Gamecube LASER tweak

Hello People.

I had to register with afterdawn to share mu findings with the world.

here goes.
When you remove the lens unit, turn it over and remove the metal case.
Then you will find what I call the Lens unit Mobo.
(see picture)

There is a pot in the middle of it (see picture)
My Viper GC didn't read a lot of brands 8 mm disk.

My value was 380 ohms. I reduced it to 250 and I have had no problem since. (almost every brand 8mm Disk
I tested Emtec/Sony/optodisc/Memorex work perfectly Burned @ 2 speed)

I have "vipered 2 more GC's" and measured their Values
I was supprised to see that their standard values were between
180 and 250 OHMS.

So that's why I consider the Value optimized between 200 and 230.

 

Tested with

Sony Habdycam 8cm DVDR 1,4 GB (burned @ 2 Speed)
Optodisc 8cm DVD-R 1,4 GB (burned @ 2 Speed)
Memorex 8cm DVD-R 1,4 GB (burned @ 2 Speed)
Lead-Data 8cm dvd-r 1,4 GB (burned @ 1 Speed)
Emtec DVD-r 1,4 GB (burned @ 2 Speed)

Work perfectly

This counts for the US and PAL CUBE (haven't tested
on the Panasonic Q (don't even know how to "viper" that one) and haven't tested it on the JAP cube)

 

So does this means, people can play downloaded GC .iso images on DVD-R's or what ?

 

Hi,
to the above poster, no. All this does is allows more types of 8cm dvd-r to be read on the GC. This wil only help you IF you have the GC Viper Mod chip.

I am a new GC user, a brand new platinum one for christmas. As per your findings, I was curious to see what my potentiometer was set to. Strangely enough, it was even lower than any of the ones you specified. It was at 162.5 ohms! Now, I realize that may be a very ow setting to be at, possibly shortening the life of my cube...but I don't want to disturb it. Especially since I've voided the warranty (?). Hope this helps with your findings.
Also tell me whether I should try setting it to 200. However I have no mod chip to test it with so it will remain at this setting until I have the ability to test with burnt discs.
thanks!

 

WOW 162 Ohms

I have measured about 5 GC's now.
The lowest I have encountered is 178 ohms.

162 is fine... Youre cube will read about anything.

History.
Mine [bold]was[/bold] 400 ohms, and I had problems
reading discs. (espesially the Sony and Optodisk).

I have reduced my value to 195ohms and everything works
perfectly. That's why I recommend 200ohms.

But 165 is just fine.

 

Hello I have got new information.

As I posted this on other forums I got a lot of reactions.

The people recommend a value lower than 210 ohms.
Because of this I have updated the picture.

If your value is lower than 210 Ohms, Leave it alone

In my experience 195 ohms work perfectly.

When to Tweak ??
I would tweak it if your value is greater than 250ohms
(but if you already opened the cube, you could just easily tweak it and save yourself the annoying trouble of DVD-R media not booting.)

[bold]Updated Picture[/bold]


Result my cube reads the
Sony Handycam 8cm DVDR 1,4 GB (burned @ 1 Speed)
with no problems. MentalCube reports this DVD-R as
non working media.

 

thanks for your opinion with my cube! I was feeling a little edgy about it being factory set so low. I remember in the days of "DreamCast laser tweaking" when a setting lower than 180 would permanently damage discs. The Sega Dreamcast, however, was a GD-ROM. Not a DVD or 8cm drive. By the way, I have heard people say that once the top lid has been removed, the GameCube can read larger discs? It seems possible since the laser's track is longer than the 8cm which is supposed to be the maximum size.
Very nice photo by the way. Extremely easy to understand.
What a great way to save us some $$$ when shopping for mini DVD-Rs.

 

with Princo DVD-R 1,4 Go 8 cm 1x? works 100%?

 

I dont understand that. How do you find out the value from those two dots or pieces of solder?

 

you connect an ohm-meter at the two points and you get the value shown on the meter's screen

 

what's the best vallue to get a DC laser on?
how do I connect the Ohm meter to GC?
I'm asking that cause a friend of mine got a gc and it would recognise a single disc you put in there.

nice going on the tweak!
any chance of booting mini-cd?

 

SuperTed..what does the peer2peer program Direct Connect have to do with Gamecube laser tweaking??
Unless you meant DREAMCAST. If so, I would advise you not to even touch the DC's laser controls.
But back to Gamecube. If you have a multimeter, you just touch the leads to the points shown. It doesn't matter which is positive or negative. If your friend's GC has a high reading like 300-400, be glad and lower it to 190ish. Otherwise, if his laser is around 170-230, it is most likely worn out, and should be replaced. New Gamecube lasers sell on eBay for $25.

 

I heard that this could kill your GC's laser lot faster... I mean LOT FASTER!

You SURE you wanna risk it?

 

If this were the case then why would there be so much variance in the settings of these from Nintendo? Are you suggesting that those of us that buy NGC's and the setting of this POT is at 200 ohms are going to have cubes that break?

Like one person measured their cube and it was at 165 out of the box.

I measured mine (I have NO problems reading Mini's that I have used so far) it was right around 200.

If no one was finding values this low I would say there is that posibility, the rest that were above 250 are just bringing their's down to where it works better. I don't think there could be a negative effect.

 

Hmm..
So it is possible to get default as 200 with factory built..

I read some over the net and found one thread that cought my eyes..

But if about 200 is safe, I'm glad cuz I'm planning to get ViperGC ^^

 

I was talking about the SEGA Dreamcat indeed.
but can anyone tel me what his/her vallue of the lens is?
I mean someone allready messed with the lens.

 

found a tut on how to change the DC laser..http://sysopaim.cjb.net/
and I think I remember hearing 230 was a good setting. At least give it a shot, since someone f*cked with it.

 

*edit* I mean 544 is a good setting, sorry.

 

As I said.

I'm on 7 GC's now
and have found original values from 178 - 380 Ohms
The ones that read the mini-dvd's best were around
190-210 Ohms.

Now I'm certain that 200 is a "safe" setting.
There was even someone with 162,5 Ohms

 

The laser power has nothing to do with the coils. The coils are to move the lens for focusing, the pot you are adjusting is altering the power level on the laser diode and at worst would burn the diode out, not the coils and certainlty not chips on the mobo.

The above quote is worded as though written by some dweeb that thinks a battery and a bulb is state of the art electronics. A Qualified engineer would call the chips servo ics and wouldn't mention non exsistnt fuses and wouldn't mention coils for a laser power adjustment as that is the eye signal adjustment.

So all in all dont worry about it. Famous last words