GCN Disc Drive Motor not spinning despite working + Other Issues

[PinkSock82]

Here's some context because this is a bit complicated to explain: I have a DOL-101 since 2003, and around 2024, stopped reading discs out of the blue, the laser just kept searching for a disc, but the disc never spun, I tried to change the resistance, and even replaced the motor with an OEM one, but to no avail. Moreover, few days ago I purchased a DOL-001 model Gamecube, which was untested, luckily with a bit of fixing, the disc started spinning but did not read games (No disc), and also I started to get "An error has occurred. Turn off[...]" when I swapped the DOL-001 and placed it on the DOL-101 "motherboard" part.

Since I already have tried both disc drives and motherboards interchangeably, today I decided to swap the lasers to see if I could fix or at least salvage one Gamecube with the spare pieces from the DOL-001. So, after testing them and seeing that both of them did not work, (both discs did not spin), I swapped the DOL-101 and DOL-001 back to their respective original disc drive daughterboards.

Now, DOL-001 imitates the same behavior as DOL-101, (both lasers keep searching for a disc, but doesn't the spin disc despite there being one), even with the laser and motor it came with and was working fine before the laser swap. Everything seemed to be in order.

Please help me get my Gamecube to read games. I just want to play Pikmin 2. I know I should be fixing the DOL-001 instead, but I have a certain bias and sentimental value towards my childhood Gamecube lol.

As something, I should add, I know both motors are good, because one was working previously before swap and the other one was an OEM replacement that I bought last month; at least, the DOL-001 laser was okay in terms of detecting the disc and spinning the motor in the DOL-001, except the actual "reading the disc" part. I also noticed that the part where the ribbon cable (motor) should be connected to the DOL-101 disc drive daughterboard is very loose, not sure why.

I'll try to answer every question I can, and thanks to everyone in advance, and sorry if this is confusing!

[Papy.G]

Nobody has the skills nor tools to be able to swap optical blocks off the disc unit nowadays. Your disc drives are just f***ed up now.

Did you first try to "exercise" the laser block, sliding it back and forth by hand, then clean the lens with alcohol and earsticks?
The motor usually don't spin if the lens doesn't see the disc (no disc), and the "an error has occured" can happen if the optical block struggles to reach the tracks it has to read.

[PinkSock82]

Hello, thanks for your reply!

First off, sorry if my wording was confusing on the main post. What I meant by swapping, I just tested DOL-001 laser on my DOL-101 motherboard and vice versa, I did not disassemble the lasers itself. (like a normal laser replacement). I also tried to clean the laser as you mentioned, and also they move fine, I also "exercised" it too, as you describe. Moreover, thank you for your reply because I was going to do that as a last resort, so I appreciate the warning!

I also managed to make the disk spin again with the DOL-001 disc drive, motherboard and daughterboard, (all DOL-001 components), but I still keep getting "no disc", I'm starting to think it might be a capacitor problem on the disc drive disc drives' daughterboard at this point. The issue is I keep the console running for 1 hour and I still get no disc, so it could be the laser it came with too.

[Andross89]

Hello, thanks for your reply!

First off, sorry if my wording was confusing on the main post. What I meant by swapping, I just tested DOL-001 laser on my DOL-101 motherboard and vice versa, I did not disassemble the lasers itself. (like a normal laser replacement). I also tried to clean the laser as you mentioned, and also they move fine, I also "exercised" it too, as you describe. Moreover, thank you for your reply because I was going to do that as a last resort, so I appreciate the warning!

I also managed to make the disk spin again with the DOL-001 disc drive, motherboard and daughterboard, (all DOL-001 components), but I still keep getting "no disc", I'm starting to think it might be a capacitor problem on the disc drive disc drives' daughterboard at this point. The issue is I keep the console running for 1 hour and I still get no disc, so it could be the laser it came with too.

Sooner or later, we end up realizing that the GameCube laser is not worth all the effort. The only thing left to regret is that it is not as durable as the Saturn.

My situation was no different from yours:

I have never had a GameCube that could read games for more than three years.

It is better to play on a PC until you buy an ODE.

It will always be worth buying an ODE. My GameCube was manufactured in 2001(or 2002) and I have never had any problems. Except for the laser, of course.

[PinkSock82]

Hello!

Yeah, I believe you're right all the way, though I still want to fix it so badly and keeping it as "vanilla" as possible...
I never had problems with my DOL-101 Gamecube since I bought it in 2003, so this one was probably, if I recall correctly, this would be the first or second time I am repairing it or having it repaired.
It's such a bummer because I wanted to fix both my DOL-101 and DOL-001, since I have something that I like playing on the original hardware and software it was intended to be played on, but got nothing against emulation either.

Anyway, thanks so much for your recommendation!