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Unable to play backups - 1 YEAR ISSUE

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 12:41 pm
by kinect360
Hey there,

I installed a Xeno GC v2 half a year ago and still have not been able to play backups on it. I displays an orange light once the gc is booted and I can get into the xeno menu.

I am burning with a LITE-ON SOHW 1693S DVD WRITER that I bought specifically for this. I use imgburn and run at the lowest speed possible. I have tried multiple different iso's and none have worked.

I have tweeked the pot from 250 all the way to 0 while testing at increments at 10. No where from 250 to 0 would the gamecube read backups but it would play regular games.

I have tried burning games with memorex and virbatim with no luck. I have been using full size 4.7gb DVD-Rs.

Please help! What am I doing wrong?

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 5:29 pm
by yamaharacer
what speed do you use for burning the discs? I have had the solution that games only work with 4x to 8x burning speed

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 5:34 pm
by kinect360
I am using the default lowest speed which has been 4x I believe

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 7:48 pm
by yamaharacer
then try 8x

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 5:48 am
by emu_kidid
How are you burning the ISO/GCM files? Use ImgBurn and write the game as the ISO rather than creating a file system on the disc (when you stick the disc back in the PC it shouldn't be readable via file explorer).

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 10:03 am
by kinect360
I tried burning at x8.. Didnt work again.

I am burning with ISOs and im pretty sure its doing it correctly through imgburn

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 11:51 am
by emu_kidid
Does the laser realise there's a disc there, try to spin it up and then forcefully spin down, or does it never get to full speed?

Sounds like it may just really hate your media

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 11:18 am
by kinect360
Itll spin up and get to full speed for a few seconds and then decides theres no media. If you turn on the cube with the backup in it, itll spin up at the logo screen but then go to the gamecube menu and show no disc. :/ ive tried quite a few different types of disks

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 11:18 pm
by emu_kidid
This makes it sound like the XenoGC might be failing to inject the drive code patches for your particular drive. I know you said the menu is working though which is strange.

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:12 am
by kinect360
I can only access the menu when there is a disc in the console. Is this normal?

The menu displays: XenoGC Shell v1. 06 and below this is a single @ symbol. The menu is blinking and is displayed in a weird blue and green color.

Also, when i start up the console, my projector says its NTSC which is what the console is. But when i boot into the xenogc menu the source flirkers and it displays PAL.

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 12:04 am
by emu_kidid
kinect360 wrote:I can only access the menu when there is a disc in the console. Is this normal?

The menu displays: XenoGC Shell v1. 06 and below this is a single @ symbol. The menu is blinking and is displayed in a weird blue and green color.

Also, when i start up the console, my projector says its NTSC which is what the console is. But when i boot into the xenogc menu the source flirkers and it displays PAL.
Yes that's all normal, the menu boots by hijacking the game that is about to execute with its own code. The menu is locked to PAL on that version of the XenoGC, PAL output on a NTSC console may have issues if you're using the composite output of the console.

I still believe it's your laser that is too picky, give it a clean with a q-tip and some isopropyl and try to tweak the potentiometer again.

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 12:19 am
by kinect360
Yup using composite. Okay ill try that. What do you recommend tweaking the laser to?

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 1:02 am
by emu_kidid
kinect360 wrote:Yup using composite. Okay ill try that. What do you recommend tweaking the laser to?
Take it down to 0ohm and then work your way back up.

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 2:31 am
by theclaw
kinect360 wrote:Yup using composite. Okay ill try that. What do you recommend tweaking the laser to?
Right NTSC consoles output 50hz mode fine, but the color is incorrect. For years the only plug and play fix has been a component cable.
Last I recall we're waiting for someone to mass produce the male digital plug.

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 12:31 pm
by kinect360
Hi guys!

Im back! University and stuff has got me busy but i finally got the chance to thinker at the gamecube. I cleaned it with some iso alcohol and it works!!!

The bad news:
Itll only read discs under 20 ohms.. How long will my laser last like this? Is it doomed to fail in a few weeks?

Thanks!

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 12:34 pm
by kinect360
Attached here is a picture

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 12:37 pm
by kinect360
Nvm... 2 minutes into the game the disc stops spinning and says an error has occurred and to restart.. What now? Is the laser too weak?

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 2:18 pm
by Sierron
kinect360 wrote:Itll only read discs under 20 ohms.. How long will my laser last like this? Is it doomed to fail in a few weeks?
*in announcer voice* "This kills the laser."
I guess it's time for disc drive replacement now.

On another note: can you still play original games?

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 2:22 pm
by kinect360
Yup i can still play regular discs fine at regular ohms (80).. But backups are only reading at like 8ohms and are now playing at 8 fine.. But like you said the laser will die soon?

Can anyone link me to any cheap lasers? Not looking to spend over like 20 cuz i could just buy a new cube for that price :(

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 9:57 pm
by emu_kidid
Sierron wrote:
kinect360 wrote:Itll only read discs under 20 ohms.. How long will my laser last like this? Is it doomed to fail in a few weeks?
*in announcer voice* "This kills the laser."
I guess it's time for disc drive replacement now.

On another note: can you still play original games?
I've had a GC running at 0ohms for about 6 years now, completed some games from dvd-r using it as well.

0 ohms won't destroy it any sooner if it's already failing to read discs at 20 ohms.

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 10:00 pm
by kinect360
I ordered another laser, the lowest I could tweak the pot to was 10 ohms and at that it would only read my dvd-r games for 5 minutes before crashing. It read regular original games fine.

Hopefully this will fix it!

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 11:10 pm
by Sierron
emu_kidid wrote:I've had a GC running at 0ohms for about 6 years now, completed some games from dvd-r using it as well.
0 ohms won't destroy it any sooner if it's already failing to read discs at 20 ohms.
Damn. According to all the documentation online this should have killed the laser years ago... well, if that's still fine for the laser, my cube could probably keep going even longer.
The lowest I had so far was 250 ohms. And that was my original one from 450 ohms down.

But yeah. If the laser is already so week it won't read at 20 ohm it's probably about time to do that.

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 1:01 am
by kinect360
Hi everyone...

Something in this universe does not want me to play backups. I ordered a replacement laser, it arrived broken. Finally got a working one today.. Installed it and it'll play original games but wont play backups. I tried lowering down the pot from 125 all the way down to 10 and nothing. Ive cleaned the laser and checked the chip as well (red then orange light).

I am testing it with the same full media (verbatim) as I had on my old laser which read them.

Welp, what do I do??

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 4:28 am
by theclaw
kinect360 wrote:Hi everyone...

Something in this universe does not want me to play backups. I ordered a replacement laser, it arrived broken. Finally got a working one today.. Installed it and it'll play original games but wont play backups. I tried lowering down the pot from 125 all the way down to 10 and nothing. Ive cleaned the laser and checked the chip as well (red then orange light).

I am testing it with the same full media (verbatim) as I had on my old laser which read them.

Welp, what do I do??
The laser is probably wearing out.

Personally at this point I'd consider upgrading to a higher end modchip. (one able to use swiss and sdgecko isos without burning a disc)
Xeno GC's greatest strength of being cheap and simple, is also its weakness in other respects.

Re: Unable to play backups

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 10:33 pm
by Sierron
theclaw wrote:The laser is probably wearing out.
kinect360 wrote:I ordered a replacement laser, it arrived broken. Finally got a working one today.
He got a fresh laser which works. Seems quite odd that it would be wearing out.
kinect360 wrote:I am testing it with the same full media (verbatim) as I had on my old laser which read them.
So the 12cm verbatim ones work fine, but the 8cm verbatim don't work?
theclaw wrote:Personally at this point I'd consider upgrading to a higher end modchip.
If it's still possible to get one except xeno and some random sales on ebay.