Breaking down but not totally broken 360

[WildManWiles01]

Well I will start with this ..... I do not have the RLOD...

But almost everyone of my game discs are starting to have read errors... and my disk drive will make a weird grind noise like the disc was spinning at a high speed and then it tries to stop it.... that noise...:mad:

Now, once I hear that noise, I know my game is about to get a read error.

I get it a lot on my Tiger 07, also, I cant finish my tour because on hole #4 of the PGA tour championship, it freezes.... Only during load times.... Only ever does it freeze during load times.

None of my discs are damaged by this sudden stoppage... also, my discs dont appear to be scratched which would deam unplayable....

Do I have a problem with the drive itself?:confused: If so, what can I do to fix this situation....

PS. My xbox is no longer in warranty and is also case modded with a side window and paint, so there is no way I can return to M$. And my mod happened a really long time ago so this has nothing to do with this issue.

Thanks to anyone who helps...!


EDIT : I have heard on the grape vine that you just need to clean the laser with a DVD cleaner disc,.... this has been done numerous times and I still get the error.

[razzleson]

You might be screwed on this one. By the sound of it, your drive is going out.

The only way to "replace" a drive is to extract the firmware off it, and flash it onto another drive. The bad part of this is with doing that, you'll most likely get banned from Xbox Live as you now have a flashed drive (even if you have no intention of playing burnt games).

You COULD buy an identical drive off eBay or something, and swap out parts to see if that'll help. But that doesn't always fix everything, plus you have to know what you're doing.

Hm, I guess your only option is sending it to MS and paying the $$. Or buying a new drive and swapping parts. Both options suck.

[Jdm7399]

I know this is out in the open, but you might want to invest your money in a New 360 with warranty. If you do decide to repair it or replace it with another drive, it may or may not work. You have a 50/50 chance here. You know how these 360's are...they break down left and right. It's kind of inevitable.

[Bluntman428]

Sounds like you're out of luck mate. :(

I had this problem twice already, I'm currently on my third 360 in a year.

You may want to rethink messing with your next 360. It's really not worth the trouble you'll run into if you mess with any of the hardware or the case. And it won't impress anyone but yourself to be honest.

[WildManWiles01]

You may want to rethink messing with your next 360. It's really not worth the trouble you'll run into if you mess with any of the hardware or the case. And it won't impress anyone but yourself to be honest.

None of my mods have anything to deal with this issue.... And would not effect anything dealing with the drive as well.

[Korix]

A new system seems like the way to go. The problem with getting new parts to replace you drive with is that the new part may not work or could easily break down soon afterwards. Hell, even if that doesn't happen, something completely unrelated to this AND you mods could go dead and you're stuck again, this time with money out of your pocket already. It's time to pick up a new one.

A bit off topic but relevant: check Alaska's warranty laws; some states, including mine, have a law where double warranties cannot occupy the same time frame. I have a one-year warranty through Microsoft like everyone else does and the Gamestop warranty I bought then kicks into effect, lasting me up to the two year mark. This is why I've sent in my system for now the third time since November: I haven't had an immediate need whenever it broke and getting a free replacement system sometime next year is so much better of a deal.

[James03]

:( This has just happened to me too, the grinding noises have beem happening probably since November but just today I was playing Shadowrun and it was 5-3 and in the last round it did the grinding sound for no reason at all (it also does this when it is loading up the map) and at the end of the round the console came up with the unreadable disk message =/ Now whenever I put a disc in the console it does the reading disk part then just says open tray, game doesn't start up or anything, the same happens with every game. I turn off the console for a little while and then it will work again, but after 20mins of playing it does it again *sigh* So now I'm stuck with a pretty much useless Xbox 360 until I can afford another one. Grrr if only it had only lasted until the 360 Elite's had come out :( But I bought it in February 2006 so it's lasted a long time I guess but my Gamecube lasted 3-4 years with no problems so yeah...

[Clipse 2]

Just a thought, is your system sitting vertical or horizontal? Originally I had mine vertical but heard a grinding noise on day, from that day on I sat it horizontal and never heard it again. As I said, just a thought.

[WildManWiles01]

My mods are only cosmetic... besides the OEM replacement talismoon rear fan. None of which would effect the drive.

My box has always sat horizontal and will never be vertical if I can help it.... because I did have it vertical one time, and during playing NCAA 07 I moved it to horizontal to see the lights change spots... and low and behold, I now have a NCAA 07 trash disk.... But this was last year.. Ever since then it has always stayed horizontal.

I dont remember where I bought the 360, so I will just have to work on buying a new one. But I will try the replacement drive first as it is definatly a less expensive replacement. If it works, it works... if not, then I will buy a new box

[James03]

I found out the problem, pretty simple solution. The thing that is worn out is the lens inside the DVD drive... so I will just buy a new lens (about £13 off Ebay) and get my bro to put it in the DVD drive, and it should work fine hopefully :)

[WildManWiles01]

I found out the problem, pretty simple solution. The thing that is worn out is the lens inside the DVD drive... so I will just buy a new lens (about £13 off Ebay) and get my bro to put it in the DVD drive, and it should work fine hopefully :)

Did you try this fix? Did it work? Please let me know so I can try to fix mine..

Thanks

[James03]

Did you try this fix? Did it work? Please let me know so I can try to fix mine..

Thanks

I've PM'd you :)

[Legends xExilex]

Xbox's are a rip off to try to pay to fix you are prob. better off just buying a new one.

[WildManWiles01]

Xbox's are a rip off to try to pay to fix you are prob. better off just buying a new one.

:confused:

Little confused with this comment. Spend $400 on a new one or replace the Laser lens in the DVD drive for $15-30 and maybe fix the problem. Or replace the whole DVD drive for around 40-60....

Thats a whole lot cheaper then a new one. Granted, if the replacements dont end up fixing the problem then I would buy a new one... But why not try the cheaper route first?