Dreamcast Flashed with Japanese Cake BIOS V1.031 not playing burned/backup discs

[Scorchio]

Hi all,

Long time lurker first-time poster. (I had a quick look to see if this question has been asked before but couldn't see it, so apologies if this is answered elsewhere)

I decided to pick up a modded PAL Dreamcast that's been flashed with Japanese Cake V1.031 BIOS. The console has been fixed up and refurbished so it's in really great shape and so far every retail game I've played on it has worked fine, no issues so far.

Last night though I decided to try out some of my old backups that I had lying around. They're all self boot games but after turning on the console none of these discs seemed to load past the initial boot screen. I tried booting them using an Xploder boot disc but had no luck with that either.

I tried using the discs on an older un-modded Dreamcast and the discs booted without issue, so the discs themselves seem fine.

Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with the Japanese Cake Bios outside of the basics, I tried finding some guides online but getting info hasn't been as easy as I hoped. I'm aware there are some known issues with backups on the V1.032 bios but as far as I see V1.031 should be fine?

Has anybody else had this issue before? Or would anybody know if there's an option in the system bios that I should be selecting to boot the backup discs?

Thanks in advance!

[pcwzrd13]

It wouldn't be anything to do with the BIOS. The issue is most likely with the laser. When a Dreamcast laser is dying, it will stop reading burned games first and eventually nothing will read. Sorry to break the bad news.

Welcome to the forum BTW!

[Scorchio]

Oh dear, that's unfortunate. I'm no stranger to lasers failing as I've 3 older consoles with failed lasers laying in storage somewhere.

I was hoping since I bought a refurbished system I wouldn't get any issues like this for a while but you can never tell when your purchasing stuff online

I've bought some new CD-R's and will try to burn a fresh disc since most of these older self boot games are nearly 10 years old, I'll see if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the welcome

[Ragfish]

My Dreamcast runs burned games fine, but it's picky depending on the brand of the disc. There are some brands that work almost every time (like Verbatim and Sony) and there are some that give an unusable drink coaster every time.

[Scorchio]

I'm back with an update! So the issue seems unlike other laser problems I've had in the past.

Usually when booting a game it would try to load the disc then go immediately to the system menu.

This time around anytime I put in a burnt disc it starts to load but then the system itself just freezes before it can even get to the system menu. It does this using an action replay disc too.
Too be sure I tried the discs in an older Dreamcast and they booted fine.

So it could possibly an issue relating to the bios or just the kind of discs I'm using? As mentioned before I'm going to get some newer verbatim discs and try burning them using whatever the current recommended method is.

I tried to search and see if anybody else had the issue where the console basically just freezes trying to read the disc, but trying to search Google for "Dreamcast CDR Freeze" is like shooting fish in a barrell haha

I'll update if anything changes, but thanks for the advice so far!

[pcwzrd13]

This time around anytime I put in a burnt disc it starts to load but then the system itself just freezes before it can even get to the system menu. It does this using an action replay disc too.

I can't say I've ever heard of this happening before so unfortunately I don't know what it could be. It could be that the BIOS is corrupted somehow but it seems unlikely. I'd suggest re-flashing it but if you can't read burned discs, there's no way you can do that.

[Scorchio]

Yeah it certainly seems odd, rare to have an issue somebody else hasn't already solved on the internet.

Thankfully I'm not too bothered since I can still use them on my old unit and the main reason I bought a modded unit in the first plaace was just for the region free and video bypass convenience, it's working fine with retail releases which are what I use 95% of the time so it's fine!

I'll test it with the newer CDRs when the arrive just for curiosities sake, maybe it'll make a difference.

[Ian Micheal]

Some dreamcast cant boot cdr's you may have one of them.. Whats the year model.. Try playing an audio cd see if it skips or plays.. sure fire way. To see if the laser is the problem.. it's what it do.

[pcwzrd13]

Some dreamcast cant boot cdr's you may have one of them..

That's a BIOS restriction. He has a custom BIOS so it doesn't apply.

[mistamontiel]

Aching for limitless BIOS, aching

Over a year since he journaled, I'll be patient