As with age, everything loses umphh... your eyes go bad, joints hurt, and you eventually have to use Viagra. Same with the Xbox, in dusty climates, sun light, and normal wear and tear.
Some thing you can try, before buying a programmer or a new chip is to. try the Pot tweak on the dvd rom drive... Ive done it on 3 drives already with success, use a digital multimeter, and follow the directions to the T. I can calibrate mine to the point where I can use Fugi Films CD-rs or any green dye CD-R and it will read fine.
Or try buying a flasher... and use the recommended flashing program from X2s website.
When you reflash the Bios use a color mod chip... just whatever your fav. color is. and it impresses the friends.
If you do see color change it means everything is alright.. If you don't it is either turned off or something else is wrong.