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Microsoft

Defective Console DVD Drives? 30

Posted by Cliff from the this-happens-on-PS2's-as-well dept.
ksplatter asks: "I Purchased an X-Box back in January of this year. Everything was working just fine until I bought a game called Outlaw Golf about 2 months ago. I literally had not one problem with the unit before this. So after playing the game a couple of times I went to insert the disc one day and the X-Box told me it was unable to read my disc. I thought it was odd but continued anyway. Ever since then, my console has been more and more picky in deciding which disks (games or DVDs) to actually play. It is to the point where now the unit is completely useless. I called Microsoft and the tech support blamed the problem on rental companies (i.e. blockbuster) putting stickers on the CD that damaged the DVD lens. They told me they can't do anything for free but for 100 BUCKS M$ would replace the drive. I went on the Message board for the game that started this problem and they blamed the issue on some cheap/defective DVD drives that were installed in X-Boxes between last November and January. I was curious if anyone out there ran into this problem and what they did. Is there any sort of action I can take against Microsoft?" I't like to point out that this can be a problem with some Playstation 2 systems as well. I am now on my second PS2 unit (obtained after the price drop) because my original unit could no longer read DVD-based games or movies (however my original Gamecube, purchased at about the same time, is still purring along just fine). Might this be a sign that the early DVD units provided by both companies were just not able to handle the environments in which they were placed (ala hot TV cabinets, dusty living room floors, smoke filled areas and so forth)?
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Defective Console DVD Drives? More

Defective Console DVD Drives?

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  • Might this be a sign that the early DVD units provided by both companies were just not able to handle the environments in which they were placed...?

    This might be a sign that DVD *drives* don't cope well with being placed in a dusty, dirty, lint-filled environment and then being fed scratched up disks with sticky junk all over them. I don't know if I'd blame the X-Box or PS2 in particular.

    I wanna know how long the X-Box hard drive lifetime is. It's going to be a real irritation when users start losing them.
    • This datasheet tells you all about the drive that is in about half of the xbox units out there.

      More or less its a great little drive. One platter (they only use one side of the 2gb platter) means less operating parts and longer life, lower power consumption, and lower heat emission. Oh and they are also amazingly quiet too.

      now the dvd drive, I bet the same thing happens with dvd players as well, i've seen it starting to happen on one of the players I've had frequent use of (old roommates) - but a cleaning with just the typical cd lens cleaner did the trick, at least for now. eventually a real cleaning may be in order. just like my cd player in my car.

      good ole slashdot. 'of course its an xbox problem'. (just in case that tag doesnt go through, Copy/Paste: http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/mark eting/detail/0,1081,277,00.html )

      • Oh, I know what the datasheets say about Seagate's U-series. :-) I just want to see what happens in the real world, which no engineering stress test can do a complete job of modeling.
      • good ole slashdot. 'of course its an xbox problem'.
        Note that I tried to redirect this from such in the posting by sharing my all too real situation with my old PS2. I tried using one of those disc cleaners as well and it did not fix the problem, so I think this issue may go deeper than cleaning. And your link didn't go through. This should though: here it is [seagate.com]

    • Console drives in general (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Sorry about the anonymous.. posting name should be "puargsss" but I couldn't get it to work. Anyway, I think the point of making a console different from a PC is that they can take that extra abuse. A console SHOULD be built to handle dust, scratched cds, stickers, and the occasional bump and tumble. That's what a console is for- you don't have to be a genius to know how to take care of it properly, fix this and that inside of it, and maintain a PERFECTLY clean area like with a PC. The whole purpose of a console is that it should be ABLE to take that abuse from the average customer.
    • I just had to have the DVD drive replaced on my XBox. It failed on the 91st day of ownership (no shit). The really wierd part was that it would play DVDs and CDs but would not recognize games. Fortunately it was still covered under warrenty and so cost me nothing. I would recommend that anyone owning an XBox keep a close eye out for read errors. The guy at XBox support told me that any strange read errors should send up a red flag that something might be wrong. Looking back I had had a few read errors with new games that I thought were simply one-time glitches
  • my ps2 didn't read DVDs very well and eventually got to the point where i had to send it back to sony. lucky for me that it was still within the warranty time. i didn't have a PS2 for like a month but I was playing Counter Strike and watching DVDs on my computer.

    maybe buying those extra store warranties where if the unit is defective they will replace it with a brand new one isn't so bad? (i actually have never done that though).
  • Though it is annoying, as it recurs. I have a PS2 that gradually builds up dust until it can't do anything anymore. All you need to do is open it up and take out four smaller screws on the DVD drive, and take a cutip and rubbing alcohol to the lens :) Reassemble, and voila! It works! The xbox problem might have a similar solution. Of course, it voids your (useless ?) warantee.
    • I also found that plunging my genitals into the lusty vagina of a nearby woman helps me not care about video games.

      I will post directions on this later.

  • Blatant attempt to bring bad luck on myself... (Score:3, Informative)

    by jvmatthe ( 116058 ) on Saturday September 21, 2002 @04:51PM (#4304442) Homepage
    Ok, here's my experience with disc-based consoles. I've had a Sony PSX (original model, bought new, but not at launch), a Sega Saturn (older model, bought used), and Sony PS2 (bought at launch).

    PSX - Had some skipping problems, but I could count the number of incidents on one hand. Those experiences were never such that a game became unplayable.

    Saturn - Like a rock. No problems ever.

    PS2 - Like a rock. No problems ever.

    I use my consoles a pretty fair amount, although I'm sure I'm not nearly as heavy a user as some. I do make sure that I keep my consoles well-ventilated, which means not sitting flat on carpet and not inside of an entertainment center cubbyhole. Hard flat surface, with room for air to flow all around it. That's about all the work I've done to protect them.

    And, my consoles haven't ever been sitting in the same place all the time. I take them over to friends' homes when we get together for a gaming night. I've carried them to my parents' home (3 hour road trip) and my parents-in-law's home (9 hour road trip), always using a padded console carrying case. Even with that kind of travel, no problems whatsoever.

    Just my experience. YMMV.
  • determine if this is a known issue, and if you can find many people with the same problems, start a class action lawsuit. worst case scenarion, you take a small chunk out of microsoft's $40B.
    Best case scenario, they have to freely replace all broken dvd drives, including S&H.
    I doubt it will happen, but I'd love to see it.
    Just remember to ride it out. don't settle for bri...er, out of court settlements.
  • This dvd player "degrades" simliar to what you are describing. First it woudln't play really old 1 layer discs, then grrr american beauty wouldn't play, then a few dvds wouldn't play ... (of course this started the moment it got out of warranty) finally over the course of a year the ONLY dvd it would play was fight club, which is a damn good movie, but kind of lacking in variety.
  • I have an Xbox that I bought around Christmas last year. I had the same sort of troubles with the DVD drive that are described in this story. Luckily, the problems for me started only a month after I got the system so the system was under warranty and was replaced by Microsoft for free, shipping and all.

    The second one has been fine thus far.
  • I am on my third DVD drive on my laptop.
    Its a Torisan 8x DVD drive.
    Unfortunately I cannot use any other brand because no other brand fits into my laptop's drive caddy.
  • With mod chips and a little hardware hacking you can upgrade the DVD drive on the XBox, and do a lot more like copy games directly to the hard drive, and change the dash board. Just jump on IRC, or hit google with "Xbox Mod"
  • Go to Radio Shack and get a lense cleaning CD. That has fixed all but one of similar problems I've had (my Diablo2 play disk refused to work in my old DVD drive). DVD players are optical drives, so any dust buildup, and there will be dust buildup, will interfere with it's operation. Naturally, you are more likely to see the problem with DVDs than CDs because the data density is so much higher.

  • I mean the X-Box hasn't sold like they wanted it too. Ask them if your money is better spent on a PS2 then paying to repair the defective X-Box. I doubt they will charge you given that choice, or atl lieast give you a fairer price. That's how I would handle it anyway.
  • In order to damage the lens, the sticker would have to be on the data side of the DVD/CD, wouldn't it?!! Why would Blockbuster put a sticker there - copy protection :-) ?
    Sounds like Microsoft need to insert a BS cleaning disk into their customer support employees.

  • The PS2 has a known problem (Score:3, Informative)

    by coliano ( 183830 ) on Monday September 23, 2002 @02:06PM (#4312988) Homepage
    I experienced similar issues with my PS2 before I'd had it for even six months. It turned out to be a known issue with a working if not well documented solution.

    Basically, the unit first got real picky when it came to reading the 'blue' game discs. This worsened until it wouldn't read them at all. At one point a few weeks ago, it started having problems with regular DVD games.

    A little research with google showed that *lots* of folks were having the same problem. I looked a little deeper and found a solution that has worked perfectly for me.

    I had to open the unit, voiding the warrantee unfortunately, and gain access to the cd/dvd mechanism under the black shroud. Off to the side of the reader is a small screw that required loosening by about a quarter revolution. The websites said that this screw was a fine tuning (focus) mechanism for the laser which over time comes out of focus. I don't really buy that, it looked to me like it just provided 'tension' for the laser positioning sled as it was positioned over a guide rail with no visible electronics near-by.

    In any case, it worked like a charm and I can once again play all my games. I don't really see the connection between this particular screw and reading discs, unless certain discs require the laser to move into positions that are more 'deep' or 'shallow' than others and that the tension of the screw was preventing movement into those more extreme positions.

    I wasn't happy about voiding the warrantee, but I'd rather do that and take my chances than give Sony ~$100.00 USD for a new laser assembly which is their _Official Solution_ to the problem which they suggest is normal wear and tear. That's BS though because this is happening to people with NEW units.
    • Look at it this way... If they refuse to repair their product while it's under warranty, and want to charge you $100 for a replacement part, what good is the warranty?

      I don't know if I'm thinking old fashioned here, but a warranty generally means that if anything goes wrong with the product during the warranty period, the manufacturer will fix it for free. Yeah, you might have to pay shipping to get it to them, but that I can understand. I've had things repaired under warranty numerous time and have never had to pay the company to do it.

      Since the warranty appears to be useless on the PS2, you might as well repair it yourself if you can. I'm not sure why they bother offering a warranty if they can't live up to it.
  • since I don't have an X-Box or a PS2...

    I was in Electronics Boutique scrouging through the cheap box and I overhead a salesman talking to a customer. The customer was trying to decide which system to buy. The salesman asked if he wanted to use it often as a DVD player. The customer said yes. The salesman said to buy an X-Box because the PS2 couldn't handle the constant reads from the DVD without overheating and beginning to have problems. He said they had several returns of PS2's because of drive problems, mostly related to heavy DVD watching. He thought the X-Box handled it better, even though he liked the PS2 better for games.

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