DreamShell Won't Boot Past the DreamShell Splash Screen

[sonicsam41]

Hello! I'm new to the Dreamcast, having picked up an early model on eBay (US Dreamcast with 0 on the bottom). I recently came across this guide for backing up my Dreamcast's BIOS and games, but I'm running into issues when it comes to DreamShell. I picked up a Serial to SD adapter and followed the steps in the guide (getting the files from the DreamShell website, formatting my 32 GB microSD card to FAT32 and placing the contents of the DS folder onto it). I started by using DCSDRip to get the BIOS files onto the card (which worked no problem, so the SD card is detected by the system), and then I turned off the system and switched to the DreamShell bootloader disc that I burned following the video. I was greeted by the DreamShell splash screen (the black background with the red streaks), but it just hung there. I tried pressing buttons on the controller and waiting a while, but never seemed to get past that step. Am I doing something wrong? Any help is appreciated, troubleshooting for DreamShell seems rather sparse and spread throughout different websites.

[fafadou]

You have to format your sd card in fat32 format

- copy the DS folder from here https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/releases
on your SD card
- create a new directory called games for example and put your isos inside (you can create some under directories if you have many games)

You can also join us here :
http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-3986.html

In dc swat forum, in order to have the last updates.

[sonicsam41]

Thank you very much for the reply. I did format the card as FAT32, and still have the problem. My goal with DreamShell is to back up my games (for example, take my Sonic Adventure GD-ROM and back it up to a file that could be used in an emulator). The issue is I can't even get into the DreamShell main interface, it's just stuck at the DreamShell 4.0 splash screen. All the SD card has on it now is the contents of the DS folder. Is there any other step I'm missing?

[deluxux]

Micro SD cards don't work for me and a few others. I think the micro port is a fake. They just reused some SD card reader. Try a full size SD card. Even a micro 2 full adapter should work.

[sonicsam41]

I went and tried a new card, a full size 16 GB SanDisk SD card formatted to FAT32. I put the contents of the DS folder onto the card and tried again. Once again, I got stuck at the DreamShell splash screen. To be clear, I do get past the Sega screen and then it goes to the black and red DreamShell screen, but never further.

Separately from the above attempt, I tried using the disk that came with the adapter, which has the bootloader on it. This one got to the "Checking Devices" screen, but would not pass the first ATA hardware check on its own and would sit there. If I pressed START, it would skip that ATA check and start checking for the SD card. It would (I assume) pick up the SD card and then go to the bootloader screen. My options were "Boot from CD" (which was greyed out), "Boot from RAM" (also greyed out), and "Boot from SD", which was selectable. I would select it, and then it says "Executing..." with a loading bar. Once the bar hits 100%, it transitions to that black and red DreamShell screen and then never proceeds past it, even if I push buttons on my controller.

I'm wondering if there's some configuration I'm missing? To be clear, my Dreamcast console is unmodified (as far as I know anyway, I got it from eBay and have not modified any of the hardware), and it is also revision 0. My understanding is that some rev. 2 Dreamcast are not compatible since they can't read CDs, but I don't have that issue.

[MoeFoh]

Not the first time I've seen Dreamshell via SD Card to not work on a VA0 Dreamcast. Did you try to make a GD-ROM image with DCSDRip?

[sonicsam41]

Thanks all for the input. I'm starting to suspect it has something to do with my Dreamcast being rev. 0. Since DCSDRip also has a GD-ROM dump option, I decided to try that. Once it attempts to dump track 1, the Dreamcast reboots and starts playing the game I was trying to dump. Since these issues were not present on the tutorial video I followed nor could I find them documented online, I'm thinking rev. 0 is hit-or-miss. I ordered a rev. 1 console on eBay and will try again once I get my hands on it. I'll try to update this thread with my findings. Thanks all!

[Ryo_Hazuki]

Hello! Taking advantage of the topic, I have a problem with a black screen after the Dreamshell screen, I can move the pointer using the analog controller.
Card formatted in fat32, 32k and files downloaded directly from the DC SWAT website.

[deluxux]

Just to be clear its /SDCARD/DS/
NOT /SDCARD/ "loose files"

Try my ZIP including RetroDream.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Asu1Er6iW4jLeqEhWl8 ... k?e=t3AX3g

Try this CDI from RazorX its got all files on disc, might help for troubleshooting...
https://mega.nz/file/1BkTyICZ#t62L2wspg ... QAuXd1qDs8

[sonicsam41]

Hi All! Wanted to happily report that the rev. 1 Dreamcast is running DreamShell properly. I also wanted to note that this one did NOT read the CD-ROMs that I burned, and I had to use the disc that came with the Serial to SD adapter. Now with that disc and the contents of the DS folder on the root of my SD card, DreamShell launches and works no problem. Thanks for that hint, @MoeFoh !