Broken 360

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:15 am

Yeah, some bad news. Yesterday, I went to play some Halo 3 campaign because I felt like doing that, but when I put the disc in, it says unplayable disk. Did the same thing with every disk I put in. So I went on the google to see if there were any fixes for it, all that came up was to send it to Microsoft. Pfft, fat chance of me doing that. I figured it was a problem with the disk drive, mostly the motor since the disks weren't spinning inside.

Last night I opened 'er up, but I didn't have a torx head screwdriver, so I went down to the hardware store and bought one. Unfortunately though it was too big. But luckily, I still had my grinder, so I ground it down until it fit and voila, open 360. I am currently staring at the insides of the disk drive, and it doesn't look like anything I can fix, because I can't see anything wrong with it.

Which brings me to my question. Where can I buy a replacement disk drive for the 360?

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:45 am

Small update

I disassembled the motor, everything seemed to check out so I put it all back together, attached the disk drive to the 360 and turned it on. The disk spins now! Still says unplayable disk though.

There's hope

edit: adjusted the laser until it was going full, disk spins perfectly fine, but there seems to be a strange grinding noise coming from the laser's motor (for lack of correct term), time to fix that!

HotDog-Cart · Post by **HotDog-Cart** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:21 pm

Shoulda just sent it into M$ and got it fixed for FREE and given a new one 3-5 days later.

gamefreakfatty · Post by **gamefreakfatty** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:01 pm

I actually bought a 360 off a guy 30 minutes away for only 90 bucks. It came with no controllers or HDD, but still, 90 bucks... Anyways, the problem it had was every time a disk was put in, it would always say "Unplayable Disk." The guy had already voided the warranty, so I opened it up and took off the cover. I took out the little thing that the disk sits on (the small circle thing that goes in the middle of the disk) and lubricated it with some WD-40 and it worked!

Basically, open up the DVD drive and take out the thing the disc sits on. Lubricate it with something like WD-40 or similar. Now put it back in and put the 360 together again, cross your fingers and hope it works!

-gamefreakfatty

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:05 pm

Hotdog- It's way past warranty, it's not the rrod so I can't return it. If I did it would have cost $150 or more.

Game- Been there, done that.

No updates at the moment really, but I do have a question. Does the HD DVD attachment play the 360 games as well as the HD movies?

If it does, then I'm in luck. I buy the attachment, put everything back together, and end up paying less than I would if I bought a replacement Dvd drive. Also with less work, since I have no idea how to do that whole firmware flashing thing.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:33 pm

Valium wrote:Does the HD DVD attachment play the 360 games as well as the HD movies?

Nope.
Have you tried lubricating the worm gear that the laser assembly slides on?

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:37 pm

I lubed everything that would ever need to be lubed.

Edit: it's a hitachi-LG drive, if that helps

Chapel · Post by **Chapel** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:03 pm

Valium wrote:If it does, then I'm in luck. I buy the attachment, put everything back together, and end up paying less than I would if I bought a replacement Dvd drive. Also with less work, since I have no idea how to do that whole firmware flashing thing.

Odds are that the DVD main board is not the cause, so instead of trying to reflash it, simply swap your current board into your replacement DVD drive (if you decide to get one). The 360 will read it as exactly the same drive.

Be careful to get the same type of drive for doing this trick, although I think that goes without saying.

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:08 pm

Chapel wrote:
Valium wrote:If it does, then I'm in luck. I buy the attachment, put everything back together, and end up paying less than I would if I bought a replacement Dvd drive. Also with less work, since I have no idea how to do that whole firmware flashing thing.
Odds are that the DVD main board is not the cause, so instead of trying to reflash it, simply swap your current board into your replacement DVD drive (if you decide to get one). The 360 will read it as exactly the same drive.

Be careful to get the same type of drive for doing this trick, although I think that goes without saying.

Hey.. I didn't think of that, thanks a lot man, you just saved me a lot of grief.

Leetsauce · Post by **Leetsauce** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:48 am

BUT, you need a key from your current drive and reflash to the new board if you plan on putting a new drive in it. To my understanding, mind. Look it up.

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:45 am

Leetsauce wrote:BUT, you need a key from your current drive and reflash to the new board if you plan on putting a new drive in it. To my understanding, mind. Look it up.

Not if you swap the already flashed board from the broken drive to the new drive.

cowsgoquack101 · Post by **cowsgoquack101** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:12 am

I've just opened my 360 before after it did the unplayable disk BS then I tried a game and it worked. I didn't even touch the drive. weird how things work sometimes.

WompaStompa11 · Post by **WompaStompa11** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:36 pm

The main reason for getting an unplayable disk error is a worn out laser. You probably just need to replace the laser. Also make sure that the little magnetic ring isn't sticking to the white disk on the top cover of the dvd drive (it should look like the picture)

I also might be able to hook you up with some parts...

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:48 pm

WompaStompa11 wrote:The main reason for getting an unplayable disk error is a worn out laser. You probably just need to replace the laser. Also make sure that the little magnetic ring isn't sticking to the white disk on the top cover of the dvd drive (it should look like the picture)

I also might be able to hook you up with some parts...

Laser was fine, motor was broken. Read thread before posting.

Killer_Rabbit · Post by **Killer_Rabbit** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:18 pm

True, but he raises a valid point: you don't actually know if the laser's working or not. You know that the motor's not working, but you have no way of knowing whether or not the laser's broken as well.