Hello all:

I'm an owner of the original. Over a year ago, I softmodded my box with the Splinter Cell exploit and then put XBMC on it. Awhile back my DVD drive stopped ejecting. I thought maybe the drive was dead. Recently, I purchased a Thomson DVD drive and installed it. The Thomson DVD drive does not eject as well however I can hear it "trying" to open. Any help would be appreciated.

If it's trying to open but not succeeding, than it could be a bad drive as well. Are you sure that the tray isn't blocked by something? For instance, if the dvd isn't properly in place, the tray can be blocked by the top cover of the xbox. (Because it's coming a bit higher than it should.)

regards.

thanks but the drive is sitting outside the box. i haven't reassembled the parts completely. since this is the case im guessing the drive is bad.

Open the tray manually (there should be a small hole in the front to do this with a small paperclip. Put a disc in the drive and see if it open / closes normally with the disc in. If it works fine with a disc in place, you could try one of the tricks to decrease the magnet strength of the spindle magnet.

Sometimes the drive will open if you help it a little by pulling it out when it's trying to eject.

regards.

Try pulling on it by flicking the front of the drive. I've had that happen on 3 Xbox's of mine. Stick your fingers in the lower edge just under the try and flick it outwards and upwards and it should open. This is how I've been doing it. Or try pushing in an upward motion on the front of the drive.

OR
watch this video I made showing you how to do. A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth 24,000 words per second.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkSKhzUStVg

Here is a video detailing how to fix the problem after the above method works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owSmOwGqijM

happy modding