System no-longer detects burned games

[PotaJoe]

Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place for this, I'm new to Dreamcast stuff.

I got my Dreamcast (PAL Revision 1) from one of my mum's work friends a few years back, and a few weeks ago I decided to start messing around with playing burned games on it.
Managed to get a few burned games running perfectly, but after a few days the system stopped reading burned game CDs entirely. It still reads commercial games, but not burned games.

I read somewhere that it can be temporarily fixed by adjusting a potentiometer somewhere, as well as it potentially being a sign that the laser is dying, but I'm honestly completely clueless on what to do and where to start.

[lozz]

Hey PotaJoe. Yeah this is a common problem which can potentially be fixed by adjusting the potentiometer (turning a screw on the GD-ROM drive in very fine increments). There are loads of videos and blog posts out there explaining how to do this, as well as threads on this forum. Many recommend using a multimeter to measure the resistance, but you can certainly do the job without one - in which case all you'll need is some screwdrivers.

Here's one blog post with instructions you could follow http://retro-hack.blogspot.com/2010/06/ ... e.html?m=1

[PotaJoe]

Thanks for the reply! Doesn't seem too hard, I'll give it a go when I next get the chance.

As a side-note, if/when the laser dies, is there a way to replace the laser/drive without soldering? I have a 2nd Dreamcast with a broken controller port that I'd be alright with using for parts.

[lozz]

No problem. Yes, you can easily swap the drive out for one from another console without soldering. It's just a case of unscrewing the drive and popping the replacement one in, as shown in this video https://youtu.be/hB3NiPsll1M

Obviously when doing this, or the potentiometer adjustment, just be sure to handle things delicately, try not to touch the lens itself, and do your work on a clean dust-free worktop etc.

Good luck!

[Ian Micheal]

Swapping the working controller port over to the one that's broken is even easier then changing the drive.

[PotaJoe]

Yeah but the damaged system is in significantly worse overall physical condition and hasn't been tested since I first got it.

[Ian Micheal]

If you care what it looks like or does it work correct that's up to you i had a half sprayed in paint with stickers on it i found flooded with rain in a dumpster i dried out and used for 11 years. as one of main dev dreamcast in fact it still works lol looks like crap but does it's job.. I dont really care what it looks like it does matter it works correct.. that's up to you.. Ribbon cables get very brittle on the gdrom drives and can tear or break i have had it happen so that's up to you..

[Ian Micheal]

Pretty sure these where made by DARC i could be wrong here is the info

These are images I never shared before. I use it to help me calibrate
Dreamcast reader.

It's common for Dreamcast reader to get bad after some time. However,
the cases I saw could be fixed by calibrating the reader. There is a
screw on the lens block that you can adjust, and depending on what you
do there you'll make it read better or worse. I'm lacking photos at the
moment, so you'll have to look somewhere else for the location of this
screw, and for instructions of how to change them.

What I noticed, is that bad readers have difficulties recognizing multi
session discs (selfboot discs). What also noticed is that it also
depends on where the second session start. Some readers won't work fine
for most releases (where second session starts near the beginning of the
disc), others will have difficulties with discs where session starts
close to the end of the disc (too many CDDA, or big games generated with
bin2boot). If that's your case, calibrating your lens should fix it (I
take no responsability though xD).

These discs can help you calibrating your reader. They're Dreamcast
layout discs with extreme cases: second session starting in the
beginning and in the very end of the disc. If can know if they were
recognized correctly by the noise Reader does. If you keep changing the
reader's screw, you'll notice that there's a point where it recognizes
great the first disc, but won't read the second disc. There's also a
point where the opposite occurs. You'll need to find a point where both
discs are recognized fast, that should be the ideal adjustment.

Since these discs you'll be used as reference, I recommend recording
them on a nice CD-R brand in a moment close to the calibration. I mean,
don't try to use the damaged ones your recorded one year ago on the
cheapest CD-R you could find.

I calibrated my reader twice on my 2000 console during its lifetime,
using these discs on the second time. My Dreamcast is still awesome. I
played for 3/4 years intensively, and used it for all my releases, so
you can have an idea of how long these things can last if you
re-calibrate it.

LOW LBA LOWLBA
FAR OR HIGH LBA HIGH OR FAR LBA

This how you proper adjust your laser not to some random disk
These discs can help you calibrating your reader. They're Dreamcast
layout discs with extreme cases: second session starting in the
beginning and in the very end of the disc. If can know if they were
recognized correctly by the noise Reader does. If you keep changing the
reader's screw, you'll notice that there's a point where it recognizes
great the first disc, but won't read the second disc. There's also a
point where the opposite occurs. You'll need to find a point where both
discs are recognized fast, that should be the ideal adjustment.

Since these discs you'll be used as reference, I recommend recording
them on a nice CD-R brand in a moment close to the calibration. I mean,
don't try to use the damaged ones your recorded one year ago on the
cheapest CD-R you could find.

All these do is boot to the bios logo, then to the bios menu. If you get the bios loading, that's the normal screen and does not start the bios, etc. Don't expect, for example, these disks to do anything. But that allows you to adjust for high and low LBA. but if you can boot both, you can boot all games. Never just adjust it to GDROM or some random burned game, as all you are doing is adjusting it for that type of LBA. Not all have the problem you are facing. The amount of time it spends on the logo screen is also something to notice.

Example all my homebrew releases are extreme's of each ..