While attempting to load a disc in your Xbox 360 console, you receive the error message: "This disc is unreadable"

When you try to load a disc in your Xbox 360 console, you receive the following error message:This article contains step-by-step guidance to help you determine your situation, and then guides you through ways to resolve the problem.

Review the following symptom to confirm it matches the symptom you are seeing. Then follow the instructions that follow the symptom.

• When you try to use a game disc, a DVD, a CD, or any other type of disc in your Xbox 360 console, you may receive the following error message:
  This disc is unreadable. It may be the wrong region for this console. Match the region of the disc to the console. Clean the disc with a soft cloth. Restart the console. For more help, go to www.xbox.com/support.
  Note Do not follow the instructions in the error message. Use the guided instructions in the methods in this article.

The Xbox 360 console cannot read the disc correctly. This can happen for any of the following reasons:

• The disc is dirty or damaged.
• The disc is from a different country or region than the console.
• There are non-disc issues.

Here are some things that you can do to try to fix the problem or to determine what caused it. If you cannot fix the problem yourself, please contact Xbox Customer Support. To do this, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Determine whether the disc is dirty or damaged

Discs that are smudged, scratched or otherwise damaged cannot be read by the Xbox 360 console. You will want to examine the disc to see whether it has smudges, scratches, or other damage. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Examine the disc for dirt or damage:
   1. Pick up the disc by its edges. Do not touch the top or the bottom surface.
   2. Examine the shiny side of the disc to make sure that the disc is clean and has no damage.
      
      Note Scratches that follow the curve of the disc are very damaging and prevent a disc from being read. If you see that your disc has even one of these types of scratches, the disc is damaged, and you will no longer be able to play it. If this is the case, see step 4.
2. If the disc is dirty, clean the disc by hand:
   1. Use a soft, clean, dry, chemical-free cloth to clean the disc.
   2. Lightly wipe from the center of the disc outward.
3. After cleaning the disc, try to load it in the Xbox 360 console. If the disc still won't load or you receive the same error message, the disc is damaged, and you will no longer be able to play it. If this is the case, see step 4.
4. If the disc is damaged, do one of the following:
   • If you think that the disc was already damaged when you bought it, try to exchange it.
   • If you have a damaged Microsoft Xbox 360 game disc and would like to order a new one, please visit the following Web site:
     http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/xbox360/gamesandmedia/games/discreplacement/DiscReplacementPlan.aspx (http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/xbox360/gamesandmedia/games/discreplacement/DiscReplacementPlan.aspx)
   • If the game is a non-Microsoft Xbox 360 game disc and was damaged because of misuse of some type, such as not storing the disc properly in its case, the only thing you can do is buy a new one.
   • If you feel that the disc was damaged by the Xbox 360 console in some way, please contact Xbox Customer Support. To do this, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:
     http://www.xbox.com/support/contact (http://www.xbox.com/support/contact)

Determine whether the game disc and the console are from the same country or region

Game discs and consoles are made for specific countries and regions. If you try to play a game disc that is made for a specific country or region on a console that is made for another country or region, the game disc will not play.

For example, if you purchase an Xbox 360 console in North America, your region is North America. Therefore, you cannot play game discs that are sold in Europe or in Asia on this console. Similarly, an Xbox 360 console that is sold in Europe can only play game discs that are sold in Europe, and an Xbox 360 console that is sold in Asia can only play game discs that are sold in Asia.

To see whether this issue occurs because the country or the region of the game disc and the console do not match, look on the back of the game package. Look for one of the following codes:

• NTSC: North America and South America (United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil)
• NTSC-J: Asia (Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan)
• PAL: Europe, South Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand

If your game disc code does not match the region where you bought the console, you will not be able to play the game disc.

Non-disc issues

There is a chance that the issue is not with the disc but with the Xbox 360 console. To check this, try the following steps:

1. Turn the console off, and then turn the console on again. Then, try to load the disc again.
2. Try playing the disc on another console if you have access to one. Or if the disc is a CD or a DVD, try the disc on another device, such as a CD player, DVD player, or a computer equipped to play CDs or DVDs, to see if that other device can read the disc.
3. If the disc is a recordable CD (CD-R), try a different CD-R disc from that set. Or try a CD-R disc from a different manufacturer.
4. Try playing other games to determine whether the problem occurs with all the games that you have or only with this one.
5. If you have a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) unit or Memory unit (MU) attached to the console, turn the console off and remove the HDD unit and any attached MU, then switch on your console and try the disc again. If this seems to resolve the issue, turn off your console, attach the HDD and MU again, and then delete any saved games for the game that is causing problems.
   Note If it is possible to do so, save the games to a separate MU.
   If this does not resolve the issue but removing the hard disk does, clear the hard disk drive cache.
   For more information about how to do this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   971755  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971755/ ) How to clear the Xbox 360 console cache
   To find out how to remove and connect the Hard Disk Drive from your console, see the instructions in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article, and then return to this article:
   906204  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906204/ ) How to attach or remove your Xbox 360 Hard Drive

If none of these steps resolved your issue, your console may have to be repaired. For information about how to start the repair process online, please visit http://www.xbox.com/support (http://www.xbox.com/support) , and then click Console Repair? in the upper-right section of the Web page.

Note Online console repair service is currently not available in all countries or regions.

If you want to contact Xbox Customer Support directly, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Additional support

If the steps in the previous section did not resolve your issue, your console may have to be repaired. For more information about how to start the online repair process, please visit one of the following Web Page links: For more information about how to contact Xbox Customer Support directly, please visit the following Microsoft Web site: