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Can all GameCubes be saved?..
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:14 pm
by 13atchet
Hi Guys,
I’m just getting into the GC scene (and the console repair/mod scene in general) and I’m already hooked.
I’m having some trouble with some spares/repairs GCs I bought online:
I have a couple that refuse to read disks.. I’m using know good cables, disks, main motherboards and even lasers. But no amount of pot fiddling or laser replacing will work!
Both spin up, one takes a minute and slams into the far end of the rails, the other just spins back down.
My question is; if a drive is spinning up but refusing to read, is there a next step other than what I’ve triwd before pronouncing the cube dead? Or are there more fixable/replaceable parts in the drive assembly I’m missing?..
Re: Can all GameCubes be saved?..
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:19 pm
by emu_kidid
13atchet wrote: ↑Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:14 pm
Hi Guys,
I’m just getting into the GC scene (and the console repair/mod scene in general) and I’m already hooked.
I’m having some trouble with some spares/repairs GCs I bought online:
I have a couple that refuse to read disks.. I’m using know good cables, disks, main motherboards and even lasers. But no amount of pot fiddling or laser replacing will work!
Both spin up, one takes a minute and slams into the far end of the rails, the other just spins back down.
My question is; if a drive is spinning up but refusing to read, is there a next step other than what I’ve triwd before pronouncing the cube dead? Or are there more fixable/replaceable parts in the drive assembly I’m missing?..
The lasers need calibrating in terms of their height as well just like with any other console/laser unit. You can't just slap on a replacement and expect it to work without some form of calibration. There are 2 screws to adjust the laser height on the user itself which is the most common thing people overlook when buying a cheap laser from eBay, but you'd be doing it blindly if that's all you have to use. Ideally someone who knows the test points on the dvd drive board could hook up something like an oscilloscope to it and get it 100% calibrated.
Re: Can all GameCubes be saved?..
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2019 8:20 pm
by 13atchet
The main man! Thanks for the reply Emu_Kidid.
Ideally someone who knows the test points on the dvd drive board could hook up something like an oscilloscope to it and get it 100% calibrated.
Interesting, is this something you have experience with? If you could point me to the test point's I'd love to have a fiddle with the oscilloscope I've had lying in the attic for yonks.
And is there a difference between the 'fault' whereby one console just spins down after failing to read, and the other slams into the outside edge of the laser rail?
Re: Can all GameCubes be saved?..
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:58 am
by emu_kidid
13atchet wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 8:20 pm
The main man! Thanks for the reply Emu_Kidid.
Ideally someone who knows the test points on the dvd drive board could hook up something like an oscilloscope to it and get it 100% calibrated.
Interesting, is this something you have experience with? If you could point me to the test point's I'd love to have a fiddle with the oscilloscope I've had lying in the attic for yonks.
And is there a difference between the 'fault' whereby one console just spins down after failing to read, and the other slams into the outside edge of the laser rail?
Sorry, if I knew them I'd let you know. You can have a look on the DVD drive PCB and they should be fairly obviously marked. You can use a working/factory calibrated drive to see what it's meant to look like vs one you've dropped a laser into.
The difference between it spinning down vs slamming the edge is related to how far it has made it into the disc authentication process. When it slams to the edge, the authentication process has failed early due to read errors. When it spins down, the drive has accepted that there's a valid disc, but subsequent reads fail and then the drive spins down.
Re: Can all GameCubes be saved?..
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 6:17 am
by Zeifer
emu_kidid wrote: ↑Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:19 pm
13atchet wrote: ↑Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:14 pm
Hi Guys,
I’m just getting into the GC scene (and the console repair/mod scene in general) and I’m already hooked.
I’m having some trouble with some spares/repairs GCs I bought online:
I have a couple that refuse to read disks.. I’m using know good cables, disks, main motherboards and even lasers. But no amount of pot fiddling or laser replacing will work!
Both spin up, one takes a minute and slams into the far end of the rails, the other just spins back down.
My question is; if a drive is spinning up but refusing to read, is there a next step other than what I’ve triwd before pronouncing the cube dead? Or are there more fixable/replaceable parts in the drive assembly I’m missing?..
The lasers need calibrating in terms of their height as well just like with any other console/laser unit. You can't just slap on a replacement and expect it to work without some form of calibration. There are 2 screws to adjust the laser height on the user itself which is the most common thing people overlook when buying a cheap laser from eBay, but you'd be doing it blindly if that's all you have to use. Ideally someone who knows the test points on the dvd drive board could hook up something like an oscilloscope to it and get it 100% calibrated.
Is this something that would need doing to an older console as a form of maintenance?
Re: Can all GameCubes be saved?..
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 9:41 pm
by emu_kidid
Zeifer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 25, 2019 6:17 am
emu_kidid wrote: ↑Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:19 pm
13atchet wrote: ↑Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:14 pm
Hi Guys,
I’m just getting into the GC scene (and the console repair/mod scene in general) and I’m already hooked.
I’m having some trouble with some spares/repairs GCs I bought online:
I have a couple that refuse to read disks.. I’m using know good cables, disks, main motherboards and even lasers. But no amount of pot fiddling or laser replacing will work!
Both spin up, one takes a minute and slams into the far end of the rails, the other just spins back down.
My question is; if a drive is spinning up but refusing to read, is there a next step other than what I’ve triwd before pronouncing the cube dead? Or are there more fixable/replaceable parts in the drive assembly I’m missing?..
The lasers need calibrating in terms of their height as well just like with any other console/laser unit. You can't just slap on a replacement and expect it to work without some form of calibration. There are 2 screws to adjust the laser height on the user itself which is the most common thing people overlook when buying a cheap laser from eBay, but you'd be doing it blindly if that's all you have to use. Ideally someone who knows the test points on the dvd drive board could hook up something like an oscilloscope to it and get it 100% calibrated.
Is this something that would need doing to an older console as a form of maintenance?
If it's working fine I wouldn't touch it.