QUOTE(jparish1986 @ Apr 28 2012, 06:36 AM)

ive put the top spindle on and tried pot adjusting but cant get it right. I managed to get it to spin for about a second rather than a quarter of a second. Is it just the left pot i play with? I'm going to get me a volt meter later today so where do I put the needles to test the ohm?
You really should have gotten a multimeter before you tried adjusting it. I don't mean to be so negative, but I'd bet you fried your laser by tweaking without reading the resistance. If you haven't done it before, I think you'll be very surprised how much resistance you actually change when you turn the potentiometer 1/100th of a turn.
The disc spinning longer really isn't a good indicator that you've done something right.
Also, did you remove the solder ball from the new laser you ordered? You can't just install it right when you get it. There is a solder blob on the left side you have to remove that bridges 3 points on it and it will not work correctly with it in place. All new lasers are shipped with this blob, it probably isn't there if the laser was used.
EDIT: You need to put the multimeter probes on the two points that are on the left side of the DVD POT. There's only two and it doesn't matter which probe you touch to which one. To clarify, I'm using "left" in the sense of you looking at the laser from the backside of the drive.
But definitely see if that solder ball is there before doing anything else. It is often overlooked.
Good luck man and ask if you have any questions