great care in making sure I knew how mind you, seeing as the system still worked. I still can' t belive the guy let me do it.

A nice read, i like these insides of machines threads. On a related note, has anyone heard or experienced any hardware problems with the ps3, compared to say the ps2 or 360?

Glad to share the info Uumai. Yeah, there' s the obvious overheating problem that plagued a ridiculous percent of the launch consoles, something like 5%. And I' ve seen vids of broken PS3' s who' s drives won' t take disks. However, we opened up the drive (Yes, the $400 drive) & it seems like it could be very easily fixed.

It actually reminded me of the PS2 " Disk-Read Errors" , where if you knew what cog to reset. 90% of the DRE consoles were just fine. I actually payed for my 360 repairing that stuff.

I should add that the PS3 still works.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tiz


quote:

ORIGINAL: Avarice

quote:

That is bull!! Sheer bull! You just get more for your money with the 360. If you can' t see that, then you' re a blatant fanboy!


quote:

lol yes tiz.. more malfunctions but that isn' t the kinda thing i want for my money...


Thanks for that guys, made me laugh


Glad what I said had the intended effect.

Funny indeed made me laugh too

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Laughing at the stilted conversation.[:' (]

Nice info.
I thought that i was the only one amazed by the cooling system in the PS3 :)

I' m seeing if I can get my hands on an HDD iPod, as I' ve wondered how they' re wired, but in the meantime, you' ll have to make do with pictures of me tearing apart my latest electronic baby.

Cleaning a PSP Screen



My immaculate workspace. Comprising of:
2 Jewlers Screwdrivers (1 flat/1 phillips)
1 Alcohol Pad (2 if you' ve got ' em).
1 1 Glasses cleaning pad or other microfiber.
1 Felty thingy I had lying around.



Unscrewed first 2 screws, then hunted around ' till I found the 2 black screws behind the battery pack. Normally all this would be old hat, but considering I' d only had the thing for half-an-hour before I got to work...

After unscrewing all 4 screws, I proceeded to pull on the bottom of the PSP (all of this is done with the PSP upside-down, to avoid buttons falling out everywhere). It took me a sec to find out how to pull it, I eventually gave it a pull from the bottom & it slid right off.



And there it was, the nasty dusty grimy screen in question. As you can see from the picture, there' s actually an outer lens on the shell that sticks about 1/4 of a centimeter to prevent kiddies from trying to get " that pretty rainbowy thingy" to show up. I first took the little glasses cleaner, & attacked the rubber connectors beneath the buttons, being very careful not to touch the LCD screen with the cleaner, as it' d scratch the mess out of it. After cleaning the contacts, I proceeded to the screen itself. I gave it a light swab of alcohol with a very smooth pad & waited for it to dry before trying to pick up any missed dust. Grinding a wet piece of sand across the screen would definately do more harm than good.

I only gave the outer screen a quick swab with the pad, as there isn' t anything I can do for the few scratches in the screen with what I have now.



And... TaDaa! I didn' t brick the thing! I' m definately replacing the battery, as I' m only getting about 3.8 hrs per charge, but so far, I' m pretty pleased with it right now. I' m considering giving it aftermarket red buttons, as those would just be too freaking sweet, so I' ll post a picture of that if/once I install them.

Good stuff, I will have to show this to my friend. His launch unit has gotten some dust behind the screen in the last couple months.

Are you planning on putting one of those little film covers that goes on top of the screen? One of my buddies has that on his, and his screen is still mint.

A corded Compaq mouse!?

Eddie buddy, that' s so 1995...

And that' s why it' s been sitting in my old parts drawer for the past 5 years! All that stuff except for the 360 controller came out while searching for the jewelers screwdrivers.

This guy thinks he' s smart because he can open consoles.

LOL.

Get a job.

Jealous much?

Yeah I' m jealous of a guy with a screw driver opening up a simple console.

Yeah I' m jealous of a guy with a screw driver opening up a simple console.

There are a lot of people in the world that would f*ck it up, trust me. People pay Best Buy to set up TV' s for them after all. That said, opening consoles up is harder than a PC.

Yeah I' m jealous of a guy with a screw driver opening up a simple console.

well, it certainly seems like it, when the guy is just showing the insides of the psp, and all you have to say is:

This guy thinks he' s smart because he can open consoles.

LOL.

Get a job.

I thought that was his job... opening consoles... and making wonders to them!

ORIGINAL: ginjirou

I thought that was his job... opening consoles... and making wonders to them!

I thought he was a janitor at an all girls boarding school...

No, that' s me.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ginjirou

I thought that was his job... opening consoles... and making wonders to them!

I thought he was a janitor at an all girls boarding school...

Professional undergarment delivery boy. Thanks for inquiring though.

quote:


This guy thinks he' s smart because he can open consoles.

LOL.

Get a job.

No, this guy thinks he' s smart because he makes good money doing it.

LOL

I' m sure those $20 repairs add up, poor fuck.

LOL

I' m sure those $20 repairs add up, poor fuck.

The $80 dollar screen replacements? And do the $100 casemods? The $40 PS2 disk-read repairs? The Xbox HDD " repairs" ? That' s all chump change.

Not to mention, I' ve got another job to support myself with, & I do tend to enjoy fixing stuff. You' re trying to get a rise out of me, & it won' t work.

Grow up & quit trying to bait me.

LOL

I' m sure those $20 repairs add up, poor fuck.

Really? lets just hear what your income happens to be? fag [:' (]

Really? lets just hear what your income happens to be? fag

He probably makes decent money, but you' d never know it. It' s amazing how much more high-class you sound when you' re not a jerk to people.

The great thing about Evil Man is the effect he has on other members.

I' ll give him that, it was funny... for the first month. Now I just scroll on past the arguments.

prevent kiddies from trying to get " that pretty rainbowy thingy" to show up.

I loved that part. So, is this where you' re going to post your dissection of the Wii? Or did you get one already and I missed it?

Evil Man used to be really good at riffing people, but he seems to have lost his touch or something recently. Come on Evil, where' s the good stuff?

I loved that part. So, is this where you' re going to post your dissection of the Wii? Or did you get one already and I missed it?

I' m not getting one ' till Galaxy & Corruption come out, & seeing as those were pushed back almost an entire year...



Although, if you' re all interested I could try to borrow one for the day.

I wrote up the entire walkthrough, & then promptly had the window closed on me, so you all get the speed version.

Casemodding an Xbox 360

-Dusted the case with black paint to set saw/dremel lines
-Cut case
-Sanded case
-Smoothed edges



-Painted all the little fiddly bits. (IE HDD, Grills, Drive Bezel & Buttons)
-Wetsanted bits
-Painted bits again...
-Wetsanded bits
-Painted bits
-Clearcoated bits



(Shiny ' aint it?)

-Sanded & Sprayed the mess out of case, 1 color at a time.
-Repeated above step about 3 times.
-Cut notches for plexiglass.
-Fitted plexiglass.
-Removed Plexiglass for pictures (the glare was ridiculous)

The final result?




A couple of shaky-cam deluxe pictures of course! I' ll be uploading some better pics when I get my tripod back. Hope you all enjoyed.

^ that is nice

Great work Eddie! Fair play!

I' m getting a 2nd case from a friend tomorrow. Any suggestions? I' m gonna have to show him something by next week, but everything I' m coming up with looks too similar to mine.