Topic: I have a digital out on my old Gamecube, but...

[athenian200]

Here's my story: I purchased a Gamecube for about $400 in 2001. It lasted about a year, and all of sudden, the optical drive stopped working. It was still under warranty, so I took it to a game repair place, and they just sent it to Nintendo. Nintendo then sent me a new Gamecube, free of charge. This one lasted about two years, and then I got the same problems again. Since it was out of warranty this time, I just purchased a new Gamecube for $99. I received a 42" HDTV for Christmas, and now my Gamecube games look terribly pixilated, because I'm using RCA outputs. I still have my old Gamecube, with the Digital Out. The old Gamecube boots up to the logo and everything, and the disc spins, but the Gamecube says there is no disc in the drive, even though there is. Memory card interface still works. If I let it warm up for about an hour, the disc drive suddenly starts working, and there are no read errors then. I've tried cleaning the lens with rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip, but the problem remains. Also, there is an odd whining noise coming from it while it is turned on. My new Gamecube works fine, but it's crippled by lack of a digital output. I'm willing to pay the premium for the cables, but I don't want to buy them, and then have the old Gamecube give out completely. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong with my old Gamecube, or how it could be repaired?

[vudu]

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My new Gamecube works fine, but it's crippled by lack of a digital output.

I assume you live in the United States.  If so, call Nintendo and tell them you want to trade your new GameCube (without the digital output) for a refurbished GameCube with a digital output.  They'll do this for free.  Your warranty for the new system will transfer over to your refurbished system.

It's possible that Nintendo has stopped offering this since the Wii came out.  If so, you might want to consider picking up a Wii sooner rather than later.  The Wii is 100% backwards compatible with GameCube games.  If you get Wii component cables you can run your GameCube games at 480p on it.  However, the Wii takes different cables than the GameCube, so if you purchase component GameCube cables you won't be able to use them on a Wii if you ever plan on picking one up.

[NeoThunder]

i say just save your money of gamecube hi-def cables, and get a wii and hi-def cables

then you can play all your gamecube games in progressive scans, well, the ones that support it