I home-made 3 clones of Xeno GC so far and got some problems to make them work EVERYtime i turn on cubes, they just work randomly. One works about 8 times on 10 turn-ons, rest even worst 5/5. Im using Atmel8l -8pu, tried additional grounding, different cables, different voltages (3.3 -5v) and nothin...

I never thought that water is not good solution for electronics Thats most funny comment i read lately. Gamecube is so hardcore, i remember repairing two laser's units by taking plastic lens off gently, put inside cotton ear cleaning stick (or whatever its name) to clean a "mirror" on bot...

What media are you using? Did you trim laser pot? If DVD is not spinning at all it means DRE, not motor problem. And finally did you make self booting ISO for Xeno??? Laser lens can be cleaned easily with 90+% alcohol, one drop and let it dry on its side.