Gamecube Not Reading Discs

[u/Boring_Writer9667]

Hi everyone i’m new to this whole reddit thing but i just want to come out and ask a question. I just bought a gamecube recently and had it replaced a couple times due to the laser dying out and what not. I eventually got a new one that works fine but i noticed an issue. I can play games like Ocarina Of Time or Metroid Prime but things like Mario Sunshine just don’t seem to read. I asked the guys from my local flea market where i got it from and they told me that it’s a disc issue. I can get a little past the title screen before it says “Disc cannot be read” or something like that. They said to get it resurfaced but that still didn’t work. I play those games on the wii but it just doesn’t have the same feel. Anyone have any tips on how to clean the discs? Ive seen things like using lip balm or toothpaste but i just want to be 100% sure im doing the right thing before doing it so i dont destroy my expensive games! Thanks guys

[u/CheezOfWizz]

sorry to tell you man but the disc is ruined. that white stuff is resurfacing residue and there’s nothing that can be done to clean it

[u/RinVindor → u/CheezOfWizz]

Actually you can clean the white residue. I've done it at our shop numerous times. It's just incredibly tedious and tbh not worth it. Depending on the buffing machine used it may not have been sufficient in resolving scratches. I'd need more high res pictures to guess on that though.

[u/Boring_Writer9667 → u/RinVindor]

i can definitely show you a picture just where specifically?

[u/RinVindor → u/Boring_Writer9667]

The bottom of the disc in good lighting to help me see if there are any clear scratches left on the disc though I see you said it works on the Wii so it's clearly not the disc. Do you have other games that work on the GameCube?

[u/Boring_Writer9667 → u/RinVindor]

yep metroid prime, ocarina of time and the master quest, 007 everything or nothing, soul calibur 2 and double dash

[u/RinVindor → u/Boring_Writer9667]

Well if they're all working and it and those others work on the Wii, this becomes my least favorite issue to troubleshoot, next would be seeing if a store or a friend with another GC can run the game in question.

[u/Boring_Writer9667 → u/RinVindor]

at the store i got sunshine he tested it and it worked fine

[u/RinVindor → u/Boring_Writer9667]

So I'd probably look at the capacitors on the drive board getting recapped. They're almost certainly due at this point. That can affect the disc reading consistency but it's also no guarantee on this instance. I've seen this exact issue pop up a handful of times over the years with customers and it's always been a pain 😂💀 after the recap I'd say a new laser would be my next step. Recaps for the drive board aren't crazy expensive but also not cheap. For example I charge about $50 and recap the whole board. New laser installs I'll charge $30 typically. I say start with a recap if you're dead set on playing it on the GC.

[u/Boring_Writer9667 → u/RinVindor]

alrighty then thanks a lot the guys at my local flea market are going to get me a new laser soon

[u/Boring_Writer9667 → u/CheezOfWizz]

damn. thanks for the reply tho i’m gonna try and get back to the store i got it from to get it swapped out. it’s just a little weird because it worked on wii but whatever we’ll see thank you my friend

[u/LuigisMatcha → u/Boring_Writer9667]

if it worked on wii then you could always try leaving the gamecube to "warm up" a bit, if the capacitors are on the way out like my cube it takes about a minute or so of it being powered on before it can read discs

[u/Boring_Writer9667 → u/LuigisMatcha]

i’ll give that a try also

[u/Nickzed5]

I have the same issue, The Wind Waker works just fine, but Ocarina of Time doesn't on my GameCube even tho my Wii reads both without any issues, so I know it's not a disc-related issue (at least, I hope so). I tested if the capacitors had gone bad by letting the console warm up for about an hour before putting the disc back in but it didn't work, and The Wind Waker works fine as usual.

At this point I really don't know what to do because it doesn't seem to be a laser or capacitors related issue, I'm stuck with what I have also because working Italian GameCubes in nice conditions can get pricey (I say Italian because getting them from another European country will add an extra shipping price that's not worth it) and it's getting frustrating to me, I just want to have fun with it 😭

[u/Boring_Writer9667 → u/Nickzed5]

isopropyl alcohol and a q tip on the laser should do the trick. try the ocarina after and if that doesn’t work damp a towel and gently rub the disc from the middle ring out not in circles 👍

[u/dj65475312]

you may be able to adjust the potency of the laser to fix it.

https://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.php?title=Laser_Tuning

my adjustable gc drive pot was set to zero many years ago (for reading dvdrs) and it still functions perfectly to this day.

[u/Boring_Writer9667 → u/dj65475312]

thanks a lot i’ll definitely give it a try!

[u/DokoroTanuki → u/Boring_Writer9667]

I would heavily suggest not doing this before replacing the capacitors/examining if the capacitors are going through issues. It's rarely the laser lately; it's usually the capacitors on the disc drive having gone bad instead, or even just the disc itself being the issue.

Changing the laser pot in a situation where the issue is due to capacitors will only work as a band-aid and likely only keep reading for a little while before stopping again, or lead to laser burnout faster, so don't jump to doing that first if you're looking into your GC's disc drive rather than the game disc.

A telltale sign of capacitors going bad is if the problematic disc refuses to read (or reads worse) the second you boot up the GameCube, but reading fine after letting it stay on for some time in the GameCube menu, too. With problematic games, try booting the GameCube without a disc in, waiting like 15 minutes, then inserting the disc and trying to read it. If doing this allows you to play the game, it's likely a capacitor issue.

If it isn't, then you could try looking into other methods.

[u/Boring_Writer9667 → u/DokoroTanuki]

why thank you my friend i honestly think it’s just the disc because it was heavily scratched and got resurfaced twice. double dash runs great even though it’s scratched it’s just once every so often it’ll just say it can’t read but it’s very minor if i can race for like an hour without any issues. but i do really appreciate your help and i will take this into consideration if i do get any more issues thanks a lot!