Jantoh Blog

Here is a quick (and hopefully comprehensive) guide to opening your XBOX 360 case and fitting a case mod.

NOTE: Opening your XBOX 360 involves breaking the warranty sticker on the front, therefore voiding your warranty with Microsoft, if you need your warranty then removing the case is not recommended!

Pre-requisites

1. Half an hour of free time, and a bit of patience (some parts can be a little fiddly – dont be too heavy handed!)
2. An XBOX 360 case opening tool set
   The same result can be achieved with Torx drivers and a small thin piece of metal, but in our experience, it is more difficult to remove the case (especially without damaging it) when you dont use the proper tools, for the cost of the proper case opening tool, its worth not wrecking your case, just incase you want to put it back on later!
3. An XBOX 360 case mod kit
4. A small Phillips screwdriver
5. A small Flathead screwdriver
6. A Stanley knife/Other tool capable of cutting plastic

Case Removal Instructions

Faceplate Removal

1. The Face Plate

Put your finger inside the USB port door at the bottom of the console, hook your finger around the plastic, and give it a gentle tug, it should quite easily ‘pop’ off the front (The faceplate was designed to be removed easily by Microsoft, by means of allowing basic customisation, so it should come off no problem at all)

Grille Removal

2. The Top & Bottom Grilles

The grilles are held on by four plastic clips, which are visible from the ventillation holes on the top and bottom of the shell.

Push the end of the removal tool on to the clips and you should hear them click, gently pull the grille upwards and they should come off.

If you have trouble releasing the last clip on the hard drive side, you will need to remove the grey rubber foot at the back of the console, which will reveal another vent hole, you then put the case opening tool into the hole and the last clip should undo.

Front Case Clips

3. Front Case Clips

You need to undo the four clips on the front of the case, putting your fingernail undernieth these should be adequate enough to get them undone, failing that a very small screwdriver will do the trick, but be careful not to damage the case if you choose to use a driver to do it.

Once the four clips are undone, pull the case up slightly to prevent it clipping back down – dont be too heavy handed with this or you risk damaging the plastic.

4. Back Case Clips

This is where the opening tool comes into its own, having done this manually with a screwdriver previously (and having made a mess of the holes on the back of the case), you will be thankful of the tool!

Flip the console upside down.

Start on the left hand side of the console, where the two halves of the case join, you will see slits where the clips are, rotate the tool so that the clip push pins align with the case, and gently push the tool into the case, you should hear a click as the clips release, gently pull the case up, to prevent the clips from locking back into place.

Move on to the right hand side, rotate the tool as before so that the holes line up with the clip push pins, again push the tool into the holes and you will hear a click, gently lift the bottom of the case off, and your half way there!

5. The Eject Button

The eject button is clips onto the front of the DVD drive. You should be able to get your fingernail undernieth it and prise it off, failing that a small flathead screwdriver will do the trick just fine.

Other guides suggest removing the DVD bezel as well as this point, but from experience it is much easier to remove once the top of the case is off, so hold fire!

6. Undo Case Screws

At this point you should see the following in front of you:

Remove the torx bolts that are circled using the tool in your opening kit.

The top of the case will then be free of the chassis – WARNING: The DVD drive is held in by the bolts you just removed, be careful when you lift the chassis up as the drive will fall out of it as you lift it.

7. The DVD Bezel

On the underside of the DVD bezel, you will see two clips, put your fingernail or a small flathead screw driver under them and the bezel should slide straight off of the drive.

Success, the case is now removed!

You have now successfully removed the case and dvd drive bezel from the XBOX 360, time to fit the shiny new case!

Fitting the new case

Heat Guard

1. The Heat Guard for the top case panel

Some guides I’ve read seem to omit this part, it is strongly suggested that you re-install the heat guard into the new case lid.

Flip the old case top so that it is face down, you will notice that there are 2 plastic studs holding the heat guard onto the lid, with a stanley knife or other sharp tool, trim back the plastic studs enough that you can easily remove the heat guard panel, take care not to bend or damage the panel in the process.

Once the panel is free, place it inside the lid of your new case, there are studs in the case lid to ensure that it is seated in the proper location.

2. The DVD Bezel

Slide the new DVD Bezel over the front of the DVD drive drawer, if the clips are aligned properly it will click straight into place.

3. The lid

With your console the right way up, place the new lid on top of the chassis, with the heat guard installed (as mentioned earlier) it should line up perfectly, with a gentle downward push, the lid should seat in the correct place.

Hold the lid on, and flip your console up the other way, proceed to bolt the top back on, following the diagram below, I would suggest bolting opposite corners first to ensure that the case sits squarely over the 360.

4. The Eject Button

Line up the eject button to its respective button on the front of the case, and click it into place, it is important that this is fitted correctly before proceeding, otherwise you wont have access to the clip and button.

5. The bottom of the case

Flip the console onto its top, align the bottom of the case with the top, start by pushing the back down, until it clicks into place, then push the front down, this will click down.

NOTE: The heat guard sometimes bends when you put the bottom back on, and prevents the case from clicking together, to avoid this, pull the top case part out slightly when pushing the bottom down.

6. The side grilles

If your case mod was supplied by Jantoh, instead of the flimsy clips on the original XBOX 360 case, the side grilles screw into place on the side of the case, simply line them up and tighten the supplied screws into the holes in the case sides.

If you are using a non-Jantoh case mod, the side grilles may clip in like the originals, simply align them and push them down in this case, they should click into place.

7. The face plate

This is the simplest part to install, simply line it up and click it in to place.

DONE! – Your case mod is now fitted, give yourself a pat on the back and admire your shiny new console case!

For those of you that use the Homebrew Channel and Homebrew Browser, here’s a quick headsup.

Installing the Wii System Menu 4.0 update causes the Homebrew Browser app to fail, the Homebrew Channel still works, and I tested quite a few apps, the only one that ceased to function is the Homebrew Browser, which comes up with a message ‘The Homebrew Browser is not a valid Wii Application’ and therefore it will not load, you can still put homebrew on your SD and launch it from the Homebrew Channel, but as for automatic downloads and installs, you are stuck until The Homebrew Browser is updated.

If like me you have a 360 core system with no hard drive, you’ll soon discover how much you need one (some definate classics in the XBOX live arcade that are worth a play), Obviously you can buy the MS external drive and plug it directly into the top of the XBOX, but what about installing one internally? sounds like a good mod to me!

If you are a bit handy with a soldering iron and have the skills to not burn your 360’s motherboard, I found a guide to installing an internal drive.

Word of warning though, this is not for the faint of heart, you run a high risk of turning your XBOX360 into a doorstop if you mess up the solering!

THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED AS-IS IN THE HOPE IT WILL BE USEFUL, NO WARRANTY IS PROVIDED, NO LIABILITY OF ANY KIND IS ACCEPTED BY MYSELF, CARBIDE-FINGER LTD OR THE AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLE, IF YOU CHOOSE TO FOLLOW THE GUIDE YOU DO SO ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The article detailing what you need to do to get the hard drive connected to your 360 is here at the IVC WIKI

Once you have completed the cable install, you’ll need to find a suitable place inside the case, it has been suggested that directly above the DVD drive is the best place, but thats open to opinion, choose the place you think suits best.

Let us know your thoughts and success/horror stories if you attempt this, we’d love to know how it goes!