Nintendo Game Cube Crashing?

flipper28 asks: "I recently purchased a Nintendo Gamecube with Luigi's Mansion for my wife's birthday. I thought with all the hype around the XBox crashing that I would be safe with the competition. As it turn's out, my system keeps crashing, and yes, I have exchanged the games (which IMHO only made Nintendo happy). I am interested if others have experienced the same problem. Is their a manufacturing problem, or did I just get a bad one." I've experienced crashing in the two days I've owned my GameCube, however this centers around replacing the disc with the power on and hitting reset...or something, but I've only had the cube crash at the power-on screen, so it's not been that big of an issue for me. Anyone else experiencing weird behavior on the GameCube?

Comments

Mine works fine...

[jefflinwood]

I've been playing Super Monkey Ball like crazy, and it works fine. I make a point of turning it off when I'm not using it, though. My Orbitron DVD player overheats all the time and refuses to work properly. When I lower the temperature in the room, the DVD player goes back to working normally.

Sorry not to be helpful :)

Bias

[Almace]

My roommate says that his gamecube has crashed once or twice but I hav'n't personally seen it. I'm glad to see slashdot post this since all ive heard out of slashdot is ant xbox sentiment. Consoles have been known to release buggy software so it isn't like this is new.

PS2 too

[repvik]

The Sony PlayStation 2 (great, dammit! :) keeps crashing after a while here... I'm actually on my 6th (sixth) system now, exchanging them as it gets too bad. Got the system software upgraded now too, so I'm hoping this one won't go bad on me.

Re:PS2 too

[welkin]

Hmm. . .I've not yet had a crash/lock-up with my ps2. . .got it a few days after the launch. My old ps1 locked up once while playing Silent Hill 1 & never locked again. Maybe it's just a matter of time for the ps2. So far it's been a model system.

Re:PS2 too

[motorcrash]

I'm with you welkin. Picked up my PS2 on launch day, and I've NEVER experienced a crash. She's been on nearly constantly lately with all of the stellar games out this season, and I'm happy to report no glitches. *knocks on wood*

Re:PS2 too

[EulerX07]

You're on your SIXTH ps2? WTF are you doing? I've had mine since march and we're three roommates and we play/watch dvd constantly on it. Do you keep the ps2 in place where heat can be discharged? The odds of you getting six defects in a row when most people have no problem is slim to none. The only crashes i've had is with NHL2001, which locked up about 3 times in the time it took to play a full season and win the stanley cup with 15 minutes games.

Re:PS2 too

[DragonPup]

If you are on your 6th PS2, then there's something VERY wrong at your end. My PS2 locked up maybe once in 8 monthes, and was fixed by simply hitting the reset button. Seriously, what's the room temp like? And are you blocking the exhuast ports in the back?

-Henry

Re:PS2 too

[repvik]

nope. The room temp is approx. 20-22 degrees celcius.
It sits on is own, dedicated shelf beneath my TV, which has plenty of space on the back. None of the boxes has been mistreated(atleast not by me).
Most of the problems have been with the DVD-player (as far as I have been able to figure out). It doesn't seem like the other hardware fails.

Re:PS2 too

[lukegalea1234]

Strangely enough.. It seems that for the most part I think the ps2 is just plain fragile. I treat my PS2 like a home theatre component.. never move it, etc.. I have had no problems. A friend of mine occasionally moves it, etc.. and he is up to his third..

Perhaps that is the problem..

Re:PS2 too

[lukegalea1234]

That's pretty crippling as far as I am concerned..
I mean.. compare that to a ps-one..

Happend To A Friend

[jsonic]

My friend and I bought gamecubes on the release day from the same store. His has crashed multiple times while playing games, but I've had no problems with mine.

The crashs happened while using different games, which leads one to think that this is a hardware problem.

Re:Happend To A Friend

[Judg3]

Same here, a bunch of us from work all bought units the same day (about 10 of us) out of that, 4 have serious crashing problems while the other 6 (including me) dont have any problems. 50% of the machines seem to have problems, not good.

Re:Happend To A Friend

[damiam]

50% of the machines

4/10 is 40%, btw.

Re:Happend To A Friend

[Shabazz]

That's being nitpicky. 10 units is not a large enough sample to get an estimate. Would you say 44% if it was 4 or 9. I think 50/50 is a pretty good figure given what he's seen.

GameCube Problems?

[ebooher]

I purchased my GameCube after the midnight mark at a local 24 hour retailer. I was at my cousin's and playing the system, regretably only with Luigi's Mansion, by 01:00. They hadn't received their shipment of Rogue Leader. Luigi's Mansion, however, is a very good cute little game and I played that until about 04:00 before packing up to go home. Once home, I plugged everything back in and was back at it. It got turned off again around 09:00 so I could go to another retailer and purchase Rogue Leader. I then sat on my behind and played until roughly 20:00 when I went to get some dinner. Didn't notice any crashes or system problems. I unfortunately haven't had a chance to play since, but starting tomorrow it probably will not get turned off. Going to parents for the holiday and will be there with much family. So it's going to get a lot of use. I will let you know if it does start crashing.

No problems here

[lmd]

I bought my Gamecube on Monday night along with a memory card. I've rented Rogue Squadron II, NHL Hitz 2002, and Wave Race: Blue Storm and have had no problems whatsoever. It could be a problem with Luigi's Mansion but I haven't played it yet. What color Gamecube do you have? I bought the black one. Do you have a memory card? Some more information would help us to determine your problem.

Re:No problems here

[ajmarks]

Why should the color of the casing have anything to do with whether or not it crashes?

Re:No problems here

[Colin Bayer]

My guess is that GameCubes with differently-colored casings may have been made on separate production lines, and thus, if one line is bad, it will only affect specifically-colored GameCubes.

Just my $0.02.

Interference maybe?

[Leknor]

I haven't personally tested any of this but since people are getting mixed stability reports maybe it has something to do with external interference. Most people I know, including myself, tend to put all their A/V equimentment in one small area next to their TV and then on each side of the A/V unit is two large speakers. It seems to me this would increase the probablity of seemingly inconsistent crashes.

No Problems Here (JPN)

[r.suzuka]

Hello! I have owned a Nintendo GameCube since it was release in Japan about two months ago. I have used it with multiple games including Pikmin and others and I have not yet seen my console crash. A few of my friends also have this console and they have not reported a crash.

I hope my comments are useful from someone who has owned a GameCube for longer than it has been possible for Americans ^_^

R. Suzuka

Rare case...

[Halcyon-X]

That must be a rare case, or perhaps you're putting it through some abuse. Also, smoking near electronics is never a good idea.

I've got a PS2 from the launch date (30001, and another just recently (the 35001 with GT3 as a pack-in). Both work fine, play all my DVDs, all my old games, all my new ones... There have always been such things as defective systems concerning any electronics, but I can't help but wonder if there might be another factor in your case.

gamecube for the wife

[rfsayre]

She didn't get what she wanted for her birthday, but when "your system" started crashing at least she got what she wanted for the day after.

Why are we only hearing this now?

[Xenex]

The GameCube has been out in Japan for the best part of 3 months. In that time I have not read one complaint about the console crashing anywhere online.

Now that the GCN has been out in the States for a week, and there is now people (well, one person on Slashdot actully) talking of it crashing?

So, what am I supposed to believe? That the console has been flawless for the past 3 months in Japan, yet now crashes on US soil? This Ask Slashdot story is the first I've heard of the GCN crashing, but I guess the repuation around here will be that the GameCube is buggy now.

Personally, someone out there is just making themselves some news. Why don't you just go back to bitching that Nintendo didn't include DVD playback. At least that is based on fact. I mean, DVD playback is essencial in a machine made for playing games...

Rogue Leader Crashing

[catfishmonkey]

I bought the system on Sunday (launch date) with Luigi's Mansion and Rogue Leader. Luigi's Mansion seems to work fine, Rogue Leader on the other hand has issues. At the Battle of Hoth after taking down the AT-ATs the game will lock-up and this high pitched screech comes out of my speakers. I've exchanged the game and still I can't get rid of this problem. I love the Gamecube to death so far and I really hope this is something that can be fixed by exchanging my system for a new one once they're available again.

Update

[flipper28]

Since posting this article, I have exchanged the console and it now seems to be fine. When I contacted Nintendo, they were very keen on me bringing it to their repair center - I opted to the store where I purchased the unit.

All things said, I think the GameCube is a good system and the games are well designed.

Re:Update

[flipper28]

I agree, but time is also a factor and when the Nintendo repair center is an hour away, it becomes less important, since my time is worth more than the unit.

There could be an explaination!

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they were shipped UPS ground?

Re:There could be an explaination!

[xhypertensionx]

I used to load trailers at UPS (college job) and I can tell you that this is an EXTREMELY VALID POINT. The other loaders and I used to beat the fuck out of a lot of packages -- especially if you need a package to squeeze into a wall.

Don't send something UPS ground unless you expect it to be slammed around.

Luigi's Mansion crashed for me

[Triple Helix]

The first time I turned on my Gamecube with Luigi's Mansion, the Game froze after hitting start from the main menu. I've played several times since then, without any crashes at all.

Re:Luigi's Mansion crashed for me

[flipper28]

That's what happened to me - but over a period of time and with more gameplay, it froze more often to point where it was unusable.

I'd return it if it happens a few more times. I've seen this behaviour with bad memory on PC's (usually the chips with the most problems).

Wow!

[Tayknight]

Wow. Where the hell do you find a wife who wants a GameCube for Christmas? You da' man!

Simple Fix

[eric2hill]

Take the CD out, blow on it real hard, hit it lightly a few times, and try again... ;-)

Re:Simple Fix

[flipper28]

swapped the discs - didn't work (see original post) - swapped the units - it worked. A brand new unit should not have significant dust issues.