GCN Did I get a dead laser out the box?

[zbw2000]

I recently pulled my GameCube out of storage to try and put some life back into it before eventually getting a dol-001 to mod. It was having trouble reading discs last time I used it and I knew sitting wasn’t going to make it better. When first hooked up it didn’t even detect any discs at first but lowering the pot was successfully for a bit. It eventually went dead again so I bought a new laser off eBay. Just finished installing it but it also isn’t reading discs. I have the pot all the way down to 150 but still nothing. What I’m wondering now is there something else wrong with my cube, or did I just happen to get a dead laser out of the box? A new laser is cheaper than a replacement optical drive assembly so I would hate to but one if don’t need it. I could return the laser and try another one, but it would also suck to get a second laser only for it to not work either.

I’m pretty new to the Gamecube seen so I don't really know much yet . Any help is appreciated, Thank you

 

[FAST6191]

Ah optical drives.

For the sake of stating the obvious/for any forum searchers in the future I assume you cleaned the lens -- most times I have a long stored gamecube be fun for me then it is just dust as it is not the best covered lens in the world (though easier to clean than most).

Having the pot too low is also not a great thing -- I don't know what it takes to cook a good one but having it all the way down right from the start would be a solid plan if you did want to break it

It could have been dead out of the box -- replacement parts come either from scavenged other gamecubes, ghost shift in China back in the day or things that failed quality control back in the day and were smuggled out. Any one of those could have been a dud and only eventually got to you.

 

[AncientBoi]

I cannot tell a lie. FAST6191 broke them all at the warehouses. [hides screwdriver behind back]

 

[xinchao22]

Many issues with replacement lasers these days, most if not all are used and arrive DOA. Time to upgrade to GCloader