I installed the new drive, still not reading disks

I bought a new Wii drive from iFixit and installed it. My Wii is still unable to read clean disks.

The drive is rotating the disks, but it is unable to read them. I have dismantled it to check that the connections are good, and they seem fine.

Does the Wii operate with the covers partly off? I am testing with the battery installed, and main cove off to save time.

Thank you!