Question about Gamecube not reading disks.

[ClassyDragon]

I recently imported a gamecube from Japan along with 2 Japanese games. Everything appears to be in great condition, however upon starting the system it seemingly cannot read either of the games I bought.

I've verified that the disk does spin for a few seconds so I assumed that the optical laser might be the issue. However I was watching a laser replacement tutorial and noticed that their Gamecube had a red error message saying "An error has occurred" implying that it knows a disc is there yet can't read it, while mine doesn't show any errors, it just says "NO DISC" on the Gameplay menu.

I would like to avoid buying an entire optical drive replacement if it really is just the laser that needs replaced but I'm not sure if anyone could tell me which is more likely. I appreciate any help and let me know if you need more info! Thank you

 

[SylverReZ]

I recently imported a gamecube from Japan along with 2 Japanese games. Everything appears to be in great condition, however upon starting the system it seemingly cannot read either of the games I bought.

I've verified that the disk does spin for a few seconds so I assumed that the optical laser might be the issue. However I was watching a laser replacement tutorial and noticed that their Gamecube had a red error message saying "An error has occurred" implying that it knows a disc is there yet can't read it, while mine doesn't show any errors, it just says "NO DISC" on the Gameplay menu.

I would like to avoid buying an entire optical drive replacement if it really is just the laser that needs replaced but I'm not sure if anyone could tell me which is more likely. I appreciate any help and let me know if you need more info! Thank you

It seems like your laser is having a hard time reading your discs. You need to re-adjust the pot trim on the laser.

 

[ClassyDragon]

It seems like your laser is having a hard time reading your discs. You need to re-adjust the pot trim on the laser.

Thank you for the quick response! I'll give it a try! I have to go get the correct screwdriver to open it up but I'll update the thread when I get to it

It seems like your laser is having a hard time reading your discs. You need to re-adjust the pot trim on the laser.

I adjusted the potentiometer to about 470 ohms and a few other values between 450-600 since it's a DOL-001 and still no dice. I attached a video of the startup. Would this likely be a bad laser?

 

[master801]

Thank you for the quick response! I'll give it a try! I have to go get the correct screwdriver to open it up but I'll update the thread when I get to it


I adjusted the potentiometer to about 470 ohms and a few other values between 450-600 since it's a DOL-001 and still no dice. I attached a video of the startup. Would this likely be a bad laser?

Laser still powers on, so I wouldn't really say "bad laser" immediately.

I'd try recapping the disc drive PCB first before calling bad laser.

https://console5.com/store/gamecube-optical-drive-pcb-cap-kit-revs-1-4.html

If you do end up recapping, make sure to adjust the laser pot to a higher resistance, otherwise you may potentially burn it out quicker and the recap would be all for naught.

If recapping still doesn't work, luckily a new laser is pretty cheap. Don't know what kind of quality they're making them, though.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805428410551.html