Anyone ever dipped their game CDs in boiling water?

You may have heard accounts of copies of DC's Shenmue 2 Euro not booting properly, if at all. Well, my DC was rejecting the 4th disc of the game, and I didn't know what to do next.

That's when I remembered reading somewhere (either online or in print, I don't recall) that some games will work after boiling a pot of hot water, and dipping the game disc into the water, leaving it submerged for less than 5 minutes. Well I tried that on my Disc 4, took the disc out of the pot of boiling water, thoroughly dried it with a t-shirt, booted the game in my DC . . . and sure enough the disc was working again and I was able to finish Shenmue 2.

Has anyone tried this, for DC's or any other system's discs? Do you know why this worked for me? And will attempting this sort of fix damage my games if I need to try it again?

I've heard about it, but I don't think I'd ever have the balls to try it unless it was on a shitty game that was worth nothing to me or anyone on eBay (and I have few of those in my posession) ;)

Damn! That's some crazy shit right there...

I know CD's are durable to the elements and all, but... Damn!

ECM actually recommended boiling or freezing faulty GD-ROMs at one point during the days of his presence in the GameGO! forums. I'd recommend against doing it...it's going to do your games more harm than good. If a disc if faulty, either return it to the point of purchase for exchange while you still can, or get it resurfaced professionally. Anything crazy like boiling, freezing or using a Game Doctor kit will just wreck your discs in the long run. I've tried boiling and the Game Doctor, and ended up with useless, totally non-functioning discs as a result...sob.

I remember when Phantasy Star Online ( I think it was PSO) first came out and everyone was doing it.

Hella crazy.

I tried boiling my piece of shit PS2 that won't play blue discs.





It didn't work.

I've done this a number of times for GDROM Dreamcast games. Yes, I was leery of trying this at first, but it has worked a number of times for me.

It started for me when I'd get Official DC Magazine demo disks that wouldn't boot. I didn't have anythign to lose, so I dropped the game, label-up, into a pan of boiling water. 5-10 seconds is more than enough it seems. It worked!

It worked EVERY TIME with ODCM demo disks. I've also done it with other games. Most recently I bought Bomberman Online at Babbages, it didn't boot up, so I boiled it for 5 seconds, and now it always works.

Why does this work? I assume it's the same principle as the breathe-and-shirt-wipe -- there's dirt, dust, or gunk on a track or two. Boiling removes the substance. It's the only thing that makes sense -- the GDROM surface must allow the laser to read the data underneath, and it cannot if there's a fingerprint or dust on the surface.

I wish I had tried this with Phantasy Star Online -- I bought 2 different ones , neither would boot up. Back then I was afraid I'd ruin the disk and couldn't return it, so I did not boil it, and hence I've NEVER PLAYED PSO. (awaits pity party...). The SEGA helpline suggested my lens might be out of alignment, but no other game gave me problems.

I would also like to tell you that boiling for 10 seconds or less had NO effect on the label or GDROM's appearance at all.

(_)3 Caféman

Well...the plastic used in CD creation is hardly thermo-dynamic...I'd be wary of warping or melting the disks.

Besides, I've never had a problem with booting games, ever.

Been there, done it quite a few times. Mostly with ODCM discs which never worked, so I wasn't out anything if the disc truly died. It's looking like the OXBM discs are having the same problem/solution as well. The primary reason it works? Helps clean the disc, and possibly has something to do with the glue/warpage in the disc. It's fun to put an OXBM disc in your Xbox, hear what sounds like the Millenium Falcon attempting to start up, take the disc out, boil it for 20 seconds, dried, pop it back in the XB, and listen to it purr like a kitten. :) I've never hard to do this for a PS2 or PS1 game. Only DC and Xbox, and normally only with demos...

Yeah, Ive boiled a few games. Usually rental dvds most of the time though. Worked well for me, and they only go in for a moment or two.

Personally, freezing works alot easier. Dont have to go and boil water or anything, just pop it in there for 5 minutes and leave it go. If my games mess up a little I do that. For instance, my GT3 disk woulnt get past the menu screen, put it in the freezer for a moment and it has never caused me a problem since. I think the freezer is a lot safer then boiling personally.

Yupyup...
Freezing worked all the time for me.
...couldn't fix my Shenmue Disc 2, though...

So, if freezing works as well, then it has absolutely nothing to do with "cleaning the disk." I knew that was a garbage claim. This method of correction it totally reliant on the plastic warping.