Me Fixing a GameCube's Disc Read Errors (Capacitor Replacement)

Check out my live streams at / dashretro
Other disc read issue: • Fixing a Gamecube Disc...
Cap kit and driver bit: console5.com/s...

[@huangaga6923]

very nice and correct way to replace the capactiors of gc optical driver boader. The key one is c408, 47uf 4v: most bad reading is resulted from this. c431 c401 and c238 are aging also somtimes. Anyhow, this method is better than adjusting the VR od reading directly; most stable and longer life of optical set.

[@leobgoo6350]

2:08 Optical Drive SMD Cap Kit from console5 (10 pieces)

[@bradwayne8453]

My first thought when I saw you was "Ian from forgotten consoles" lol idk if you are familiar with the forgotten weapons channel and Ian but you guys are kinda alike. I liked and subscribed because this was helpful man thank you.

[@DashRetro]

I have actually been compared to him before, haha! Never seen the show, though

[@bradwayne8453]

@@DashRetro he's not a bad guy to share qualities with and his channel is pretty interesting if you are into war history. But anyways thanx for reply and wish me luck in my console repairs journey lol, I wish I had the same soldering skills as you👍

[@Conlow95]

Hey man, thanks for sharing this info. I used your guide and successfully fixed a Gamecube, which gave me the confidence to purchase a dozen broken consoles to do the same to. Thank you, all the best.

[@buxtech]

Great video! First time catching one of your videos, as I also love to fix and mod GCs and other systems. One good method I use, if one doesn't have or want to use a hot air gun, is using a set of pliers and gently turn each cap back and forth until they break off the board. The legs will still be stuck to the pads but you can go back in there with a soldering gun and gently remove/swipe them off. I find that way less time consuming than taping the whole board, possibly removing or overheating a component, and/or exploding a cap. Learned that from an old-head electronics guy!

[@buxtech]

Btw love your technique on installing the caps, gonna have to try that approach.

[@austinnermo3338]

i'm going to try this method, sound's like a better idea.

[@konstantine_c]

Great video! I bought a Gamecube that I discovered has the same issue, but only takes about 5 minutes to warm up before it starts reading discs, and then it works fine. I guessed that the cause might be a capacitor, and after coming across your video, I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I'll be replacing my caps soon. First time seeing a GC HD component cable. Kind of disappointing that it doesn't have the audio connections on the same cable, especially seeing how the rest of the GC internal hardware was well designed.

[@seanosorio1631]

Your soldering skills are awesome compared to mine 😂 didn’t know about the clicking just replaced my GameCubes capacitors as well as the laser (just in case) and now it does do that clicking sound I believe. Need to find that sweet spot on the potentiometer. I have the same model GameCube as well will try the resistance yours has and see if it works!

[@consoles-R-us]

What temp is your air station at when removing the caps? Thanks

[@DashRetro]

I'm not sure what is recommended, but my station was set to 370 C for this

[@nuguns3766]

hey man my gc has an issue i hope you could feel out. I got a xeno chip i installed in mine to run swiss and my panda dvd works perfectly. I got some new swiss dvds with purple colored read sides and they wont read at all, no disc. Sometimes my gc tries and on others it gives up quickly. All my nintendo discs read easily. Its only these new dvds, i suspect the culprit is the color underside since the panda dvd is clear like nintendos. And capacitors that arent fully showing the issue cause theyre burned cds. I ran the laser to 75ohms and it still wouldnt read them. So its back at 200 ohms where it started and reads the panda dvd well. today was humid tho and for the first time panda dvd wouldnt read at first. Some breath and patence it worked again.

[@Alaskancrabpuffs21]

I am having the same problem with a gamecube I bought cheap. I am tempted to not use the heat gun and instead use a soldering iron to take the solders off but looking at how you did it it seems much easier.

[@ultimatekitten2111]

Use some flux liquid. Remove component with braid quick. Apply a little more flux. Apply solder to one copper pad whre you will apply component. Use tweezers with component to apply one side of component. Apply solder to other side. Heat gun lmfao for such a simple thing...

[@casey_shame]

Hi there! Loved the video and was curious about two things: What sort of camera/magnifier are you using to work on things? I have really bad eyesight even with my glasses and struggle to see the smaller caps. Also, do you happen to remember what size soldering tip you're using? Regardless, I really loved this video. You've earned a new sub with it!

[@DashRetro]

@@casey_shame The camera is an old JVC camcorder going into an Elgato CamLink. I don't particularly recommend the CamLink though, there shoukd ve much cheaper options out there that work just as well or better. I don't really know the soldering tip size, it came with the pack of tips you can bundle with KSGER T12 soldering station

[@casey_shame]

@DashRetro I actually found a similar unopened tip in my toolbox this morning that appears to be the same size, so that should be good. Thanks for responding so quickly with the camera answer. I may look into some sort of microscope that can be viewed via hdmi then. Again, I appreciate the response.

[@DashRetro]

@@casey_shame For sure! My buddy made a review of a few different scopes which may give you an idea: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIHHnnmjn79lh8Usi=kjmW9K4AxujPFKCU

[@casey_shame]

@@DashRetro I really appreciate that I'll be sure to check that out!

[@Consumer_in_Action]

Your commentary is GOLD. Leave that poor left hand of yours alone! also ...Hilarious.

[@zalcamar]

I've looking for this fix for my GameCube. Your video is exactly what was wrong with mine! Thank you so much!

[@playstation2bigs]

Capacitors C401 and C408 in laser lens motherboard no more turning potentiometer

[@intoxicode]

DOL-101 100-300 ohms, DOL-001 300-600 ohms..

[@nuguns3766]

my dol-001 was factory at 200 ohms

[@based_will]

I attempted this today. Removal was easy enough, but by golly is it difficult to solder the new ones in. There is just so little surface area to solder to. I think I’ll just buy another drive from eBay. I’ve installed picoboots, done Dreamcast battery swaps, GBA battery swaps and could not get this done.

[@DashRetro]

It's pretty tight work, but I think removal is waaay harder than putting new ones on, you can do it! The biggest thing I think is to have only 1 pad prepared with solder, then heat that pad and put the cap in. Then, solder the other 2 legs by putting wet solder on your tip and tapping them. That's my advice at least, hope it helps.

[@based_will]

@@DashRetrothank you. Turns out on the one I gave up on I was attempting to solder on the wrong one! Once I tried with the proper sized one I got it, and finished the whole board. Some of them are lifted off the board or a little crooked but it works flawlessly! I have another GameCube not reading disks on the way and more capacitor kits so I can hone my skills.

[@Xan0906]

3:16 I've had the initial loud clicking sound on several systems in conjunction with it working after warming up just 5 minutes, so I think the capacitors should be changed in those cases as well.

[@oldschoolman9878]

I just test the hypothesis of leaving my old GameCube on for 30+ minutes, and a system that wouldn’t read disc now magically can read them. For months I thought it was the laser, now thanks to your in depth video and tutorial, I now know that I will need to replace the capacitors. Which means I’ll need to obtain a soldering iron, a heat gun, and the other materials. Do you have any recommendations for the needed equipment for this procedure?

[@DashRetro]

For soldering, I use a KSGER T12 soldering station which I really like. I'm no expert on hot air stations, but I do show the one I use here. For solder, I uses leaded solder since it's much easier to work with than the lead-free stuff. Sn60 Pb40 is what I use

[@oldschoolman9878]

@@DashRetro thanks

[@smerd2]

Happy new year to you. Great vid - however I’m now stuck before I even start - what size screw driver did you use to get those 6 screws off the disk drive/ heat shield? You used a small blue one in fast forward ;). I have the whole system apart but the other smallish screw drivers I have just don’t grab those last 6 for me. I don’t want to strip those suckers

[@DashRetro]

I got mine in a set of 6 with different heads/sizes. Here is the exact one a la carte: www.tme.com/us/en-us/details/gsd-164/screwdrivers/goldtool/

[@smerd2]

Thanks man! I actually found some JIS screwdrivers for a decent price - they are meant for those screws and worked like a charm - now I have to complete the job when I find the time.

[@chrisbustergames0785]

I’ve changed the caps and mine still won’t read any suggestions

[@DashRetro]

Did you also check the resistance on the potentiometer?

[@SuperSmashCollector]

Can I just send you my board with the capacitors…. Your skills on soldering is something I would rather pay for. Both of my hands struggle with shaking due health reasons

[@drewwalters6330]

18:38 Ah yes, this is Gen Z's favorite part of the video because there is "no cap".

[@gotcha1248]

Totally agree with you on how they built the gamecube simply perfection. Easy to fix clean 👌

[@jimdavis6833]

Most TVs don't even have component inputs anymore, so what good is that cable, other than bragging rights?

[@DashRetro]

Tons of people either still play on CRTs and/or use an upscaler that cleanly converts to HDMI. Anything not natively HDMI, I run through a Retrotink 5x to upscale and convert to HDMI for capture and display.

[@Ergzay]

@@DashRetro Should be noted that the digital out port can output an HDMI signal directly with a specialized adapter without needing to go through an upscaler.

[@sbaev3nflow]

Thank you for the video. I've ordered the cap kit but I don't think it will completely solve my issue. My disc spins, laser turns on, and laser moves but it makes a really bad grinding sound. Never actually reads the disc. I've not had any luck searching for "gamecube grinding noise" or similar nor any videos specifically with this noise which is highly annoying. Any ideas?

[@DashRetro]

I'm not familiar with that issue, but I would guess that a grinding noise means some mechanical piece is trying to move and can't. I would guess it would be the laser eye trying to move on the rail, but if you're sure the laser eye is moving freely, then I'd be out of ideas from here.

[@sbaev3nflow]

Thank you! @@DashRetro

[@BeeWaifu]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand I still don't know what capacitors I'm meant to buy.

[@DashRetro]

console5.com/store/gamecube-optical-drive-pcb-cap-kit-revs-1-4.html

[@BeeWaifu]

@@DashRetro This is for NTSC-U Gamecube?

[@murrain101]

very cool Dash

[@andretroncao]

Awesome video

[@oreocerdodos5232]

Hello, what causes this defect in the capacitors? I have a working gamecube but I wonder if at some point I will have to replace the capacitors, Thanks

[@DashRetro]

I think this type of capacitor tends to fail after 20-30 years. I don't have much more info than that, but this type is called an "electrolytic capacitor" if you want to look further into it.

[@oldschoolman9878]

On any old electronics, like say a 80 year old radio, the capacitors are usually the first thing that will go bad and will need to be replaced. Since they are the main components that supply and store power to the electronic in question.

[@brandonlk98]

I’ve just got a GameCube and I’m seeing a similar issue where it’ll play some games just fine, first time with no issues… but with some discs it won’t read them and if I leave a working game running for 20 minutes then try the disc again it’ll then magically work. It doesn’t seem to matter if the disc is in good condition as I’ve got scratched disks that work fine then great condition disks which won’t… would this also be this capacitor issue?

[@DashRetro]

I'm no expert, but any time I see something only work after it's been powered on for a while, that points me to the capacitors.

[@brandonlk98]

@@DashRetro might be time for me to pick up a soldering iron for the first time then 😬😂

[@fatefinger]

It’s too bad that I cannot solder, I don’t know how and my hands are so shaky when I try i make someone with Parkinson’s look steady. It’s not a matter of if I will ruin it I will ruin it. And I cannot find any services that will do this kind of work.

[@2112user]

Would these bad cause a no boot?

[@N269]

Interesting indeed.