Drive seeks or spins but fails to read reliably.
10 repair logs
NEC — PC Engine CD-ROM2
This NEC PC Engine CD-ROM² threw everything at me: 3D printed gears, a dead laser, a Discman sacrifice and a spindle height mystery, before a full recap finally brought it home. Worth every frustrating hour of it.
Microsoft — Xbox 360
The laser on a friend's Microsoft Xbox 360 needed replacing; without a new one it would refuse to read games 99% of the time.
Nintendo — GameCube
Two spare Nintendo GameCube optical drives (DOL-001) recapped. One came back to life, one didn't. The dead one reads 30 ohms on the motor where the working one is OL, which likely points to a dead motor.
Nintendo — GameCube
A bit of an identity crisis on this Nintendo GameCube pearl white: DOL-001 board in a DOL-101 shell, transplanted there many moons ago. Optical drive recapped as part of the GameCube maintenance day.
Nintendo — GameCube
This silver Nintendo GameCube (DOL-001) was recapped twice. First its optical drive PCB, to cure a disc read fault (on these consoles it is usually the caps, not the laser). Later, a full mainboard recap, which kicked off the campaign to recap the mainboards across the whole GameCube fleet. Razor-sharp Tetris blocks to celebrate.
Sony — PlayStation 3
Backwards-compatible Sony PlayStation 3 CECHB00 that would accept and eject discs but not read them. The tray mechanism needed lubing and once done, it read PS1, PS2 and PS3 without complaint.
NEC — PC Engine Super CD-ROM2
This NEC PC Engine Super CD-ROM² gave me a scare mid-recap when it lost the picture entirely. Turned out to be a resistor knocked off during SMD cap removal; found it on the paper towel and put it back. Also gained a new transport gear and an RGB amp.
Nintendo — GameCube
PAL Nintendo GameCube DOL-101 in black, with a PicoBoot install using a WiiKey as the storage interface. The mainboard turned out to have almost entirely polymer caps, making the recap a very quick affair.
Nintendo — GameCube
My personal Nintendo GameCube (DOL-001) spice orange. Started life with a PicoBoot and later upgraded to a FlippyDrive. The optical drive also got fresh caps as part of a GameCube maintenance day.
Nintendo — GameCube
Two Nintendo GameCubes (black and spice orange) restored for friends: Console 5 mainboard cap kit, optical drive and PSU recap, XenoGC chip and new coin cell battery holders. Wind Waker was played immediately.