Trying to fix a DIRTY Xbox 360 that won't read disks.

[@jakthebomb]

I bought a Makita Dust Blower for cleaning out electronics and PCs. Best tool you could add to your toolset. It is like having an Air Duster can that doesn’t run out. I have a video demonstrating it on my channel with a dusty MacBook Pro. Paint brushes are good, but can’t get every small crevice.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks jak... what an awesome tip. I haven't heard of those. I will check out your vid. Hopefully others will too. Thanks!

[@Mymatevince]

Nicely done Roger. I've been wearing Cool Water for over 27 years now!!!! 😂

[@RetroTechRepair]

I must admit I really like it! Thanks vince. Really appreciate the continued inspiration and support. That Roller is looking great BTW 👍, it must be so rewarding to renovate the Interior, that was always my favorite part of the car projects I've worked on. Your excitement for it really comes across in the video.

[@Mymatevince]

@@RetroTechRepair Cheers Roger. It's coming along very nicely now. Thanks for the kind words👍👍👍

[@skyway73]

DEPLOY THE PAINTBRUSH! 😁 Nice little clean up and repair, I never knew there was such a thing as a 360 Opener so that's cool. Always relaxing and interesting to watch, cheers 👍

[@RetroTechRepair]

Oh Skyway73 what would I do without your feedback? Well, I'd probably have given up as I've struggled to find time around work commitments, as much as the channel has struggled to gain momentum. So as ever a MASSIVE thanks for the feedback. Really appreciated. Thanks so much for your kind words. I hope that you are well.

[@1111comment]

i should’ve skipped over all those screws in the beginning. but cleaning lens and changing the resistance brought it back to life.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks for your comments. Please that you enjoyed the video

[@justme7128]

Great repair and video. I love your voice, it's so calming to me ^^ You deserve way more subscribers!

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thank you JustMe. I was actually proud of this vid. At least for me i thought it was one of my nicest edited and voiced, so I am extremely pleased that you enjoyed it. Unfortunately it's not performed too well and as actually reduced my subscriber count. But your kind words really help and I'm very grateful for your feedback. Thank you so much.

[@grandtheftauto1233]

Great video and clean approach. I’ve known about the adjusting pots method but not many videos show it this clearly

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks GTA. I think many vids were shot back in the day before cheap 4k cameras and the like. Replacement lasers are so cheap nowadays that probably would have been a better fix, but I enjoyed the repair. So glad you enjoyed the video and thanks so much for your kind words and comments.

[@bobdefalco]

Always enjoy learning from your experience!

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks Bob. I REALLY appreciate the feedback. Glad that you enjoyed the video

[@ghost-retro3733]

Thanks for your all your videos. The Xbox is a little out of my area of expertise, but I understand that nobody knows how long these tweaks will last (some say a few days, others say 1 year+). I cannot imagine it is too difficult to change the laser assembly though.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Very true Ghost. The laser assembly is only about £5 on eBay and the belt around £2 - £3 so you are absolutely correct that about £10 would have seen it done "properly". If I had been doing the repair for somebody else (which isn't something I do) I would definitely have gone that route. Anecdotally the footage for this was shot probably 8 months ago and so far so good, although the console probably isn't getting nearly as much use as a teenage would have given it. An excellent point though and one I should probably have mentioned the in the video. As ever thanks for your feedback and your kind words.

[@ghost-retro3733]

@@RetroTechRepair No Worries.

[@ray24051]

I mean if you're going to go through the trouble of opening the system and cleaning it might as well just put a brand new disc reader in there they are less than $10 and very easy to replace.

[@RetroTechRepair]

That is true Ray, but on a Sunday afternoon I didn't have a laser and on Sunday night and still today I play the games without spending the £10. There's a tiny laser not in landfill and I enjoyed 2 frosty beers.

[@Cab00v]

Also, I've read places that it's not a guarantee. There's a chip in the drive that binds it to your particular Xbox 360. If you buy any old drive, there's a low fraction of a chance that it will work with your Xbox.

[@berges104]

open tray is the exact same error I am getting with mine. Got the itch to Play my Mass Effect games and pulled the 360 out of storage collecting dust. Sometimes it reads, but today it doesn't. my Multimeter is MIA so I will be doing it the old fashioned way. mark a spot and track turns in a direction lol. it will work or it won't. I can play with it tonight and buy a disk reader if I fail.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Good idea... And good luck! Let me k know how it goes!

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks so much for your comments. Much appreciated

[@wesleyrussell8386]

a 360? Retro tech? Haha- oh, it's 18 years old... oh...

[@RetroTechRepair]

Hard to believe isn't it? Yes, I have considered rebranding, but mostly do retro. What really amazes me is if you go 18 years before the 360, you get to the NES. I feel the difference in game play between a NES and the 360 is much bigger than between a 360 and todays consoles. Anyhow, thanks so much for your comments. Genuinely appreciated.

[@Ratchet_effect]

That's got to be the one & only easiest, clean & fix console repairs I've ever seen. Hows the electric bike going, still in the works or even in use maybe ? 🖖👍

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks Ratchet... are the bike... could I send you a cheque just to forget you ever saw the teaser? maybe I will take the video down ... LOL. It's coming along slowly, no "e" to it yet, not even rideable as a "push" bike but it's at least clean. My guess is it will won't ever go unless I am the source of motive power. It's been a nightmare to film in a one bedroom flat, its cost me more than its worth in parts, I don't think I will get it going as an e-bike and I am about ready to leave it unlocked in an undesirable neighbourhood (where it will probably sit untouched). That said I will do an update on it at some point and I have learned never to promise as series before filming the series! From what I gather, Vince feels bit the same way about the Rolls Royce.

[@Ratchet_effect]

No cheque, or check needed. I'll simply just move on & forget it ever happened. You should watch a guy on KZbin called rather B welding he makes some crazy machines & the e-Bike is one of them, absolutely bonkers! what he makes out of metal parts. Oh yes the roller when Vince gets around to releasing the videos to public & doing updates on the time & money involved, I think some are going to be shocked & upset. I hope you don't ever stop making content as I do find it interesting, nostalgic to say the least.

[@RetroTechRepair]

@Ratchet effect very kind. No plans to stop yet! The spelling is interesting I lived in the US for a long time and my wife is US citizen. I went back and forth on the spelling of "unrecognised" and "disk" on the thumbnail, eventually went UK English, although its not actually what the console reports!

[@awall1701]

Nice. Really enjoyed seeing this repair.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Awesome! Thanks awal1701.... first to comment. I think you might be my number 1 fan! (It's the other 100K fans I seem to be struggling to get). Thank you sir for your kind words and support.

[@briancoulomb]

Good stuff as always. Nice little fix. I love that the calibration worked.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thank you, @briancoulomb. I really appreciate the feedback. I was happy the laser tweak worked as well and the eventual resistance didn't seem outrageous to me. I could have replaced the laser cheaply which will be an option if the tweak doesnt last, but free is better than cheap and better for the environment too. As ever thank you for taking time to comment it makes a massive difference.

[@maltronik]

Like always.. great video.. calibrating that laser look very tedious.. but that’s why I watch repair videos.. so thank you again for doing it the hard way..👍🏻❤

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks Zulkarnain Adnan. I really appreciate the feedback and your very kind words. Thank you for taking time out to provide feedback.

[@K.P.Alexander]

Nice one! Will definitely be picking up one of those tools as well.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks KP, yeah I honestly could not have got in that dam withing without it. I should probably have bought a replacement laser too, but there is so little money in an Xbox360 nowadays it's almost better to sell for parts and buy a working one. Anyway really appreciate the comments. Thanks so much.

[@sdjmchattie]

It actually wasn’t telling you to open the tray. When the drive is empty, that button on the dashboard, when pressed, opens the tray. It thought there was no disc in the drive.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks Stuart

[@ChrisHogan87]

Just out of interest, if you replaced the disc drive would it still work with the console? I've seen that they need coding or some guff and I've no idea about any of that

[@RetroTechRepair]

I'm not 100% sure but I think you are correct and they need to be "flashed" to match. I could be wrong. What would've been a better fix would have been to replace the laser assembly. These are cheap and don't need to be coded.

[@wongwaihoong6297]

already try out sometime work & sometime not works . do it have laser lens replacement or capacitors replacement at this drive disc board just like GAMECUBE .

[@RetroTechRepair]

I agree replacement lasers are very cheap on eBay and probably a much better fix. I was just trying to find out what I could do with what I had to hand. Good point though. I should have mentioned in the vid. Thanks for your comment!

[@ultimateeditor540]

I know this video is very old but my XBox got tipped over and hit the ground and now it won't read my disk so what should I do?

[@RetroTechRepair]

Sorry to hear that. I'm really not an expert in these repairs so I don't know what to do either. I hope you get it fixed.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately I'm not an expert in repairing things I just have a go. I hope you get it fixed.

[@terihinkle8874]

Pls help me 😢 on my xbox 360 i tried many videos and it say this disc Is unreadable

[@RetroTechRepair]

Hi sorry I'm not really an expert at these repairs I'm just a bloke who tinkers so I can't help. I hope you find someone who can get your console fixed.

[@LordSalazarsRevenge]

Really sucks when you wanna play Batman Arkham City but the xbox can't read it.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Indeed! Couldn't agree more. These consoles seem cheap at the moment. I might by a spare just in case

[@raytisan]

Lmao the cologne dust teen ting, awesome video!!

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks @raytisan so glad you enjoyed the video, I've tried to sneak the odd funny from time to time. So glad that you spotted and enjoyed it.

[@jampot20000]

Thanks for doing this it worked for me

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks jampot. Tbh replacement lasers are cheap too, but not free! So if it fails in future then that may be an option. Glad you got yours working without that and thanks for your comment. Much appreciated

[@jampot20000]

@@RetroTechRepair your video helped massively in opening and the cleaning process. All working for now

[@RetroTechRepair]

@@jampot20000 brilliant. So glad I could help. Thanks so much

[@rcstarz5206]

Please make new 360 video segments. We still need your help my good man.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thank you! New videos will be coming. I've had a few problems recently but hope to be back soon. Thanks so very much for your support

[@BigCort]

I keep getting open tray on all my games

[@RetroTechRepair]

Yes, I've seen that but I'm not way an expert so I can't offer any advice. Hope you get it fixed. Nice console

[@blatantlyjohn6234]

Nice fix

[@RetroTechRepair]

Thanks Blatantly John, as one commentator noted a new laser is only £5 so might have been abetter route, but hey! it got fixed in an hour so we will call it a win for now. Thanks s much for taking time to comment. I appreciate it!

[@ramzamountain1636]

My friends had 4.12k when i tested first time and it hasnt been opened before.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Good to know. Thanks

[@maazrazi2620]

Bro it's shows on mine open tray

[@RetroTechRepair]

Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately I haven't seen that problem on mine and can't offer any help. I am sorry. Thanks for your comment