Hardware Old Xbox 360 Elite disk drive repair

[yummm pizza]

Hello, my name is Joe,

We bought our Xbox 360 Elite five or six years ago. For a couple of months, we've had some problems with our disk drive. We would have to push up on it a bit to get it open. However, someone had attempted to pry it open from the side, jamming it shut sticking about an inch out. So I took apart the Xbox and removed the drive. After some examination, it will open about halfway and then stop as if it was open all the way...

Could it be one of the gears has skipped a tooth?
The drive will also not close all the way (the sticking out an inch prevents it from closing properly).


Regarding a replacement, apparently the drives are irreplaceable? Something about certain ID keys created on both the console and disk drive?
Does this mean I can't go online and purchase another Xbox 360 disk drive as a replacement?

Thanks guys

 

[slingblade1170]

Hello, my name is Joe,

We bought our Xbox 360 Elite five or six years ago. For a couple of months, we've had some problems with our disk drive. We would have to push up on it a bit to get it open. However, someone had attempted to pry it open from the side, jamming it shut sticking about an inch out. So I took apart the Xbox and removed the drive. After some examination, it will open about halfway and then stop as if it was open all the way...

Could it be one of the gears has skipped a tooth?
The drive will also not close all the way (the sticking out an inch prevents it from closing properly).


Regarding a replacement, apparently the drives are irreplaceable? Something about certain ID keys created on both the console and disk drive?
Does this mean I can't go online and purchase another Xbox 360 disk drive as a replacement?

Thanks guys

You can buy a replacement but it has to be the exact same model of the drive in your Xbox 360 but if you don't take the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) from the old drive and use it on the new your Xbox 360 will be unable to read games, just movies. It takes a bit of soldering but if you got a soldering iron and wire is actually extremely easy.

 

[yummm pizza]

** UPDATE **

I was able to fix the disk drive to a certain extent- 100% functionality WITHOUT a disk inserted. The drive behaves correctly while empty.
As soon as it is closed with a disk inside, game or DVD, it scans for about a second and then ejects, as if there was an object stuck in there.

Perhaps the motor that raises the spindle (the spinny thingy) isn't raising/ lowering as the tray closes?
Would this explain why it acts fine without a disk, whereas if the disk were there, it rubs up against the head- ejecting the tray?

Thanks guys

 

[yummm pizza]

You can buy a replacement but it has to be the exact same model of the drive in your Xbox 360 but if you don't take the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) from the old drive and use it on the new your Xbox 360 will be unable to read games, just movies. It takes a bit of soldering but if you got a soldering iron and wire is actually extremely easy.

Oh, I see- the identical board proves its authentication?
Good deal!

 

[DinohScene]

Like Sling said, get your DVD drive replaced.
You could try and replace the laser, if you know how to disassemble the entire unit.

Otherwise, swap the PCB's of your drive with the new Liteon drive and reassemble.

 

[slingblade1170]

** UPDATE **

I was able to fix the disk drive to a certain extent- 100% functionality WITHOUT a disk inserted. The drive behaves correctly while empty.
As soon as it is closed with a disk inside, game or DVD, it scans for about a second and then ejects, as if there was an object stuck in there.

Perhaps the motor that raises the spindle (the spinny thingy) isn't raising/ lowering as the tray closes?
Would this explain why it acts fine without a disk, whereas if the disk were there, it rubs up against the head- ejecting the tray?

Thanks guys

Try to remove the casing to the drive, take some alcohol and a cotton ball and firmly press the cotton ball against the side of the wheel and use your other hand to spin the wheel manually so the cotton ball can clean the wheel while you spin it. I did that a few years back when having an issue with a disc drive and it actually removed some dust and glue like substance that I could not see with my own eye. It made the 360 I did it to read discs perfectly to this very day. It is no risk and doesn't take long, I don't think theres a high chance thats the problem but it can't hurt.

If that doesn't work and you can't seem to find the issue I would just replace the disc drive.

 

[yummm pizza]

Like Sling said, get your DVD drive replaced.
You could try and replace the laser, if you know how to disassemble the entire unit.

Otherwise, swap the PCB's of your drive with the new Liteon drive and reassemble.

Thanks for showing me the correct model, just researched and found the right match on newegg- is this an okay site?

"All replacement xbox 360 dvd drives either need to be flashed with your security key or need to have your old drive board swapped into the replacement drive.
Physically swapping the old board into the new drive is the quickest and easiest."

shouldn't be hard at all! Thanks!

 

[slingblade1170]

Good luck, hope all goes well.

 

[DinohScene]

What's the MFR date on your 360?
Cause most Elites (there are Zephyr/Falcon Elites with Hitachi/Benq drives) come with a Liteon.
The only way to make sure you got the correct one is to either open it up or compare the MFR date on your 360 with that in the data base.

Alternatively, you can look at this pic.
That and please remove your fontcolours when copying text by clicking the eraser near the Font Family button.

 

[yummm pizza]

What's the MFR date on your 360?
Cause most Elites (there are Zephyr/Falcon Elites with Hitachi/Benq drives) come with a Liteon.
The only way to make sure you got the correct one is to either open it up or compare the MFR date on your 360 with that in the data base.

Alternatively, you can look at this pic.
That and please remove your fontcolours when copying text by clicking the eraser near the Font Family button.

Yup spot on! Liteon model-
I actually Googled "Liteon"and the first result was a link to one of your posts in these forums, allowing me to check the year of my Xbox.
Also, I see the eraser now, thanks

 

[DinohScene]

Aye sweet.

Good luck with it ;]