Can you keep your console alive forever?

[greenmagic469]

G'day mates,

So I got to thinking today: is it possible to keep your console alive forever? Years and years from now, there's going to come a point where your GameCube (or any other console for that matter) is going to eventually die. My question is, do you think it's possible to keep it going forever? Will the boards, fans, fuses, etc, all be available/creatable forever, or are we working with resources that are no longer being produced and will eventually run out? I'd like to think that by replacing parts as needed and maintaining the casing, the console could be kept around indefinitely, but I'd like your opinion.

In short, are ALL parts of a console permanently replaceable? Or are certain parts, like the board, something that are only available during a period of manufacturing, and won't be available in the future?

[novenary]

It's impossible. A lot of parts in consoles are proprietary and out of production (CPU and GPU are the biggest example of this).

[andre104623]

It's impossible. A lot of parts in consoles are proprietary and out of production (CPU and GPU are the biggest example of this).

I wouldn't worry about the cube breaking anytime soon. The cube is a tank unlike the Ps3 first gen's and xbox360 first gen's which were made with lead-free solder at the CPU and GPU joints. I mean don't get me wrong though I have a 60gb ps3 with all the extras and it's still going strong but with CFW and fan mod. Every year it gets taken apart and cleaned as well as diamond paste on the CPU and GPU so I can keep it going as long as I can since it's never been YLOD.

[novenary]

Didn't mean that the cube would die, just that for any console replacement parts are impossible to get especially after it's been discontinued. For the GameCube if you set the DVD drive aside it's unlikely that it breaks for a very long time.

[Diminuendo]

the capacitors and batterys will probably be the first to go in any console

[novenary]

Batteries before caps. Even gba games have dead batteries these days.

[tueidj]

But it's not as if CR2032 batteries are hard to come by, they're used on practically every PC motherboard produced in the past 15 years up until today.

[Diminuendo]

other than a few early games GBA SRAM is non-volitile, Pokemon RSE would have trouble with clock functions though

[Sugurain]

As a collector, most of my consoles are starting to have problems related to aging.

Specially my Fz-1 3DO and my SegaCD model2 and MegaDrive model 2 (they've kept the original japanese name here in Brazil ).
Both of them are having random problems related to bad capacitors. Incredibly enough, their batteries are still going strong!
Not so long ago, coming across a laser pick-up for the Panasonic 3DOs was impossible, now you can easilly get them from China. hahah

My Dreamcast is also showing it's age...
The cooling fan, a 30mm brushless type, is getting noisier by the day.
Also, the rechargeable battery used to keep the clock going died completely. Replaced it with a CR2032 socket, and plugged a genuine ML2032 battery on it.

My original Xbox (first model), same age of the Gamecube, is known for having bad clock capacitors.
(the xbox used a capacitor instead of a battery to keep the clock)
The 2.5V 1 Farad capacitor leaks, destroying everything it touches in the motherboard. It can even cause short circuits and fires!
I replaced the ridiculous 1Farad capacitor (wich could keep the clock for about 3-4 hours max) for a monstruous 50Farad super capacitor. hahah

The clock lasts for over a week with the console unplugged now. I also placed it away from the motherboard, that way, even if it leaks, it won't cause any harm.

Oh!
And one more thing to worry about: The controllers!
If you play a lot, you will eventually wear the analog sticks (had to replace them in my nintendo 64), and also the analog caps. (had to replace them in my gamecube)


For my gameboy advance, snes, dreamcast, PS2 and Xbox, I've also had problems with the contact rubber pads inside the controllers.
They simply get rigid and crack after some years and under heavy use.
Luckily, China is also providing replacements for those, at least for the most known consoles.


So there's A LOT that can go wrong in a console over time.
But it's not impossible to keep it alive during YOUR life span at least. xD

China provides many replacement parts like lasers, case shells, screens, analogs, and rubber pads.
3D printing is also a reality now, so it's possible to print some falty mechanism at home, in case it fails.
Capacitors and batteries are easy to find, and you can even replace the factory capacitors and batteries for better ones. (I'm currently doing that for my SegaCD and 3DO, replacing the bad capacitors for solid long-life japanese ones)

I may have forgotten something, but now you have an idea of what can and WILL go wrong with your Gamecube after it reaches it's 20s.
Don't worry about CPU, GPU, RAM problems though, those are very, VERY unlikely to fail. (we still have Ataris running afterall, so have faith! hahah)

[tueidj]

Nintendo is still making/selling brand new gamecube controllers.

[Sugurain]

Buying new controllers because they wear out is like buying a new car because the tires are worn. hahah

Sure, you can do that if you want and can afford that, it's your money afterall. xP

But maintenace on controllers is the cheapest, and usually extremely easy to do, so it's worth a try before throwing that otherwise great working controller in the trash.

[tueidj]

If a new car cost the same as two tires of course I'd replace it.

[Papy.G]

Sorry to bump a very old thread, but I would love Nintendo to sell spare parts kits to keep their consoles at best, some chinese ones are pure crap!
I had to repair six DS'ses, three fat, and three Lites, and the result is not as good as I would expect, especially for those of the fats where the original buttons and rubber were "lost".
I have a pair of controllers where the stick caps have suffered much from abuse, and would love to get something to get them "back to life", but when I see my kid ripping the stick's rubber off the chinese knock-off controllers after less than 50 hours of gameplay, I'm afraid to get the same "quality" and lifespan with spare parts probably going from the same factory.

[Dark_Knight]

From my experience, the replacements lenses are by far inferior compared to original ones quality wise. Based on that, i would say sadly not, unless you invest in some form of ODE

[GizmoTheGreen]

as for controllers there -sort of- are arduino/esp32 projects that will let you make your own controllers.

[Diego borella]

today there is a lot of substitution by the Chinese ... they have our raw material through the privatization of our natural sources.
do everything you can think of!
of course, not everything;
but at least buttons, controller rubbers, they have everything from screws to console motherboards they have.
an absurdity of alternative products.

[Papy.G]

I can report now from comparing both abused OEM versus Chinese knockoff controllers, and have to say the second option might not be bad.
Abused controllers: Had to change directonnal and C-stick caps for chinese ones, first I had to fill with a bit of plastic at the end of the directionnal stick for the back of the cap not to catch on the "dome" around it. Nothing more to say about those, but the force needed to destroy original caps destroyed the mechanics inside the stick, and its accuracy is compromised, it is loose and has random dead zone behavior. The A button, too, has been pounded so much that the rubber part underneath is crushed and loose, it feels easy to press, but needs to be pressed hard to make contact, and doesn't keep it if you release a little, even before clicking back. So it is not good for race games, nor for high speed action, because of the slow clickback feeling. The price of such controller plus the needed parts to get it back on track (stick Caps, stick mechanism, buttons rubbers), forget about the hassle, might not be worth it unless you want to customize it on the fly.

All in all, OEM controllers can be good enough if they haven't been abused (look for the original caps in good condition, not feeling "loose"), and if you can source them for a fair price, otherwise go for the chinese as long as it is for "standard" use (not competitive playing). For specific playing (IE emulators, GBP), you'd better look for dedicated controllers since digital directionnal cross is not up to the job, even on brand new OEM controllers.

The spare parts you can source from China, when very specific, might just be originals ripped off used or factory defective sets (Q.C. rejected), ie: iPod or iPhone motherboards…

[iVirtualZero]

It's impossible. A lot of parts in consoles are proprietary and out of production (CPU and GPU are the biggest example of this).

I wouldn't worry about the cube breaking anytime soon. The cube is a tank unlike the Ps3 first gen's and xbox360 first gen's which were made with lead-free solder at the CPU and GPU joints. I mean don't get me wrong though I have a 60gb ps3 with all the extras and it's still going strong but with CFW and fan mod. Every year it gets taken apart and cleaned as well as diamond paste on the CPU and GPU so I can keep it going as long as I can since it's never been YLOD.

That BS the Xbox 360 issue was poor quality GPU chips that were rushed to market and overheated as a result. It took many revisions for Microsoft to fix that with Jasper Xbox and beyond. With the PS3 it was the Nec Tokin capacitors failing. Replacing them will get it up and running also poor quality thermal paste underneath the IHS is another issue of the Phat model PS3.

This post goes into more detail: https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-deli ... st-9237166

[iVirtualZero]

I created a post on consoles and there common faults. What you can do to fix them.
Console Common Faults
https://gbatemp.net/threads/the-ultimat ... st-9234528

Solder Tips
https://gbatemp.net/threads/soldering-t ... st-9234531

[Papy.G]

We are here on a mainly GameCube related forum, with sections about Wii and GB(A), as those consoles are related somehow to GC (some Wii's are GC game compatible, and the GC had the GBPlayer attachement, that provided it GB/GBC/GBA game compatibility as well as a Cable to use the GBA as an add-on).
This topic has had little disgression, but with a link to a repair techniques roundup from another forum, where almost any console is covered except the GameCube, and very few for other Nintendo siblings, I think we are totally off topic, and I question the motivation of the poster that seems to have registered only to drag us off to his topics on another forum.

While it is kind to put these to our attention, we are much likely already aware of those if interrested.
To get back to Nintendo, I'll be happy when a DMG screen replacement would be able to guarantee full compatibility and 1:1 display rendering, as keeping a DMG's main reasons are beeing able to use the 4players adapter, and all those games that where unplayable from the GameBoy Color and on.

[andre104623]

It's impossible. A lot of parts in consoles are proprietary and out of production (CPU and GPU are the biggest example of this).

I wouldn't worry about the cube breaking anytime soon. The cube is a tank unlike the Ps3 first gen's and xbox360 first gen's which were made with lead-free solder at the CPU and GPU joints. I mean don't get me wrong though I have a 60gb ps3 with all the extras and it's still going strong but with CFW and fan mod. Every year it gets taken apart and cleaned as well as diamond paste on the CPU and GPU so I can keep it going as long as I can since it's never been YLOD.

That BS the Xbox 360 issue was poor quality GPU chips that were rushed to market and overheated as a result. It took many revisions for Microsoft to fix that with Jasper Xbox and beyond. With the PS3 it was the Nec Tokin capacitors failing. Replacing them will get it up and running also poor quality thermal paste underneath the IHS is another issue of the Phat model PS3.

This post goes into more detail: https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-deli ... st-9237166

Oh really my ps3 60gb and Xbox 360 still going never yold never red ring no x clamps just cleaning and now I use gallium based thermal paste which is liquid metal if you haven’t heard of it so yea I won’t believe that bs at all and yes it’s a fact ps3 and 360 both used lead free solder and if you don’t know why that’s bad I suggest you do some research on it look up tin hairs forming from lead free solder

[andre104623]

Oh and you can ask the us government also they been using the same computers for 30 years sometimes more ( Y2K) and yes they are fixed now and again but we need to spend our tax money on more important things like walls that need to break the Guinness world record for biggest wall ever. But on a serious note being professonal car restorer and console hacker and full time mechanic yes you can keep things going for your lifetime because after that who cares. The only problem is media going bad hard drives, floppy’s, cds, cdrs, blu-ray, capacitors, battery’s all need Constant maintenance Buy a turbo duo or a game gear had both since new all the capacitors blew up just from age So it’s really a very vague question