The Sega dreamcast.

[Wrath Of Khan]

I wonder if that would have helped with my issue when I burned several copies of Half-Life before it worked.

Yeah, it's tricky burning discs too. Two of my indie cdr games have both simultaneously stopped working. Other indy games also on cdr work fine. Gdroms work fine.


Unless the discs both died on the same day?


It's annoying, I may have to repurchase these games in the future as I like to collect dc games.

 

[LuSimon]

@LuSimon  I am not sure, but do you know about this?


http://www.instructables.com/id/Dreamcast-cd-reading-issue-repair/


Tweak to a potentiometer sensor which adjusts how much power the laser can use.


It's fixed a few peoples' DC's but think it is more for those not reading discs at all, so perhaps not going to fix your issue where just the one disc gets affected, but thought I'd mention it

I already tried that repair, but unfortunatly it didnt do anything.


However, after a few more playsessions untill I got the disk warm, I can actually play the game without any iissues at all!


I do think that it just needed some intense use to get it working well...


But I still have to check it better.

 

[LuSimon]

I just played again and the issue still continues and now I can tell what the warning says:  "Disk could not be read, Please Check the Disk for dust and scratches"


On the dreamcast-talk forum there was even a guy that had the same issue I have and we compared our Disk model number in the cnter of the cd wich is:   MK-51035-0102SS.


I will post the forum topic for anyone experiencing the same issue: http://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=7744&start=10

 

[levi]

FWIW, my copy of Crazy Taxi has exactly that code too, and last time I checked it played fine.  I think that's the standard code for that game, at least for all the ones pressed at EMI Holland.


I'd guess the music is stored in something like standard CD audio, so that the game doesn't have to do much processing on it to play it.  It's just like an old CD player or a scratched disc not playing smoothly.  The potentiator trick might help there, if cleaning the disc doesn't.  You could also try using a CD drive cleaner, in case the lens is dirty.  If there's a problem with the head motor or the spindle motor then you're looking at a replacement drive, but if other games play fine, then it's probably the laser.


Also, try playing a music CD on it.  Does that play smoothly all the way through as well?

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

FWIW, my copy of Crazy Taxi has exactly that code too, and last time I checked it played fine.  I think that's the standard code for that game, at least for all the ones pressed at EMI Holland.


I'd guess the music is stored in something like standard CD audio, so that the game doesn't have to do much processing on it to play it.  It's just like an old CD player or a scratched disc not playing smoothly.  The potentiator trick might help there, if cleaning the disc doesn't.  You could also try using a CD drive cleaner, in case the lens is dirty.  If there's a problem with the head motor or the spindle motor then you're looking at a replacement drive, but if other games play fine, then it's probably the laser.


Also, try playing a music CD on it.  Does that play smoothly all the way through as well?

So if there was a problem with the dreamcasts laser some games might play whilst others might not? I ask because my dc is refusing to play last hope, neo xyx and fruit 'Y'. At first the dc was only reseting with these games. It would reset at the sega logo on an infinite loop. Other games worked fine.


Now it seems to be developing the infamous hardware reseting problem as it's reseting with other discs too. Any ideas?


I'll try and fix the hardware reseting problem for a start, I guess.

 

[levi]

I'm not an expert on DC failure modes, but all the info I can find would point towards the connection between the PSU and the logic board.  This video seems to go through the right steps toward fixing that problem (I've not listened to the audio on this video yet FWIW).










I guess there's some buildup causing a bad connection, which is causing your logic board to brown out if it tries to draw too much current momentarily, which is why some games work and some don't.  This is a different issue to LUSimon's game audio problem, I think, though it may be worth him checking out that connection in case power to the GD drive is problematic.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

I'm not an expert on DC failure modes, but all the info I can find would point towards the connection between the PSU and the logic board.  This video seems to go through the right steps toward fixing that problem (I've not listened to the audio on this video yet FWIW).










I guess there's some buildup causing a bad connection, which is causing your logic board to brown out if it tries to draw too much current momentarily, which is why some games work and some don't.  This is a different issue to LUSimon's game audio problem, I think, though it may be worth him checking out that connection in case power to the GD drive is problematic.

I'll look at the video tomorrow and see if i can rectify the problem.

 

[LuSimon]

FWIW, my copy of Crazy Taxi has exactly that code too, and last time I checked it played fine.  I think that's the standard code for that game, at least for all the ones pressed at EMI Holland.


I'd guess the music is stored in something like standard CD audio, so that the game doesn't have to do much processing on it to play it.  It's just like an old CD player or a scratched disc not playing smoothly.  The potentiator trick might help there, if cleaning the disc doesn't.  You could also try using a CD drive cleaner, in case the lens is dirty.  If there's a problem with the head motor or the spindle motor then you're looking at a replacement drive, but if other games play fine, then it's probably the laser.


Also, try playing a music CD on it.  Does that play smoothly all the way through as well?

Music CD's play very smoothly and without problems, I will have to see what I can do, thanks for the help!


Could you tell what the potentiator trick is? I've serached it and I found nothing, I never used a CD drive cleaner so I should also try that someday.


And yes, my GD-Rom was also pressed at EMI Holland... it's really odd the issue I'm having.

 

[TrashyMG]

Could you tell what the potentiator trick is? I've serached it and I found nothing, I never used a CD drive cleaner so I should also try that someday.

You literally adjust the potentiometer until it reads properly, on mine it took a bit of fiddling, checking and trying again: http://shibathedog.1emu.net/gd_rom_align.htm

 

[levi]

I'd advise taking a good note of where the pot starts up, since it sounds like the sort of thing I'm forever fiddling with and only managing to make things worse.  But if you can line it up with where you started, you shouldn't be able to do that.


And apologies, I'm so used to calling them 'pots' that I forgot what the long word version was.  Trashy is right, that's the spelling I meant.


And try the power board trick.  AIUI the resetting problem is one of the biggies, suggesting that this connection gets dodgy over time, and I hypothesise it's possible that a failure there might just cause the problems you're having.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

Prototype Dreamcast found http://www.seganerds.com/2015/11/27/pixn-love-reveals-dreamcast-prototype-photo/


It seem the guys who received this console are also working on a history of Dreamcast book, sounds exciting.

 

[levi]

Interesting.  Looks like a very late prototype, and may even just be a mockup with no electronics inside to explore design possibilities.


I'm also not sure about that logo.  Planet Sega was an arcade inside a bowling alley in west London, so I doubt it's referring to that.  Not that that used that 'Planet S' logo.

 

[WizardStan]

All of Sega's consoles had planet codenames. Except apparently the Dreamcast? Or maybe it was codenamed "planet" in addition to white/black belt?  Eh, who knows what secrets they didn't tell anybody.

 

[levi]

They had planet names up until the Saturn.  I guess the next planet along stopped that approach at least in English-speaking territories


If I recall my Sega history correctly, there were two projects in development to supercede the Saturn; the failed one was codenamed Blackbelt, while the one that went on to become the Dreamcast started out as Whitebelt, before being named Dural before becoming Katana.  It's possible it had another codename along the way, but quite a lot of research has been done into this period of history and I've not come across another name.


If it is just a display mockup, the art department could've come up with their own name to put on it I guess.  There's probably a lot less paperwork for that sort of project, and parts of it like that could've been outsourced too, I suppose.

 

[LuSimon]

Guys, after all the good tips everyone gave me I haven't yet found something that could fix my problem with the crazy taxi GD-ROM. (I also didnt try every reapair trick suggested by some of you).

However I need a litle help in something I wanna try, I already tried to do the potentiometer trick 2 times without any luck, to check if the laser is the issue, problem is no matter how small a screwdriver is or even a tweezer is, I never get to turn the damn red screw thingie, plus I swere that it never moved an inch and I think I may have damaged it a little bit while trying but it's not anything special as far as I know, still any suggestion on how to do it better?

I'll also remind that I have a PAL model, so it has diferent components from the north american dreamcasts. Unfotunetly most repair videos out there are from NTSC machines and even on most websites it is the same thing.

 

[rygD]

My guess is that trying to move it an inch or more is not a good idea.

I don't know what the screw looks like, but maybe you can try to (carefully) use a razor blade or something like that if it fits. If the issue isn't due to screwdrivers and tweezers not fitting maybe someone with experience messing around inside a DC can offer more ideas. Just curious, did you try jewellers screwdrivers or larger ones?

 

[LuSimon]

Yes! I used a pack of jewelers screwdrivers that I have around my place, I also tried to used other bigger screwdrivers.

Now that I think about, I've read somewhere that the red varnish around the screw was made to make the screw more stuck in it's position, so what I'll try to do is to use a scalpel and then see if I can cut the red varnish and if it makes turning the screw any easier.

Problem right now is that I'll have to buy a scalpel, cause I dont have any and it's a very delicate task, since if I mess things up it will be one more dreamcast that won't stay in posteriority...

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

Yes! I used a pack of jewelers screwdrivers that I have around my place, I also tried to used other bigger screwdrivers.

Now that I think about, I've read somewhere that the red varnish around the screw was made to make the screw more stuck in it's position, so what I'll try to do is to use a scalpel and then see if I can cut the red varnish and if it makes turning the screw any easier.

Problem right now is that I'll have to buy a scalpel, cause I dont have any and it's a very delicate task, since if I mess things up it will be one more dreamcast that won't stay in posteriority...

This is how I destroyed my last dreamcast- that damn screw is wafer thin and not an actual screw. It gets warped when you mess with it. I think its bullshit those that say it works by adjusting this screw. I have a similar problem with my new DC, I'll be taking this one to a console repair shop.

 

[TrashyMG]

This is how I destroyed my last dreamcast- that damn screw is wafer thin and not an actual screw. It gets warped when you mess with it. I think its bullshit those that say it works by adjusting this screw. I have a similar problem with my new DC, I'll be taking this one to a console repair shop.

I know it does work I fixed two of my Dreamcasts this way, it's just requires extremely fine adjustments to knock it back into reading correctly. There are two types of problems that can make it not read properly, one is that potentiometer issue, another could be a breakage in the flex cable.

Ideally you would use a nylon adjuster tool like this:

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

I know it does work I fixed two of my Dreamcasts this way, it's just requires extremely fine adjustments to knock it back into reading correctly. There are two types of problems that can make it not read properly, one is that potentiometer issue, another could be a breakage in the flex cable.

Ideally you would use a nylon adjuster tool like this:

The potentiometer can be used instead of adjusting the screw? I'm gonna take mine to a console repair shop- they repair ps2's, gamecubes etc but no mention of the dreamcast; I guess they will manage. I cannot read some CDR discs and seems random as to what ones it will and will not read.