Halo 3: ODST Forum
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  • Subject: Disc Unreadable
Subject: Disc Unreadable
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Symptoms of the serious Disk Read Error. Effects older 360's. I believe it to be an incompatibility with the game version and some part of the hardware.

- Game crashes with a "Disk read error" after the drop cinematic. **(see note under this list)
- Perfect Quality brand new Disk
- All other games have worked fine
- The Failure is repeatable and not random.
- Works in other 360 systems.
- It is not a dirty DVD lens
- happens during loads only
- Replacement game disks fail in the same way at the same spot
- Removing HDD does not fix it
- Clearing cache does not fix it
- Installing to HDD does not fix it
- Profile logged in or using a temporary does not fix it.
- does not fail during gameplay *

**Be aware that based on my testing with this same issue in HALO 3 I believe this problem may present in different areas of the game and may even work during co-op but not during single player. It may load more data on some tries and less on others but will typically always crash with a disk read error on the loading screen.

*This error is linked to loading only, once loaded it should not fail during gameplay. If it does, maybe you do have a dirty disk or dirty dvd laser.

solution...A new 360 should do it. :(

  • 09.23.2009 9:55 PM PDT
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I tried it with a temporary profile while my HDD was taken off and I still got the error. But based on the number of testimonies in this thread, it definitely has something to do with the older generation of Xbox 360s and, for some reason, the Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 edition.

EDIT: basically what the person above me posted, and there is no way I'm spending more money on a newer console just for one game. :(

[Edited on 09.23.2009 9:57 PM PDT]

  • 09.23.2009 9:55 PM PDT
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You are all -blam!-s. Don't complain here. Go back to the store and get a replacement. If that doesn't work then you have a messed up xbox that bungie can't fix.

  • 09.23.2009 9:58 PM PDT

so odst was give to me as a birthday gift, yay, however after playing through the campaign, the level after buck's flashback, my game worked fine, until my friends invited me to play firefight, that's when everything started, disc error. This happened 3 more times in which I popped it back in and what a suprise firefight, however the next day I wanted to play firefight it didn't work, returned it to toys r us, and got a new one from gamestop, firefight didn't work as well so I tried campaign in which it got stuck on the loading screen, installed it, 100%, however when I tried loading the game it said can't read game, please re-install, gave up, later started a new game going to the fallen pod, and it worked, wanted to ploay firefight, nothing, if a patch is to come out, hope it's soon, don't wanna refund a great game.

  • 09.23.2009 10:00 PM PDT
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Be good if people posted when they got their xbox 360s. It is pretty important since some really old xbox 360s are known to not play new games.

  • 09.23.2009 10:04 PM PDT

Im sorry, but for all of you saying get a new 360, that is unacceptable, When the companies release new products they should make sure that the product is compatible with new and old 360's alike. Getting a Brand new xbox just to play one game (that hopefully can be fixed with a patch) is just not feasible for everyone. So please stop telling everyone to get a new 360. But this does not seem to be only an isolated incident, a quick search of google earlier revealed that their were many other forums just like this popping up with the same problem. Clearly Bungie is aware of this issue and hopefully is working on a solution as we speak.

[Edited on 09.23.2009 10:13 PM PDT]

  • 09.23.2009 10:08 PM PDT

Posted by: oseven
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS Open your game right when you buy it. Look at the disc/discs and tilt them in the light as necessary. You are looking for what appears to be a discoloration or "air bubble" effect on the disc. (Best way I can describe it, there really isn't air in the disc, but it kinda looks like air is pocketed somewhere in it.) About 1 in 10 discs are going to have this issue and of those 1 in 10, 1 in 10 more will have data corruption. If a disc you just purchased has this effect, immediately inform the retailer and ask for another disc.


QFT. QFT. I always, ALWAYS open the casing and check the disc in front of the cashier/service rep, and show them the disc so they can't claim you tampered with the disc if you do discover an issue. (most places are good on taking your word... except future shop). Ive even bought a brand new game (Far Cry 2) and the disc was scratched out of the box (the decal side, with the data, not the read surface underneath) thank god best buy saw it when I opened it and got me a new one.

  • 09.23.2009 10:11 PM PDT
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Posted by: TK Superman
Im sorry, but for all of you saying get a new 360, that is unacceptable, When the companies release new products they should make sure that the product is compatible with new and old 360's alike. Getting a Brand new xbox just to play one game (that hopefully can be fixed with a patch) is just not feasible for everyone. So please stop telling everyone to get a new 360.


You do know future games won't work on these 360s that don't run ODST. So might as well say good bye to Halo reach, MW2, Assassin's creed 2 and so on.

  • 09.23.2009 10:13 PM PDT

Posted by: TK Superman
Im sorry, but for all of you saying get a new 360, that is unacceptable, When the companies release new products they should make sure that the product is compatible with new and old 360's alike. Getting a Brand new xbox just to play one game (that hopefully can be fixed with a patch) is just not feasible for everyone. So please stop telling everyone to get a new 360.


The older 360's (ala debut) used older inferior hard-ware to the newer 360's hence the increase in RRoDing, why there's freezes with certain games, Developers can't push the 360's to the limit if they have to make sure the older xbox's can run it without issue (that's how we end up with another console gen, thats un-needed as of yet).

  • 09.23.2009 10:16 PM PDT

that sucks man.... but this doesnt

http://www.youtube.com/pizzafrogman

  • 09.23.2009 10:17 PM PDT

Your right I don't know that, time will tell though. And like i said, the developers need to make sure that these can run on new and older systems.

Is there anyone out there that has had success running this on a older system, like ones manufactured before early 2008 through 2007?

  • 09.23.2009 10:17 PM PDT

dazmaz, go troll someplace else please. There is absolutely no proof for this outrageous claim. I have played both Madden and Batman, which have both been released recently, with no problems. If you don't plan on helping this situation then just move on.

  • 09.23.2009 10:17 PM PDT

Posted by: Dr Zombie90210

I only have 20 GB, and I have about 90% of it filled up. :(

I think we should keep this thread alive, as I think this is a rising problem.


Damn, ive got one of the old 20gb hard drive xboxes so if your theory is right about it being the older version of the 360.. OH TEH NOES! :(

  • 09.23.2009 10:21 PM PDT
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I have the same problem after the first cutscene. The thing is my 360 is newer with HDMI.

I copied my profile on a memory card and removed my hard drive and it works like a charm. I can save and play through campaign but no xbox live. I have tried putting a friends harddrive on my xbox and get disk unreadble. My disk reads and plays fine in his 360 tho.

  • 09.23.2009 10:23 PM PDT

Posted by: TK Superman
Your right I don't know that, time will tell though. And like i said, the developers need to make sure that these can run on new and older systems.

Is there anyone out there that has had success running this on a older system, like ones manufactured before early 2008 through 2007?


I got my Xbox in August of 08, and it hasn't had an issue running ODST, though it is an Elite, and it was in the batch that replaced the older hardware with the newer ones, so Id say as long as your xbox is looked after and from August 2008 foreword, there shouldn't be any issue running ODST. the other thing I can suggest that may help, is to try clearing some of your hard drive memory, and clear the system Cache before playing.

  • 09.23.2009 10:25 PM PDT
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Posted by: sfgiants55
dazmaz, go troll someplace else please. There is absolutely no proof for this outrageous claim. I have played both Madden and Batman, which have both been released recently, with no problems. If you don't plan on helping this situation then just move on.


Someone is just ignorant to the truth.

  • 09.23.2009 10:25 PM PDT

Yeah mine runs ODST fine, im mainly upset because this is an issue with my friends 360, his was manufactured on 2006-9-10. Like many others on here have said, he can run other games perfectly fine (except the ones that are scratched to hell and back) and no problems, yet he puts in ODST, goes through the first cut scene and them boom. This disc is unreadable.

[Edited on 09.23.2009 10:30 PM PDT]

  • 09.23.2009 10:29 PM PDT

Posted by: TK Superman
Yeah mine runs ODST fine, im mainly upset because this is an issue with my friends 360, his was manufactured on 2006-9-10. Like many others on here have said, he can run other games perfectly fine (except the ones that are scratched to hell and back) and no problems, yet he puts in ODST, goes through the first cut scene and them boom. This disc is unreadable.


Thats more then likely the Graphics card (which microsoft cheaped out on from what the usually use) is over heating, and causing the disc to be seen as un-readable, all he can do is wait to see if a system update will fix it (doubtful) or contact microsoft and see if they'll replace it for a cheaper cost, or... rent games before he buys them to see if they'll work proper.

  • 09.23.2009 10:32 PM PDT
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Anyone else been as unlucky as me to have their Xbox destroy their ODST campaign disc? I was just in the menu listening to the music and then heard the horrible grinding sound... disc unreadable. Ejected the disc and it's got the scratch lines of perfect circular motion on the side of the disc which the drive's laser reads.

I put in some games I don't care about anymore and they run fine. I'm very careful and gentle with my Xbox and never move it when a disc is in the tray so I'm not sure how this happened; most probably just back luck for me.

I have an Opus model Xbox, manufactured in October 2008 (I received it in November of the same year as a replacement because my previous system died)



[Edited on 09.23.2009 10:35 PM PDT]

  • 09.23.2009 10:33 PM PDT
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Posted by: DazMaz
Someone is just ignorant to the truth.


I bet my Xbox 360 is newer than yours, and im having this problem. This is a serious issue. Idiots like you that just come into this thread rambling is definatly not helping. This old Xboxs can't play new games is rubbish. If you can play something as power hungry as Grand Theft Auto IV, im sure you can play Halo 3: ODST.

  • 09.23.2009 10:37 PM PDT

Posted by: UNFORGiVEN
Anyone else been as unlucky as me to have their Xbox destroy their ODST campaign disc? I was just in the menu listening to the music and then heard the horrible grinding sound... disc unreadable. Ejected the disc and it's got the scratch lines of perfect circular motion on the side of the disc which the drive's laser reads.

I put in some games I don't care about anymore and they run fine. I'm very careful and gentle with my Xbox and never move it when a disc is in the tray so I'm not sure how this happened; most probably just back luck for me.

I have an Opus model Xbox, manufactured in October 2008 (I received it in November of the same year as a replacement because my previous system died)



Im gonna go on a limb and assume your XBOX is standing up... NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER stand your xbox upright, leave it laying down, the system dosen't have anything to secure the disc (the spindle present in the PS2 slim) and dosen't spin the disc at a fast enough speed to ensure it dosen't tip. and if your xbox was laying down flat... it [the disc] may not have been centered properly

  • 09.23.2009 10:40 PM PDT

Same problem here. It is not only related to older xbox's. I have a Jasper Arcade. It is randomly giving me the disc read error for Halo 3. Tried installing to hard drive. That helped, but it still does it sometimes when loading a map. Tried a backup disc with no luck. Now I buy ODST, and I just played 2 hours and it gave me the message right as it was loading the cut scene after locating the beacon. Lost two hours of play and now really don't want to do it again until this is fixed.

  • 09.23.2009 11:10 PM PDT

I cannot understand why people are not realising it is a problem with their xbox and not the game.

I have an '06 xbox and after 2 years of usage the drive in the (samsung drives, look similar to the later model old xbox's) xbox started going south. At first, it would only play games that were cached. Then, it would have trouble reading disc's. Finally, it wouldn't read anything.

I had the xbox drive replaced to the more updated one (this one doesn't have any holes in other then the laser and motor channel) and I don't get any read errors.

Your solutions are

1) Ring Microcheap and tell them you are having disc read errors (don't specify games)

2) Get a new xbox.

p.s The only time you can blame the disc is when you take it to a friends place and try to play it on a console that you know can play the game 100%

  • 09.23.2009 11:11 PM PDT
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Well i have played Guitar Hero 5, The Beatles: Rock band and those games only came out week or 2 from now. they haven't given me no problems but ODST of course there an issue with the older version of the 360 (had mine since release day and still works perfectly fine). I was playing campaign with my friends last night till where you find the sniper hanging (loading... done "game error"... mother...). so don't come in here "saying oh buy a new 360" I'm not gonna be buy a new console when my current console still works but 1 game.

  • 09.23.2009 11:19 PM PDT

Posted by: drzblazex
Well i have played Guitar Hero 5, The Beatles: Rock band and those games only came out week or 2 from now. they haven't given me no problems but ODST of course there an issue with the older version of the 360 (had mine since release day and still works perfectly fine). I was playing campaign with my friends last night till where you find the sniper hanging (loading... done "game error"... mother...). so don't come in here "saying oh buy a new 360" I'm not gonna be buy a new console when my current console still works but 1 game.


well rock band and GH5 don't exactly press the xbox in any way shape or form, you're going to start running into issues with newer games that begin pressing the limits of the 360, your original 360 is running on inferior hardware, so it will eventually run into issues. and weither or not you buy a new 360 is up to you, if you wanna play ODST upgrade or play on a buddies xbox, it sucks, but it happens.

  • 09.23.2009 11:23 PM PDT