XBOX woes - DVD is dirty or damaged
Ninja Gaiden for XBOX is a terrific game. The graphics are beautiful and the game play is hard, fast and varied. It's a wicked game. HOWEVER... since I bought it a few months ago, I've occasionaly received an error mid-game. The screen will just go dark and a message will appear, something about "the DVD you are trying to play is dirty or damaged". Usually a quick re-boot will solve the issue. But not lately. In the last 24 hours, I've been getting this message every time I try to play the game. I googled the error and the only solutions I've been able to find are:
1) boil the DVD. Whaaat?
2) take apart the console and clean the lens.
I don't like the sound of either of these. Has anyone else had this problem and solved it?
Before pulling anything apart...check whether you experience the same problem with other games (if you do then you have a problem with the console not the DVD).
If not then go to a friend with your DVD and check it out on his XBOX (of course after cleaning the DVD and still experiencing the same problem).
Posted by: CD | Wednesday, September 29, 2004 at 09:16 PM
boiling the DVD is a legitimate solution... if it's the only DVD with a problem. just boil it on the stove for a minute or two, using a wooden spoon through the middle to keep it from touching the sides of the pan, then dry it on a towel with a big heavy flat book on top of it.
You could also have a failing DVD drive in your Xbox.. there are some issues with some of the drives. I'd recommend calling Xbox support (not sure the number in Oz) and see if they'll do a free repair for you... though you may have to escalate beyond the first level of support to get them to do it for free.
Posted by: Adam Bomb | Thursday, September 30, 2004 at 05:45 AM
yeah thanks guys. The problem only seems to be with the Ninja Gaiden DVD. Sounds like I'm up for some weekend boiling!
Posted by: Cameron Reilly | Thursday, September 30, 2004 at 06:40 AM
Cleaning cd or dvd lenses is a myth perpetuated by people who sell cleaners. The lenses are delicate and very sensitive to being misaligned.
If somehow a dvd lens was to get "dirty", any lens cleaning device that provided enough pressure to clean the lens would probably also change the alignment of the lens, or scratch it. All the cleaners I've seen are nothing other than dust removers, something the breeze from the spinning dvd player does perfectly already.
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.39
Something a lot of people don't know is that in many cases (the actuator is the other major cause) when a cd/dvd player starts to skip, the problem is that the lens is misaligned, or deformed by overheating. In either case, lenses can usually be manually realigned by anyone with the right tools (tiny screwdriver) and knowledge.
Posted by: jon | Thursday, September 30, 2004 at 08:39 PM
I think boiling is another urban myth. Supposedly it shrinks the material on the DVD to make it read better, but that's a bunch of garbage. The pits are pressed into the plastic on the DVD, and boiling it won't make a damn bit of difference (well, it could make it worse).
Cleaning *could* make a difference, but you'd be better off just spraying a bit of compressed air than taking it apart and cleaning it that way. Little dust particles could get on the lens.
You very likely have a Xbox whose DVD drive is starting to die out, which is a pretty common problem.
Either way, good luck. My v1 Xbox is still chugging away nicely, but it's getting a little bit sketchier every time I use it.
Posted by: Adam Meltzer | Saturday, October 16, 2004 at 05:14 PM
yeah boiling did nothing. I cleaned the DVD and it seems to work a little better now, but it still freezes every couple of days. So the shelf life of an XBOX is only 18-24 months? That's a bit of a worry. Lucky the floor has dropped out of the pricing or I would be REALLY pissed. I think I paid $600-800 for this unit when it first came out. Now they are about $250 (Aussie dollars).
Posted by: Cameron Reilly | Saturday, October 16, 2004 at 06:46 PM
my x-box was completely messed up i could play it for a couple of hors every few weeks so i took it apart and cleaned the eye but if i was to realign the i what position would it need to be in.
Posted by: Hayden | Sunday, May 15, 2005 at 11:51 AM
my xbox is having the same problem im sending it into microsoft and their chargig me 79.90 fucking assholes
Posted by: Jesse | Saturday, January 14, 2006 at 09:22 AM
My XBOX is barely a year old and now it can't read any discs! looks like a drive problem.
Posted by: Dave | Sunday, April 16, 2006 at 06:26 AM