Laser question

[yankeesfan]

My V4 NTSC with a No-solder using Gameshark and DMC for booting. This set up worked fine for about 3 months when suddenly I couldn't boot DVD-R's most of the time. 8 out of 10 tries would freeze at the "updating codes" screen. I could tell something was wrong because after the DMC swap I could now hear "clicking" type sounds when before there would be silence after the DMC swap after about 12 seconds.
Anyway, I now use the Swap Magic disc's instead of the Gameshark and DMC and the laser boots everything!! I am confused. Why would this happen? It was a heck of a lot cheaper than a new laser. Hope this can help someone else too. Thanks.