Help with open tray error?

So I recently bought an XBOX 360 and I keep getting open tray error. I replaced the laser (I removed the solder blob from the replacement) but I still get the same error, only this time the laser seems to atleast try to read the games. I took it apart to try and see whats the problem, and I saw that sometimes when I insert the game the laser lights up for a second and then goes out right before the disc starts to spin, and than stops and does that for 4 to 5 times before showing open tray error once again. Other times the disc spins up, the laser lights up and moves and it tries to read but ultimately ends up with an open tray error. I heard that you can try tapping the drive in hopes of getting it to work, so I tried it and got the drive to read the disc twice so far but the console did not recognize what game it was, I either got "Unrecognized disc" error or the console just froze. I've been trying to get the console to work for like a month now but to no awail. I'm out of ideas... I tried with like 15 different games (Kinect, XBOX Classic, and normal Xbox 360) games and neither of them worked. I'm open to any suggestions.

PS.: It's a 2008 Phat

UPDATE: I got the thing kind of working, it reads games when I'm gently tapping the drive while the console is opend up after a few attempts, the game shows up, starts and after like 5-10 seconds it stoppes and I get a "unrecognized disc" error. The disc is still spinning. When it starts to read the disc, the laser seems strong but by the time of the crash it seems like it's a lot weaker and it weakens till it isn't visible. Should I mess with the pot or nah? I've seen people suggesting tweaking it for replacement lasers since it's not set properly by default but I don't have a multimeter.