This post presumes that all have gone through GreyRainCloud's
Lens Calibration guide (
link). If you haven't and are getting DREs, then I highly recommend that you do because a simple recalibration is probably all that it'll take to get your system up and running again! (Okay, maybe it's not so simple.)
To those with DREs whose discs won't spin: a solution—
I've just discovered personally, through trial and error, that if one tweaks the potensiometer even just a little bit too far then the disc will stop spinning. If your disc doesn't spin anymore, it might just be that your laser is out of range and that your motor is actually fine.
My situation was that I had a working console, but was just starting to get DREs again, mid-game. From this I reasoned that the time to make another potensiometer adjustment was nearing. I opened up the box, made an adjustment, and closed 'er all up again (sans screws) to test. I'd forgotten that I could simply hold down the two little prongs in the back-right corner to fool the console into thinking it had its top on, and that I didn't need to replace any of the panels or the cover—and so that's how I was testing for adjustments at first.
After about four tries, I noticed that I wasn't getting anywhere. I also noticed that my discs weren't even spinning anymore, no matter which one I used. At first I thought that I'd gone and fubar'd my console, and made a big mistake of some sort—but then I discovered that I'd just fallen into a trap that I'd set for myself. The trap was this: If one adjusts the potensiometer, still gets a DRE, and tries to turn it again a little further (thinking that this is the solution)—it just might be that the potentiometer's been tweaked too far already the first time. To continue turning it might be pushing it even further away from where it needs to be. This is an easy trap to fall into if one replaces the cover in between each test-run, because in doing so one wouldn't even notice that the disc has stopped spinning altogether (provided that it did to begin with, of course).
Anyway, I eventually boiled the process down to an efficient science that allowed me to complete a casual adjust-and-test cycle every forty-five seconds or so (by not replacing anything in between test-runs—no screws, front/back/side panels, or even the cover), and came to learn that I had the potensio' turned about 180° too far. T minus two hours in, I finally got it right and saw the disc spin with the cover open (and my fingers on the two-pronged cover-sensor). My insides lit-up and I got all of my energy back! After all was said and done, I'd performed about 15-20 guess-and-checks.
I am just here to pass along my notes to those with DREs, because if your disc isn't spinning then it might not be a motor problem but rather one to do with that pesky laser. I suggest that you follow the guide on GameFaqs (
link), and make a series of positive and negative adjustments until you get it right. Ideally, you'll crank it slowly and hit the mark after just one or two attempts. To be sure, don't make any negative (clockwise) adjustments if you've never made any adjustments before! There'll be no need to turn the laser
down from the get-go.
This topic has been bumped because it was a top-result in Google that helped me solve my problem tonight by getting me to think along the right track. Cheers