Xbox 360 - Can't read FFXI disk? Solution here.

[nitsuj]

SE let us know that failing to use "/shutdown" could cause a rare instance of our 360 being unable to read the FFXI disk (problems with FFXI + NXE).

Turns out, even using /shutdown can cause your xbox to stop reading it, since sometimes FFXI fails to shutdown properly on its own, going to a black screen instead of the dashboard.

Well this happened to me. I bought the NEW Vanadiel Ultimate Collection, still didn't work. I just bought a new 120GB harddrive and copied my old drive over, still didn't work. Seems the only solution was to format your drive and lose ALL your saves/demos/arcadegames etc (since FFXI can't be removed from Xbox dashboard, only from the POL disk and in this case the POL disk won't load.

Then I stumbled up on this gem:
GameSpot Forums - Final Fantasy XI - fix to disc read error!!!!! works for real!!!!! (ipod required)

1. hook ipod up to your xbox360
2. download codec or whatever its called so that your 360 will play aac format songs
3. play gangster rap music from your ipod through the xbox 360 from THE DASHBOARD (i only tested it with gangster rap but feel free to try anything please let us know if other genres work)
4. with gangster rap now playing proceed to put your ffxi dvd into the drive
5. log in and party up!!!!!

But the funniest part.... it actually works. It doesn't have to be gangster rap.... but just plug in an iPod/PSP/Mp3 player/Flashdrive (maybe just playing music from your xbox harddrive will work as well).

While the MP3 is playing, load Playonline and low and behold, it works. 175 dollars later trying to replace my hardware (needed to be done anyways) and all I had to do was listen to some Dr Dre.

Go figure.

Hope this helps.

[Silenka]

Hahaha this is hilarious, thanks for posting your info on this. Even though I don't have an xbox I'm sure there will be a lot of people who benefit from reading this post. Glad you got it working again XD

Gangsta rap...

[SargentRemora]

Oh god lol...

Mine's currently being repaired after it started flashing red lights at me, so might have this problem afterward...

Does this work with iPod Touch? XD

[nitsuj]

Oh god lol...

Mine's currently being repaired after it started flashing red lights at me, so might have this problem afterward...

Does this work with iPod Touch? XD

Mine red-ringed too, 3 weeks later I got a new (refurbished) one back from them, and it plays all my other disks just fine. It's just a problem with FFXI and the New Xbox Experience dashboard from last year (I assume something about FFXI being installed to the drive, and the NXE allows you to install just about any game to the HD to lower load times)

I don't think the fix has much to do with the iPod, and more with the just playing music while you launch the game. So iPod touch should work fine, or just playing off the harddrive *should* work.

Personally, I used my sister's iPod mini hah

[Aikar]

heh wish i knew this before i reinstalled.

There is actually one more new trick though, you can "Clear System Cache" on the harddrive and that incidently deletes FFXI from the HDD so you can then reinstall it is what i had to do, but this way you dont have to reinstall ffxi so win >_>

and screw ipod! ZUNE!

[nitsuj]

heh wish i knew this before i reinstalled.

There is actually one more new trick though, you can "Clear System Cache" on the harddrive and that incidently deletes FFXI from the HDD so you can then reinstall it is what i had to do, but this way you dont have to reinstall ffxi so win >_>

and screw ipod! ZUNE!

Haha your Zune will work too, Aikar. I just you got one of the rad OLED ones

And I tried "clear system cache" and it still wouldn't load the disk. That's the worst part, it won't LOAD THE DISK. It told me something was wrong with my disk, which is obviously not the case.

SE and MS need to fix this, ASAP.

[Shamaya]

http://listverse.files.wordpress.com...18-2774-tm.jpg

xbox360 limitations?

[Shenrien]

every time I couldn't get the damn disk to read or go into POL I'd just install the game onto the hard drive, never had a problem then.

[Nalyr]

Just helped an LS mate with this fix, so I can confirm as well that it works. Playing music while launching the game gets it past 'unreadable disc'. This can be from any source; mp3 player, usb flash drive, media sharing from a PC, or even from off the 360 HDD itself. Once the game loads up correctly you can kill the song.

Just for reference, iPod Touch and iPhone don't work for this, but other types of iPods or mp3 players will.

[SnickySnacks]

Well, I think this is the best solution to a computer problem that I have ever read in my life.


Edit:
Might as well add something productive:
If I have Wings of the Goddess installed on my 360, pre-NXE does anyone know if the Vanadiel collection is recognized as the same install (PlayOnline) or if it comes up as a completely different game?

[frodnonnag]

Well, I think this is the best solution to a computer problem that I have ever read in my life.


Edit:
Might as well add something productive:
If I have Wings of the Goddess installed on my 360, pre-NXE does anyone know if the Vanadiel collection is recognized as the same install (PlayOnline) or if it comes up as a completely different game?

should show as the same game. i know that between my toau disc and my wotg disc, they both boot up the same, although when i'm getting disc read errors with wotg, my toau often works, and lets me filecheck.

[SassiAsura]

Once I get the new collection I'll save my profile, uninstall the game, clear the xbox's cache and start anew. I'm not getting the unreadable disc thing but it's taking way too long to load the game nowadays.

Also is anyone else kind of annoyed with that 1 second freeze when they zone into an area?

[Hadriel]

I hate the "xbox lag" from zoning, can't type in linkshell chat / look at a map / change gear for a good 2-3 seconds after zoning.

[Mizango]

360 limitations indeed.

[McGoonagle]

SE let us know that failing to use "/shutdown" could cause a rare instance of our 360 being unable to read the FFXI disk (problems with FFXI + NXE).

Turns out, even using /shutdown can cause your xbox to stop reading it, since sometimes FFXI fails to shutdown properly on its own, going to a black screen instead of the dashboard.

You're not supposed to use shutdown because problems arise under certain rare circumstances. You should just back out of FFXI to the POL viewer, exit the viewer, and sign out of XBL in a controlled manner.

After that you can set fire to the damned thing and throw it at your nearest Microsoft employee.

[Lahan]

I wonder if people with a fixed drive have this problem?

[Vyvian]

When I had this problem, it would say POL isn't installed, but 8GB of my hard drive space was listed as used, and if you try to check what is using it, it doesn't add up.

I ended up buying a $40 Xbox memory card (forgot the exact name), copied all of my profiles/saves/etc off onto it, then reformatted the hard drive, and copied my saves back. Then reinstalled FFXI and it worked again.

[grozny]

Great! I thought my ffxi disc just stopped working. I cannot wait to try this just so I can get a few more achievements that I have saved up! I play on pc so when my box stopped reading ffxi it was no big deal.

Thanks again for the tip

[nitsuj]

You're not supposed to use shutdown because problems arise under certain rare circumstances. You should just back out of FFXI to the POL viewer, exit the viewer, and sign out of XBL in a controlled manner.

After that you can set fire to the damned thing and throw it at your nearest Microsoft employee.

What I read was something like:

use /shutdown NOT exiting to the dashboard from the xbox guide button

Did they say to use /logout instead of /shutdown somewhere and I missed it?

[Hadriel]

I'm pretty sure you are correct, they're saying use /shutdown instead of exit to dashboard or turn off console from the xbox guide button.

I use /shutdown almost exclusively, and while I have seen it hang on blackscreen a few times it is extremely rare. When it does happen I am forced to just push the power button to shutdown, and upon the next login pol viewer always bitches at me about "proper shutdown"