The GameCube continues to be a very popular console for service here at JRG, and up next is another DOL-001 with an attached GameBoy player for a full refurbishment!
Full Service Cleaning was selected so immediately after unboxing all shell and plastic parts were fully taken apart including the 2 outer pieces and eject lever of the GBP for a soak, wash and dry!
Before tackling the GameCube itself I can make really quick work of the GBP so I removed shielding from both sides, decapped and cleaned the board then installed new cap kit from Console5.
Because the GameCube is very modular I like to tackle the process in order that each component/board is removed. First up is always the controller board, as the battery mod is quick and easy. After removing the old tabbed CR2032 I soldered in a horizontal mount holder, tested the new CR2032 (its new but you never know…) and snapped it in place. Done.
Next up is the optical drive which is arguably the longest part of the GameCube refurbishment. You have to unscrew the large top metal shield from the plastic base of the drive, then disconnect a few flexes and wires from the PCB and separate the PCB from the drive to gain access to the SMD caps.
It has been my experience that 99% of GameCube’s not reading discs comes down to bad SMD caps on the optical drive PCB so its highly recommended to replace. I made quick work of 10 caps with my hot tweezers, new caps installed and board cleaned!
Before putting the full assembly back together I popped out both rails and the laser and cleaned and applied fresh grease on rails and gears to ensure smooth operation going forward!
Once the outside of the drive was also cleaned, I fully reassembled the entire optical drive portion so it would be ready to snap back in place over the motherboard!
Now it was on to the mainboard so with my new Atten hot air station set to 200C I warmed up the large heatsink and carefully pulled it off the chips and set aside for cleaning. Any time my cleaning service is selected this also includes brand new thermal pads so I don’t concern myself with carefully removing the old pads to reuse them.
Hot tweezers made quick work of the mainboard caps (8 on this CPU-01 revision) and I deep cleaned the board with ISO and installed the new caps from Console5 which include some tantalums for the smaller 10uF caps.
With that out of the way, I wiped down the CPU, GPU and RAM chips and then used GamerGhosts handy thermal pad stencils to cut 1mm, 1.5mm and 2mm pads for each of the respective chips. You can get the templates and print them yourself here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7170352
This just makes for a much quicker and more consistent cut with a nice Xacto knife!
With the mainboard work completed and the heatsink dry from its wash, I started the reassembly of the GameCube working from the base up. Got the mainboard installed and optical drive all assembled but stopped after getting all mainboard screws in… customer had also asked for a Noctua fan upgrade!
They provided the 40mmx10mm fan so I 3D printed the excellent bracket from Retro Frog ( https://www.printables.com/model/79252-gamecube-40mm-fan-adapter ) and then wired up the new fan to the OEM fan connector. You can use 3 pin to 2 pin adapters but they are clunky and add wasted wiring to then try and hide and make look clean. What I prefer to do is add a 100ohm resistor in line to replicate the “quiet” adapter and then cut, splice and solder the 2 necessary wires from the Noctua to the stock connector at just the right length to allow a little slack but keep it nice and short. The yellow wire from the Noctua is completely unnecessary so I just snip it and tuck it safely in the mount. Red wire from Noctua connects to Gray on stock connector and Black to Black. Nice and easy and you get a clean finished look and much quieter GameCube!
With the new fan in place I finished reassembly including controller board and top shell, the last part of the project was restoring the jewel!
Most arrive in the shop dirty and with a lot of scratches so if cleaning service is selected, I polish the jewel after cleaning to restore all that missing shine, it really is a final touch that completely changes how nice a GameCube can look IMO.
You could mess with various levels of polishing compound but I found PolyWatch alone will do the trick with about 10 minutes of your time and some elbow grease! I just apply 4 dabs in each quadrant and work it in in a circular motion while moving around perimeter and ensuring I hit all borders equally. I will usually apply PolyWatch about 3 times total once it starts becoming difficult to move it around with the cloth.
Once I’m happy with the end results I wipe it down one final time, snap onto the top shell and close the system up. In this case I picked Metal Arms for testing, fired the ‘Cube up and set date/time, let it run for a few hours to ensure it was staying nice and cool and then played for about 30 mins and confirmed correct operation.
All looked good so another order wrapped up!
Thank you very much!
You’re welcome!
The needed lens for the GBA in the second part of the order arrived this morning so I should have that and your entire order wrapped up very shortly!