Disc Read problems? How to POT Tweak Xbox 360 DVD Laser

**Ubergeek** · 22nd February 11

This guide will show you how to POT Tweak Your Hitachi, Benq, Samsung, or Liteon Xbox 360 DVD Drive POT Tweak

Are you getting........

Dirty Disc Errors
Games crashing half way through , due to reading problems
Discs sometimes loading, and sometimes not being recognized
OPEN TRAY Error
Glitching FMV or slow loading games (some games are just slow, its normal so be patient)
Movies jumping and skipping

Please remember to test the disc on another console to ensure you have burnt it correctly. This is so you don't go and adjust the pot when its actually OK. We recommend that you use Verbatim media and try burns speeds from 2.4x to 4x if you are having disc reading issues. You want to try all possibilities before you tweak your laser.

The Basis behind this tweak:

Some times even off the factory line a optical drive can be a little bit dodgy when it comes to reading certain types of media. In this case the Xbox 360's DVD drive becomes weak over time and you get the dreaded "dirty disk" "open Tray" or "unreadable disk" error. This error can even occur on new boxes that the drive just needs a small tweak to get the DVD laser diode potentiometer to its sweet spot. All drives are different and no 2 drives will have the same base resistance on the DVD "pot". Its common for most drives to be factory set any where between 4KΩ to 6.4KΩ and in this guide it is highly recommended not to lower the resistance to your DVD laser diode below 3KΩ, this is the lowest resistance that is safe before you risk blowing the diode out in a very very short period of time.

So what we are doing by decreasing the resistance of current flow to the laser diode, is basically increasing the lasers power. thus making it easier for the laser beam created by the diode to be focused by the laser lens and be reflected back so it can be read by the assemblies optical sensor.

Tools Required:

Multimeter that can read Ω (Ohms)
A micro electronic screwdriver with a 2MM tip (A Philips #1-1 usually does the trick)

Tips, Warnings and that other junk:

- ALL "Pot" adjustments will be very small, moving it a hair can make a difference in .2KΩ to .5KΩ in some cases, so use small adjustments and then read the resistance with a multimeter

- DO NOT EVER lower the resistance to your laser diode if you're not having disk read issues

- DO NOT lower the resistance value of the potentiometer (pot) of the laser diode below 3KΩ, there are some VERY rare cases where your drive might already be factory set lower then this. If this is the case be very careful lowing your DVD "pot" resistance and I recommend lowering it by .1KΩ increments and testing.

- DO NOT EVER just crank you laser diode down to 3KΩ, lower it by .2KΩ to .5KΩand then assemble and test until disks that once gave you issues no longer do. Remember we are increasing the current to the laser diode here. The lower you go, the theoretical life span of your laser diode is decreased, so get the maximum life from your laser diode, lower it only as far as needed to resolve your disk read issues.

- REMEMBER this is not a tweak that will fix your issues with Game/Movie Disks that you abused and have scratched beyond readable use by the drive. Although it may help with minor scuffed disks, if you have trashed the DVD-ROM then its garbage. No pot tweaking or any other song and dance besides replacement or resurfacing will fix that it.

- NEVER EVER EVER attempt this with out a multimeter to measure your adjustments. Remember the purpose of this tweak is to extend the usable life span of your DVD-ROM, not gambling blowing the laser diode in the first 15 min of using a DVD-ROM disk in it. So why bother gambling it? it would defeat the purpose of this tweak. You wouldn't repair the hard wood floor in your house with out measuring the wood cuts first would you? Don't screw around, just do it right as instructed.

Note: Some of you might say "But there is YouTube videos of people doing it with out a multimeter" I don't give a crap about YouTube. My electronics repair background and certification came from a school, not %$#ing YouTube. There are plenty of morons on YouTube, and YouTube videos are never a benchmark for the proper way to do anything......trust me on this.

With all that said, if you have any suggestions, questions, corrections that are correct and or comments leave them here. For your DVD-Rom drive see attached pictures for a visual run down on tweaking your DVD-ROM pot. It's simple to understand you should have no issues.

Attached Photo Information (located at the bottom):

- Measure resistance with a multimeter between the two spots i have marked in red. Set the multimeter to 20KΩ (As shown in the picture).

- DVD-ROM Pot is always circled in red.

- Hitachi/Samsung laser pots are accessed from the bottom of the drive, you will have to remove the circuit board to tweak these.

- Liteon/Benq laser Pots are accessed from the top of the drive, Ejecting the tray before tweaking will make this easier.

- All Drives DVD pots are located on the left in the pictures, and will be the same when you are physically looking at them.

- Take note to what way I instruct to turn the pot to decrease the resistance value of the pot. It differs between Liteon/Benq and Hitachi/Samsung

Thanks to TJE of xbox360iso

**Wrong-Turn** · 22nd February 11

Excellent.

**XxXBaltarXxX** · 22nd February 11

Cool, thanks. My old 360 is having a problem reading disks from time to time

**Jagan** · 22nd February 11

Followed this exact guide on a different website (like, had the exact same info, not saying you took it or anything) and It worked perfectly!

But then my laser completely fried, and had to replace it, but this does the trick! works Perfectly!

**Ubergeek** · 22nd February 11

Originally Posted by Jagan

Followed this exact guide on a different website (like, had the exact same info, not saying you took it or anything) and It worked perfectly!

But then my laser completely fried, and had to replace it, but this does the trick! works Perfectly!

I actually took the info from 3 guides and spliced it all together into what I know works for a fact - i did credit the main contributor at the end of the article though as you can see

**Jagan** · 22nd February 11

Originally Posted by Ubergeek

I actually took the info from 3 guides and spliced it all together into what I know works for a fact - i did credit the main contributor at the end of the article though as you can see

Hehe, I knew those pictures looked familiar ;D
I just wasn't 100% sure I saw them somewhere else :s

**weedpoppin** · 22nd February 11

thank you so much uber

so useful mate guide guru really

**nagamin** · 22nd February 11

Great Tut, it will help alot people.
Uber the Tutor.

**Jaz321** · 22nd February 11

thanks uber for another excellent guide

**snmjack2** · 22nd February 11

great tut thanks.

**eddy315west** · 27th February 11

Thank You Ubergeek And TJE . Thanks Ubergeek For Pointing me to this thread .

**Broncky** · 28th February 11

i measure my laser and it 5.70 ohm how mutch i need to turn clock wise ?

**sick360mods** · 28th February 11

till its starts reading ur games again

**Ubergeek** · 1st March 11

Originally Posted by nastybrother24

till its starts reading ur games again

lol

**Numaholic** · 2nd March 11

Just found out this tutorial. Thanks, it's very good! (as usual

) I was planning to make a general problems guide and link it to different sites or videos with how to fix, but you're tutorials are heaps better being nub friendly, up to date and easy to follow.

**crazzyeddie** · 10th March 11

So easy it's stupid! Thanks for the time making this tut!

**holley146** · 13th March 11

Will this also fix the laser moveing problem also.I dont know why but the laser on this samson drive i have wont move at all.

**Jaz321** · 13th March 11

Originally Posted by holley146

Will this also fix the laser moveing problem also.I dont know why but the laser on this samson drive i have wont move at all.

No this is just if you get a lot of dirty dis. Errors or cannot play backups u cud try greasing the sliders and see if that works

**jrjr6565** · 14th April 11

Nice tutorial man, helped me alot thanks!!!

**ihaveacamaro** · 18th April 11

does this require the disk drive being on? Or can I just remove the disk drive and check the ohms?

and if it requires the disk drive being on, then can I just use my ck3 lite?

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