Xbox 360 DVD Drive Repair (Not opening or reading disks)

In this video, we look at what it takes to swap the drive in an original Xbox 360. It's not a hard procedure, but there are some "Gotcha's" involved.
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[@The_Dork_Knight]

Thanks for making this video . I recently acquired 2 faulty 360’s . One that was working well but had a broken disc drive and another that had red rings but a good disc drive . Bingo bango , I swapped the good disc drive to the non red ring unit and now i have a complete 360 again 👍🏼, thank you sir , you are a retro gamers savior

[@PghGameFix]

I'm glad the vid helped. Thanks for watching.

[@NoyzP360]

Hi, Will it work between a Philips Lite-on and BenQ drives please? Or both drives should be exactly the same? I want to be sure before doing that manipulation. Thank you very much 🙏

[@wbaba34]

@@NoyzP360 I think they have to be flashed

[@TylerDowling-xi2ii]

So I have 4 Xbox and I'm needing to fix the disc drive on one I can't just swap the whole drive unit into the other Xbox without changing the board inside

[@STHelton1]

I did the same repair in my personal 360. Nice video. Great job as usual.

[@PghGameFix]

Thanks for the complement... and thanks for watching !!

[@NoyzP360]

Hi, Will it work between a Philips Lite-on and BenQ drives please? Or both drives should be exactly the same? I want to be sure before doing that manipulation. Thank you very much 🙏

[@markmaisy4858]

Perfect! This was exactly what I was looking for, just purchased 2 new drives, completely forgetting about the firmware side of things, thought FFS! You've turned a 'FFS' into a 'BooTeaFull', a really simple solution now, really appreciate this, great work!! Liked n subbed

[@feski1]

Very straightforward tutorial, clean and informative. Spoofing DVD drives - so 2007 😂

[@charlesholmes5057]

A very helpful video. I will be replacing my drive in the week ahead and will be new to soldering. Can you tell me the temperature you used or recommend? You noted the 'lead free' aspect requires a different temperature and I certainly don't want to damage the board or the wires.

[@Mr.SirMan]

Also new to soldering

[@onasazi]

I did my first red ring fix last week!

[@PghGameFix]

I generally don't mess with the RROD because it is normally short lived.

[@onasazi]

@@PghGameFix yeah i’m guessing it will revert to it’s RROD state! But still just happy was able to bring it back from the dead! Also problem with it is that the dvd drive is missing a gear. And it’s a Toshiba/Samsung TS-H943 drive and the other drives’ gear don’t fit!

[@hypercalmeqc7863]

@@onasazistill alive?

[@onasazi]

@@hypercalmeqc7863 still!

[@Ramdomsmile]

@@onasaziis it still working?

[@hexc0de]

Great vid. I followed these steps and it worked like a charm! Thanks!

[@PghGameFix]

Glad the vid helped.

[@MajorHarrison100]

Where’s the best place to buy/order a replacement?

[@intuicio]

Hi! It was a very nice repair! I also have the problem that the inserted dvd just spins, but does not read. I have tried 30 original dvd discs, but none of them read. My model is Xbox 360 S (Model:1439) If I buy a new DVD reader for this model and replace the pcb in it like you did, would the fix work for me? Thank you master!

[@marty3553]

Hi great video. Can you please let me know what the fluid is that you put on the solder ??

[@PghGameFix]

Before..... it's flux. After... it's alcohol to clean the flux

[@DustyOrchid057]

Knock on wood, but I've had my xbox 360 elite for fifteen years now and it's more dependable than the slim model even the slim e model as well

[@mymusic3354]

I'm probably going to have to try this, I have a lot of game data on the console's hard drive which I would lose if I were to just use a different 360 console, saves and other game data, DLC etc and when I went to start it up it starts up, goes all the way through and while the drive opens and I put a disc in it says it's checking the disc but soon stops and just has the same screen as if there is no game disc in the drive, which I think means the drive is defective and can't "see" the disc....Thanks for the video!👍

[@onasazi]

Enjoyed your vid! I love working on xbox 360!

[@PghGameFix]

Thanks. I appreciate the views.

[@JohnWilliams-ij8cm]

I learned a lot from the video but I still didn't see how to get the tray to open I'm sitting here in my tray still not opening and I'm not sure why also I'd like to know where you said you can order the boards I'd like to order a new board since I got it tore down

[@BreakfastSnack]

Hey is the disc drive you got the same for other ones like benz drive? Or no?

[@bencollins1210]

Is it the same process for the Xbox 360 slim?

[@Jim_CT5555]

Can I send mine to you to get fixed?

[@markusaurelius4015]

What was the reason/advantage you replaced the entire drive instead of just the laser?

[@PghGameFix]

Because the complete drives are available for about the same price.

[@markusaurelius4015]

@@PghGameFix ahh… I wonder if that used to be the case but not anymore because the drives were over double when I was looking yesterday. $8 for the laser and $25 for the cheapest drive I could find… :/

[@SSD_LUXXER]

How do you open the black one

[@MelodyStarz]

Will this fix work for non American Xbox 360s? Mine is Japanese, I want to know if I swap the drive with another one will it still work for my NTSCJ games?

[@USSWISCONSIN64]

I have my Original Xbox 360 that u bought back in Aug 2009 and just brought it back up and running after 6+ years. before i mothballed it (as my brother gave me his Xbox360Slim) the disk tray didn't want to open very well and now it's not reading disks. love to be able to use it to the fullest with digital and disk games. but needs to be replaced (This is NOT the 1st time switched the disk tray as my friend gave me his old xbox 360 Disk tray and it worked for a while until now) so not sure what to do about it. thinking of bringing it to the local game store and asking them to fix it if they can. but still wanna get videos like this and learn more. think ya can help?

[@BobRedmill6969]

I would recommend before replacing it opening it up and cleaning the laser and belt. I did this on mine and it’s opening and reading discs now

[@PghGameFix]

absolutely. but most of these just need a new laser.

[@wallyhandyman]

i want to say nice video and thanks for posting. i'm new on your channel so i have a question i have a 360 like that but the drive doesn't read the disk i fixed the door so opens nice but the disk spins up then stops. won't read is it possible the control board be bad? and if so how do you just swap out the dvd drive?

[@PghGameFix]

most likely the lase went bad. swap the laser out and it should be fine. the drive control board is locked to the system.

[@wallyhandyman]

@@PghGameFix i saw that somewhere and was hoping it's not that board but i will see as i ordered a used drive on amazon same drive model.

[@yashti1979]

I have a xbox 360. It was basically new. I was using it one morning and suddenly the power button started flashing. I can't open the drive tray. I can only turn it off and turn on by unplugging and plugging it back in. When I push power button, it goes to flashing green light. Nothing works. What could be the problem? No flashing red of death yet. Thanks

[@MrBlingBlingNr1]

problem is to get a good quality laser. cause i bought several ones from aliexpress, but they are cheap quality and doens´t work. had only 2 out of 5 which were working.

[@tyrinnis9832]

the silver screws are a T10 torque bit, and the black ones are a T9 torque bit (for anyone who was wondering)

[@zyglog]

I watched your video and one by Capr1corn and the boards on the DVD drive are very different. How do I know which replacement drive I need so that I have compatible boards to swap. I am pretty sure that I have the Jasper version of the console.

[@PghGameFix]

The regular/fat, and the slim should have the same style drive. The "E" had a different version. BUT, to be safe, open your dive, and see what version you have.

[@ahmadowgodofwar4496]

Quite tough at beginning 😫😞😂 But in the end quite sample 🎉

[@ElishaKolbe]

Can I just swap the entire drive or just the board

[@pidera7486]

if you have some extra know-how yes, you would need to pull the old circuit board off of the drive assuming it's not failed and attach it to the replacement drive. But if you swap the board you might as swap the drive at the same time or else you will need to rekey the drive to the board and as I understand it the software isn't easy to use.

[@tmdRomeo]

Hello. Thanks so much for the vid. I just need to know, where do you get your spare parts. My Xbox doesn't read my discs anymore. I tried replacing the laser, but it still didn't work. So I'll replace the board.

[@saged1513]

Ifixit is a really good resource for parts and guides as far as I can tell

[@NoyzP360]

Hi, Will it work between a Philips Lite-on and BenQ drives please? Or both drives should be exactly the same? I want to be sure before doing that manipulation. Thank you very much 🙏

[@BreakfastSnack]

Wondering this too, did you find out?

[@NoyzP360]

@@BreakfastSnack finally i gave up and bought a modded xbox 360 slim instead 😅

[@BreakfastSnack]

@@NoyzP360 I was looking to buy one too where I live for $300 but I waited right now tomorrow Tuesday I’ll know for sure if the BenQ VAD063 works for sure

[@jakkuwolfinsomnia8058]

I did swap the drive but now it won’t even respond to me when I press the eject button

[@PghGameFix]

Sounds like you didn't solder the wires back in the proper spots.

[@Rianthunder]

What do you do if the board is the problem?

[@PghGameFix]

THere are ways to flash the bios on the board... but it's not an easy job.

[@hakimzaza783]

My friend my device Xbo360 When I insert some of the discs to play, it writes unknown to me knowing that I am that disc when I bought it and it was working. After a while I went back and played it. It did not work. It has no scratch or dust. We are completely clean. The door does not open sometimes. How is the solution? Thank you

[@PghGameFix]

THe door not opening is a belt replacement. I have a video on that. But it sounds like your laser is going bad, and it's time for a replacement drive.

[@hakimzaza783]

@@PghGameFix My friend, currently some of the old disks are working and some are not. Do the lens not work?

[@israelcruz4021]

This is exactly what mine is doing but don’t know anywhere they would fix it for me

[@NBC_NCO]

If you do a Lazer swap. Do you half to adjust anything?

[@PghGameFix]

generally, no.

[@NBC_NCO]

@@PghGameFix Very good. Thank you. I've had my XBox for over 10 years. Blew the dust off of it put in Forza 4 and it appears I have the same conditions as your video.

[@PghGameFix]

@@NBC_NCO Glad the vid helped.

[@milymilo]

Where do you get your xbox 360 dvd drives? I plan on doing this repair on my grandmas xbox which has a pretty broken dvd drive. Awesome video btw, it'll definitley help in my repair.

[@PghGameFix]

You can normally get a drive from Amazon. There are a few types.... open your 360 before ordering a new drive

[@milymilo]

How do I know which type to get? If it helps I know this Xbox is a Fat with a Falcon motherboard.

[@milymilo]

Sorry just for clarification, when I said this xbox I meant the xbox Im working on.

[@russia03]

if I changed the drive to another one, which I took from a donor, it did not work for me. I reinstalled the old drive that was there before, but it also does not read discs, is this Microsoft protection? How to return the old drive?

[@aribuwu]

Have you figured it out?

[@Its8dmusic]

I want cd drive bcz my first one was broken where can I get it

[@PghGameFix]

Check Amazon or eBay.

[@oreomilk2]

Do you do commission repairs? if so how much for this same problem? my optical drive failed

[@PghGameFix]

With a 360, it may not be worth it if you aren't local. The parts prices have gone up, and adding shipping will be more than the value.

[@oreomilk2]

@@PghGameFix Alr thank you

[@UndyingZombie]

I have had a Xbox360.. Looks very similar model to the one shown with the exception of mine having a white cover and not a silver cover to the dvd drive.. I have had it since they first started making the model I have.. Its worked all this time but finally had an issue where it stopped reading discs.. I kept it in very good shape, no marks no scratches, ect.. Its oddly why I am here.

[@onasazi]

Pot tweaking is fiddly also! But i did also fix one of my friends Xbox 360 with the pot tweat

[@PghGameFix]

Sure... you can add a little gain to a laser that is starting to go bad. I often do that with systems that are harder to get parts for. One thing to keep in mind... in a shop... labor can be more than the part... so to adjust the gain... if that adds 30 min... then the part is cheaper, and a better long term fix.

[@onasazi]

@@PghGameFix yeah i agree on that perspective! I l’ve been trying to fix things and sometimes time is much more but the satisfaction when it is fixed!

[@PghGameFix]

@@onasazi That's how I got into it. It's rewarding to bring them back to life.

[@onasazi]

@@PghGameFix well you definitely show it in every video you produce and i enjoy watching them. You got good insight into every fix you show us. Keep it up!

[@Varibyss13]

Thank you so much! I

[@copingflower1909]

I want to go back and fix the disk drive in my Xbox 360 since it barely opens now, I've had this system for 13 years and to this day it still works fine minus that problem

[@Jon-dz2cl]

So you can't just unplug the entire disk reader and just plug the new one in ?? Serious question...

[@PghGameFix]

No. Xbox and MS didn't want to make it easy on us

[@dayzeed]

That would be nice, but no. It won’t read discs if the system detects that the drive is mismatched.

[@dricklorenz9340]

Safety glasses +1. Ridgid cordless drill +2. Subscribed. Edit: Safety glasses = Reading glasses? Keep up the good work!

[@ronaldhenson3379]

I fixed my original microsoft xbox and original microsoft xbox 360 by cleaning the disc tray gears drive belt reapplying new grease on dvd drive rails its how I fixed my original microsoft xbox and original microsoft xbox 360 and they work excellent

[@emerickscott]

There is a trick though. You buy a $10 xbox 360 opener key :D

[@ShaolinIsland]

Someone asked already but in all seriousness - how much would you charge to repair one? And would you be willing to?

[@PghGameFix]

Contact me on Facebook for shipping details.

[@jodyfree953]

👍🏻💯

[@bryancampbell4604]

Disc* A disk is a hard drive.

[@PghGameFix]

so.... you are saying that a flat round thing is not a "Disk"?? Or that the last word in the abbreviation of "DVD" isn't "Disk"? Yes... the hard "Disk" drive is a disk... but so is the optical "Disk" Drive. But regardless... thanks for watching.