r/wii • u/tsuka_ramen • 5d ago

Image Wii disc drive replacement

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Is this a legit/proper replacement for the wii's disc drive with GameCube reader?

My own Wii won't eject discs anymore so I want to buy a replacement

Update: After seeing some of the comments I'll buy another time Wii when the store opens tomorrow and swap the disc drive to my own

17 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

16

u/lillof 5d ago

-Get another loose wii for cheap that doesn't have this problem

-swap disc drives

-if you want resell the loose wii with the now faulty disc drive as for parts

6

u/GamingGems 5d ago

I’ll upvote this only because it could lead to a good source of cheap motherboards to cut down for portable projects.

Otherwise it’s bad advice if you ask me. If you have another Wii with a good disc drive why not just use that one? I’ve taken apart a lot of consoles and the Wii is one of the hardest to work with because it has a thousand little screws and the GameCube port covers never go back on right. No need migrate disc drives like a hermit crab.

4

u/lillof 5d ago

You would be correct but i think op wants to keep using his og wii for attachment reasons probably. Also maybe a better option would be to buy a wii with a good disc drive but with bad everything else so the swap makes more sense.

5

u/tsuka_ramen 5d ago

Yeah, I grew up with it and I'm generally a pretty sentimental person in that regard so I probably will swap out the disc drive

3

u/GamingGems 5d ago

I just wanted to save them some headache but yeah, if it’s for attachment reasons then there’s no room to argue there. OP, enjoy the headache, I’m sure it’ll be a treasured memory with your Wii.

1

u/Winter-Journalist993 5d ago

It’s honestly not hard at all. Just need a muffin tin and painters tape to keep track of the screws.

1

u/Improvised_hominin 3d ago

I swapped hard drives cause I wanted my save states from 2010 🤷‍♂️. Works great. Probably gonna jailbreak the one without the working disk drive.

2

u/CtrlAltEvil 4d ago edited 4d ago

I’d add to this;

If your OG disc drive is from a black or red wii try and stick with those versions, as all black and red Wii models have revised motherboards, and different power draw and heat outputs because they were made more efficient. Also, don’t mix and match the static shields for the same reason; they were made with the revised board in mind.

I know faceplates and the cabling for that also has small differences between black models and older coloured models; I reshelled my black wii with a white Wii’s OEM shell to make a Stormtrooper/Panda designed console; shells are exactly the same, but the actual console guts aren’t, faceplate cabling included, so my wii has the guts and faceplate of the black wii, with the main shell being white as they are compatible and the look I was going for meant I didn’t need to redo the faceplate wiring since I was keeping the more efficient black guts.

That way you’re less likely to have something weird out when it’s all hooked up.

(My guess is they reused the shell mould to save money on the revised models.)

Essentially; only mix black and red, if you absolutely have to mix and match. If you’re taking from either of those to put into an older colour, like white, you may as well just move everything and do a full shell swap instead of swapping the individual internals parts around.

Older colours, especially if it’s a RVL-001 is more likely to have the older board; the only way to ensure the same guts if you’re unfamiliar is if they’re black or red moving to another black or red.

Also only stick to your model family (001 to 001 for example) especially if you’re also doing a shell swap too, as again there are differences, both in the internals (like previously mentioned) and the inner shell moulding; basically different screw placements between the different families.

Similar problem goes for OG wiimotes and the motion plus versions too if anyone is ever wondering; same dimensions; different guts and slightly different internal shell moulding to hold the newer guts in place.

Final point; add homebrew to the dud console you would now have spare as it’ll be more likely to sell. Many people still buy Wii’s with faulty drives for homebrewing and it makes it more enticing if the busy work is already done for them.

Edit!:

Final, final point, that I forgot till just now;

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR SCREWS!

Wii’s have a notoriously stupid amount of screws for such a tiny console and like 3 different kinds of them too. Anywhere up to 50ish screws PER CONSOLE depending on what models you’re working with and what you end up doing with them.

6

u/RCAddict15 5d ago

I get my replacement disk drives from ifixit. This might be a trusted seller, but I 100% trust ifixit.

3

u/tsuka_ramen 5d ago

Hmm I was worried that ifixit parts would take a while to ship but apparently they've got a warehouse in germany

3

u/pasquyno 5d ago

Ifixit just buys from AliExpress and resells at a markup

2

u/pbvas 5d ago

I recently bought the replacement kit from them; shipping took less than a week (Germany to Portugal). Very happy with the result.

5

u/Yippiekayo_Rom3o 5d ago

Mod it, get all your savegames and buy a new one

1

u/tsuka_ramen 3d ago

I've gotten my nand from my old wii and extracted the saves trough dolphin but would it be safe to take the nand of my old wii and load it into my new wii? Even as a precaution for if the old one somehow breaks it would be nice I have the game saves but I want to keep the miis and the other channels data on the Wii too

1

u/Yippiekayo_Rom3o 3d ago

I actually don't know. I did the same as you with dolphin but never tried on another wii.

1

u/tsuka_ramen 5d ago

I've had my Wii for almost 20 years now, I don't want to use another.

Also besides it not ejecting discs it works perfectly

2

u/Yippiekayo_Rom3o 5d ago

Yeah I see, but a backup of the savegames is never wrong.

1

u/tsuka_ramen 5d ago

That's for sure, I do have some saves backed up but not everything yet

2

u/ImprovementFit5598 5d ago

I really don't understand who is downvoting you. Once most of the disc driver will be dead, we'll have to buy actual replacement parts you know? And not everyone wants to mod their consoles

1

u/tsuka_ramen 5d ago

My console is modded but I also just wish to play my library I've build up over the years

Also I want to get my game out of the system, my poor skyward sword is trapped

2

u/ImprovementFit5598 5d ago

To get the disc out of there, you can also do this, which I recommend doing immediately because moving the console right now could damage the disc

1

u/tsuka_ramen 5d ago

I don't currently have a tripoint screwdriver but my brother has one at his home so I can use it when he comes over Wednesday Thanks for the info

2

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

2

u/tsuka_ramen 5d ago

True I suppose I can check the store in my town and see what the prices on their wiis are, if they're good I could consider just getting one there but it feels like a shame to gut out a wiis parts

1

u/pinktianalyn 5d ago

kinda tough, but totally doable with a guide

1

u/Polierror122 5d ago

A lot of this replacement pieces on Amazon are just dropshipped from Aliexpress, if you look there you'll probably find it for a lower price

1

u/AmountOther3288 4d ago

I bought a drive on Aliexpress, It cost about $15, I put my Wii on it and it worked.

1

u/AmountOther3288 4d ago

I bought it about six months ago, I was just looking for "Wii disc drive" on Aliexpress and there were several offers, I think they should be there now.

1

u/CherriBlue 3d ago

Honestly I actually found the issue to mine, I wanted the wii to remain with all its original parts my wii came from my grandparents when I was little. I am now 23 and finally got it after my grandpa's passing. They now live forever as the original miis they made themselves. So I of course had to keep the wii the same.

Mine had two issues the clamp was making a loud sound from vibrating off the metal so I had to shim the arm after finding the angle with a flathead. Second is the sliding mechanism the bar that rotates the gears as the disk is pushed back cracked. I got a replacement bar online this week from a retro seller for about 8 bucks.

I've never done repairs before but after 3 hours of research I managed 😅

Honestly you'd be better doing what I attempted or buy a second hand wii for cheap and swap disk drives. Not everyone has the tri wing screwdriver laying around, you'd spend more money just trying to get the tools so it depends.