Hardware DVD Drive Clicking/Not Reading Discs

[KakTheInfected]

My near-launch Wii's DVD drive has always been kind of crappy since I bought it. I've always had to push discs pretty firmly for them to get into the drive and had to pull them out after the the drive attempted to eject them. Also, sometimes GameCube discs would get stuck in there and I had to open the system to get them out. I never had any problems reading discs until recently, when the drive started clicking and not reading discs and the Wii will give an error and tell me to remove the disc and shut the machine off. On occasion, it will read discs fine for awhile before it messes up (I got to the character select screen in Brawl a few times for example).

I thought of sending the Wii to Nintendo, but I installed a Wiikey myself awhile back (which I recently took out) and I'm not so great with soldering so it's pretty obvious a chip was installed. I'm not sure how they handle that but I assume they charge you to fix it even if it's under warranty if they notice it was tampered with.

So my question is this: Is there anything else I should check before buying a new drive? Like maybe taking apart the drive itself and checking the gears and motors, and if so, are there any guides specifically related to taking the drive apart safely? Thanks.

 

[Scorpei]

Fully taking the drive apart seems pretty useless to me. Can't really imagine what you can get out of it. You could try to clean the lens, thre are guides out there for that:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=78321
Anyway, if you decide to get a new drive, I'd love to buy your old drive board from you.

 

[KakTheInfected]

Fully taking the drive apart seems pretty useless to me. Can't really imagine what you can get out of it. You could try to clean the lens, thre are guides out there for that:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=78321
Anyway, if you decide to get a new drive, I'd love to buy your old drive board from you.

I've cleaned the lens so it should be fine.

I can see a pretty good build up of gunk on the gears but I can't fully clean them unless I open the drive. I just want to check if any dirt could be preventing the drive from functioning normally.

 

[Scorpei]

It could naturally, the question is how likely that is. I guess I'd go for it

. You can't end up worse then you are now right (as long as you don't fry your Wii)? It really sounds to me like a lens/laser problem though, those things wear out you know, and the Wii's seems to be doing so pretty quickly.

 

[KakTheInfected]

I took the drive apart and cleaned everything out but that doesn't seem to have helped. I tried to slide the laser back and forth a bit to see if it was getting stuck on anything, and it gets increasingly harder to slide as it gets near the center of the drive. Is that normal? I didn't see anything blocking the path so it doesn't seem like there should be any resistance...

 

[Scorpei]

I took the drive apart and cleaned everything out but that doesn't seem to have helped. I tried to slide the laser back and forth a bit to see if it was getting stuck on anything, and it gets increasingly harder to slide as it gets near the center of the drive. Is that normal? I didn't see anything blocking the path so it doesn't seem like there should be any resistance...

Hmm, AFAIK it shouldn't do that (but I can't see how it would effect the reading / detection of discs as such, unless it is really bad).... Then again no first hand experience there. All in all I'd say get a new drive, maybe someone else has thoughts

? Btw you could try lube-ing (correct word oiling?) the slide(r/s) in an attempt to fix it (if only temporarely as a test).

 

[KakTheInfected]

Hmm, AFAIK it shouldn't do that (but I can't see how it would effect the reading / detection of discs as such, unless it is really bad).... Then again no first hand experience there. All in all I'd say get a new drive, maybe someone else has thoughts

? Btw you could try lube-ing (correct word oiling?) the slide(r/s) in an attempt to fix it (if only temporarely as a test).

Yeah I tried applying some grease and it didn't seem to make a difference and I didn't add anymore since I thought it could possibly leak somewhere and cause even more problems, but I've booted up the Wii and it works fine so I'll add some more.

I also cleaned out everything that actually pulls the DVD into the system and it still has problems. It's like there's no traction between the disc and whatever grabs it. Stupid drive

I'd really rather not spend the money to order a drive if I don't have to but I'm running out of options

 

[KakTheInfected]

Sorry for the bump, but does anyone know for sure if the laser is supposed move smoothly if you drag it back and forth? I'm just looking for an answer before I order a new drive

 

[Scorpei]

Sorry for the bump, but does anyone know for sure if the laser is supposed move smoothly if you drag it back and forth? I'm just looking for an answer before I order a new drive

I'm not sure, but I can check for you tonight / tomorrow.

 

[ZombiePosessor]

You might want to try adjusting the pot on the laser, my drive made noises like a bitch and wouldn't read my backups for shit, so I adjusted the pot on the laser, and everything works awesomely now. Not sure about your loading disc into the drive issues tho, sorry.

http://www.vimeo.com/141142

There's a link on how to adjust the pot on your laser. If you need help PM me.

 

[KakTheInfected]

You might want to try adjusting the pot on the laser, my drive made noises like a bitch and wouldn't read my backups for shit, so I adjusted the pot on the laser, and everything works awesomely now. Not sure about your loading disc into the drive issues tho, sorry.

http://www.vimeo.com/141142

There's a link on how to adjust the pot on your laser. If you need help PM me.

Already tried it, the only thing I managed was to get the drive to not even spin when backups were inserted

I got it back to normal after awhile. I guess I could mess with it some more since it's not really a huge loss if I break it.

Thanks to both of you for your responses

 

[Scorpei]

I've tried to check, but my drive wasn't so kind as to eject the disc still in there (and I didn't have my lab. PSU to force the motor to work) so I'm not sure. Regardless though I don't think your problem is there....

 

[ften]

I had an issue with my drive not reading discs, although it didn't even get as far as you it would just try to read them twice and then spit them back out. I just bought a new drive casing/laser from VCG Repairs for 45 bucks and it fixed the issue. I've also seen issues were if the drive cable or connector is lose it creates random strange issues with reading disks, although you've full taken yours apart so I doubt that’s it.

Check out My post about switching the PCB board.
http://fathertom.net/hardwii/?p=463

-FTen

 

[KakTheInfected]

I had an issue with my drive not reading discs, although it didn't even get as far as you it would just try to read them twice and then spit them back out. I just bought a new drive casing/laser from VCG Repairs for 45 bucks and it fixed the issue. I've also seen issues were if the drive cable or connector is lose it creates random strange issues with reading disks, although you've full taken yours apart so I doubt that’s it.

Check out My post about switching the PCB board.
http://fathertom.net/hardwii/?p=463

-FTen

Thanks, I might have to look into doing that, though I hope it's not the drive board itself causing problems

 

[KakTheInfected]

Sorry to bump this yet again, but I think I've narrowed this issue down to whatever is putting resistance on the laser. I covered the laser with some electrical tape while it thought a disc was in and watched what it did when I tried to boot up a disc. It seems to get stuck exactly where it's harder to slide it with my fingers. If I slide it back and forth manually a few times it seems to smooth out but the resistance always comes back randomly. For the life of me I can't see anything in there that could be causing this. I've greased those little bars it slides on, I've loosened some screws to make sure other parts of the drive weren't rubbing up against it and yet the problem remains.

I'm pretty sure this can be fixed somehow, but I can't figure out how to get the laser itself out. I've gotten as far as taking off that metal plate beneath the drive board but I can't see where to go from there. Any ideas?

 

[Scorpei]

All I can imagine is that the bars might be bent ever so slightly, enough to make it still capable of sliding over but bent enough to give resistance. You CAN buy the laser assembly I think, but honestly I don't know if it is worth it as opposed to just buying a new drive all together.

 

[KakTheInfected]

Well I think the thing is officially dead. It won't even accept discs now so I think one of the motors finally went. Gonna replace it...or wait for an HDD loader

Thanks for all the replies guys

Edit: Oops, never mind. One of the wires connecting the drive motor to the board came off. Soldered back on and it works again. Still doesn't read discs though

 

[Scorpei]

Hmmm, wel glad I could be of some help even if you haven't fixed it yet

. Anyway seems you may have gotten your wish.

But eum, would you be willing to sell me your drive board? Just PM me if you do

.

 

[tpformbh]

Mine was knackered even from brand new, made awful clunk-clunk noises while trying to read disks, before eventually giving up. Funny thing was once it had loaded, it was always 99% fine.

Sent it to Nintendo for repiar and they did fuck all to it as far as I can tell. Came back and was as faulty as ever

Got it chipped, and it runs quieter and no errors at all. Only has errors on legit disks, which is either because backups run slower, or there's a problem with authenticating them.