elGRIZZbo
Mr. Big's Thug
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2016
- Posts
- 200
Nov 28 2008, 11:28 AM
"While there's no doubt that the Cubes had indeed gotten moist from animal waste, the person who posted the original ad on Craig's List claimed that both units were working to some extent. Thinking back to that ad which had led me to believe that I could cannibalize parts from the two GameCubes to possibly restore one, I was again inclined towards the hope that had set me on this epic quest in the first place.
It was time to ascertain for myself what exactly the problem with the two GameCubes really was. After doing the best that I could with the vacuum cleaner; that is, after making sure I'd removed all the visible hair and dust from the electronic components and laser of each GameCube I connected the proprietary power cord to the more ragged of the two machines. I anxiously watched for a few moments just to make sure nothing sparked or started to smoke. After that test passed successfully I then connected the AV cable to the back of the GC and gently placed Wave Race Blue Storm on the spindle above the laser. I didn't expect much to happen when I switched on the power but to my surprise the GameCube logo came up immediately! I didn't allow that to excite me too much as I figured the logo was probably embedded on RAM and the unit wasn't actually reading the disc. Boy was I surprised when the Wave Race title screen along with jaunty race theme came up just a brief moment later!! Was this the unit with the faulty controller port, I thought to myself? The laser seemed to be moving across the disc with no problem as evidenced by the fact that the music wasn't skipping or even slightly garbled. Yeah this had to be the GameCube with defective controller inputs I again reasoned; so I grabbed my trusty platinum GameCube controller that I've been using with my Wii to enjoy Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and plugged it in to controller port 1 of the plucky little purple GameCube. F**k me!!! When I hit start on the controller the game responded with out even a whimper from the GameCube's internals. Then on to the next test, I selected the first course in the game as that would quickly demonstrate whether subtle controller inputs from the analog stick were also being received and interpreted correctly from what I was starting to believe was a bulletproof piece of Nintendo engineering genius. Sure enough, I went through all the tracks in the beginner championship with the Cube responding flawlessly to my masterful control of the virtual Jet Ski. I had won first place on every course and correspondingly also gone on to win the overall championship.
As the Wave Race victory ceremony commenced on screen I thought, dang... I'm now the proud owner of yet another working GameCube. This was certainly the unit that the original owner had concluded "has a worn CD motor" but in all probability only had a dirty laser. In that somewhat hypnotic moment of satisfaction I was again hauntingly reminded of those sorrow filled blue eyes of that precocious young girl in that smoky country house back in Mebane, North Carolina.
To be continued..."
"While there's no doubt that the Cubes had indeed gotten moist from animal waste, the person who posted the original ad on Craig's List claimed that both units were working to some extent. Thinking back to that ad which had led me to believe that I could cannibalize parts from the two GameCubes to possibly restore one, I was again inclined towards the hope that had set me on this epic quest in the first place.
It was time to ascertain for myself what exactly the problem with the two GameCubes really was. After doing the best that I could with the vacuum cleaner; that is, after making sure I'd removed all the visible hair and dust from the electronic components and laser of each GameCube I connected the proprietary power cord to the more ragged of the two machines. I anxiously watched for a few moments just to make sure nothing sparked or started to smoke. After that test passed successfully I then connected the AV cable to the back of the GC and gently placed Wave Race Blue Storm on the spindle above the laser. I didn't expect much to happen when I switched on the power but to my surprise the GameCube logo came up immediately! I didn't allow that to excite me too much as I figured the logo was probably embedded on RAM and the unit wasn't actually reading the disc. Boy was I surprised when the Wave Race title screen along with jaunty race theme came up just a brief moment later!! Was this the unit with the faulty controller port, I thought to myself? The laser seemed to be moving across the disc with no problem as evidenced by the fact that the music wasn't skipping or even slightly garbled. Yeah this had to be the GameCube with defective controller inputs I again reasoned; so I grabbed my trusty platinum GameCube controller that I've been using with my Wii to enjoy Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and plugged it in to controller port 1 of the plucky little purple GameCube. F**k me!!! When I hit start on the controller the game responded with out even a whimper from the GameCube's internals. Then on to the next test, I selected the first course in the game as that would quickly demonstrate whether subtle controller inputs from the analog stick were also being received and interpreted correctly from what I was starting to believe was a bulletproof piece of Nintendo engineering genius. Sure enough, I went through all the tracks in the beginner championship with the Cube responding flawlessly to my masterful control of the virtual Jet Ski. I had won first place on every course and correspondingly also gone on to win the overall championship.
As the Wave Race victory ceremony commenced on screen I thought, dang... I'm now the proud owner of yet another working GameCube. This was certainly the unit that the original owner had concluded "has a worn CD motor" but in all probability only had a dirty laser. In that somewhat hypnotic moment of satisfaction I was again hauntingly reminded of those sorrow filled blue eyes of that precocious young girl in that smoky country house back in Mebane, North Carolina.
To be continued..."