Xbox laser replacement not working.

clonadlad

I'm just after replacing a friends laser for a LiteOn drive. I desoldered the metal bit and I everything seemed to go grand but it wont read any discs now. I tried DVD's games and still no luck. All I get is the the unrecognised disc error instead.

The only problem I did have was the metal bars which hold the laser are a little loose and the laser seems to be hitting the circuit board when you slide it up the rail. But another friend's xbox had the same problem of hitting the board when I took it apart and it still works perfectly.

Anyone have any ideas?

Myrddin

The rails & gears need calibrating, or else a dodgey new laser. Was it a Hong Kong special?

clonadlad

EnterNow wrote: »

The rails & gears need calibrating, or else a dodgey new laser. Was it a Hong Kong special?

What do ya mean calibrating? I hope not anyway. I got it of modtraders UK.

Myrddin

clonadlad wrote: »

What do ya mean calibrating? I hope not anyway. I got it of modtraders UK.

I'm not sure how it works on the 360, but I'd imagine the height of the aperture is calibrated so that it reads the discs correctly. Perhaps there's no need, I'm not entirely sure, I've only ever swapped the drive pcb into new units.

You shouldn't have to go faffing about with resistance etc on a brand new laser unit anyway

Reamer Fanny

clonadlad wrote: »

I'm just after replacing a friends laser for a LiteOn drive. I desoldered the metal bit and I everything seemed to go grand but it wont read any discs now. I tried DVD's games and still no luck. All I get is the the unrecognised disc error instead.

The only problem I did have was the metal bars which hold the laser are a little loose and the laser seems to be hitting the circuit board when you slide it up the rail. But another friend's xbox had the same problem of hitting the board when I took it apart and it still works perfectly.

Anyone have any ideas?

The laser will always hit the circuit board then the tray is open (this is normal) when the tray closes the laser assembly raises up slightly to clear the circuit board.

I would check the anti-static point there are three points that need desoldering you'll know if its desoldered if you can see the red beam coming from the laser when the Xbox is powered on.

Jimbobjoeyman

is the laser diode (lens) blue or grey.
In general if its blue its a good laser and if its grey its pretty much dead

joker@

Blue in xbox New model of blue ray ?

Jimbobjoeyman

joker@ wrote: »

Blue in xbox New model of blue ray ?

Not Bright blue but The lens has a blue tinge to it.
But in a dead laser the lens has a grey look to it.

Just something I noticed after buying a load of Hong Kong specials and comparing the lasers to my usual supplier

Just compare these two images and you see what I mean

http://www.google.ie/imgres?q=xbox+360+laser&start=135&hl=en&biw=1440&bih=775&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=X1nqptpxWxE1nM:&imgrefurl=http://www.aliexpress.com/store/400979/209686061-480599764/for-xbox360-slim-HOP-15XB-laser-lens-G2R2.html&docid=l4eTf6F6RwTjhM&imgurl=http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/480599764/for-xbox360-slim-HOP-15XB-laser-lens-G2R2.jpg&w=798&h=526&ei=-MR4T8yHIYaLhQfs4Oi8DQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=490&vpy=334&dur=445&hovh=182&hovw=277&tx=207&ty=92&sig=115167436788838351973&page=5&tbnh=136&tbnw=184&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:135

http://www.google.ie/imgres?q=xbox+360+laser&start=171&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1440&bih=775&tbm=isch&tbnid=nmqmREvsUYkjSM:&imgrefurl=http://www.gameconsoleworld.co.uk/products.php%3Fproduct%3DXbox-360-HOP-1401%257B47%257D141X-Laser&docid=hQBZcQV2Lxj3HM&imgurl=http://www.gameconsoleworld.co.uk/product_images/q/645/HOP-1401-141xLaser__82354_std.jpg&w=300&h=300&ei=ecZ4T4TUNobMhAf43emWDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=184&vpy=239&dur=2849&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=158&ty=118&sig=115167436788838351973&page=6&tbnh=135&tbnw=152&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:171

clonadlad

Thanks for the help. I'm away for the week so I can't test the xbox. But I'll be back to let ye know how I get on.

clonadlad

I'm just after testing the xbox again there without the casing and still no luck.

I can see the laser lights up and moves up and down the rails grand. The disc stays spinning too. It just comes up play game and when I click it nothing happens. I don't know what to do now.

clonadlad

Can anyone help me please? I'm thinking of buying a whole new DVD drive if I can't get this to work.

Myrddin

Have you used a multimeter & checked the resistance of the laser unit? It might need tweaking, but its usually a last resort.

clonadlad

EnterNow wrote: »

Have you used a multimeter & checked the resistance of the laser unit? It might need tweaking, but its usually a last resort.

I haven't checked that yet. I'll get a multimeter at the weekend and check it. But surely a brand new laser should be working straight out of the box?

Do you think it could be anything else?

Myrddin

clonadlad wrote: »

I haven't checked that yet. I'll get a multimeter at the weekend and check it. But surely a brand new laser should be working straight out of the box?

Do you think it could be anything else?

It should work straight outta the box yeah. It's the only thing left I can think of though, it could be DOA.

clonadlad

EnterNow wrote: »

It should work straight outta the box yeah. It's the only thing left I can think of though, it could be DOA.

But the laser lights up grand and seems to work so could it still be dead?

Myrddin

clonadlad wrote: »

But the laser lights up grand and seems to work so could it still be dead?

It might need tweaking though, check it with a multimeter before doing anything

Reamer Fanny

Jeff Smith wrote: »

<snipped>

Spam much?

clonadlad

I'm just after testing it with a multimeter and it was around 3.7 ohms. So I started tweaking it in 0.1 turns and it still wont work. I now have it lowered to around 2.7. And if I try and tweak it any more the resistance just changes to 7 or 8 ohms.

Any ideas what's gone wrong lads?

clonadlad

Anyone have any ideas please? I'm fairly screwed here otherwise..

docentore

take it to someone who can fix it? I mean here is nothing much can go wrong in this:
1. installation
2. getting rid of that blob of solder (if the laser was new there is a solder that needs to be removed by solder sucker or braid)
3. calibration

clonadlad

docentore wrote: »

take it to someone who can fix it? I mean here is nothing much can go wrong in this:
1. installation
2. getting rid of that blob of solder (if the laser was new there is a solder that needs to be removed by solder sucker or braid)
3. calibration

Thanks for the help. Everything seems to work fine though which is what's really frustrating. The laser moves up and down the rails fine, the laser is working too. It tries to read the disc for about 20 seconds and spits out an unrecognized disc error.

clonadlad

OK I've now tried to put in a different drive which I know works (I just took it out of my xbox). They were both Lite-Ons. I flashed it with the xbox's original keys and there were no problems with the flash.

So I put it back together. It booted it up fine. Threw in a disc. It spins for a couple of seconds and then says Open Tray.

Could there be something wrong with the actual xbox itself? It seems very strange. Sorry for annoying everyone again.:o

Myrddin

clonadlad wrote: »

OK I've now tried to put in a different drive which I know works (I just took it out of my xbox). They were both Lite-Ons. I flashed it with the xbox's original keys and there were no problems with the flash.

So I put it back together. It booted it up fine. Threw in a disc. It spins for a couple of seconds and then says Open Tray.

Could there be something wrong with the actual xbox itself? It seems very strange. Sorry for annoying everyone again.:o

Have you another 360 handy, try swapping it into that & see if it works. That way you'll know if its a laser on console problem pretty quickly

clonadlad

EnterNow wrote: »

Have you another 360 handy, try swapping it into that & see if it works. That way you'll know if its a laser on console problem pretty quickly

I just took that DVD drive out of another xbox and it was working grand. Flashed it and put it into the broken xbox and now it wont work. Sorry if I didn't explain it well.

Myrddin

clonadlad wrote: »

I just took that DVD drive out of another xbox and it was working grand. Flashed it and put it into the broken xbox and now it wont work. Sorry if I didn't explain it well.

Oh right, will it play dvd films?

clonadlad

EnterNow wrote: »

Oh right, will it play dvd films?

Nope, not even DVD's. Same result. Spins for a couple of seconds and says open tray.

Myrddin

clonadlad wrote: »

Nope, not even DVD's. Same result. Spins for a couple of seconds and says open tray.

Weird, even a wrong key will allow the playing of dvd's. The mini-ide & mini sata cable arn't damaged at all are they?

clonadlad

EnterNow wrote: »

Weird, even a wrong key will allow the playing of dvd's. The mini-ide & mini sata cable arn't damaged at all are they?

I replaced both the cables and it still won't work!

Jimbobjoeyman

Are you sure the sata port isnt damaged ?

Reamer Fanny

clonadlad wrote: »

I replaced both the cables and it still won't work!

Have you tried throwing it against the wall?

Myrddin

So basically you've a 360 that won't read discs.
You then replaced the laser, & it still wouldn't read.
You then swapped in a working drive, still wouldn't read.
You've replaced both drive cables, still wouldn't read.

Weird!

Jimbobjoeyman

EnterNow wrote: »

So basically you've a 360 that won't read discs.
You then replaced the laser, & it still wouldn't read.
You then swapped in a working drive, still wouldn't read.
You've replaced both drive cables, still wouldn't read.

Weird!

I've a feeling were not getting the full story here.
These things just dont stop working for no reason.
I've fixed loads of these and never once had this problem.

No offence to the op but are you sure you've done everything properly and that the dvd key is correct ?

At this point I would say you should give it to somebody with more experience at this.

clonadlad

I've done exactly what I said so a brick wall is the next solution.

I'm going to have to bring it to someone who knows more about this than me cause it's wrecking my head really. There's nothing else I can check??

Thanks for the help lads!

Jimbobjoeyman

clonadlad wrote: »

I've done exactly what I said so a brick wall is the next solution.

I'm going to have to bring it to someone who knows more about this than me cause it's wrecking my head really. There's nothing else I can check??

Thanks for the help lads!

Are you 100% sure that the dvd key is correct ?
Just because all the warranty stickers are intact doesn't mean it hasn't been tampered with.

Have you checked the actual sata ports themselves ?

Its a strange one alright.
Would really need to have it sitting in-front of me to diagnose properly

clonadlad

Jimbobjoeyman wrote: »

Are you 100% sure that the dvd key is correct ?
Just because all the warranty stickers are intact doesn't mean it hasn't been tampered with.

Have you checked the actual sata ports themselves ?

Its a strange one alright.
Would really need to have it sitting in-front of me to diagnose properly

Well I got the key myself so I'm sure it's right. Surely if it was tampered with it wouldn't have been working when I got it in the first place?

I looked at the ports and there doesn't seem to be any problems.

I'm gonna reflash it again tomorrow just in case something went wrong but I don't think it did.