Dreamcast Repairs

Ryo Hazuki

Right forum I guess...

My faithfull dreamcast has finally failed me, the video output is now fecked.

Anyone know of a place that repairs Dreamcasts, or the procedure for dreamcast returns?

silverside

i don't know but it might be more cost-effective (in terms of time and money) to look for a second hand one in buyandsell / on boards. You should be able to pick one up for 50 euro or so.

BLITZ_Molloy

DC's break very easily. At least they're cheap to replace though.

Mine suffers from the overheating/resetting problem. Taking it apart and putting it back together every now and then seems to sort it for a while though.

Best to buy another one, preferably modded because the only PAL games I can find these days are ****e like Tomb Raider: Last Revelation.

the_corpo

mines been doing that reset thing lately too

hmmm

combs

The reset problem can be fixed. I've got guides on how to do it. I'll search for them later.

I reckon the video output problem might be fixable too but I have no idea about how you might investigate it.

Lex_Diamonds

Have any of you got the first run of machines from Japan (the water cooled ones)? I have and mine hasnt started that crap yet.

Ryo Hazuki

Its 2 years old anyway, might take it apart myself, or give it to a person i know who's a repair agent for Sanyo and Philips, and fixes electronic stuff in general.

Actually I might try chipping it,for VCD's emu etc, anyone know of a place in dublin still selling DC self install Chips?

combs

Here's guide number 1 for fixing the reset problem. It's someone else's work though so I take no responsibility for what's in it:

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"So your playing away at some game, and all of a suden your dreamcast re-sets and returns you to the main Dreamcast menu screen, you choose to ignore it the first time, but after a few days the problem gets worse, and eventualy your dreamcast becomes unplayable.
Why is it doing this???
In nearly all cases the re-set problem is caused by two things, Heat expansion of circuit baords inside the dreamcast and poor electrical conections.

This is what happens inside your dreamcast and how it causes your dreamcast to re-set.

As you know the dreamcast takes mains suply voltage straight into the back of the system, and this voltage (240v europe, 110 v america) needs to be stepped down and converted to a stable DC current that the electronic compnents can handle, As the electricity enters your dreamcast it passes through a step down transformer which reduces the voltage, unfortunatly step down transformers generate heat and as things warm up they expand , the step down transformer in the dreamcast is located on a separate circuit board, the main power baord, which is on the left hand side in the dreamcast above the Main mother baord and to the left of the GD rom assembly, this is why the left side of the dreamcast gets warmer.
The main power board is conected to the dreamcast mother board by six aluminium pins, as the power baord heats up it expands dlightly putting presure on the pins and over time this will bend them slightly, resulting in a poor electrical conection that will cause your dreamcast to re-set at random.

This is what you do to fix the problem.
You need the following :
a screwdriver witha + blade
some common sense
and make sure that your dreamcast is out of warranty as the following will void it.

1) Disconnect from the mains, remove all
cables frrom the dreamcast and
any game disc thats inside
2) Remove the modem
3) undo the four screws in the base of the
Dreamcast and KEEP SAFE
4) Remove the lid.
On the left hand side you will see: the
Main power baord, with the GD rom
assembly to the right, the input port
Circuit baord at the base, and in the
bottom left hand side you will seee the
power on/off switch, this switch is
Connested to the power board with a grey
cable , at the power board end of the
cable their is a white conector, grip
the conecter at the base and lift clear.
5) undo the two brass screws that hold the
Power board down and KEEP SAFE
6) towards the base of the power baord you
will see a white conector, it has six
pins sticking out, gently lift the power
board out of the dreamcast and off the
pins.
7) Under the power board there is a clear
plastic insultion sheet DO NOT REMOVE
THIS, IF YOU DO PUT IT BACK.
8) look at the pins and clean any dirt off
them DONT USE ANY LIQUID to clean them
with
9) GENTLY apply SMALL amount of pressure to
pins pushing them towards the back of the
dreamcast DO NOT BEND THEM, JUST APPLY A
SMALL AMOUNT OF PRESSURE
10) Re assemble your dreamcast and the re-
sets should be no more.

The above is a step by step guide to what i did to fix my re-set problem.
DO NOT POWER UP YOUR DREAMCAST WITH OUT THE LID ON, OR YOU RISK A POTENTIALY FATAL (and if not very painful) ELECTRICAL SHOCK."
**********

Here's guide number 2. Again, it's someone else's:

**********
"-My DC keeps resetting itself while I'm playing on it. Help!

It has recently come to light that a few people are having this problem. The first thing to check is that you have sufficient ventilation surrounding your DC usually a gap of around two inches on every side is sufficient, it should also be on a flat clean surface, preferably a shelf (i.e not on the floor). You should also check all connecting wires to ensure there are no loose connections anywhere. If this is O.K then check there is no dust/dirst on the disc or on the laser. If this checks out then it would appear that you have a problem with the internal power supply.

It appears that a common cause of this fault is dirty or loose connections between the power supply and the DC motherboard. To fix this:

Detach the modem from the bottom of the unit, then remove the 4 screws and take the lid off. Now, the circuit board on the left (where the AC supply goes into the back) is the PSU. It has 2 screws in it to hold it to the rest of the kit - unscrew these. Now unclip the wire that snakes around from underneath the left of the PSU board.

Now lift the PSU away from the rest of the machine. It may take a little bit of convincing but not much. When you lift it off, you will find 4 pins which were making it tricky to lift the PSU away - these are the pins you're looking for. Spray some WD40 onto some kitchen paper and rub these pins for a minute or two, making sure to get in between them as well as the outside.

The push the PSU back onto the pins, and re-attach the snake like wire. Replace the two screws, then put the case back and rescrew the case together with it's 4 screws, before finally reattaching the modem.

Thanks to Ant for the above instructions."
**********

It's a common problem and lots of people have had to fix it so don't be afraid to have a go at it.