Nintendo GameCube Optical Laser Lens Replacement

Turn over the Gamecube so that the bottom side is facing up.

Locate the four screws (circled in red) on each corner of the device. Then, use a 4.5 mm Gamebit screwdriver to remove all four screws.

With the bottom side of the GameCube facing upward and the screws removed, carefully pull the outer shell of the unit away from the top half. Then place the inside of the unit facing up.

Gently press down on the clips located on either side of the the back panel, as shown, and carefully remove it from the main part of the device.

With the back panel removed, carefully unclip the controller ports at the front of the unit.

Use a Phillips screwdriver to remove the two 2 screws(circled in red) that are located on the back of the control port.

Carefully separate the gray outer casing of the control port and the circuit board.

The left side of the unit contains the cooling fan and its housing. Carefully remove the two (2) screws attaching the cooling fan housing to the unit.

Do not detach the red and black cooling fan wire from the main unit.(red wire)

Remove the four (4) Phillips #1 screws retaining the ground springs (outlined in teal).

Carefully remove the ground springs from the main unit as shown in the second photograph.

Using a Phillips #2 screwdriver, unscrew the twelve (12) screws that are around the outer edge of the optical drive (circled in red).

Carefully separate the optical drive assembly from the rest of the GameCube unit.

At this point, your optical drive assembly should be separated from your GameCube (picture 1).

Flip the optical drive assembly upside down

Shown in picture 2, remove the 6 Phillips #1 screws with a philips screwdriver.

Once the screws are removed, gently lift and remove the metal plate (shown in picture 3).

Be careful not to disturb the brown ribbon cable (highlighted in the yellow).

Remove the blue wire by gently pulling.

Disconnect the Brown cable. This is done by gently pulling the black tab away from the white plastic. This will loosen the tension on the brown cable allowing it to gently be slid away from the tab.

Shown in the third picture, remove the 4 Phillips #1 screws connecting the circuit board to the optical drive assembly.

Gently remove the circuit board (the large green square) as shown in the three pictures.

Red Wire

White ribbon Cable

Use a flathead screwdriver to carefully release the four plastic clips holding the drive assembly together.

Gently lift the metal plate off of the drive assembly (shown in the first picture).

Then flip the two halves of the drive assembly upside down as shown in the third picture.

Use a flathead screwdriver to release the two clips located on the back half of the drive assembly.

Finish removing the top half of the drive assembly from the base.

Once the top half of the drive assembly is detached, turn it upside down.

Using a philips screwdriver, carefully remove the 3 final screws located near the bars of the lens assembly.

Once the the three final screws are removed, the lens assembly can be extracted (as shown in the second picture).

Once the laser lens is carefully separated from the optical drive assembly, insert the new laser into the optical drive assembly and follow these steps in reverse order for reassembly.