Dreamcast Woes - Can Anyone Help

RichieB · 04-04-2005, 10:17 AM

Hi All,

Bought a secondhand Dreamcast and all was well for about 2 weeks. Then suddenly games just stop playing part of the way through.

The screen goes blank for a second and then the Dreamcast main menu comes up (with the dancing controller). I press play and it asks me to insert a game disc. All the time it is is trying to spin up and down. Eventually I turn it off and on and it starts to play a disc only for the whole darn thing to happen again in about 3-5 minutes (sometimes less).

I have moved the unit so it can breath better and have tried to clean the lense but no joy.

Units can be bought for about £20 but I would rather not as this was only bought about a month ago.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,

RichieB

harrisuk · 04-04-2005, 10:35 AM

Dreamcasts had a problem where the laser unit can become out of alignment over time causing this sort of problem.

If you do a search for this on Google you should be able to find a guide that explains how to correct the problem. I believe it is relatively easy.

Like you said you can pick them up now for around £20 so not the end of the world if you cant fix it.

buzlightyear · 04-04-2005, 10:37 AM

This also could be a over heating issue, there used to be quite a few incidents of this, so much so that you can buy a cooling fan for it

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?cat...products_id=49

Ive never had a problem but it could happen to any DC. Hope this helps

RichieB · 04-04-2005, 11:35 AM

Thanks guys. I found some info on the laser re-alignment and will give it a go.

Cheers,

RichieB

RichieB · 05-04-2005, 8:25 AM

Hi All,

My Dreamcast died peacefully last night whilst attempting a fix I found on-line. The ribbon came out of the the laser assembly and despite an hour of trying to get it back in it is now a folded mess.

Off to Gamestation before a try on the forums classifeds...

harrisuk · 05-04-2005, 11:34 AM

Whoops sorry to hear that. You can pick them up on ebay for £20 with games accessories etc.....

Tejstar · 05-04-2005, 2:03 PM

Sorry to hear that. I’ve had mine since launch and it’s still going strong!

harrisuk · 05-04-2005, 2:05 PM

Yep same here. Going to get a mint boxed one as backup though. They can be picked up for pennies now.

I am actually going to start a thread on this as I have got back into mine recently in a big way. There are so many quality titles for it, I cant believe it falied with only the PS1 and N64 for competition.

The top titles on this thing via VGA still look so much better than anything the PS2 was ever able to turn out.

AML · 05-04-2005, 2:35 PM

Ive got 2 DCs and the one I use is still going strong. I have the 2nd one as a back up! Thats how much i love my DC.

Still the best machine of this 128bit generation!

I love capcom and they supported that machine untill its last days. Same for Sega.

I kind of hate Sony for stealling the DC's thunder.
I hope MS, Sega, Capcom and all the others put Sony out of business with the Xbox 2!

RichieB · 05-04-2005, 3:39 PM

Hopefully a fellow forumite has got one for sale - fingers crossed

Otherwise it's either fleabay or Gamestation. I absolutely love the games I have for it especially. I have a combination of a DVD habit and a 1 year old contending for finances and affections

so I don't want to be tempted into getting the 'latest and greatest' releases. There are more than enough games out there to keep me going for years!!!