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Help getting Thomson Disc Drive to read games


XboxLuver
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I have tried two things, cleaning the laser and lowering the resistance on the laser's potentiometer. I have heard online that it could be issues with failing capacitors. I am confused on where these capacitors are and how to test them if this is the problem. If it's not then does anyone have any insight as to what it could be? When I insert a disc it will very loudly spin up for maybe a second then go completely quite, shortly after it will spin up again (less loud this time) and after maybe 5 seconds stop and the typical disc error appears. Thanks for any responses 😁.

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2 hours ago, XboxLuver said:

I have tried two things, cleaning the laser and lowering the resistance on the laser's potentiometer. I have heard online that it could be issues with failing capacitors. I am confused on where these capacitors are and how to test them if this is the problem. If it's not then does anyone have any insight as to what it could be? When I insert a disc it will very loudly spin up for maybe a second then go completely quite, shortly after it will spin up again (less loud this time) and after maybe 5 seconds stop and the typical disc error appears. Thanks for any responses 😁.

There’s also a mirror on the thompson on the underside of the assembly. Usually you can blast some compressed air in it to clean it out. As always be careful and gentle when working on these areas. Here is a link for reference on the thompson. 
 

https://web.archive.org/web/20051231202543/http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Repairs/cleaning_your_dvd_drive.htm
 

While you’re on the underside of the dvd drive you’ll also see the drive’s pcb which contains the capacitors you are referencing. If I recall with the Thompson all the caps you’d replace are the thru hole (radial) capacitors you can see on that board. I think there are five but it’s been a while since I looked at one. I should note that if you’ve never done any soldering please don’t start with this. Practice on some junk boards first and get you technique down on something that doesn’t matter. 
 

I’d start with cleaning the other area mentioned and if you haven’t cleaned off the top lens with some 91 percent or over IPA and a qtip do that as well. Even if you have hit it again for good measure. 
 

If you want an easy fix for this you can simply buy another working dvd drive from an og Xbox and swap it out. Any of the other model DVDs (Phillips, Samsung, hitachi) for the OG Xbox will work as they are interchangeable. Hope that helps!

 

Edit: typo

Edited by FrostyMaGee
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