Xbox 360 Malfunctioning disc reader

Hello,

My Xbox 360 started malfunctioning around Spring 2011. I would insert a disc into the reader and the Xbox would not recognize it. The disc reader section on the dashboard would say "Reading" or something along those lines and never show the preview of the game. Additionally, the louder noise associated with a properly loaded game would not come on either. Instead, all that would happen after a few seconds was the tile would go back to saying "Open Tray."

It would only happen occasionally and the problem would be fixed by simply opening and closing the tray. This became a serious issue starting around October/November 2011. This was when I would have to wait nearly half an hour before a game would load. Between then and March/April 2012, the waiting time increased until my Xbox simply stopped loading games completely.

During the waiting time, I would open and close the tray in the hopes the disc would get recognized. I initially restarted the Xbox as well. But I soon stopped doing this because I concluded the disc reader needed a "warm-up period."

Even when games would load, they would freeze when a certain action or checkpoint was reached. For example, Forza 4 would not take me past the results screen after a race ended and my results would not be recorded once I restarted the console and returned to the race screen. Additionally, right before the cutscene with Master Chief throwing a grenade up and down at the bridge in "The Maw" in Halo: CE Anniversary, the screen would go white and nothing else would happen.

I opened up my Xbox to see if there was some dust or debris I could get at and since it was past its warranty period. These repair attempts were not successful.

I want to repair it because my desire to get back to Halo came back and my love for the franchise is more intense than ever. There are a lot of things I would like to accomplish in those games.

I am posting this question here because I would like to know definitively whether or not this is a disc reader issue before I buy and install a new reader.