Dreamcast-Talk.com

I've been trying to troubleshoot this for a while, my Dreamcast instantly turns off and refuses to turn on for a couple minutes when I turn it on. If I take out the disk drive, it works fine. It also works with a drive from another system.
I've taken the drive apart, and it still doesn't work with just the drive board in, so I think that's the issue, but I don't know whats wrong with it.

Is this drive from a system you got recently, or is it from a system that worked fine until now and it only started doing this recently?

Also, just out of curiosity: does this drive behave like this if you put it in other systems as well, or only in that 1 console?

I got it not working
When I put it in another console it has the same problems

Is the gd-rom board the same design/revision as your other gd-rom boards? There was a version that used 3.3v, and there was another that used 5v, I was told they are not interchangeable (or at least it's not recommended due to the difference in voltage).

The 3.3v versions is easy to recognise as it's written on the top of the gd-rom metal case while the 5v doesn't say anything aboult voltage. This thread has pictures of both versions: https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/vi ... 42&t=10104

Or if you look at the PCBs themselves, they have quite a different layout.

Tarnish wrote:Is the gd-rom board the same design/revision as your other gd-rom boards? There was a version that used 3.3v, and there was another that used 5v, I was told they are not interchangeable (or at least it's not recommended due to the difference in voltage).

The 3.3v versions is easy to recognise as it's written on the top of the gd-rom metal case while the 5v doesn't say anything aboult voltage. This thread has pictures of both versions: https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/vi ... 42&t=10104

Or if you look at the PCBs themselves, they have quite a different layout.

You mean the last model? If yes, that drive is physically not compatible with the previous models if I'm not mistaken...

They both say 3.3, so unless for some reason someone swapped out the shells I doubt it's an issue

If all the gd-rom boards are the same revision, then sadly that's where my knowledge ends. I also have GD-rom boards that act weird, like one for example starts spinning the disc backward instead of stopping it when you open the lid.

Someone once posted this picture regarding the issue, maybe it's somewhat of a help:

I assume at the top (12V in, 5V out arrows) that would be a voltage regulator that can go bad over time, tho I'm just guessing here.

This could tie in with my problem of someone switching a laser from VA0 or VA2 into your system - read my post in "GD ROM Drive versions".

https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=10104&p=118072#p118072