Disc drive missing a torsion spring, sometimes won't take discs; is it salvageable?

[QuarterOfTen]

Came across a used Wii recently and found that it sometimes had trouble taking in discs; it will take it in about halfway, not go any further and then eject. Opened it up to clean it out and one of the springs in the drive assembly (the top metal part with all the white plastic parts) is completely gone. This causes the pole in the center of the drive to not return completely to its original position. Tried to lubricate it and try using something else to act as tension so it would return but it still isn't working; even if it does take discs it still stalls while pulling it in and sometimes doesn't return to its original position at all. Is there something I could do to fix this or is the drive just shot? It's a GCN/Wii reader so I'd like to save it if possible.

 

[FAST6191]

I doubt you will find a spare on any of the usual suspects as it is not a common failure mode, don't think we have a PC equivalent drive to salvage things from, I hate making torsion springs and speccing them is not much better if you did want to go to an industrial supplier but you might get lucky pulling a few toys apart. I don't know how much leeway you have if it is more of a sensor than a moving the disc aspect to overdo it or undo it. This leaves bypassing the sensor or maybe going modder and turning it into a top loading wii, that or just going full USB and ignoring the drive like 90% of the people around here.

I also take it the days of $10 yard sale wiis are long since gone as most people doing drive replacements went in for that (I think they are largely all mutually compatible and no serial ties or anything like that, assuming you don't just go to the replacement machine*)

*I generally find GC less wii models to be rare as anything but others vary in this.

 

[QuarterOfTen]

At least it's good to know fixing is still an option. Thankfully I lucked out and found out a buddy of mine did some DIY work of his own and has a for-parts drive he can let me borrow some pieces from. Also, since I have the console case off, I can manually move the plastic back into place once the disc is ejected; that'll work well enough to read a few discs I wanted to check. Kinda bummed to hear that remaking torsion springs is such an ordeal; I was thinking of trying to find some rigid hobby wire or maybe a particularly rigid paperclip brand but the DIY things I've tried were very particular and there isn't much room for it bending back.

 

[morning_glory]

I would just hold-off till I come across a dead wii & ready it for dissection.
Spare parts always come in handy. Many other parts can also be salvaged from a dead wii.
Pulling the wii apart can be boring, but it's like riding a bike

 

[bazamuffin]

Just the console goes for peanuts on ebay, I'd just get one from there and perform the transplant

 

[morning_glory]

If all else fails - Mod it to use HDD/USB/SD/SSD, & not rely on discs.
ModMii is a great option

 

[QuarterOfTen]

Yeah I can definitely find a parts drive or Wii and do the fix; I just got this Wii for REALLY cheap and was hoping to keep costs down. I was just using this Wii to make some GameCube backups (which ended up not going well anyway due to a scratched disc, but that's another issue) and to practice repairing things so I'm not going all in on the digital route; I have my tricked out Wii U for that. I definitely know my way around a Wii board now but dang is the plastic brittle on that thing. I've already had to 3D print a new GCN door hinge and in the process of reassembling it this time another one snapped off. Sheesh.

 

[FAST6191]

Yeah I can definitely find a parts drive or Wii and do the fix; I just got this Wii for REALLY cheap and was hoping to keep costs down. I was just using this Wii to make some GameCube backups (which ended up not going well anyway due to a scratched disc, but that's another issue) and to practice repairing things so I'm not going all in on the digital route; I have my tricked out Wii U for that. I definitely know my way around a Wii board now but dang is the plastic brittle on that thing. I've already had to 3D print a new GCN door hinge and in the process of reassembling it this time another one snapped off. Sheesh.

If doing things on the cheap (and prices of filament... oh dear) then baking soda and superglue might wish to be noted


and on springs

 

[morning_glory]

If all else fails, have look into :
HT-LG - GDR-8161b, GDR-8162b, GDR-8163b & GDR-8164b (IDE)
All are jurassic IDE, but there are some newer versions & also laptop versions. Use Friidump (ZZzzz) to rip on your PC, but it's slow.
I have all the IDE models above & they work great in ripping originals.
Haven't had the need to try the later/newer models.
You'll be amazed at what's still lingering on ebay or the like. They did cost a small fortune, but should be cheaper these days.
The GDR-8161b & GDR-8162b are better at ripping scratched discs, but are slower.
The GDR-8163b & GDR-8164b are faster, but not as good for scratched discs.

I haven't gotten around to hooking-up the above drives directly to the wii. If you intend going in that direction, you will need a IDE to USB adapter (with power supply). I see no reason why it wouldn't work. External housing units also work (mostly).

 

[KleinesSinchen]

If all else fails, have look into :
HT-LG - GDR-8161b, GDR-8162b, GDR-8163b & GDR-8164b (IDE)
All are jurassic IDE, but there are some newer versions & also laptop versions. Use Friidump (ZZzzz) to rip on your PC, but it's slow.
I have all the IDE models above & they work great in ripping originals.
Haven't had the need to try the later/newer models.
You'll be amazed at what's still lingering on ebay or the like. They did cost a small fortune, but should be cheaper these days.
The GDR-8161b & GDR-8162b are better at ripping scratched discs, but are slower.
The GDR-8163b & GDR-8164b are faster, but not as good for scratched discs.

Got four of them for 10€ including shipping.
Was really surprising. Some years ago they were advertised as "reads Wii/GC with RawDump" and sold for 50€ a piece.

Spoiler

Generally great reading drives for almost hopeless CDs/DVDs, not only Nintendo discs.
The GDR-8164 I had before getting those four was the only drive being able to look

Spoiler: through this strange damage on a PC CD-ROM

So, yes, a good alternative for legally dumping originals in case you don't have another Wii (though getting another Wii/drive will allow for much faster ripping)

I haven't gotten around to hooking-up the above drives directly to the wii. If you intend going in that direction, you will need a IDE to USB adapter (with power supply). I see no reason why it wouldn't work. External housing units also work (mostly).

How should that work? It is not that they really read Wii discs like normal DVDs. RawDump/FriiDump (and maybe DiscImageCreator) use crude hacks to extract the data from drive RAM. Can any external optical drive be used on a Wii.
========

Unfortunately I have no idea how to fix mechanical problems on Wii drives. Of course USB loading is the best method in practice… but… having the real thing for the sake of completeness is nice to have.

 

[morning_glory]

How should that work? It is not that they really read Wii discs like normal DVDs.

Same or similar as a external HDD's (USB connected to Wii).
Mind you, I still haven't gotten around to doing/trying it. Should work

Post automatically merged: Jul 5, 2023

Actually, I don't have the XX63. Thought I did

 

[QuarterOfTen]

That info about the computer disc drives is good to know; I'll have to look into that next time I need to make any backups. I also realize this thread might have an obvious answer in hindsight but I wanted to make sure that the repair was something that could be easily done and not have any effects like grinding a disc or something. Just to be safe I'd been using a copy of Wii Fit while testing; I see those everywhere used for a couple bucks so I figured that'd be better than basically every other game I have that isn't nearly as easy/cheap to get haha

 

[morning_glory]

Try looking at the Family Trainer mat. Has several games to go with it.
Good hand dexterity with good body exercise.

I can guaranty that watching somebody else using it will bring tears to your eyes (laughing)

 

[SylverReZ]

Softmod your Wii and run games off an external HDD, you won't necessarily need to use the disc drive for everything these days.

 

[morning_glory]

Just make sure you don't run out off Wii USB ports

 

[SylverReZ]

Just make sure you don't run out off Wii USB ports

One is about enough.