I have a GC (DOL-001) that had its laser replaced because it was weak, I didn't want to stress it a lot, so when it stopped reading discs and the pot was @ 150 Ohms I decided to replace it for a new laser unit, specially because the old laser was very used and according to the guys on TehSkeen (good ole days), it could damage some circuits if you set it to less than 130 Ohms or something.
The new laser was working wonders, at first it was able to read bad quality DVD-Rs @ 450 Ohms with no problems whatsoever (fast as hell), then it stopped reading some discs but I suspect it was because the recording became weak due after some years, because the newer recordings worked perfectly, so I reduced the resistance to 360 ohms and after that it never had a single DRE and was very fast.
However, suddenly it simply stopped working, no matter the resistance of the pot... I've tried booting originals and still didn't work, then I removed the Qoob SX (incl. the solders because thought that bridge could affect something) and it still won't boot. The laser tries to find the disc (tries to focus) but it doesn't, so the disc never spins. I'm sure the disc motor is working perfectly as well as the laser motor.
I don't think the new laser would die while the pot resistance was so high, I know that it tends to die when the resistance is below 200 Ohms, and even though it's very rare, in most cases it stops working for other reasons like lens scratches or dust inside the lens, I never heard of a laser burning in those conditions, especially because it was quite new (no more than 1k hours).
Also, another clue that the problem is somewhere else is that sometimes some random error would appear on screen (beside the 'media not found"), the Qoob SX reported either "DRIVE NOT SUPPORTED" or "CHECK LID SWITCH WIRE", what's ridiculous because the wires were bridged (open case). After removing the Qoob, sometimes the official BIOS also returns an error now and then (an error occurred, turn off and check the booklet, etc.). The behaviour is not predictable so I thought it was a simple case of bad contact (I was suspecting the socket that connects the drive to the mobo could be the problem), but after testing exhaustively, I don't think it is the case.
Now I have a 'stock' GC, and it's not able to read original discs, not even when tweaking the pot to 140 ohms, and none of the lasers read the discs (the old one was reading the originals perfectly @ 250 ohms).
I need some help to figure what could be the problem. I'm sure it's not the motors and I'm almost sure it's not the lasers also. I also think the problem is located in the drive part, because no errors appears when it is removed completely and the behaviour is consistent. But I could be wrong of course.
If it's the laser, then unfortunately they don't sell them in my area any longer and I don't have $ atm for international purchases
.Also, I know I should make a thread for every subject but lemme ask two other small thing here:
1-The GC controller is possibly the best I've ever used. I really like it a lot (it's much more comfortable compared to the DualShock2), but the thumbsticks are not durable. They are 'loose' on my controller and I don't have the $ to buy a new one. I wonder if there's some way to fix that problem, since it's simply wear due abrasions afaik, perhaps there is some way to 'build' the worn pieces from widely available and cheap materials (plastic/metal sheet). Any ideas?
2-Is there an alternative for the disc reader? Perhaps it's possible to use another more durable laser? (I know it's possible to use the Wii one but it only reads originals afaik and I don't know if it's reliable). Or perhaps there's some kind of disk drive emulator out there that supports audio streaming nowadays? (I really need audio streaming).
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
. I'm not talking about illegal stuff, it's just that you have to pack the thing correctly (plain), declare the contents and the values correctly (no lying) AND address it correctly in the minutely details, otherwise the customhouse is going to open the package and tax the hell outta it. Plus, I can't buy from stores, only from individuals. No, it's not USSR 
