Dreamcast-Talk.com

Oh man, what a mess this thread was...

Still, if anyone ever gets to it through a Google search, I'd like to give them a little more information.

Last week I fixed two Dreamcasts for someone. One of them was the laser.

As I like to do things the right way I again used a multimeter to check the original setting, which was around 620 Ω. With a little screwdriver I lowered the resistance. A few small turns and it was at around 550 Ω. Then I did one more very small turn, and this time I got to see exactly why I use a multimeter. That small turn -no bigger than the previous turns which lowered the resistance about 20 Ω to 30 Ω at a time- dropped the resistance immediately to somewhere around 120 Ω !!! At that time I obviously didn't turn the console on and turned the screw back a touch.

THIS is exactly why I use a multimeter. I don't care how many consoles one has fixed without one. Not using a multimeter is taking a risk. Just like having unprotected sex with 200 girls without complications does not make you immune to contracting something the 201th time. If that analogy makes any sense... ... ... Ok, I'll go get me coat then.

Inconsequential as it seems now, I discovered that one of the GD-ROM discs I owned (which never worked since I got it in 2009) had been suffering from disc rot the entire time. Specifically this is a PAL copy of Chu Chu Rocket, whatever difference that makes. It seems to me like I practically destroyed the disc drive of the first DC unit I acquired for no real purpose, although I still can't fathom the rebooting issue.

Perhaps this could all have been avoided if I had waited until I was more mature before collecting this stuff, but then it would have also become more expensive.