I am using Panasonic made in Japan DVD-r's with my new Viper mod and I keep getting "An error has occured" messages when I try to play my backed up games. I guess Panasonic's are no good, so can anyone recommend here an american based media website that sells a brand that is 100% compatible with Gamecube? Mini DVD-R's only please.

Thanks, as I really don't wanna go the route of messing with the laser.

I would try a search here. I remember seeing posts about basically what you said. Unfortunately in your case, what others find useable may not be usable on your specific gamecube. Even though you don't want to adjust the gamecube laser, I beleive you or a buddy should find out what it is set at. The best method to get the cube open is with the pen trick. (The white circular pens with the black ends are perfect. )
Reason being, if you find that most mini-dvdr media is not working, you owuld have saved some time by getting a friend to lower the laser output. It isn't as dangerous as you may think. Having it set to 200 is not dangerous. The problem is, some GCs are actually set too HIGH. Example being the 400's. If your GC was set that high, it would probably have problems running legit gamecube games, let alone DVD-R media.

What do I use to read OHMs on the gamecube laser? like what do I have to go out and buy specificially?

cheap multi-meter from radio shack should be fine. ps2ownz has a good guide.

Get Ritek G04 they are the best.

Yes, i always used G04 dye. I used Traxdata mini DVD-R (made by ritek).

Uploaded for you
POT adjustment tutorial: http://rapidshare.com/files/354839048/POT_...stment.rar.html

used to be big ont he GC scene, poor GC scene is almsot dead now Anyway, heres a pastebin of helpful info on GC image files you might find of use, its a great read.

http://pastebin.com/9XSVRKZs

Check the Rapidshare link in there to download more GC tools. Enjoy.