XBox 360 Slim DVD replacement

dalcini · Jan 27, 2019

Hi folks,
I have a stock 360 slim where the DVD drive quit working. The tray still works but it apparently won't read - the only option is to eject the disk after insertion. I suspect I need to replace either the laser or whole DVD drive. I've done lots of repairs on original 360 consoles (RROD, replaced DVD Drive, replaced lasers, better heatsinks and cooling etc.) but never worked on a slim.

I've looked around this and a few other forums and found information, but all of the posts are several years old and I just want to be sure that the information is still good. Can anyone point me to:
A.) A good DVD replacement tutorial, and
B.) A good source for replacement parts

I see them on Ebay and Amazon for around $20 - but not sure which model I need.

Here are my console stats:
Mfr date : 2010-11-17
Model : 1439
Dashboard : 2.0.17526.0
DVD Drive : Lite-On (based on the pictures in another post here - I can't post a link because I'm a newbie here)

Any help greatly appreciated!

brickmii82 · Jan 27, 2019

You have 2 options:
1. Replace the laser. You can get a 16D4S laster for 5-10$ on eBay and it'll take 15 minutes to swap out. The DVD drives are held together by 4 screw and the laser is held in by 2 rails held in by metal hold down tabs. Its not very difficult, and the only soldering involved is DEsoldering a blob of solder put on to stop static discharges. Its on the side of the laster and they tell you to remove it in the box instructions.

2. Get an entire DVD drive assembly, and swap out the PCB board and re-solder in all the wires. IIRC there are 6 wires total, and you'd just screw it down with the 2 screws that hold it to the drive after soldering the wires in. The whole assemblies cost like 20-25$ I believe.

I usually just swap out lasers. Some people like to do the whole drive assembly though.