Gamecube Freezing

[Tokimemofan]

Last night I was playing Phantasy Star Online and my GameCube froze. I haven't had any issues with the game or the system before. Now it won't last more than 5 minutes. I tried Skies of Arcadia Legends and it too freezes. It seems to only freeze during loading screens, the first 2 times being when using a telepipe the 3rd and 4th when loading a save and the 5th when starting a new file. The model is DOL-001, black late revision (The other colors had already been replaced by the 101 when I got it). It hasn't been abused (usually I set it up on a table and put it back in the box when I am done).

[Fizz11]

could be your disc drive decided to crap out. I've had similar freeze issues with a bad laser. It might also be dirty. You could try cleaning it with a q-tip and isopropyl alcohol.

[Tokimemofan]

could be your disc drive decided to crap out. I've had similar freeze issues with a bad laser. It might also be dirty. You could try cleaning it with a q-tip and isopropyl alcohol.

That's what I am looking at but this doesn't seem like a normal laser issue, it seems to run fine in gameboy player mode. seems odd that it crapped out that quickly. I forgot to mention that the reset button also becomes unresponsive when it freezes I also noticed that the controls are a bit sluggish about 3 seconds before a freeze, that is the only warning, laser failures seem to pull up an error screen but I am not getting one.

Edit: It is not the laser, the laser acts like it is brand new.
Edit 2: It is freezing in the bios screen on everything except the memory card manager, in short my $&%#cube blew it, is it repairable or not? Thanks for the help.

[Fizz11]

That's what I am looking at but this doesn't seem like a normal laser issue, it seems to run fine in gameboy player mode. seems odd that it crapped out that quickly. I forgot to mention that the reset button also becomes unresponsive when it freezes I also noticed that the controls are a bit sluggish about 3 seconds before a freeze, that is the only warning, laser failures seem to pull up an error screen but I am not getting one.

Edit: It is not the laser, the laser acts like it is brand new.

only other thing i could think of is an overheating issue, maybe a dislodged heat sink or a bad fan. anything else is beyond my knowledge

[Tokimemofan]

only other thing i could think of is an overheating issue, maybe a dislodged heat sink or a bad fan. anything else is beyond my knowledge

See Edit2 it is not over heating, it is freezing even in a cold boot. I think it's screwed.
Edit: It has about 300 hours on it, I never used it that much.

[APE992]

Maybe the TIM has become useless? I've never seen a Gamecube freeze like that before myself; plenty of other odd problems.

[Tokimemofan]

Maybe the TIM has become useless? I've never seen a Gamecube freeze like that before myself; plenty of other odd problems.

What is "TIM"?

[APE992]

What is "TIM"?

Thermal interface material.

[Tokimemofan]

Thermal interface material.

No there was no sign of thermal issues at all, it also happened way too suddenly. I'm betting on ESD or power surge, In later testing I was also seeing mild graphical corruption such as irregularly colored squares and lines. I'll just transplant another cube into this ones case, would anyone want the broken one?

[APE992]

I know someone who might. I'll let him know and he should contact you if he is interested.

[werejag]

sent pm

thanks ape for telling me