Disc Tray will not close (original 360 model)

Hi,

After having a laser burning problem with my 360 in May of last year and receiving a new system under warranty, I haven't had any problems with it until now. However, immediately after exiting to the dashboard while playing a game, the green light in the middle of the power button started to blink constantly and the disc tray opened whenever I attempted to close it. No matter what I do the system seems to be stuck in this strange state. Sometimes the disc tray remains closed and makes a single tick noise and then opens several seconods later. Whenever I turn off the system the loud power adapter (the big brick thing) will not become silent and the disc tray will eventually open. The only way to turn it off is to pull the power plug. I've seen some instructional videos suggesting to push the tray in with a game inside in order to force it to read the disc. Another showed a 360 with the outside cover taken off and showed that pulling up on a spindle that is supposed to keep the disc tray in place will fix the problem. I am worried that I might damage my 360 by using these methods and also do not know how to take the cover off. Has anyone had this problem and/or knows a likely fix? I bought my xbox in October of 2009 and had it fixed under warranty in may of 2010. I don't believe I can get it fixed for free now.

Thanks in advance.

I forgot to add that yesterday I had troubles getting the disc tray to OPEN but after restarting it several times it worked.

The only way I can think off without taking off the the whole cover is to take off the front panel and use a paper clip and press it in the hole below the disc tray