Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

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falexc
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Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by falexc » Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:27 pm

I have a Gamecube I've owned since about 2002. I bought it as an adult and took care of it. It's received light use over the years. I've been using it more the past couple of years.

I've noticed on at least 3 games that it will occasionally lock up and emit a buzzing sound. I noticed this first while playing Ms Pac Man on Namco Museum. I rationalized that there was probably a bug in the emulation code. The disc has a few light scratches but I did not think it was the disc because surely Ms Pac Man has been fully loaded into memory after 30 minutes. It can't be a large game.

Then I noticed it on Star Wars Rogue Leader Rogue Squadron II during the 2nd part of the Hoth battle with the Tie fighters. It took me multiple attempts to get past this part of the game and it froze with the buzzing noise almost every 2nd or 3rd time. This disc is more scratched so that could be a factor here.

After clocking in a total of about 40 hours on Metroid Prime it happened for the first time I can remember playing that game yesterday. This disc is nearly pristine.

So I'm trying to determine if it's my Gamecube or the discs.

My question: Is there a way to verify that an entire Gamecube disc can be read? Preferably on the Gamecube itself? If I could boot Linux on it I could dd the disc to /dev/null which would generate an error if there bits that were unreadable. I saw some Linux distros for Wii but only a Kernel for Gamecube. I found a kernel for GC but I'd have to basically build my own distribution to use it.

Is there a homebrew utility that will try to read/copy a full Gamecube disc? That should verify if the discs have issues.

Is there a way to determine if it's overheating? I can see the fan seems to be running normally.

I'm thinking about blowing compressed air through it. Or maybe taking it apart to clean it, though I don't think it would have accumulated that much dust. It's old but wasn't running that often.

Any ideas? I don't know whether to try to get new discs or a new gamecube.
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Jweeber
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by Jweeber » Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:42 pm

Is there a way to verify that an entire Gamecube disc can be read?
Check this link out:

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1432

I currently couldn't connect to redump.org to download the dat file required to verify whatever games you test's checksum. Maybe a good Samaritan can help out and provide a recent file?

If your disc doesn't match the checksum of the dat file the program will let you know and you could conclude that there is indeed a problem accurately reading the discs.

I will try to find a dat file in my archives and post it if redump.org is still down.
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Jweeber
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by Jweeber » Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:00 am

Here is a dat file from last year... I assume you can boot homebrew?
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Nintendo - GameCube - Datfile (1864) (2018-12-15 20-16-50).zip
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falexc
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by falexc » Tue Apr 23, 2019 11:53 am

Thanks! I have an Action Replay disk / card adapter and can boot Swiss so I assume I can boot other homebrew as well.
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emu_kidid
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by emu_kidid » Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:58 am

falexc wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:27 pm
<snip>
Any ideas? I don't know whether to try to get new discs or a new gamecube.
When the disc can't be read in a retail GameCube game, it will tell you by means of an error screen. What seems to be happening with your GameCube is more a hardware level problem that can't be reported because it isn't expected like a scratched/unreadable disc is.

The games you've mentioned (especially Star Wars Rogue Leader II) make use of the Auxiliary RAM (ARAM), if you pull your GameCube apart you may want to look for any damage or wear on the circuit board around this spot. It's also possible if it has gathered a lot of dust internally that it's overheating and a good clean out might fix all your issues. Don't go replacing the thermal pads if you remove the heatsink, unless if they're completely dry/no longer making contact, and if you do, use the same thickness.
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Andross89
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by Andross89 » Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:07 pm

falexc wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:27 pm
... Metroid Prime...
Could be wear and tear of mechanical parts. I had 3 GameCubes and it always happened. It was only solved when I started playing with Swiss and aligned in 2K.

In that case, I would test with emulators or games that are loaded once.
falexc wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:27 pm
...I did not think it was the disc because surely Ms Pac Man has been fully loaded into memory after 30 minutes. It can't be a large game.
Maybe this game uses streaming in songs. I think the Laser would continue working.
falexc
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by falexc » Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:25 am

I was able to rip Star Wars Rogue Leader with no issues. The checksum was okay. That was the most scratched disk. So I'm thinking it's hardware, perhaps overheating. Is this what I need to open it up? https://www.amazon.com/ATLIN-Screwdrive ... pons&psc=1
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Andross89
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by Andross89 » Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:34 pm

falexc wrote:
Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:25 am
I was able to rip Star Wars Rogue Leader with no issues. The checksum was okay. That was the most scratched disk. So I'm thinking it's hardware, perhaps overheating...
How many times have you repeated this process? My first GameCube used to have problems only after a while. I remember after playing a few hours, I could not start Pokemon XD. I needed to turn it off and wait.

A lot of strange things happen ... How to burn a game in full DVD and the laser can not access some sectors after getting out of standby ... These things ...
falexc wrote:
Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:25 am
...Is this what I need to open it up? https://www.amazon.com/ATLIN-Screwdrive ... pons&psc=1
I'm pretty sure this tool will work. But as I always opened with a pen, it is better for another user to confirm.
subcon959
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by subcon959 » Sat Apr 27, 2019 6:58 am

falexc wrote:
Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:25 am
Is this what I need to open it up? https://www.amazon.com/ATLIN-Screwdrive ... pons&psc=1
For the same price you can get a very useful full set of tools for opening various consoles:
https://www.amazon.com/Keten-Screwdrive ... 54-6785149
max4677
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by max4677 » Wed May 22, 2019 1:58 pm

If you have access to a Wii, throw your MP disc in there. My cube (the one that went silent on me), will lock up and freeze only in MP when using a certain elevator. Been awhile so I don't recall which one, but when I put the disc in my Wii and load up the save, it does not happen. The cube had been doing that for years prior to its current problem (I bought mine second hand when they were still the current Nintendo console).
falexc
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Re: Cause of Gamecube freezes with buzzing sound

Post by falexc » Tue Jan 31, 2023 9:52 pm

I know it's been a while but I wanted to post an update.
I took my GC apart and used compressed air to clean it. I didn't notice much dust. However, this issue hasn't happened since. So even a small buildup of dust internally can apparently make something overheat.
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