Thomson Xbox Laser Installation.

Begin with a replacement Thomson Laser

Remove your Thomson DVD drive from your Xbox

See also Opening an Xbox

Once you have access to your DVD drive you will need to remove the top cover and open the tray.  Helpful articles for those activities Laser Cleaning also you can use the xbox to eject the tray and then unplug the main power cord, this will leave the tray open, the console can then be disassembled with the tray open.

Now you should see something like this

Our first activities will be to remove the ribbon cable that attaches to the Laser by moving the clip towards the rear of the drive see the arrows in this picture.  The ribbon cable comes out freely once the clip has been released.  You should not have to use any force at all to remove the ribbon cable.

Next we remove the four screws circled in green above.  These are in there tight, it is ESSENTIAL to use a good Phillips #0 screw driver and use plenty of down force to see that they do not strip out.  (if a cheap or well used screw driver is used with not enough down force it is likely to skip and waller out the inside of the screw where the driver grips, then things get tough so use a good driver and be careful)  Also if you lose one if these screws you will have a terrible time finding a replacement so think about working on a flat surface and have a magnet or something to put them on. (they get lost in carpeting instantly)

Note: when the tray is opened the laser is not meant to move freely along the rails if you slide it back and fourth you will hear a gears grinding awful sound, it is actually a little wheel with slots in it, part of an optical motion sensing system for the laser position.  Regardless this is normal and you shouldn't get too worried.  Try not to slide it around too much.

Now that the screws have been removed, take out the upper rail in this photo.  There is still a gear that is holding the laser in place so it cannot be lifted straight up, 1 raise the laser slightly and then 2 move it away from the bottom rail and it should come right out.

Re-assembly is pretty much the same, remove the rail from the old laser, install it in the new one, put it back in place making sure the gear is fitting into place.  See that the bottom rail fits in place between the two "bumps" on either end.  These are just little raised knobs of metal that create a bit of a trough for the rails to reside.  Once the bottom rail is in place then install the top, also noting that it fits into the little trough.  Now just install the four screws (torque them down well), reconnect the ribbon cable, install the top tray, put the console back together, and get ready to be impressed!

Discuss laser replacement in the Forums