Diagnosing Blu-Ray drive problems

My PS3 stopped reading disks. The warranty is long gone, and I don't want to send it in to Sony if I don't have to. I am a DIY kind of guy.

When I put a disk in the machine registers that there is a disk. The disk gets pulled in just fine. The blue disk indicator light comes on. When sitting at the XMB, the circles loading icon shows up in the clock as per usual. However, it doesn't stop. The circles keep going, but it never reads the disk.

Have you had any problems with the Blu-ray drive failing? Did your problem sound like mine? Does this sound like the lens gone bad?

Well you could remove and replace the laser lens yourself and its very very easy to do and its ALOT cheper then sending it in to Sony. The hardest part is getting the correct screwdriver to remove the security screw which opens up the PS3.

I've done it myself and it took me about 10-20 mins to do. It simple, quick and easy to do. I'll post some link's if your interested.

Alright. Yeah that is what was wanting to do. I have a Torx screwdriver set, so I can get it open no problem. I just wanted to make sure that it is the lens that is the problem. I would hate to replace the lens only to find out that it is a problem with the control board or drive motor.