Dreamcast troubles

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Paul Campbell

Dreamcast troubles

Postby Paul Campbell » April 10th, 2005, 1:45 pm

My friend just gave me (!) his Dreamcast with 4 controllers, the Interact fishing controller, and about 20 games, but something wierd is happening. On most games, especially the ones with the FEWEST scratches on them, the machine constantly tells me it is checking the disk, over and over again. And once in a while it will work, usually on the games that looked like I ran a Brillo pad across them. Any help?

mappy mouse pd

Dreamcast troubles

Postby mappy mouse pd » April 10th, 2005, 3:22 pm

Maybe those games that look like they're scratchless are resurfaced. If they were bought used, that's usually the case. The Dreamcast has problems with resurfaced discs.


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VideoGameCritic
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Dreamcast troubles

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 10th, 2005, 3:42 pm

I think it's a problem with the Dreamcast itself. For some reason, the laser is very sensitive and does not age well. I've had issues with my Dreamcast not reading perfectly good disks before. I would test the disk on a second Dreamcast if one is available. I think some disks are easier to read than others, even when new.

blaster

Dreamcast troubles

Postby blaster » April 10th, 2005, 6:46 pm

Here's a trick: Turn the Dreamcast upside down to load games with alot of scratches. I do that all the time to load Fur Fighters and then the game will run just fine.

Space Guppy

Dreamcast troubles

Postby Space Guppy » April 11th, 2005, 3:13 am

It's actually the hardware. On earlier versions of the DCs the power contact on the board was precariously placed near the elements on the laser, causing an overheating problem and abberations with graphics and reading discs. Over time the heat will cause some spurrious functionality as you mentioned. You may want to consider getting a "newer" DC with a higher serial number, although there are workarounds documented on the web if you're good with a soldering iron

Emu Dan

Dreamcast troubles

Postby Emu Dan » April 11th, 2005, 9:35 am

The first Dreamcast I bought brand new, only worked for a few days before it stopped reading any discs.  I returned it and the second one has worked fine for almost 4 years now.

Dan

Sudz1
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Dreamcast troubles

Postby Sudz1 » April 14th, 2005, 10:10 am

I have owned *3* Dreamcast systems, and still have two of them. That's one hell of a friend you have there, you owe him some serious beer! I will say though that all the DC systems I've owned have exhibited this behavior to varying degrees - does it sound like it's not even trying to spin the disk? I've never really found a good solution to the problem, it just kind of comes and goes at random times and seems to happen more with certain games than others. I'll try that turn-it-upside-down trick next time though.
Sudz

sega saturn x

Dreamcast troubles

Postby sega saturn x » April 15th, 2005, 11:35 pm

I have been relativley lucky as far as freezing goes and you know your eye could just be dirty.  Try buying an eye cleaning disk there like 10$ and game stop.


Paul Campbell

Dreamcast troubles

Postby Paul Campbell » April 16th, 2005, 2:14 am

It's funny that you mentioned the spinning disk, Sudz, cause sometimes when it is doing this and I open it to change the disk, the disk isn't spinning. I wonder how that changes the diagnosis.


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