Gamecube faultly (sometimes)

[Taurine]

My US NTSC GameCube has developed a peculiar fault in the last month or so. Most (but not all) of the time it refuses to recognise that a disc is present when I power it up. The drive makes all the noises, but the system goes into the menu and it says "No disc" if you go to the Game Play option.

After the system has been powered on for a few minutes it usually sorts itself out. Occasionally it works correctly first try. And on a couple of occasions it has worked after briefly being disconnected from the stepdown - but this doesn't always work.

Has anyone got an idea what might be the fault? Is there an easy repair?

[Lyris]

Sounds once again like a laser problem. I've heard that there are replacement lasers, but you might also have to replace the whole drive.

If you need to borrow the GameBit to get past Nintendo's proprietary screws, let me know with a PM.

[moonwhistle]

It could just a dirty lens, try cleaning it before you go dismantling.

[importaku]

It sounds very much like a dirty lens, if cleaning dosent work & you think your laser might be totally knackered.

Theres some good news, you can buy a cheap pal cube & do a laser transplant (^_^)

[Taurine]

It sounds very much like a dirty lens, if cleaning dosent work & you think your laser might be totally knackered.

I'm not discounting the possibility but once it gets a game running there are no problems at all.

Theres some good news, you can buy a cheap pal cube & do a laser transplant (^_^)

As it goes I've got a PAL cube laying around. A work colleague is going to lend me a GameBit driver, so I'll give that a try. I can't let this get between me and RE4!

[wod]

yep swap over a pal drive as there cheap now. that should sort it out.

[t-dog]

buy pal gc, swap laser, return pal gc.

[Yoshimax]

That's definately the laser - I've just replaced the samsung in my xbox because of that very problem !

[davvy76]

If its not playing games until the laser has warmed up a pot adjustment could well sort the problem. Worth trying if you're going the new drive route anyway.

http://snakecompatible.ngcdev.com/laser.htm

I'd suggest keeping it between 170 - 210 ohms