gc-forever - Gamecube/Wii Forums

Hello there!

I bought a Gamecube 3 months ago - us dol-001 unmodded. All fine until recently when I bought Metroid Prime. I started to get random “an error has occurred. Please turn off..” while playing. First was in Metroid, now it happens with any of my games at random places of the game.

After I turned on, it takes around 20 minutes to get the first error then, I get every 5 min after each restart. My first guess was overheating, but the fan is working nicely.

I tried to adjust the Pot twice: the first time, the Pot was 85 Ohms and I left with 180 Ohms, and it worked perfectly for a day. Today I had to do it again and I set 160 Ohms, but the error returned after a few hours of playing.
In both cases, it happened after I turn the GC off and get back playing in a later moment.

Also, any value above 200 Ohms don’t read any disc. I tried from 600 Ohms down to 200 Ohms. It starts to read somewhere at 190ish Ohms.

The CR battery is dead - the calendar is not updating the date anymore - don’t know if its related. The battery is dead since I bought the gc, so maybe it isn’t related :shrug:

I never got the “disc couldn’t be read” - it is always the fatal one (need to reboot the GC).

Should I consider changing the lens? Or the entire driver itself?

Thanks!

Linko wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:27 am

...My first guess was overheating, but the fan is working nicely....

The Laser will always heat up and reduce your reading performance. You can't stop it

Linko wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:27 am

...The CR battery is dead - the calendar is not updating the date anymore - don’t know if its related. The battery is dead since I bought the gc, so maybe it isn’t related :shrug...

The battery does not interfere with reading the disk.

Linko wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:27 am

...I never got the “disc couldn’t be read” - it is always the fatal one (need to reboot the GC)...

I find it strange an original GameCube does not present this message. But it should only be a misinterpretation due to the need for a short response time of the game. Even more the Metroid Prime that uses the laser all the time.

Linko wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:27 am

...Should I consider changing the lens? Or the entire driver itself?

I think a group of people will tell you to test other games, clean the lens, other components... Generally, only the laser needs to be changed.

Or buy a specific game that you can start Swiss and play whatever you want.

I will always say to give up this eternal problem and do everything to buy an ODE.

Hello!

Andross89 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 9:41 am

I think a group of people will tell you to test other games, clean the lens, other components...

I’ve cleaned the lens with iso alcohol - that was my first attempt

I’ve tested with: Mario Kart, Mario Sunshine, Metroid, Wind Waker and Animal Crossing. The only game that runs without error is Animal Crossing. After playing a while, I can hear the “click-click” of the laser, but the game keep going.

On Metroid, I can notice a music lag/repetition before crashing, like if the GC was trying to read the disc but fails to get back on track.

Andross89 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 9:41 am

I find it strange an original GameCube does not present this message.

To be honest, I got a DRE twice on Mario Kart after adjusting the Pot for the first time. After that, only “an error has occurred...”.

As said by Andros, set the pot to the safer value that still permit to boot a game, then go for a way to run games off SD cards.

Changing lens is tedious ans risky, I still have to hear about somebody that successfully did it.

Papy.G wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 12:28 pm

As said by Andros, set the pot to the safer value that still permit to boot a game, then go for a way to run games off SD cards.

Changing lens is tedious ans risky, I still have to hear about somebody that successfully did it.

Thanks for the tip, but I’m looking for ways to keep it “original” as long as possible.

I read online that it’s a simple change once you have the new lens. Am I missing something?

Thanks!

I always forget one thing: vibration. Make sure that all the screws are really tightened. Mainly, the disk motor.

I have seen this problem make it difficult for some sectors to read. Something rare, but it can happen.

Papy.G wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 12:28 pm

...Changing lens is tedious ans risky, I still have to hear about somebody that successfully did it.

I have changed the laser several times when it was the problem. And it always worked.

I'd rather do that than clean it up. And we are talking about only 4 screws or less and a flat cable of easy connection.

The only risk is to lose money if the problem is in the disk motor, for example.

Linko wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 12:53 pm

Thanks for the tip, but I’m looking for ways to keep it “original” as long as possible.

The best way to keep it original is to prevent sensitive parts to wear too much.
You don't need to mod a GC to play games off SD cards.

Andross89 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 1:09 pm

I have changed the laser several times when it was the problem. And it always worked.

Good news is you succeded. Bad news is you had to do it "several times", do you use pot tweak to read burned discs?

Where did you get the bare laser assy? I always see whole mechanical drive assy on chinese stores.

Papy.G wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 9:18 pm

Where did you get the bare laser assy? I always see whole mechanical drive assy on chinese stores.

I bought two yesterday from a seller on eBay that sells refurbished parts.

I read that unbranded counterpart are likely to stop working too soon, so I went for this one with good reviews

Papy.G wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 9:18 pm

...Bad news is you had to do it "several times", do you use pot tweak to read burned discs?...

Sorry, I didn't express myself correctly. When I said "several times", I meant that I made the laser switch on 10 or more consoles since 2008. I only adjusted the pot in a few after 2 or 3 years.

The truth is that people eventually gave up and bought the PS2 or PS3.

I've replaced many lasers over the years and typically in the units where replacing the laser has outright failed even with the new one, it's typically due to also needing to replace the capacitors on the DVD PCB as well (then it comes right back to life, most of the time with the old laser).

On units where the laser is actually to blame/dead, it can still be hit or miss with a replacement as well though as you're essentially just dropping in an entire lens assembly unconfigured/uncalibrated compared to the old one which would've been factory tuned.

Follow up here: I got my replacement lens this morning. I changed it and recalibrated the pot to 420 ohms.
It’s working for 5 hours straight with no single error - tested with a bunch of different games.

emu_kidid wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 2:19 am

(..) it's typically due to also needing to replace the capacitors on the DVD PCB as well (then it comes right back to life, most of the time with the old laser).

Just out of my curiosity: where can I buy a replacement capacitor when mine goes dead? Better: is actually a thing to buy standalone?

Thanks for all help people!

Linko wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 11, 2022 10:24 pm

Just out of my curiosity: where can I buy a replacement capacitor when mine goes dead? Better: is actually a thing to buy standalone?

Thanks for all help people!

https://console5.com/store/gamecube-opt ... s-1-4.html

no problem, 420 is a cool number and all but is a little high (no pun intended), you might want to lower it a little if you find it stops reading reliably.