Hardware disc drive repairs

[Blaze163]

Lali ho.

You may recall I bought an Xbox 360 a while back? Black Elite model, originally had a 250GB hard drive if that helps, I'm not up on the specs. Well, the disc tray won't open. Typical of my luck. Went and bought some new games, tray won't open to let me use them. There's a guy in Birmingham, a brief train ride from here, that will repair it for about £25-£30. A) Is that a good deal or high by today's standards? and B) Any idea what's wrong with it and thus how I could fix it myself and save the cash?

 

[FAST6191]

Drives not opening is usually dirty tracks or "rubber band", indeed that is usually the problem for a stuck tray in an optical drive regardless of where it comes from. You need to open the 360, remove the DVD drive, open the DVD drive and clean the teeth and rubber band that is probably slipping or broken. The band thing can be fiddly but it is not a thing you can mess up too hard unlike soldering something. If someone has pulled it apart before to try modding it or something then all bets are off, it could be the dirty band again, it could be the power lead has fallen out, it could be that they put in the power upside down (though if it worked before then not so much) and more besides.

£25-£30 for fixing that.... by the time you have put together the tools to open the 360 (you need a bunch of torx bits, given previous conversations with you have yielded comments along the lines of "when I get my [sole] screwdriver back" I assume you do not have these sitting around) you are likely not too far off unless you are buying things online (you try buying such things in say Maplins and watch that money evaporate). That said tack on a train ride and that becomes less clear cut. The guy doing it will think of it as easy money but I probably would not trust the average random on the street to do it well, if he will do it there and then I would say go for it, if it is going to be one of those "come back another day" things then consider someone else.

 

[DinohScene]

I'd just buy a new DVD drive and swap the PCB's.
Or buy a new drive and take it to the fella that wants to repair it.
Let him swap DVD drives or drive keys.

 

[slingblade1170]

That issue is way to easy to resolve on your own, simply open the 360 and clean the disc tray and lubricate it.