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[noabody]

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General Gaming / RE:Official "My GameCube is broke thread"

« on: March 04, 2006, 01:20:02 PM »

have you had a chance to try a replacement gamecube lens? I've had this problem in the past sometimes, and usually whats happening is the motor is still spinning properly, but the laser will conk out and give a DRE. I've had lasers that struggle to read right off the bat, read, and then die after 20-30 minutes of use. Try doing the pot tweak as outlined in this thread somewhere (url to a text file). I've had success with readings between 160-250 myself, in ohms.

see if that helps, it might. If not, then let us know

Quote
Originally posted by: noabody
I have a used Gamecube that started making a loud whining noise while playing games.  It was clearly coming from the spindle motor.  Eventually the 'cube stopped reading discs.  It would spin and the laser was on and moving back and forth but the disc wouldn't read.  One day I realized that if the Gamecube was left on for between 15 and 20 minutes I could put a disc in and it would play fine.  I'd get an occasional read error.

Because of the indication I am fairly certain that the spindle motor is old.  I'm guessing it has a packed lubricant inside that has dried so there's more resistance in the motor.  I can see nothing is wrong with the spindle hub, the laser, laser sled, or servo motor.  I've read that the laser output changes slightly after being on for about 10 minutes so I tore the Gamecube apart and tweaked the laser power.  Less power is definitely worse but more power has no effect.  This reinforces the idea that the laser is working and the spindle motor isn't.

I'm guessing that as the Gamecube heats up some of that heat is transferred into the base of the spindle motor which softens it's lubricant enough to allow the motor to reach the proper sustained RPM.  If anyone has a similar experience or can shed some light on this than please do.