The DVD Tray on My X-box (not 360) Won't Open

Peter Principle

The DVD tray on my X-box (original, not 360) doesn't open every time I push the "open tray" button. Some times it does, most of the time it doesn't. I have to push it several times to get it to work, fiddle with it, power it off and back on, etc.. Any solution to this?

brandotheninjamaster

There may be gunk inside or around the eject button. Unplug it and see what you can do with some rubbing alcohol.

Peter Principle

I seem to remember reading something about Microsoft being very generous in their warranty on fixing problems with the DVD drive...am I remembering right, and if so is that still the case? Who would I contact to find out?

Arikado

I'm sure there should be some support links on xbox.com.

Graydeath

I had this problem with my old x-box and if I remember correctly there is a small hole on the front that if you push a pin or paperclip through it will manually eject. Of course that doesn't fix the problem but it is a nice temporary work-around.

Peter Principle

I just got off the phone with MS, they want $80 to repair it to as-new status. OTOH, gamestop and eb games only want $60 for a completely new refurbished system.

Are there any home-grown fixes? Would there be any wisdom in cracking the case to see if there's anything obviously wrong with it?

An additional bit of info my wife just told me: any time there is a disc in the tray it opens without fail. It is only recalcitrant when the tray is empty.

SalmonOfDoubt

I used to get this all the time when I had my 360 vertical. Turning it horizontal made it work perfectly.

Everywhereasign

I've had my xbox open on numerous occasions and it's quite simple now, the first time I was nervous though. If it were me, I would open the box up and see if there are loose connections to the button set at the front (it's 2 or 3 prongs going to the mother board) or the ribbon cable on the drive. Mine did some strange open/close dance after I had it open once, the cable was just loose.

Why not risk opening it, unless you really screw up, you should be able to at least get a look at the cables and see if they are loose. If you manage to somehow make it a door stop, $60 for a like-new system isn't bad.

AtomBomb

Cleaning off the sides of the tray "rails" and applying a bit of lithium grease will probably help. I wouldn't worry about the button or connections. It's not usually that the drive isn't getting the signal to open, it's that the belts are old and slip on the wheels and the added friction of dust and dried up grease makes it harder for it to push the drive open. Also, clean the front bezel on the tray and around the opening that it goes back in when it's closed. I've seen some that get gummed up and make the drive stick.

shutz

What I read causes this problem (I have the same thing: I can hear the motor working, but the tray rarely moves) is a rubber belt that slips instead of moving the tray. The site I found for this (sorry, lost the link) recommended replacing the belt, but I don't really want to open up my console...

Normally, the belt should work properly, except that the extreme (and abnormal) heat inside the 360 causes the rubber in the belt to "change", which is what causes it to slip.

I'm mostly waiting for my 360 to RROD so I can get a replacement, since I'm out of warranty (and a couple of games have locked up on me in the last few weeks)

capnrico

FWIW when I had this same problem the drive ultimately died (stopped reading discs) and had to be replaced.

Peter Principle

capnrico wrote: »

FWIW when I had this same problem the drive ultimately died (stopped reading discs) and had to be replaced.

Did it also have that characteristic where it worked every time when there was a disc of any type in the drive?