Did I blow the laser dg-16d2s xbox 360

[rbj8611]

Hey guys. I bought COD Ghosts, tried to play, but it kept saying unrecognized disk. Took the game back, new one did the same. I tried the pot tweak and it worked for 2 games of kill confirmed. In the middle of the game I got the disk is unreadable message and now nothing plays. Before the pot tweak COD was the only game that wouldn't play, but of course I had to mess with it. Even with no disk the drive makes 2 "grunting" sounds and then a long noise that sounds like a motor spinning for a second or two. When I put in a game and take the lid off the drive,I see the laser flash through the disk but the disk doesn't spin at all now. Did I blow the laser or is there maybe something I disconnected that I'm missing?

 

[elementface]

Which kind of Xbox are you using?
The original (white) tends to have their drives go bad quick, the elite (black) has the problem less, and the kinect version has even fewer. The older your 360, the more likely the chance the drive just went bad.
It is strange, though, that it is only CoD. Have you tried using your disk in another 360? That would tell you if it's the disk. If you have tried that and the disk works on other 360s, there are some other things you can try before calling the drive busted:
1) try deleting the cache on your harddrive. You can do this by going to settings>memory>(select your hard drive)>clear cache. Sometimes some games can put files in the 360's cache and it may mess with other, usually newer, games.
2) try deleting and redownloading your gamertag profile; you'll need your email and password for the account incase you set those up years ago and forgot both (like I did 😀)
3) finally, try installing the game to your 360. [tangent]Most games made today allow you to install the game onto the hard drive so that files will load faster because the bandwidth in the hard drive is MUCH higher than a dvd drive; this is actually why many people are moving to downloadable games because games published on disks do not have the bandwidth the games need to play at a decent fps.[/tangent] I don't exactly remember how to install a game on the 360 from a disk, but I do remember from the 1 time I did it, its as simple as finding the button for it somewhere on the dashboard. A quick google search should yield that info.

As for the noise you hear, that is normal. Every time you close the disk drive, the 360 will try to see if there is actally a disk in the tray and it does this by simply running the drive, so the spinning and clicking you hear is expected. This noise is also louder if there isn't a disk in the drive.

 

[rbj8611]

Which kind of Xbox are you using?
The original (white) tends to have their drives go bad quick, the elite (black) has the problem less, and the kinect version has even fewer. The older your 360, the more likely the chance the drive just went bad.
It is strange, though, that it is only CoD. Have you tried using your disk in another 360? That would tell you if it's the disk. If you have tried that and the disk works on other 360s, there are some other things you can try before calling the drive busted:
1) try deleting the cache on your harddrive. You can do this by going to settings>memory>(select your hard drive)>clear cache. Sometimes some games can put files in the 360's cache and it may mess with other, usually newer, games.
2) try deleting and redownloading your gamertag profile; you'll need your email and password for the account incase you set those up years ago and forgot both (like I did 😀)
3) finally, try installing the game to your 360. [tangent]Most games made today allow you to install the game onto the hard drive so that files will load faster because the bandwidth in the hard drive is MUCH higher than a dvd drive; this is actually why many people are moving to downloadable games because games published on disks do not have the bandwidth the games need to play at a decent fps.[/tangent] I don't exactly remember how to install a game on the 360 from a disk, but I do remember from the 1 time I did it, its as simple as finding the button for it somewhere on the dashboard. A quick google search should yield that info.

As for the noise you hear, that is normal. Every time you close the disk drive, the 360 will try to see if there is actally a disk in the tray and it does this by simply running the drive, so the spinning and clicking you hear is expected. This noise is also louder if there isn't a disk in the drive.

I have the old white 360, have had this one4 years. Deleted the cache, didn't try installing to hard drive, but it's too late now. The noises coming from the drive aren't normal at all, at least compared to before the pot tweak. The drive doesn't even seem to try to spin now

 

[elementface]

I have the old white 360, have had this one4 years. Deleted the cache, didn't try installing to hard drive, but it's too late now. The noises coming from the drive aren't normal at all, at least compared to before the pot tweak. The drive doesn't even seem to try to spin now

🙁 If the sounds are getting worse, it's almost certainly a bad drive. I wish microsoft wouldn't have copped out on a lot of the parts they did, but there are some options for you besides customer support which is an overpriced rip-off:

1) Try replacing the drive. The drive the 360 uses is proprietary, but there may be some used ones out there you can slip into your 360 for a lot less than repairing or buying a new one, but that is assuming you are comfortable enough with hardware to attempt such a thing. You are most likely out of warrentee as well, so I wouldn't worry about voiding it by opening the 360
2) Get a used 360. Don't go for a new 360 unless you plan on not buying an One anytime soon, but if you don't have $500 on hand and still want a gaming console, amazon or other sources should have a decent used 360 for a cheap price.
3) Use this as an initiative to get into PC gaming. Assuming you have the peripherals (hard drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse), you can build a pretty cheap entry level tower with upgrade room from less than $500 and you don't have to deal with microsoft's bloatware on the 360 or One or have to pay for Live. Resolution will be low when you first start out, but one graphics card upgrade, assuming you picked a good cpu, will get you back into at least 720p resolutions. If you need help building a PC, send me a message or head to the systems forum for help. It's easier than you might think!

 

[rbj8611]

I have the old white 360, have had this one4 years. Deleted the cache, didn't try installing to hard drive, but it's too late now. The noises coming from the drive aren't normal at all, at least compared to before the pot tweak. The drive doesn't even seem to try to spin now

🙁 If the sounds are getting worse, it's almost certainly a bad drive. I wish microsoft wouldn't have copped out on a lot of the parts they did, but there are some options for you besides customer support which is an overpriced rip-off:

1) Try replacing the drive. The drive the 360 uses is proprietary, but there may be some used ones out there you can slip into your 360 for a lot less than repairing or buying a new one, but that is assuming you are comfortable enough with hardware to attempt such a thing. You are most likely out of warrentee as well, so I wouldn't worry about voiding it by opening the 360
2) Get a used 360. Don't go for a new 360 unless you plan on not buying an One anytime soon, but if you don't have $500 on hand and still want a gaming console, amazon or other sources should have a decent used 360 for a cheap price.
3) Use this as an initiative to get into PC gaming. Assuming you have the peripherals (hard drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse), you can build a pretty cheap entry level tower with upgrade room from less than $500 and you don't have to deal with microsoft's bloatware on the 360 or One or have to pay for Live. Resolution will be low when you first start out, but one graphics card upgrade, assuming you picked a good cpu, will get you back into at least 720p resolutions. If you need help building a PC, send me a message or head to the systems forum for help. It's easier than you might think!

I have a gaming pc, I'll have a xbox one next week, the case is, already open which is how I know the laser still tries to read, and a used xbox only costs $140 at gamestop. Thanks anyway

 

[elementface]

I have a gaming pc, I'll have a xbox one next week, the case is, already open which is how I know the laser still tries to read, and a used xbox only costs $140 at gamestop. Thanks anyway

No problem. Could I get a hit on that best answer button? I like the best answer badges 😀

 

[rbj8611]

I have a gaming pc, I'll have a xbox one next week, the case is, already open which is how I know the laser still tries to read, and a used xbox only costs $140 at gamestop. Thanks anyway

No problem. Could I get a hit on that best answer button? I like the best answer badges 😀

The only advice you gave me that pertained to my question was to replace the drive. The rest was almost like Microsoft Help....a lot of good tips, but had nothing to do with what I asked about. No disrespect

 

[scrimpyharbor]

I have a gaming pc, I'll have a xbox one next week, the case is, already open which is how I know the laser still tries to read, and a used xbox only costs $140 at gamestop. Thanks anyway

No problem. Could I get a hit on that best answer button? I like the best answer badges 😀

The only advice you gave me that pertained to my question was to replace the drive. The rest was almost like Microsoft Help....a lot of good tips, but had nothing to do with what I asked about. No disrespect

That was terrible advice. Nice try elementface. Clear cache ? Replace the drive ? Get into a pc ? Wha... what ? Here's what's going on with your drive dude: First, the noises you are hearing are from a worn out worm drive- that's what the sound like when the motor starts going bad. It will eventually stop working altogether if it hasn't already. You can test it by pushing it along with your finger: if it moves smoothly you're probably good- but if it's hard to move and stiff, toss it ! Also, the plastic clip (attached to the laser that connects to the worm drive spindle) could be worn and skipping/ popping loose while the worm gear is trying to move the laser back and forth. Related to this would be the laser out of position not reading from the right location on the disc. That would cause the problem with it not even trying to spin the disc up- it goes for a second then stops. Second: More than likely your laser is burning out or is burned out- and yes it will still light up even if it wont read. The laser and worm gear will typical go bad at about the same time- so if you're going to do a repair get both. Check your ribbon cables too, especially the one going to the laser. If you see ANY abnormalities- creases, a little dot- like poked with a pencil (mine had it and it was bad)- replace it. When I did mine it started as a bad laser but as I began to test it before I reassembled it, the worm gear gave out and I had a bad ribbon. I had to replace one thing at a time until it worked flawlessly again. My only concern is that you have an older xbox. It costs very little to repair these things but it does take time, patience, and some special tools- not to mention the aggravation of dealing with the disassembled parts while testing the drive. After that anything else can happen, especially to an older unit. You have to decide if it's worth it. Sounds like you've already been in it to pot tweak it so maybe go for it. Just identify your drive and laser (magnifying glass helps) and get on ebay and amazon. Once you start looking everything will be related to your drive and laser so it will be easy to find which worm gear and ribbons you need. Good luck !