Episode 117: Gamecube Optical Board Recap- No Disc Fix

[@The_SegaHolic]

Remember, the Gamecube was made during the Capacitor Plage. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

[@zingbanana]

man, so maybe this is why the first xbox revision also had that bad clock capacitor. the more you know!

[@The_SegaHolic]

@@zingbanana Could be... and also could be just the nature of that particular capacitor. It's not a regular electrolytic.

[@Leo-vn5mn]

@@The_SegaHolic Its been over a year since youve done this, Is it reccomended to use tweezer style soldering irons or have you been using a different one since then?

[@The_SegaHolic]

@@Leo-vn5mn This is a cheap tweezer and is the best type of tool you can use. Obviously, there are expensive otpions like a Hakko... but it costs WAY MORE than this. You can also use two soldering irons if you wish.

[@0x8080]

I really like how you made it scratchy and with the little static transitions. Also thank you so much for this. Everyone always says to adjust the pot for the laser driver, which is only masking the real issue here.

[@The_SegaHolic]

YUP, never adjust the pot! It's gonna need readjusting when the person does a recap. Glad you like the video.

[@oOignignoktOo1]

@@The_SegaHolic I had to readjust mine after a recap sadly it wouldn't spin and read discs until I dropped it from the factory 192 ohms to 112 ohms. After that it reads all my discs now no issue except for a copy of super mario sunshine that looks like someone used it as a frisbee I got for free. I might try to get it resurfaced and see if it works if not I'm only out a couple of bucks. if it's a no fix.

[@treminaorugx]

I learned a great trick for removing those annoying SMD capacitors on any board. Take a pair of pliers, grab them vertically by the silver dome, and SLOWLY (and I mean very slowly) twist the dome clockwise or counter-clockwise, whichever gives first. The dome will break clean off, the black plate underneath will come right off, and then you just wick off the remaining legs from the pads. easy as pie, No chance of board damage, and way faster then flux and tweezers.

[@The_SegaHolic]

Yeah, that was the old way of doing it. Or some would just cut the tops off with diagonals. But imagine if there was a pad that was where the epoxy underneath the pad was compromised. The pad would twist off with the cap's leads if you're not careful, as the pad would not be sticking to the pcb no more. But if you're comfortable doing it that way, then keep doing what works for you. One major drawback to using tweezers though, is sometimes caps explode from the heat. 😑 Thanks for the suggestion.

[@treminaorugx]

@@The_SegaHolic I've heard about the exploding with tweezers. I haven't done the twist off method hundreds of times yet but I'm sure eventually I'll have to deal with lifted pads. So far I've had to deal with a lot less damage repair then I did from trying to desolder them previously. I had a lot of difficulty with that.

[@The_SegaHolic]

Yeah, using tweezers are not fun. Luckily, I get to do this all over again with an SNES recap. Composite out colors are streakiing and noticed a leaking cap. Luckily, not too much on there. Hopefully, this will be my first successful full recap. I recapped a Game Gear years ago, and it didn't work. Waste of a lot of time, and some money. I was more upset about all the time I wasted. And it's not like you can go back and troubleshoot. Was supposed to be the next video, but I don't want to look at SMD caps right now. LOL.

[@spaquette4210]

Love these videos!! It's the hardest repair I've done so far (in my life). I didn't make it though! I get the message "You must first set the calendar and other options. Press any button" followed by "An error has occured" turn the power off or something. I tried changing the battery just in case, but the problem really seems to be my faulty recapping. Among those who failed, has anyone tried starting over? Is it worth it?

[@eileenlucynakurosawa7421]

Many ppl just mess around with the laser pot and eventually kill the poor diode rendering the optical drive unusable. Change the caps and with a very slight adjust, machine reads discs like brand new. Very few technicians they check the capacitors and get it replaced.

[@The_SegaHolic]

A female VG repair person? Nice! I don't even mess with the pot. Without proper documentation on how to adjust and measure, it's just a shot in the dark... and actually, it's not a pot but a variable resistor. Thanks for commenting. 👍

[@RockerGaming]

Nice work dude, I have a couple of cubes I need to give this same treatment to! Nice use case of how beneficial (and often necessary) optical recaps are!

[@The_SegaHolic]

Yeah. And imagine how much good lasers have been destroyed by tweaking. Looks like it's gonna be a widespread issue with the GC.

[@RockerGaming]

@@The_SegaHolic Guilty of this myself, will 100% try this first next time!

[@RichHomieBodhi]

I got a platinum gamecube chilling in a shelf. Haven’t touched it in like 10 years lol. It was working fine last time i checked.

[@The_SegaHolic]

Check it again! 🙏 Haha.

[@DragonProtector]

i had mine chilling for over 10 yrs and it still worked but then i modded it and removed the drive lol.

[@AlexSBedini]

Amazing content, amazig effects! Thank you and keep the good work up!!!!

[@The_SegaHolic]

Much thanks! 🤙👍🙏

[@zingbanana]

how about using just 1 iron with a pointy tip and melting one side of the smd solder while the other one is lukewarm? this also looks like a job for a little coop soldering. i didn't know about that warmup period. i'll try all the info from this vid when i get to fixing my GC!

[@The_SegaHolic]

Sometimes letting it warm up will work, and sometimes the capacitor has completely failed and will not work no matter how long you wait. You can use 2 soldering irons to remove, but the tweezer costs under 10 bucks!

[@zingbanana]

@@The_SegaHolic i just saw there's some tweezers with pointy tips and with a quite wide space between, but those for 10 are looking good!

[@The_SegaHolic]

@@zingbanana www.circuitspecialists.com/Tweezer-Style-Soldering-Iron-For-SMD.html 👍 If you live in AZ, you can go to the shop and save on shipping.

[@DragonProtector]

@@The_SegaHolic just got mine from there for usa.

[@The_SegaHolic]

@@DragonProtector Awesome! Hopefully u like the tweezers.

[@Boomtrack13]

Can you provide a quick-easy link to the website where you purchased those caps. I need to do this.

[@The_SegaHolic]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nn-waYWHj6h7kLM This video has the information you need.

[@optimusN64]

3:55 what kind of soldering tool is that?

[@74bobby]

Bro those Tweezers look cool...

[@The_SegaHolic]

super cheap. you should try em if you do desoldering of smd caps.

[@Popclone]

The sound and the noise in the background mimics a space ship 🚀 living quarters :-) the IT crowd of Battle Ship Galactica.....have you tried unplugging it and plugging it back in ?!

[@mellow_taco]

I just replaced the optical board in my original GameCube today. With the disc drive inserted, It wouldn't turn on without displaying the "An error has occurred" message. I ordered a replacement board and soldered it to the motor and now it turns on perfectly. Only issue now is that the console gives me the same error if it tries to read a disc as soon as it turns on and it gives a "Disc could not be read" error if you put the disc in after it turns on. I'm assuming this is a laser issue so I might buy a replacement laser next.

[@The_SegaHolic]

Or it still could be bad caps on your replacement board. What I would do is get a cheap working one for diagnostic purposes. So you can pinpoint what part or assembly is truly bad. You can then resell. Would be worth it just for diagnosing, even if you lose like $5 or so.

[@mellow_taco]

@@The_SegaHolic I actually just bought a working GameCube for a crazy deal so I guess I can try swapping its board with my broken GameCube and seeing what the issue is. Also once I get it working, I do plan on reselling it since it doesn't have digital output unlike the one I just bought.

[@The_SegaHolic]

@@mellow_taco Nice, Gamecubes are rising in price. Just be careful on handling any laser pickup as they are really ESD sensitive. Wear an ESD strap if possible.

[@LukeOranje]

Bro, where did you get those soldering tweezers? Can’t find them like that anywhere with the flat tips.

[@MrKrimstah]

Do you think this will help my gc read burnt disc better with a xeno?

[@The_SegaHolic]

Can't say for certain. But remember, 4/5 GC's in the room had bad caps! Or 3 out of my 5 had bad caps! Crazy ratios even if it is a small sample size.

[@tendosingh5682]

What soldering tool is that?

[@The_SegaHolic]

2:49

[@ItachiRyu]

what Sony model TV is that. looks perfect for testing

[@willjohnsonjohnson]

I think any console from this era will have cap issues. I've had to recap some of my OG Xboxes. The 1.6 models seem to have the most failures.

[@The_SegaHolic]

Like I said, made during the Capacitor Plague. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague But yeah, the 3300ufF caps on the OG XBox are a common one to have bulged.

[@collingoldberg8111]

does anyone know which chips do what on the drive board? just curious

[@The_SegaHolic]

Sorry. I personally don't.

[@AlexSBedini]

May I ask if my GameCube would have better in game performance with new Caps? Or should I recap only in case fatal error appears

[@The_SegaHolic]

If you’re not experiencing issues, I would leave it alone. That’s my philosophy. Thanks for commenting!

[@javimarco1417]

Please, can you put the whole set of caps values or references? Thank you in advance. Great fix , I am spreading it with other friends. 😊

[@The_SegaHolic]

I went into SUPER DETAIL on episode 115! 😳 kzbin.info/www/bejne/nn-waYWHj6h7kLM

[@javimarco1417]

@@The_SegaHolic my apologies . I watched the episode 97 the last year and now this. I missed the 115. Thank you 😊

[@The_SegaHolic]

@@javimarco1417 Don't apologize. I should have referenced it on this video. Let me know if the fix worked for you. 🤙

[@DragonProtector]

thanks!

[@The_SegaHolic]

No Frovlemo!

[@DragonProtector]

@@The_SegaHolic :)

[@ahngelooh]

Nice zoomer edit lol

[@The_SegaHolic]

🤷‍♂ 🤙

[@ahngelooh]

Just did a recap of my old gamecube, success. Thanks for the video dude

[@The_SegaHolic]

@@ahngelooh No probs man… thanks for the thanks. Means a lot!