By this I mean my Xbox isn't reading any disc at all I put in (games, films, music etc.). I've had a look and it seems that the only solution is to send it to Microsoft. It is way out of warranty however, and it will probably cost more time and money to do this than it is worth. As it is not even my main Xbox (it was given to me a while back), I was thinking of popping it open and having a look myself. I'm fairly comfortable with this kind of thing, but I just wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything before I start taking stuff apart.
Is it worth having a go myself? And if anyone has had the same problem and fixed it themself, any input would be appreciated
Thanks in advance.

If you open it up, open the dvd drive and clean the laser gently with a soft dry cloth, preferably one used for spectacles, also clean the surrounding area of the dvd drive, hopefully it may help.

Ok I'll give that a go. It won't be the end of the world if it breaks further, so it can't hurt to try. Thanks for the input

Welcome, sorry i can't be of much more use, but the only thing i can think of is the laser, i've had 3 xboxes, every last one overheated and broke eventually, probably worst designed console i ever owned, fun machine though with lots of good games.

Well, it appears as if the inevitable has occurred. Time to buy a PS3.

Optical drives are unfortunately not that reliable, easily the most common cause why consoles break down. That's why I'm rather pleased that Microsoft let the user to install all their games on the 360 so the optical drive can be used as little as possible, wish Sony added that function to the PS3 too.