Dreamcast driving me nuts.

Steve X2

I have a Dreamcast and am having serious problems with the drive. It worked fine for years as these things do but in the last 6 months I need to keep calibrating it all the time to get it to play discs and even then it plays some and not others.

Anyone know of a way to fix this?

CiDeRmAn

Perhaps a new gd-rom drive is warranted?
Retromachines with moving parts will wear them out over time.
Replacement is inevitable I guess.
Adjustment to compensate will only work for so long.

Myrddin

Or if your getting rid of it, let me know, I'm looking for a dreamcast

yrwhu8jxtni06a

Nope,the dc is notoriously sensitive to disc scratches/blemishs,suggest you try few back ups first and go from there,guide here about all calibration etc-

http://retro-hack.blogspot.com/2010/06/sega-dreamcast-laser-calibration-guide.html

Myrddin

Sariyah Shy Mill wrote: »

Nope,the dc is notoriously sensitive to disc scratches/blemishs,suggest you try few back ups first and go from there,guide here about all calibration etc-

http://retro-hack.blogspot.com/2010/06/sega-dreamcast-laser-calibration-guide.html

A pot adjust is normally just a temporary stopgap before the diode burns out altogether...it might work for a bit, but I've always found its never a permanent solution.

Steve X2

I've been calibrating it for 6 months so I guess a new one is in order. I can adjust the pot and it will allow some discs to load but then other do not(backups and originals). It's a real pain and I even opened up a sealed game to test a brand new disc and still the same.

I guess I'll just need to grab a new drive from another dreamcast. In fairness this one has served me well. I got it on the very first day they went on sale in ireland in 1999.

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

I've been calibrating it for 6 months so I guess a new one is in order. I can adjust the pot and it will allow some discs to load but then other do not(backups and originals). It's a real pain and I even opened up a sealed game to test a brand new disc and still the same.

I guess I'll just need to grab a new drive from another dreamcast. In fairness this one has served me well. I got it on the very first day they went on sale in ireland in 1999.

Well if you come across a dreamcast for breaking, I need a mobo for one, I've two spare GD-rom units you can have one if you get me a mobo

Steve X2

EnterNow wrote: »

Well if you come across a dreamcast for breaking, I need a mobo for one, I've two spare GD-rom units you can have one if you get me a mobo

Ok I'll let you know if i come across one.

polyfusion

I've had a bit of experience with DCs, and have always been suspicious of the "calibration fix" (and the "bending the motherboard pins" for resetting DCs for that matter). I've seen symptoms similar to those described on units "fixed" by adjusting the pot on a few of my own units, and it's always been down to a failing power board, specifically the 3.3V, but the other voltages drift as well, so it's my thinking that the 3.3V drifts beyond a critical level for the functioning of the GD-ROM before the 5V or 12V.

My thinking has been backed up by transplanting boards between units, and seeing if a symptom travels with the board or not.

Could well be the GD-ROM that's on it's way out, but I'd be inclined to check the power board voltages before condemning any other board in a DC. If it is the power board that's going bad, and the GD-ROM is/was ok, I don't know what would result in applying the correct voltage to a GD-ROM unit that's been adjusted, but I reckon there's a reason why the pot has some resin/glue in the recess for the screwdriver.

Steve X2

Well I've adjusted the laser again and got it to play one game and one game only, Crazy Taxi. I think I'll leave it at that until I get another Dreamcast. Not a bad game to have playable

I have to say that the Dreamcast version of Crazy Taxi still looks decent. I have it running on a LCD Monitor via the DC VGA Box.