Hitachi 59dj Drive Won't Spin, laser swapped etc but still no good (was unmodded etc) Options

[Afroman]

I have taken the center spindle off of my HL drive and cleaned it.. but i i'm wondering.. how did you put it back on and make it spin.. does it go on a certain way?
I pulled it off, now when i place it back on.. the round magnet part just sticks to the inside.. and the black spindle part juts spins.. freely but when the motor spins it;s not tight enough to spin with it...

[hypedog2]

I’m having the “unplayable disc” problem caused by a dirty Hitachi spindle. I having a hard time removing the center spindle and been unsuccessful in finding instructions. I would appreciate any help.

[excero]

I’m having the “unplayable disc” problem caused by a dirty Hitachi spindle. I having a hard time removing the center spindle and been unsuccessful in finding instructions. I would appreciate any help.

Same here. I'm certain my problem is the spindle. Everything works just fine up until the point when I put a disc in. It makes an effort to start spinning but can only manage a small jerk. I can barely spin the spindle manually. I just need to figure out how exactly to remove it so that I can clean/lube it.

[RDC]

Take the drive apart (6 screws onthe bottom of it) then unplug the flex cable that goes to the logic board from the motor, be careful since it can be bent or torn if you're not.

Move the laser assembly back a little bit so you have room to remove the motor once it's loose. You can spin the spiral looking shaft with your finger to move the sled and laser back some.

On the bottom of the motor is a plate with 3 screws in it, mark the 2 outside ones so you know where they sit since there are for the disc tilt/height adjustment you want them back to as close to the spot they started from as possible. After marking them tighten them and remember how many turns it takes to get it back to the marked posistion, this is pretty important or you may spen an hour or so readjusting the thing to get it to read everything again. Once that's done, remove the 3 screws, the center one doesn't need any kind of marking on it, and remember which outside screw went where. There are also 2 springs that are under the plate where the outside screws are, leave the drive upside down so you don't loose these.

After thse 3 screws are removed the motor, plate and flex cable will all come out as one piece. The top part of the motor with the Spindle and magnet just pull right off the motor with very little force and you can get to everything to clean and relube it.

[excero]

Do you have a link to pictures by any chance? I'm not really sure what a flex cable is.

This post has been edited by excero: Apr 19 2007, 06:54 PM

[RDC]

The flex cable is the flat wire that goes from the motor to the circuit board in the drive, just pull on it at the board where it goes into the connector and unplug it. The connector will stay onthe board and the flex cable will come outof it, there is no conenctor on the end of this cable and the other end is attached to the motor and does not come off.

[hypedog2]

Thanks RDC for the detailed instructions.

What kind of head are on the three screws? They look like they may be TORX. I don't have a TORX smaller than a size 10 so I can't be certain it's a TORX and the size. Can someone confrim the three screws are TORX and what size I need to buy.

Thanks in advance for the great assistance.

This post has been edited by hypedog2: Apr 21 2007, 09:57 AM

[RDC]

They're Hex/Allen 1.5mm, you can also use a T6/T7 or if you have a flathead screwdriver small enough to fit without slipping you can use that also.

[hypedog2]

Thanks RDC! I was successful in removing and relubing the spindle. The spindle now spins freely ... WOW what a difference.

However, like many, I had to tweak the POT to get all my media to load. Just a theory .... but I would expect the need to tweak the POT (increase laser power) if the potential data rate of the DVD drive has increased due to the spindle now spinning freely. I suspect I originally never had to tweak the pot because the spindle was slugging thru gunk ... slower revolutions ... lesser data rate ... therefore the laser needed less power.

Thanks everyone ... I'm happy again.

[RDC]

Make sure ya use Verbatim for any backups, though I've had Memorex work in my Hitachi as well.

The POT tweak is done on most drives that have a dirty (should always try a good cleaning first), weak or failing laser, some just don't like burned media period. Disc speed doesn't have too much part in that, and the motor spun freely when it was new and it most likely had no problems then.

[stunna]

woooooot RDC have my babies! thanks so much, the detailed instructions helped me to fix my shit. i was kinda scared about fukin with it, but i knew i was good at takin the xbox1 apart so i kept a cool head and didnt let the task intimidate me.

[pikkle69]

Brand new to this forum, became very informed in a short time on disassembly, etc. I suspected my Hitachi was not spinning either after some very weird noises and "Disc Unusable" errors as far as the eye could see... so I took her all apart... without the top cover on the drive, the spindle with disc spun freely, strange. Put it all back together, same thing as before, no spin, "Disc Unusable" error. Darnit, take it apart again... wouldn't ya know, after I'd gone out, bought some new lubrication, etc, I found that the ring magnet from the center spindle had actually become dislodged and was now attached to the top cover! I think I had some jamming action going on!!! Reinserted with a little glue and now everything is peachy... don't know how I missed it the first time but I did, now I know and a whole lot more! Thanks all for the info!

[RDC]

The magnet coming loose from the Spindle sometimes comes along with a grinding/spinning sound when it tries to spin the disc up. Since it doesn't clamp down on it properly with it loose it either jams up or spins half holding onto the disc, making that noise.

[fordxtc]

Hi Ive done everything listed in this thread and I know for a fact ive fixed the tightness issue. since Ive put it back together it seems the xbox 360 thinks that the drive is open when its closed and the dvd tray just ejects the disc straight back out (even when you first power the xbox on). Am I missing something really simple here? do I need to re - adjust the tilt or hieght? or is it something to do with the tray itself??

im really puzzled here. any help would be greatly appreciated....