How I fixed my "Open Disk" Problem for under $2.50

[Nethran]

First off, if your warranty has not expired DO NOT OPEN YOUR 360!!! It will void the warranty when you break the silvery "Microsoft" tape on the front, beneath the faceplate.

My Xbox 360 got all dumb on me and one day wasn't recognizing the fact that there was a disk in the drive. I opened it up, took a gander at it while it was trying to read a disk, and I realized that the disk was not spinning, making it impossible for console to read the disk. So it's not that the console thinks there is no disk, it simply doesn't think it's something it can read.

There are a lot of "quick fixes" out there for this particular problem, and I tried them all in fear that I would have to spend $99 and send my 360 to Microsoft for a repair, since my warranty was up. The first was tapping on the console, the second was opening and closing the disk drive quickly and repeatedly, and the third was playing with the top off of the console and helping the disk to start spinning. Only the third worked for me, but that all do the same thing, they assist the motor in spinning the disk. They're temporary fixes and, if you ask me, they're not good for the system.

I did this, and I'll take you step-by-step through what I did via the youtube videos I used. If I disagree with something they did, I'll just make a note.

Here's the first one- Taking the effer apart:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xflch0QSbHU[/media]

I used a tiny flathead scredriver to poke the plastic tabs in on the back, which is more difficult, but doable. You just need something that will fit in the holes, angle it down, and poke the tabs in.

Here's number two- Lubrication of the spinner machanism:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OirWV6Q_YM[/media]

I was, in fact, able to find the lubricant they described, the 3 in One stuff, at Wal-Mart. It's right by the WD-40 and it's works wonders. Remember to clean the old lubricant off. I had to take the spinner out, clean it, and place it back into the motor several times to get all of the old lubricant out of the motor.

And three- Lubricating the laser guides:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A42rQsnp4uQ[/media]

Again, remember to clean off the laser guides and the brass screw before lubricating.



Anywho, this saved me 97-ish dollars, so I thought that was cool. Hope this helps. I'm sure some people from Google will find this and it will help them, because while a lot of people have the problem, it's hard to find a solution.