Light it up fellows!
When I first installed my Viper GC chip, no games on Ritek G04 media would boot. I was soon told that if I try adjusting the laser POT it might solve the problem. Well it did. My original POT was 650 and now it’s 200!
Will adjusting my Potentiometer (POT) ruin or decrease the life of my DVD assembly?
Depends. Adjustments like these are made on various other devices regularly depending on usage and do not ruin them (simply Google to verify this claim). When you are adjusting your POT you are actually changing the size of the laser beam itself.
Now, though if your POT is TOO LOW you run the risk of the DVD assembly dying. The GC POT has an issue, where it automatically lowers itself over time. Say you get a GC from the factory and you do not adjust the POT, it might start out at 650 like mine, but over time it will lower, eventually killing the unit. So, monthly maintenance on the POT will actually keep your unit alive longer. Just don’t go and set the POT to less then I’d say “80 OHMZ” and you’ll be fine.
So adjusting the pot correctly with monthly maintenance will increase the life of your cube, though if you lower it too much you’ll kill it.
NOTE: The POT will decrease after around 10 minutes of using your Cube. If you have having problems with DRE’s only after around 10 minutes of use (this is when the Cube is heated up) you should INCREASE your POT by 10 ohms.
How to adjust my GameCube laser POT to fix "DISC READ" errors?
A) If after you swap the copy stops spinning, clicks or doesn’t load or if you receive either of these ERROR prompts after swapping discs, when you PAUSE your back-up game, or randomly while playing at certain parts then you may need to adjust your unit's GameCube laser. Common Error Prompts include the following: "An error has occurred." or "The disc could not be read."
Step B-C. ps$nfo must be smoking. If you’re adjusting the laser you should already know how to take the damn machine apart! Sheesh!
D) Now, lift the laser drive with the metal plate beneath it off of the GameCube and turn it on its back. Next, remove these 6 screws with your Phillips Head Micro Mini Screwdriver. Then separate the metal plate from the laser drive.
E) Take notice of the Laser Adjustment Potentiometer
screw location. Next, reference these two Laser Probe Points
and turn your Digital Multi-Meter (DMM) dial to point at the 2K Ohms
resistance setting as shown here by the Yellow Arrow. Place the RED & BLACK DMM
probe on their matching points on opposite sides of the POT
Adjustment screw in order to take a measurement reading as indicated on the DMM screen.
F) If your laser measures outside of the recommended range of 170-210 Ohms then you may need to adjust it by carefully turning the Adjustment Screw counter-clockwise
NOTE: If you have a multimeter like above, set it to the “RX1KQ” setting.
VERY little using your Phillips Head Micro Mini Screwdriver once again. After making a slight adjustment counter-clockwise turn of 1/16" to 1/32" only then re-check the Laser POT Value again. Repeat this process until it is within the desired range... it may take a few times due to the sensitivity of the Laser POT.
G) All that is left now is to reassemble your GameCube console following steps D through A in reverse order as necessary.
There, now you have some “happy POT”!
