Open Tray Error - New Laser or New DVD Drive?

[AP0ll0UK]

Ps3 issue aside, I've got my partners younger brothers Xbox 360 Elite which has the Open Tray Error.

I haven't taken it to bits yet but it looks like a yellow cable in the front which I believe is a Lite-On drive.

Whats the best thing to fix it as I don't know much about messing around with the Pots and other threads suggest Lite-On's die quite easily.

Should I be looking at a new laser or am I best just getting a new DVD drive?

Presumably I'd get the key via JF and then pop that onto the new drive?

I also need to be very careful that I don't do anything to get his console banned as Xbox Live and Call of Duty is his life so I need to make sure that I don't do anything to upset his XBLive account.

[fanni]

Just get a new laser mate

Personally I'd adjust thenpot but you have said that you dot really want to do it

But a nice new laser will get you up and running again

[AP0ll0UK]

Thanks mate I'll have a look at getting a new laser from FleaBay

The only reason I didn't want to mess around with the Pot is because I don't have a multimeter and on my travels it seemed like it was recommended to have one so you know what the reading is before and after you've been tweaking them.

[fanni]

It'll be set around 5 ohms
Level just needs tweaking to about 3.2 ohms and it'll be perfect

[eblaster101]

new laser doesnt always fix open tray on liteon, drives are trouble some. Does the eject struggle? If so might be best to get a new drive.

[zapiy]

I thought the open tray error was the magnet inside the drive.

[Mystical_2K]

ive changed lasers on a few lite-ons with this error, didnt get good results and ended up swapping the drives for new ones in pretty much all of them, once the drives were swapped didnt have a single problem

[riget]

I've got the same problem, ordered a laser today, hopfully it'll be delivered soon so I can let you know if it works, mine would read cd's but not dvd's.

[big3card]

ive found in a couple of fixes on the open tray error to be the leaf switches beneath the cd tray , i didnt even approach the laser on more than 1 occasion , remove the tray and gently clean the 2 leaf switches and try it , what you got to lose !!!

[big3card]

forgot to say in rigets case this will not be the leaf switches

[AP0ll0UK]

At the risk of sounding like a fuckw!t, what are leaf switches?

A quick Google search doesn't return much.

[eblaster101]

when you eject the drive pull the clip on the tray up to remove the tray completely near the cogs you will see 2 sets of copper fins that touch each other when the drive is either closed or open get a bit of rubbing alchol or whatevre clean them up with some cotton buds.

[AP0ll0UK]

Ok thanks mate, will give it a go

[AP0ll0UK]

Tried cleaning those but no joy unfortunately. They weren't particularly dusty or anything but I tried to ensure that I was very careful when cleaning them.

When you put a disc in, you can hear the drive spin up once and then it stops and the open tray message appears.

Is it worth cleaning the laser? Can I do it using a cotton bud and alcohol?

[AP0ll0UK]

I found a video on YouTube which suggested you could clean it with alcohol and a cotton bud, no joy unfortunately.

[AP0ll0UK]

Right, quick update.

If I remove the label from the DVD drive lid, remove the round metal / plastic thing which sits on the top of the middle of the disc when it's spinning it works fine, first time, every time, different discs, no problem.

If I put the round metal / plastic back in the lid with the label over the top, same shit. Is this because when its sat straight on top of the disc it's pushing the disc closer to the laser? If thats the case then what should I do? Should I look at adjusting the POT slightly? I don't have a multimeter, thats the only danger.

[riget]

That's a strange one, I thought that plastic disc kept the dvd in position, I'd have thought the disc would spin off without it on.
After waiting over a week for a shop to deliver my laser I decided to order 2 more as I now have another to do, 1 from ebay and the other from another shop, both came today(the original still not here), I fitted the one from ebay, check the pot resistance first and it was 280, this seems to work fine played all original and backup games fine, then fitted the one from a shop, this pot reading was 350, at first I thought it was ok, but I get "dirty disc" with backups, originals seem fine.
I'll check the second one out, and look at the plastic disc.

[riget]

I couldn't see anything so I lowered the pot a little and it seems to have worked, I've been on nfshp for a while with no problem, the only thing I could see with the plastic disc is if it could make the dvd spin slower, but I could hear the disc spin up so I never looked into it more.
I'd like to know if a new laser should be adjusted, I've read that some say they should and others say they should be set at the factory.

[AP0ll0UK]

The plastic disc is magnetic so the disc sits in the tray and the thing that spins the disc pops up. You pop the plastic disc on top of that and it stays on while the disc spins up and reads fine on this my console.

I put it back together and it still seems to be working ok, for how long I don't know.

I'm glad you've got yours sorted I might have to invest in a meter so I can play around with the Pots properly before having to invest in a new laser.

[pacman88]

I found that some times the spindle where the disc sits has a ring of rubber on it to grip the disc and if it gets dust on it it wont grip the disc.