I think if the lens were dirty then this would've happened a lot more progressively instead of all of the sudden. It has to be a mechanical issue, such as the lens becoming unaligned, or the motor wearing out, or something.
It's hacked, but it won't be an issue. All that does is void the warranty, which isn't still in effect anyway. The Homebrew Channel is nothing illegal so it won't cause Nintendo to refuse to repair it. All they would do is delete it and update to 4.3, though I would delete it anyway before sending it off. But I'm not sure I want to go the route of repair. The system is already two and a half years old, and I can envision another problem coming up in a year's time (such as the internal memory becoming corrupted, which I hear is a common issue with heavily-used systems). I'm seriously considering buying a new system instead, especially because it now includes Wii Sports Resort, which I don't yet have, or 4 Wiimotes/Nunchuks.
Don't worry, since it's a disc-related issues then my data is okay. I've got it backed up on my computer so I should be able to restore it in case of a freak accident in the repair. I guess if I bought a new system, I would be trusting that this program would be able to successfully load my old system's data onto it. And really, that's the only thing making me think twice about buying a new one, because I'm not certain it'll work.
I really wanted to be there with you, Stratos, when you fight Alatreon. The real fight, not just a practice run like we did (and I will admit that I wasn't giving it my all during that). I s'pose it'd be too much to ask you to wait for me, especially because I don't know when I'll be able to play again.