Dreamcast Help, Laser or something else?

[Reversed]

Last week I picked up a Dreamcast for $10, the only game I have to test is a generator demo game, but when I turn it on, it looks odd like bars across the screen or as if its pulling a piece of the screen, the House of the Dead 2 demo once you get to the 3rd guy it freezes and none of the other games will even boot except for Ready to Rumble, but once I start it I get this odd decompression error, I picked up another game for cheap to test, but returned it because it wouldn't boot it, It would just have this pixelated blocky screen in like green and random colors, the same as the Sonic Adventure demo does on the generator demo, I'd assume it was the laser, but what I find odd is that its able to go through a 30+ cd track, Can any of you help me? I've never owned a Dreamcast till now.

[The-Amazing-Mr_V]

I would start by taking it apart and really cleaning it. Perhaps the slid for the laser needs lubrication as it might not be sliding for/fast enough. Plus a general dusting doesn't hurt.

[Reversed]

What would you recommend to lubricate it in?

[The-Amazing-Mr_V]

I'm sure someone will chime in with something better. But I use white lithium grease.

I spray it on a paper plate and the use a cotton swab to apply the grease. This way you don't get any on anything else. I'm sure there is a youtube guide showing how to better then I can.

[Reversed]

Tried greasing, didn't seem to make a difference though, but was worth a shot.

[Tarnish]

This is just a very wild guess, but maybe it's the GD-rom drive board itself that is dodgy? I ran into this with 2 Dreamcasts so far, where it has no problem playing through an audio CD, yet it refuses to boot retail games that my other Dreamcasts has absolutely no problem booting.

I swap the entire GD-rom drive with a known working one and works just fine, so it's not a motherboard issue. I put the laser pick up into a known working Dreamcast and it works fine, so it's not a laser issue.

So maybe you are having the same issue as well. Unfortunately it's not really possible to troubleshoot without having another working Dreamcast.

[Reversed]

Do you think its possible to fix, or just find another Dreamcast?

[Tarnish]

Since it's beyond my capabilities figuring out what exact component is causing the issue on the GD-rom board, I can't offer any help fixing it. You're safest bet is probably finding another Dreamcast.

Before doing that, it's worth trying cleaning the laser lense and perhaps calibrating the laser as well, if you're up to that task that is.

[Reversed]

Yeah I've tried both already.

[Anonymouse]

At $10 that is a great price for even a broken Dreamcast. Buy another and keep this one for spare parts.