Not recognising disks

[andrewtjb]

Hi

Hoping someone here but be able to help.

Basically, I have a dreamcast I picked up a while ago from ebay and apart from being a bit dusty it was working ok and would read backups fine. I haven’t used it much, but I noticed the fan sounded a little scratchy, so I decided to tear it down and clean all the dust out and this is where the problems started.

After putting it back together it would no longer read any discs so after some troubleshooting, I figured the ribbon cable must have got damaged as I know how fragile they are.

I’ve replaced the ribbon cable with a new one but it’s still won’t read anything all that happens is I get the boot screen the disc spins up for a bit then stops then it just sits at the menu screen. The laser appears to be working as if I move it then it will move back into place when powered on also there’s a red-light coming from the lens during boot.

So far, I’ve permanently soldered the door sensor shut to make troubleshooting easier and I’ve got a multi meter out and tried adjusting the pot, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference.

I’m at a loss at this point about what’s going on with it.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[Ian Micheal]

Dust never hurt a dreamcast big mistake tearing them down when they work .. I would if you have clean the power pins anyways your the 2nd person in week this has happen to.. old saying dont fix what's not broke apply.. Im sorry it no longer works now that sucks a lot..

Sounds like maybe the power unit is not giving enff for the gdrom i maybe wrong but thats pretty common problem try puting a music cd in it see if spin that up and play that

[andrewtjb]

Yeah it sucks wish I hadn't touched it

I tried a music cd but just does the same thing so it seems nothing is being recognised.

I did try wiping down the power pins last night with some isopropyl alcohol but again no change.

I also teared it down again to check for any issues but everything looks fine. Only thing that I've noticed is the fan header is a little loose but seems to work fine.

Is there anyway of testing to see whether the gd drive is getting the right amount of power?

Thanks

[Ian Micheal]

yes this video is good

[andrewtjb]

Thanks.

I had a look at the video and it seems his problem was slightly different as my laser does power on and I can see the red beam.

Anyway I've decided to just order a gdemu clone so fingers crossed that will work without any issues.