Sega Dreamcast repairs ?

[lwizardl]

hey guys I have 3 American Dreamcast systems that are having problems. I was wondering if anyone here has had these issues and maybe knows what is wrong with them.

System 1: no video, no audio, untested rest.
this system when hooked up powers up and has the orange light, but nothing else happens.

System 2: laser bad, audio issues, and port 1 issue
put in a disc and it spins but then says insert game disc error. no matter what game I put in it same thing, I tested 4 games to see if maybe the games was bad. I also have audio issues where sometimes the audio is good sounding and then spots where it loses audio. control port 1 seems loose also.

System 3: laser bad, port 2 issue
same disc error as system2, control port 2 seems loose and the controller stops working is the port is moved some.

Any ideas on these guys ?

[Cooleo]

This made not help but helped fix one of mine. Get a vacuum with a nossle on it which has a brush on it, and vacuum the insides.

[FellipeBr]

Don't know if can help, but my DC sometimes don't have Video & Audio, its all bad contact in the cable...

[lwizardl]

cooleo: I will give it a good cleaning and see what I found out.

Fellipebr: I don't think its the cables all 3 video cables work on the only working dreamcast I have.

[hl718]

Not recognizing game disc = bad laser.

-hl718

[lwizardl]

where is the best place to get replacement lasers at for drwamcasts ?

[hl718]

With the price of used Dreamcasts, just scavenge one from CL/eBay for cheap.

Replacement GD-ROM parts are all sold with arcade ops in mind and as such will cost you more than it's worth to you.

-hl718

[raylyd]

try http://www.leftcoastgames.com/console_repair.php?osCsid=6946b2ab5bbc1fae82448e22 edead25e

[emu_kidid]

take the laser from System 1 and stick it in System 3 :P

[alecjahn]

Always make sure the AV-out port is clean. I worked on a stack of Xboxes that all had a horrible oxidation on all the ports, and thus wouldn't do very much until I scraped the contacts clean. Just be careful, but it's worth a quick look, at the very least for the first unit, assuming it at least spins up and makes noise in addition to the light.

Surely at the very least, these all can be combined into one good working one? Especially the laser pickup unit, assuming they're all the same model (1 or 2). Maybe all the controller ports are spiffy on the first one, as well?

[thomj]

the link's dead and the wayback machine say's it's experiencing problems and to try again later but try sticking this

http://www.geocities.com/dcentraltutor/

in this

http://www.archive.org/

and hopefully you can sort out your laser issues

[l_oliveira]

A common mistake people do is fasten long screws on the holes that hold the drive assembly to the motherboard. In one of the holes, that causes damage to the motherboard right in the place where the SH-4 chip connects to the Power VR chip. Resulting in a nasty black screen. Such damage cannot be repaired by normal means.

[raylyd]

if your in the us send to theses guys they still repair dreamcasts
http://www.sega-parts.com/ for usa only

[maxim2boobles]

buy a new system from amazon or ebay

[ASSEMbler]

shotgun shells work wonders!

At the very least save the control ports and laser assembly.

[-=FamilyGuy=-]

hey guys I have 3 American Dreamcast systems that are having problems. I was wondering if anyone here has had these issues and maybe knows what is wrong with them.

System 1: no video, no audio, untested rest.
this system when hooked up powers up and has the orange light, but nothing else happens.

Check if the fan is connected properly, try swapping it for another one. An unconnected fan puts the DC is overheating protection, which mean pretty much anything is powered off beside the orange/blue LED.

Hope it helps!

FG

[Cooleo]

I know it may sound stupid, but I've fixed several dreamcasts by getting a vacuum with a brush end on it (the circular type) and vacuuming the whole thing over. I don't know what this does, but it works great at times.

[Storm]

I know it may sound stupid, but I've fixed several dreamcasts by getting a vacuum with a brush end on it (the circular type) and vacuuming the whole thing over. I don't know what this does, but it works great at times.

Well, I wouldn't say stupid, but it's a risky way to clean your Dreamcast. As long as you do it to an unopened DC you should be fine, but if you vacuum the unshielded MB you risk frying something with static. The risks with static electricity are often exaggerated, but they exist and you shouldn't tempt Murphy without good reason.

If you suspect grime is clogging up the fan of something, get a can of compressed air and use that instead.

[Metro Spy]

I know it may sound stupid, but I've fixed several dreamcasts by getting a vacuum with a brush end on it (the circular type) and vacuuming the whole thing over. I don't know what this does, but it works great at times.

Dreamcasts are a bit funny sometimes and it wouldn't surprise me if just taking all the parts out of it and putting it back together would have been enough to fix it. That said I don't recommend vacuuming. Definitely pick up some compressed air instead!

[l_oliveira]

Another common issue, mostly on the heatpipes model Dreamcast (VA0) is that it accumulates a lot of heat on the secondary portion of it's power supply, ruining the electrolytic capacitors.

The result is erratic behavior, crashes or fails on boot which suddenly vanish when you replace the power supply.

Another common issue related to the power supply: Bad contact on the pins that connect the power supply to the main board.