Original X-Box: Disc damaged or dirty

[broberfett]

I'm getting this warning everytime I try to play and then I have to restart about 20 times till I get lucky. The discs are pristine. I purchased them new and they are spic and span. I'm guessing the inside of the machine is dirty. Can I use any old DVD cleaner? I have about 15 or 20 XBox games that I occasionally like to play.

 

[Timby]

When did you purchase the Xbox? Is it a launch unit?

Early runs of the Xbox used DVD-ROM drives manufactured by Thomson. Those drives used some cheap components (primarily the laser lens) that were prone to failure.

 

[Mr Light]

My X-BOX does this all the time. It's dying. The discs are perfectly fine.

 

[Timby]

You can buy replacement Xbox (for God's sake, I'm going to start banning people who type XBox, XBOX, X-Box, X-BOX, et al.) DVD-ROM drives on eBay for about ten bucks or less. The job of removing the faulty drive and installing the new one takes about fifteen minutes, speaking from personal experience.