Dreamcast-Talk.com

Okay, so I have two Dreamcast consoles out of the 20 odd that I own that have developed a fault when it comes to reading discs.

This isn't anything to do with the lid, nor the lid detector inside the machine, nor it would seem is it the laser itself. The disc will start to spin and then gradually just stop much like it's giving it one puff of juice and giving up, anyone else know about how to sort this annoying error?

Can the GD drive be saved by soldering in a new spindle motor or is it more serious? I figure I can use my other Dreamcast consoles but I don't like to scrap retro consoles due to increased rarity.

Thanks

Wait! You own or have owned over 20 Dreamcast consoles that have all busted on you!?

No, no, no.... I have 20 consoles in total, 18 working ones and two with the above error. I was saying I could use one of these systems but I'd sooner repair the ones the have gone wrong.

Any one help at all?

Sigh, it's like I'm stuck in a time loop...

It's the lens, not the motor. The motor will stop spinning after a few seconds if the laser is not strong enough. The motor will spin at insane speeds when the laser is too strong. So your laser is the problem, not the motor. Only thing you can do is pot tweak the laser. In this case a small turn to the right should do the trick. With a small turn I mean like one or 2 degrees of a full turn. Which means you can barely touch the pot. Best thing is to use a multimeter, measure the initial resistance, and then go from there...

WARNING !!! Do not turn the pot too much too the right, or you will burn the laser out!...