Hardware Does the disc drive read different parts of a disc to launch different games?

[gcunit]

Reason I ask is that my Wii has gone loco on me. While some games are still working, many games are causing the disc drive to start chucking out some scary clacking noises, as if something is flapping about a lot in there, causing constant errors. The same game will fail at the same point each time.

I've tested several discs, including a retail and backup version of the same game (Grand Slam Tennis).

One disc, Wii Music, causes the problem as soon as the drive tries to read the disc. Others, e.g. Grand Slam Tennis, cause the problem from the initial launch screen, while others still manage to get into the game menu system before it happens (e.g. Michael Jackson, Abba, SSBB).

But other games, eg. EA Sports Active, Just Dance 2, seem to be working just fine.

So either my disc drive is having difficulty reading a particular section of any disc and depending what disc it is the problem will occur at different times depending on what data is stored on the difficult to read section of the disc...

...Or this is actually a weird software fault caused by my latest update of Homebrew Channel (where I also installed USB Loader GX and several other WADS) which just happens to give symptoms like a hardware fault.

I'm sure the problem is not the discs themselves cos it's suddenly happening on just too many to be a coincidence, and I tried my retail Grand Slam Tennis in my non-modded Wii U and it worked fine.

Can anyone help me diagnose this one way or the other?

For what it's worth, I'm running Wii System 4.2E, using IOS58v.24.31, and I don't think I had this problem before I recently updated Homebrew & installed USB Loader GX etc., but I might be wrong on that, or it could just be coincidence.

 

[Lumstar]

Edit: sorry

 

[Clydefrosch]

well, i'd guess theres either dust on the lens of the laser, which would be fixable with one of those lens cleaning disks. or the laser isnt calibrated right (anymore). as one uses laserbased technology with certain media, specially double layer disks and various kinds of burnt disks, the laser that is used to read the data from such disks may end up losing focus, so it cant read what you put into it.
ssbb not working right would a strong sign for this since its a double layer disk that already gives working wiis some trouble.

i have, however, no idea how recalibrating lasers works, i remember for the ps2, theres some screw on the laser head that you just turn a degree or two and then hope for the best you didnt do it wrong. its really delicate stuff.

I'd say, go and buy one of those cleaning disks and try that first, they only cost a dollar or two.

 

[Sicklyboy]

It's much less that the laser needs recalibration than it is that the laser is just shitting the bed.

OP you most likely need to install a new laser into your drive, or if you can't find just the laser, a new drive altogether.

Also, running backups will wear your laser out much quicker than running retail games will. This is why it's so strongly recommended to use USB loading exclusively.

 

[gcunit]

I don't think it's a dirty lens, cos I've been doing some more testing:

3 Wii retail discs seem to work - I can get into the game and then play the game.

I've tested 4 retail Gamecube discs and they all work fine.

16 Wii retail discs aren't working - Most fail at the leap from the game launch screen to the 'tie your wrist-strap around your wrist' screen, while a few fail either upon initial disc spin-up (so I don't even get the image in the Wii Menu window), and some others seem to fail at some point between the wrist-strap screen and actually getting in to and playing a game.

When the problem occurs, if I leave it making it's horrible noise the screen eventually throws up an error, but it doesn't say it's a disc-read error, it just says, "An error has occurred...(eject & switch off etc.)"

If I try backups via Neogamma I get the same issue but the error message doesn't appear. Some games fail just as it says it is starting the game, then one I just tried (Shaun White's Road Trip) got me into the game's menu system and then failed. If I eject the disc and then re-insert the problem reoccurs.

If all my Gamecube discs work then I'm beginning to think my drive is having trouble reading the outer portion of the full-size Wii discs. Presumably the few Wii games that still work don't utilize the specific outer portion of the disc where my problems arise.

Am I sounding logical? Anyone else had this?

 

[gcunit]

It's much less that the laser needs recalibration than it is that the laser is just shitting the bed.

OP you most likely need to install a new laser into your drive, or if you can't find just the laser, a new drive altogether.

Also, running backups will wear your laser out much quicker than running retail games will. This is why it's so strongly recommended to use USB loading exclusively.

Ok, I've only just seen your post after writing my last one. If I've worn my laser out would that tie-in with my Gamecube games (and 3 of my Wii games) still working? Does the portion of the disc that the laser's trying to read affect how well the laser can work?

Being a simpleton I'd have thought that if the laser is shafted then it wouldn't read anything...

Bit of searching shows many people have had similar issues. One response I found suggested that the larger form factor of Wii discs experience more wobble at the outer edge of the disc than the centre, so if/when a laser does start to struggle it's usually the outside portion of a disc that it can't read, hence it is still working ok with the smaller Gamecube disc form factor. This all sounding legit?

Why do backups make the laser shag out so much faster?

UPDATE:
I thought I'd try playing some DVDs using WiiMC. I put one in and was able to scan through the whole length of the film without issue. But the disc consisted of more than just the feature film (e.g. extras) so I went for one of my Lord of the Rings Extended edition DVDs, knowing that they probably used the whole disc. Sure enough, about 41mins into the video the drive started playing up and playback stopped. So it's definitely a hardware issue and not a software issue.