Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Modifying the Xbox
Use the Xbox case opening tool to open the casing (see Resources).
Desolder the front USB ports, memory card holders, top mounted hard drive connector, and Ethernet/USB port with the desoldering iron by rocking them back and forth while heating the metal tabs/pins.
Flatten the capacitors by heating the leads at the bottom of the motherboard, easing your finger down on the capacitor.
Use the X-Acto knife to slice a seam along the Wi-Fi module until it is wide enough to fit a screwdriver inside. Place the screwdriver in the hole and twist it to pop open the module.
Test the pins of the mini-USB port with the multimeter. Solder the ribbon cable to the USB port's pins.
Extend the Wi-Fi antenna wire by cutting the wire in the middle. Strip a bit of plastic from the inner wire and apply some solder onto the wire. Solder the stranded shielding wire into one piece, and then solder connecting wires to the two cut wires. Do the same to reattach the snap connector to the other side of the wire.
Remove the extra length of plastic posts underneath the DVD drive using the Dremel tool. Lengthen the SATA cable by splitting it in half, slicing the covering, and soldering a solid wire thin ribbon to the exposed SATA wires. Repeat with the other half and reconnect the two cables.
Cut the DVD drive power connector in half. Strip the plastic off the ends and solder them just a bit. Cut 5 inches of ribbon cable and solder it to the stripped ends of the power connector. Connect the two halves together using the ribbon cable.
Cut off the wires of the Xbox hard drive on the Xbox plug end. Solder the blue, white, and yellow wires together, as well as the black, green, and orange in a separate connection. Peel the foil off the wires and solder a four-piece ribbon cable to the data strands. Use the multimeter to determine A+, A-, B-, B+ connections, and solder the cables to the motherboard.
Case Design
Cut an aluminum plate 4/5 inch thick using metal sheers for the bottom plate of the Xbox laptop. Cut in ventilation holes for the internal fan to expel hot air. Design your unique 1.5-inch bottom outer wall casing with Sinatra/Komatex plastic using the X-Acto knife to cut inserts for the USB ports, DVD drive, etc. For the bottom lip, cut 1/8 inch acrylic and weld it to the top of the outer wall casing.
Cut the top plate just like the bottom plate (4/5 inch); attach the top half walls (only 1-inch thick) behind the top plate and paint it any color you wish; and then attach the top lip to the front of the aluminum top plate.
Open the computer monitor with a screwdriver and fit the freed LCD into your casing. Connect the monitor's power supply to the Xbox power supply by opening Xbox's power supply brick with a screwdriver. Desolder the two spots on the metal shield to lift it off, and solder thick wire to the AC power inputs.
Separate the AC port from the monitor power supply by desoldering. Place the monitor's power supply over the Xbox's. Connect the power wires from the Xbox to the monitor's power supply.
Bend a 1/16-inch thick aluminum strip around the top half of the power supply casing, and use the Dremel tool to cut room for the AC port and power cable. Weld the metal strip to the top half of the power supply case. Reattach the case using 1.5-inch long size 4 screws.
Wiring the Keyboard and LCD Monitor
Disassemble the USB keyboard with a screwdriver and connect the eight-pin female header to the USB hub ports on the circuit board. Solder the wires from the other USB port to the pins. Attach an eight-pin male header to an eight-wire ribbon cable and a four-wire ribbon cable to the USB.
Connect the original Xbox USB port to your Xbox laptop's USB plate and secure the USB assembly to the case. Attach an eight-wire ribbon cable from the keyboard USB hub into the USB assembly. Then connect a single USB port to the front USB port on the main motherboard. Connect the main port to the keyboard's USB.
Attach the AV connections using the Xbox video cable plug using every connection from the port you're going to use from your particular design. Make a color coded list of the function of each wire. Connect the VGA outer shielding to ground.
Connect the monitor cable wires to the VGA on the monitor's circuit board. Use hot glue or plastic zip ties to secure the wires to the monitor frame. Use ribbon cables to connect your newly designed monitor control panel to the circuit board.
Implement the keyboard and LCD monitor according to your personalized case design, then plug up your new Xbox laptop and turn it on to play.