Laser help

[Sofatank]

I just bought this gamecube broken and not reading discs, I tried adjusting the laser and it didn't help. I tried 150-250ohm then 450-600ohm nothing so I decided to buy a new laser. This helped but the few games I have which work on the Wii don't see to run long on the gamecube. I tried the higher end 250-600 wouldn't even read a game was there so logically I went to 150-250 and it will read games but won't last long and even sometimes run games for a long time with no problem but then when I put it back together it goes back to not reading.

After reading a lot about it some people say there is an in line resistor of 150ohm and that you can set the pot to 75ohms and it'll work. So I tried that and it did work great pulled apart testing but I put it back together same problem.

I have noticed though that it reads the games fine now but the laser snacks the outside and sometimes runs off the disc and will stop reading. I just don't know if maybe I can adjust the laser travel or what I am stuck now, so any advise is welcome.

I have a video of it happening but don't know if I can upload it on here.

[Papy.G]

Does the laser slide ok, maybe it is just a grease issue.
Or something touches the disc inside?

[emu_kidid]

I have noticed though that it reads the games fine now but the laser snacks the outside and sometimes runs off the disc and will stop reading. I just don't know if maybe I can adjust the laser travel or what I am stuck now, so any advise is welcome.

This is what it does when it loses sync and decides to try and recalibrate just before giving up, smacks the end of the rail goes back for a split second then spins the disc down. Sounds like it hasn't been calibrated correctly when installed, it's really difficult since every laser/assembly is different. On the lens assembly you would've noticed 2 screws, these can be adjusted to fine tune the laser further.

I'd try it at 150-200 ohms and then tweak those screws I mentioned. But before doing anything, replace the caps on the DVD drive PCB or try another DVD drive PCB. I've found those are more the problem than the actual laser these days.