Dreamcast lens replacement - did you have to calibrate yours?

Leprekaun

Hey lads! I received a new laser a couple days ago. Its the R48 one which should compatible with my DC as my old laser has a reference to R48. Anyway, after my brother delicately handling everything and replacing the laser, I switch on my DC only to find that it has the problem where it gives the disc a quick spin and menu says "please wait, checking disc" then stops spinning and goes back to the menu.

So what I wanted to ask is, have any of you replaced your laser and then had to adjust it with the laser calibration trick? Thanks

97i9y3941

Theres guides on google,enter "calibrate dreamcast laser",try it at your own risk of course....

one example here

http://www.ilovetheinternets.com/2004/04/23/dreamcast-laser-calibration-trick/

trout

Fred83 wrote: »

Theres guides on google,enter "calibrate dreamcast laser",try it at your own risk of course....

one example here

http://www.ilovetheinternets.com/2004/04/23/dreamcast-laser-calibration-trick/

Hope it works without the ferret

CiDeRmAn

Sounds like a feckin nightmare tbh

97i9y3941

alot of earlier stuff you would had to do that,since the laser wasnt designed in long term to read cd-r's,also was just a sign your comp was on the way out if you had to adjust the laser strength...

polyfusion

I've bought "faulty" DCs before, showing similar problems, and most turned out to be issues with the connection between the power board and the pins on the motherboard. A clean of the pins usually sorted it out. You'll see "fixes" on t'internet saying to bend the pins, but if you look at how the pins connect with the power board, it's pointless, rubbish. What I've seen is that with heating up during operation at these pins, there is some movement and expansion going on, and maybe some oxidation, so the contact becomes impared. IIRC, this was usually the issue with a resetting DC, but I think I've seen it with a DC that couldn't read the disk.

One exception was a faulty power board, the voltages at those pins were bad/incorrect. Three main voltages off that board are supposed to be 12, 5.5 and 3 IIRC, and I think the 5.5V is the one supplying the laser, so if the voltage isn't around 5.5, then this could be your problem. It's a better bet than the one above.

I think the laser calibration "fixes" are a load of rubbish TBH. It's probably down to bad voltages. You could end up ruining a perfectly good laser board messing with the "calibration screw".

If you have the DC open, give the lid switch a blow too, just to clear any hair/dust that might be effecting it's operation.

Are you using genuine GD-ROMs?

Leprekaun

Yes. I've decided to send it down to console-repairs Ireland as they'd know more about than myself.