what's up with my xbox's disc drive?

a few months ago i noticed that whenever i tried using my xbox, the disc tray would always jam. i would patiently sit there pressing the eject button for about 10 minutes until it would eventually open. needless to say it was quite annoying. now i don't really use my xbox all that much anymore but today i felt like playing it all of a sudden and the tray opened up right away but then it turns out that it won't even recognize any discs (original or backup). after testing a few other discs the tray just jammed again and i couldnt get it to open.

so what exactly does this mean? has the xbox simply met its doom? i'll let you knowledgeable folk answer that one.

 

I'm sure this has been answered over and over but i'll be nice and give you a hand on this one.

You have a pretty normal problem. All cd drives have a little rubber belt in the bottom that's hooked to a motor so when you press it magically your tray slides out. The belt is worn out and slipping and can't push hard enough to get the cd tray out of the closed position. I'm sure if you searched it you would find it. But here's a way to re-align your cd tray.

The other normal problem is your laser. Your laser is probably dying or needs to be tuned.

The link below should solve both of those problems.

http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Repairs/xbox_dvd_repair.htm

 

you're a good man, carni.

your info is much appreciated.

 

Sadly, the normal "jamming" problem is not caused by slipping, in fact, I've NEVER seen that, ever! Where did you hear that?

If you drive is jamming you most likely have a magnetic issue within the drive.

My tutorials will explain better detail and give you a YouTube link showing you how to get it open everytime!

 

oh hey! that actually did the trick. not that it matters much since it still can't read any discs. i took it to some guy today to fix that problem and he tried calibrating the laser but he just couldnt get it to work. he suggested buying a new lens for the drive and i'll have to consider that once i have some spare cash.

 

Samsung 605b.. chunks has hit it right on the head. It's the nasty belt they use in the tray drive mechanism. Reinhart first flagged it about 12 months after the 605b first appeared. It is endemic with samsung drives.. from cd-roms to dvd burners. Press eject and bash them, then leave a disk in at all times lol

The laser probably just needs a damn good cleaning. Check out llammas forums or ask chunks for advice. Both my 605b lasers are sharp as the day they were made in 2001. I think they just go and go.. I haven't seen a failed 605b laser yet.. the 605f lasers are junk and fail (if they outlast the rest of the drive that is)

 

I don't get why chunks hit it on the head, he didn't say anything about the belt he said it was a magentic issue. Which i remember reading old posts about this and it's the damn belt that can't break the magnetic field when the drive is in the closed position.

Eh anyway problem solved

 

The problem is a mixture, and only happen with samsung drives. The root of it is the disk spindle retainer magnets being a bit (probably) on the strong side.

The laser raise/lower mechanism is helped on it's way with a couple of springs. They seem to be a little on the weak side, barely up to the job when new. They (apparently) denature or stretch slightly with use putting more strain on the belt which can't cope.. slips on the pulley and denatures through the friction heating caused by the slippage.
You can hear the drive train slipping when the eject button is pressed.
The proof of the pudding is... Replace the belt with one from an old cd-rom drive and the fault goes away... never to return.

It's hard to say which is the real cause and which is the effect because who ever opens a drive unless it is faulty?

This fault is right across all samsung drives. It's a stock fault.. So common that a "drive doesn't open" fault on an xbox and we can 90% of the time tell somebody that it is a samsung drive without even seeing the box.
Any samsung drive can and will show it eventually.. If the drive electronics last long enough. If left straining by repeatedly pressing the eject button eventually the motor controller chip on the drive board will burn out. That's more commonly seen in the 605f drives in the 1.6 crystals.

 

Creakster has samsungs.. Will be able to tell whether 605b or f if they read cd-r or not

I leave an audio cd in.. some old junk thing and start with the eject button...

My drives are so tired they will sometimes fail to close as well.