360 grinding noise and unplayable disc

The open tray and unplayable disc is because the lens isn't strong on the drive and needs to have a Pot calibration done to it to make the lens signal stronger. That should fix the open tray/unplayable disc issue. I have done this to quite a few drives and all have been working fine since.

There is a good chance you DVD drive might have either a faulty motor or laser. In this case if you have any type of warranty you should use it but if you don't you'll have to purchase either a new XBox 360 or a new DVD drive.

The new DVD drive will not be able play games if you simply swap the drives. In order to have it play games you'll have to flash the old Key from the broken drive onto the replacement drive.

Either that or if your system is still under the 3 year warranty from RROD by Microsoft you can try to induce RROD on your XBox 360 and take up a claim with them. Most of the time they send u a refurbrished XBox 360 or a new one.

Sounds like the laser is starting to go bad in your dvd drive if it has to read it a few times before it might see the discs.

The laser is inside of the dvd drive and it looks like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox360-Xbox-360-Drive-Laser-Replacement/dp/B000V78Q9O

Depending on the manufacturer of the drive will depend on the laser you will need to get.

You could also take a can of air in the meantime and blow some into the drive to make sure that there is no dust or dirt on the laser as this could cause that message as well.

The "Unplayable Disc" error has also been heavily reported. The error appears to be limited to the Hitachi CD/DVD ROM drives that replaced the earlier Toshiba drives. The error message is preceded by a loud series of grinding noises and the system returning to the dashboard. From that point forward, any disc that is put in the unit will result in the "Unplayable Disc" error (although if the user was to eject and close the disc tray in quick succession the disc may sometimes play).

The "Unplayable Disc" error has also been heavily reported. The error appears to be limited to the Hitachi CD/DVD ROM drives that replaced the earlier Toshiba drives. The error message is preceded by a loud series of grinding noises and the system returning to the dashboard. From that point forward, any disc that is put in the unit will result in the "Unplayable Disc" error (although if the user was to eject and close the disc tray in quick succession the disc may sometimes play). In the majority of cases, this error is caused by the adhesive that holds a small magnetic washer heating up and allowing the washer to affix itself to the metal top of the drive. After this occurs, the system can no longer spin the disk as necessary. Numerous fixes are available on the internet, but all involve opening the console box. Opening the console will result in the unit's warranty being voided

Even if it is still playing dvds it might be the dvd-rom drive, usally it spins a game faster than a dvd. Or it could be the harddrive if it was trying to save something. try to download a demo or something to check the hard drive. 

I don't know how deep you want to dive into fixing this problem, but it will probably be much easier to just pay Microsoft to fix it for you. you will probably need to start off with finding an aftermarket replacement drive. Once you have that, you will have a glorified DVD player unless you can get your PC and 360 talking to each other, and access your 360's dvd settings in the bios, and get a known good unlock code for the new drive....

Are sure that you are out of warranty? I called MS recently only to find out that my warranty had been extended by about 18 months without my knowledge. Hope this helps.

no that's not good the motor is working over time you need it looked at quick or the moter will give up and then it will be a bigger job more money try thhttp://www.gamevania.com/XBOX_360/repair.phpis site first.

http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Repairs/thompson_dvd_tray.htm

The drive motor is SERIOUSLY damaged. It will have to be replaced, but good luck finding parts. Call around to local service shops and see if any have parts units.