Halo 3: ODST Forum
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  • Subject: Disc Unreadable
Subject: Disc Unreadable
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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.


My thoughts exactly. It is just one game that is causing this issue. Many people with first generation 360s are playing new games like they're... well, new. But this particular game, Halo 3: ODST, is causing trouble for alot of players, and in situations like this, there is no way people are going to waste money replacing their systems for just one game.

If you go back a page or two, one of the people here said that an update might come soon. I hope he's right and that it'll fix our issues.

  • 09.23.2009 11:26 PM PDT

Exactly. I refuse to buy a new console for 1 game that isn't worth it. So I'll never beat campaign. Big deal.

Also I noticed something weird. I can't find my odst save. I delete the whole odst folder, yet my save is still there.

Something weirder just happened. After trying like 6 times It got past the opening cutscene. Seems in my case persistence is the key...

  • 09.23.2009 11:29 PM PDT

I refuse to ever buy another Xbox 360, I dropped over $400 for this thing at launch. I have invested hundreds of dollars beyond that. I think if what you are saying is true I would have to move on to a more reliable console, namely the PS3.

  • 09.23.2009 11:30 PM PDT

Posted by: sfgiants55
I refuse to ever buy another Xbox 360, I dropped over $400 for this thing at launch. I have invested hundreds of dollars beyond that. I think if what you are saying is true I would have to move on to a more reliable console, namely the PS3.


Thats what happens though, because M$ cheaped out on parts, people run into issues, though I dont blame you for not wanting to have to buy another console (unless it dies, then the warranty should cover it, as long as its a hardware failure) though from what i've seen, the only people having issues are those with consoles predating 2008, which is when they started using name brand parts, in the consoles, like they should have from the start, though it's not entirely impossible to patch the game to optimize any code to allow it to run easier on the pre 2008 consoles.

  • 09.23.2009 11:34 PM PDT
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yeah I'd pretty much read every page and I'm not gonna wait a week or so for an update... I'm just gonna refund my money and get something different. Also just to add on someone with a RE5 console has the same issue and that came out around march this year... explain that?

just to add in little more while try to play ODST. i tried what everybody has tried so far and the only that worked was removing hdd. there no fun in that... no achievements... no friends to play with online. 1 last thing i deleted my ODST file because i thought it would be that corrupted but when i was playing it last night before i got the game error. i checked again and there no file on ODST, just my halo 3

[Edited on 09.23.2009 11:48 PM PDT]

  • 09.23.2009 11:40 PM PDT

Posted by: drzblazex
yeah I'd pretty much read every page and I'm not gonna wait a week or so for an update... I'm just gonna refund my money and get something different. Also just to add on someone with a RE5 console has the same issue and that came out around march this year... explain that?


Faulty parts, damage during shipping, bad disc, there's any number of factors, hell, i've seen 360's not power on out of the box for no reason, if one thing is missed or miss done during assembly it'll bork the entire thing. obviously if more newer consoles start having the same issues, then it's more likley a pressing issue, then a console, or may be both, which at the moment dosen't appear to be the case.

  • 09.23.2009 11:45 PM PDT
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oh well i'm gonna be playing my halo 3 MM till tomorrow. i hope this issue would be solve very soon those of you are willing to wait for a update or whatever.

  • 09.23.2009 11:51 PM PDT
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installing to hardrive worked for me!!! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • 09.23.2009 11:52 PM PDT

Hmm...only can get firefight working from HD and only locally..Disc unreadable error as soon as try to go on-line?

Here in England, think dodgy batch of discs ruled out now?

  • 09.23.2009 11:55 PM PDT

Posted by: General_Silly
Hmm...only can get firefight working from HD and only locally..Disc unreadable error as soon as try to go on-line?

Here in England, think dodgy batch of discs ruled out now?


maybe, it's too early to tell, we'd literally have to get everyone who bought the game to report if the game plays fine, has hang ups, crashes, has disc read errors, to see if its a universal thing (common accross all regions) or is localized, it's possible its a bad disc set through shipping, printing, or console related, or hell even both.

  • 09.23.2009 11:59 PM PDT
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Several people in the earlier pages of this thread said that they went through a replacement disk after revisiting their local retailers and still have the same error. It could be possible that the disc drive is at fault here, but then I'd have problems playing things like Lost Planet or something if it's that taxing. Something about the game in general, the software and not the actual disc, is disagreeing with it.

In ODST, from Tuesday afternoon to about 9 PM, it was playing fine. But somewhere after my third flashback, I got that error, and now it comes up everytime I load after that, whether it's my saved campaign or a new one, and also firefight as soon as it counts down to 0 and loads.

  • 09.24.2009 12:08 AM PDT
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Posted by: Digital Spooker
Faulty parts, damage during shipping, bad disc, there's any number of factors, hell, i've seen 360's not power on out of the box for no reason, if one thing is missed or miss done during assembly it'll bork the entire thing. obviously if more newer consoles start having the same issues, then it's more likley a pressing issue, then a console, or may be both, which at the moment dosen't appear to be the case.


My system works perfectly fine playing every single game I own. Including the CPU demanding Grand Theft Auto IV. As I've said earlier, if you can play that game, there should be no reason you can't play Halo 3: ODST. There is people on the GameSpot forums with (manufactured this year) Elites having this problem.

With the faulty discs, that was knocked out awhile ago as the discs work fine in other consoles perfectly fine.

  • 09.24.2009 12:25 AM PDT

Multiplayer works as if there was no problem whatsoever for both Halo 3 and ODST.

Campaign for both however, do not work.

  • 09.24.2009 12:40 AM PDT

Posted by: Fos Tis Krisis
Brutes aren't monkeys, Brutes are gorillas. Humans are monkeys, and Spartans are Orangutans.

Posted by: Digital Spooker
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.


For me, a non plastic-wrapped cover is not a new game, despite whatever any cashier would say in the shop. No wrap - the game is *used* and should be priced there after as far as I'm concerned. And I agree, always check all opened packages and check the disc in the store. You can't trust folks for anything these days.

  • 09.24.2009 12:43 AM PDT

Posted by: Fos Tis Krisis
Brutes aren't monkeys, Brutes are gorillas. Humans are monkeys, and Spartans are Orangutans.

I never had any issues with ODST whatsoever, but one thing I've noticed is that after a load of any level and the action begins there's a second similar to a freeze right before music/sounds starts and you get ingame control. Almost like the Xbox chokes for a sec before things roll.

  • 09.24.2009 12:49 AM PDT

Posted by: UselessTrash
Posted by: Digital Spooker
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.


For me, a non plastic-wrapped cover is not a new game, despite whatever any cashier would say in the shop. No wrap - the game is *used* and should be priced there after as far as I'm concerned. And I agree, always check all opened packages and check the disc in the store. You can't trust folks for anything these days.


oh the kicker was it was shrink wrapped, the scratch on the data/decal side was barely noticable unless held up to a light.

  • 09.24.2009 1:10 AM PDT

In the UK. Got a game for my birthday, brother pre-ordered from play.com. Got it on release day.

I put the game straight out of the box, waited for my friend to come on. Played co-op, first cut-scene and it gives me the message. I have tested the game on another xbox, me and my friend played and it was fine, bought another from gamestation and it never worked, thankfully gamestation have a return policy, it worked on theirs fine and good, long load though. I downloaded the Fifa 10 demo and that gave me disc unreadable, saved to harddive. I have had the Xbox since about 3-6 month from release it has had rrod and been repaired once I think. Is there any word from Bungie or Microsoft on this? Never liked microsoft, I phoned the helpline and they just seemed to be desperate to hang up on me. I would not have an Xbox if it wasn't for Halo and Gears. Bungie are the best games studio in the world, closly followed by Epic. Hope this isn't a problem at their end. Am I the first British problem? Better be an update soon. My problem seems to come at saving. Removing hard drive never worked, clean disc did not work, have not tried Halo 3, multi didn't work from start immediate unreadable.

[Edited on 09.24.2009 1:22 AM PDT]

  • 09.24.2009 1:16 AM PDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIcZL-LKHok

My 360 Manufacturing Date: 2006-09-07

- 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 *
*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.

My response to a Bungie Mods request:

Since different people can have slightly different issues, we want to get an idea of the various issues that people are seeing individually. For those of you having problems similar to this, please PM me the following:

1. A brief description of your specific problem and what you've tried to fix it. Please do not recap the thread.
2. Remove your hard drive and play through the same sections of ODST that are failing. Does that make a difference?
3. Put in Halo 3 and play through a the first few campaign missions (on easy, it'll go quick). Do you see the same behavior as in ODST, or does it function perfectly?

Edit: I'd like people to try playing Halo 3 now. For many people it's worked in the past, but the piece of information I'm looking for is does it work now.


1. All game menus work and loading the maps but it will give me the Cannot Read Disk error every time. Some times I get the error from watching the first cut scene.

2. Removing the Hard Drive does nothing.

3. Halo 3(original) functions perfectly. The Halo 3 included in ODST does not work as I get Unreadable Disk Errors also.

  • 09.24.2009 1:17 AM PDT

Alpha Minotaur, he wanted a PM, not a thread post.

  • 09.24.2009 1:23 AM PDT

I was yesterday very aggressive for the fourth trip to Gamestop and third copy of the game. I'm not going to get the refund because i'm going to take a gamble on the patch. I've been a Halo fan since the first one and i'm going to hope that MS and Bungie comes up a patch or a news that older consoles do/don't work on ODST. But still this is a terrible flaw on the launch of ODST but let's hope for best that they come up with a solution because Ms and Bungie both know the issues that players are going through and i don't think they'd like to gamble with fans because they need us as much we need them. But let's keep fingers crossed and hope the best for us who deserve the game as much as anybody.

  • 09.24.2009 1:31 AM PDT
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xX PORTUGEE Xx

Yup im getting the same problem got a 360 from jan. 06 and its not reading it says disc error after the first cinematic and ive tried everything, even called xbox support sucks that you purchase a game to play and you cant even play it because of hardware issues

  • 09.24.2009 1:50 AM PDT

You have to start wondering...was this game fully tested? Including older 360's? Is this another case of MS throwing a game out far to early? Like they did with the first halo?

  • 09.24.2009 1:52 AM PDT

Posted by: Paladin52
Alpha Minotaur, he wanted a PM, not a thread post.


Everyone who has this problem needs to start giving Test Alpha Ninja a PM about their problem for his format.

[Edited on 09.24.2009 1:57 AM PDT]

  • 09.24.2009 1:56 AM PDT
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I have the same disc unreadable problem. it is aggravating i had 17/30 audio logs found in coop. my friend wasnt to happy. good thing i rented halo 3 odst from blockbuster. Halo 3 ODST = BUNGIE FAILURE.Im seeing a remake of gears of war 2 here. This time its on BUNGIE and not EPIC. i want my last 400 gs for the game, fix this problem. I went through two copies from blockbuster. clean brand new discs no scratches no fingerprints on it. I about punched the blockbuster worker for selling me a janky disc. Older model xbox got it in 06. RROD 1 time. got a new xbox 6 months ago after RROD. only problem is with halo 3 odst. all other games work fine. Plz fix this soon or i will have to boycott bungie products.

  • 09.24.2009 2:01 AM PDT

Posted by: stoat256
So far it seems like the problem is restricted to xboxes manufactured in 2006 and Resident Evil 5 edition (weird). Are there any people here who are having this problem (the "disk unreadable" issue) who do not fall into those categories?

Just curious.


Are you talking about the Resident Evil 5 Elite Xbox, the red one? I have that and the game runs perfectly for me.

  • 09.24.2009 2:13 AM PDT