SEGA Saturn only reads disks facedown

Hello. I recently bought a SEGA Saturn from eBay. It said that it worked at times, so I figured it wouldn't be too hard to repair. I received it in the mail today and started trying to fix it. I have ordered a Saturn AV cable, controller, and games separately, however none have arrived yet. I decided to use an audio CD and the access light to try and fix it.
I have tried the common methods of lifting the disk motor and adjusting the laser. I also cleaned the laser with isopropyl. Nothing seemed to work for long before the access light began blinking fast again (failed to read). I have never had a Saturn before today, but I assume that when the light shuts off and the disk spins steady, it is working. Well I thought to try reading a disk with the console on a different side. When I did this, I figured out that when the front (side with controller input) is down, the disk runs every time. Obviously, this isn't too helpful since I will need to plug a controller in somehow and the console would look somewhat ridiculous like that.
The console is a bit dirty on the inside, the cart connector has rust on it. It is a "model 1" unit. The seller, 8bitclassicgames described the console as the following:

Does anyone know why the disk only reads disks when the controller input side is on the ground? Thanks.

EDIT: Part of the problem seemed to be the laser. By altering it a bit, I can now read CD's on a ledge (thick book prying back up). Since I still haven't received any games, I can only assume that they might work at this angle. I also noticed the CD appears to wobble slightly, but tilting it doesn't seem to change this at all.

 

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Correct, well mostly. I still haven't received the AV out, but judging by the access light, it is booting into the bios (probably with the date saved on the clock batt.). The light only turns off and the disk continues to spin indefinitely is when the unit has the front side (controller port side) facing down. All other sides, including the bottom (correct side), fail to load the disk and the access light blinks rapidly.

Also, I can't see any bend in the spindle, but that doesn't mean your wrong. Also the console seems to load the disk only when on the front side entirely. Somewhere in between normal usually causes failure. If a video would help, I could probably record the problem.

 

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I have been judging by the access light and assumed that when the disk stops spinning and the light blinks rapidly, it has failed. When the light shuts off and the disk spins steadily, I assume that it works.

The AV should come today so I decided to not do anything more until I get it. You could very much be correct about that though.

 

Without video is difficult to know what is happening.

 

THE FOLLOWING INFO WAS LOST BECAUSE OF THE RECENT SITE ATTACK

I no longer need this forum or the information in it since I have repaired my Saturn, but I hope that someone else will find some use of it.

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO ORIGINALLY POSTED THIS INFORMATION AND HELPED ME REPAIR MY SATURN

 

I had a similar issue once, and it needed a pair of pliers and a gentle tug to the centre wheel that the CDs clip on to. It popped up a bit and worked fine afterwards.

 

This is a common enough problem on the Sega CD as well.