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General Gaming / RE:Official "My GameCube is broke thread"
« on: October 28, 2004, 08:12:14 PM »
I just fixed two broken gamecubes, both would not play any disks. One of them did not spin the disk at all and the other would spin the disk for a few seconds and stop. Both of them just had dirty lenses and they are fine now. If you want to clean the lens yourself, you'd have to be very careful. I work as a technologist for a graphic arts equipment manufacturer and I work on optics. Here is a quick instruction on what I did.
Warning: if you follow these instructions and make a small mistake, you could ruin your gamecube! Remember that the gamecube uses a laser so it is best to unplug the power before inspecting the lens. It has a safety interlock so the laser will be off, but unplug the power anyway. Finally, if your gamecube works, don't mess with it. (in case you want to clean the lens just for the heck of it)
The lens is mounted on a delicate spring. It actually makes small movements during gameplay to keep it in focus on the game disk. If you bend or push that spring too much then it will not be able to focus the laser on the disk and it will never work again. You will have to take it in to Nintendo and pay the flat-rate repair charge.
Disconnect the gamecube and take it to a well-lit table. Open the top cover, the lens is that small round disc just on the other side of the spindle. It is mounted in a square plastic housing that moves back and forth in that slot. It is a plastic lens.
Use a flashlight and magnifying glass and see if you can see anything on the surface of the lens. It may look cloudy like a buildup of air pollution, cigarette smoke, or whatever else deposits on the lens over time. It may also have fingerprints, they will look like irregular lines. Dust will look like sparkles.
If you have an air duster, use that first. Set the spray on low or medium and see if spraying gets the cube working again. The air duster will get rid of dust but not the cloudy buildup or fingerprints.
I used a q-tip and I sprayed a couple of drops of windex on the tip. Shake off any excess windex from the q-tip. This is important because you don't want to drip anything into the lens area. Brush it across the lens carefully and rotate the q-tip as you brush. Rotating the q-tip will lift off any contaminants from the lens so that you don't drag a bit of dust or something across the lens. You will see the lens move, remember that delicate spring! Use very light pressure or you will bend the spring.
I made 4 passes, one on the left side of the lens, left of center, right of center and the right side. Quickly dry it with a dry q-tip, rotating the dry q-tip as you brush. Inspect the lens with a magnifying glass. It should look crystal clear with smooth reflections on the surface of the lens.
I've heard of some people using alcohol to clean the lens but a glass cleaner is better. It dissolves fingerprints & oils better than isopropyl alcohol. You have to dry it quickly so that you don't get streaks, same as a window. Use a good quality q-tip (cotton swab) that does not have fuzz which could get into the lens area. Avoid cotton swabs that have wood sticks. Cellulose dust from the wood can end up on the cotton swab during manufacturing and that can scratch the lens. The lens is plastic so it will scratch easily.
That is it! Good luck and be careful. Do this at your own risk and only attempt this on a dead gamecube as a last resort before taking it in for repair.
Warning: if you follow these instructions and make a small mistake, you could ruin your gamecube! Remember that the gamecube uses a laser so it is best to unplug the power before inspecting the lens. It has a safety interlock so the laser will be off, but unplug the power anyway. Finally, if your gamecube works, don't mess with it. (in case you want to clean the lens just for the heck of it)
The lens is mounted on a delicate spring. It actually makes small movements during gameplay to keep it in focus on the game disk. If you bend or push that spring too much then it will not be able to focus the laser on the disk and it will never work again. You will have to take it in to Nintendo and pay the flat-rate repair charge.
Disconnect the gamecube and take it to a well-lit table. Open the top cover, the lens is that small round disc just on the other side of the spindle. It is mounted in a square plastic housing that moves back and forth in that slot. It is a plastic lens.
Use a flashlight and magnifying glass and see if you can see anything on the surface of the lens. It may look cloudy like a buildup of air pollution, cigarette smoke, or whatever else deposits on the lens over time. It may also have fingerprints, they will look like irregular lines. Dust will look like sparkles.
If you have an air duster, use that first. Set the spray on low or medium and see if spraying gets the cube working again. The air duster will get rid of dust but not the cloudy buildup or fingerprints.
I used a q-tip and I sprayed a couple of drops of windex on the tip. Shake off any excess windex from the q-tip. This is important because you don't want to drip anything into the lens area. Brush it across the lens carefully and rotate the q-tip as you brush. Rotating the q-tip will lift off any contaminants from the lens so that you don't drag a bit of dust or something across the lens. You will see the lens move, remember that delicate spring! Use very light pressure or you will bend the spring.
I made 4 passes, one on the left side of the lens, left of center, right of center and the right side. Quickly dry it with a dry q-tip, rotating the dry q-tip as you brush. Inspect the lens with a magnifying glass. It should look crystal clear with smooth reflections on the surface of the lens.
I've heard of some people using alcohol to clean the lens but a glass cleaner is better. It dissolves fingerprints & oils better than isopropyl alcohol. You have to dry it quickly so that you don't get streaks, same as a window. Use a good quality q-tip (cotton swab) that does not have fuzz which could get into the lens area. Avoid cotton swabs that have wood sticks. Cellulose dust from the wood can end up on the cotton swab during manufacturing and that can scratch the lens. The lens is plastic so it will scratch easily.
That is it! Good luck and be careful. Do this at your own risk and only attempt this on a dead gamecube as a last resort before taking it in for repair.
