r/Gamecube • u/heavyartilleryx • 1d ago

Help Help with GameCube not working on cold start?

Hey all, I recently got a GC off eBay and it works but is having a weird issue. Upon starting it after not playing it for a while it will say it cant read disc. Doesn’t matter which one of the 6 I have I try(the disc are also clean). However after about 2-3 mins of it just sitting on, it will begin to work and have no issues. Anyone have a suggestion on what might be going out and how I can fix it, or should I return it?

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7

u/Boz_DCFC 1d ago

Sounds like failing caps on the disc drive. Typical symptom of that.

5

u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/heavyartilleryx 1d ago

Thank you for this info. What’s a pot?

3

u/ghettoslacker NTSC-U 1d ago

Potentiometer. The module that controls the amount of current going to the laser assembly. A couple of years ago, the advice was to just adjust the pot and reduce the resistance, as that would allow for my current and compensate for a bad capacitor. But it’s just a bandaid. And eventually, doesn’t work too and puts additional strain on the laser assembly. Then when the disc drive gets recapped no one knew what the right value for their POT was…

So. Just don’t do it :)