So, my Dreamcast did a weird “reboot” thing last night ...

[OG_DreamcastGuy]

I’ve had this particular Dreamcast since September, beautiful condition, VA1, Yamaha GD Rom drive, runs like a champ and I’ve been rebuilding my collection. So far so good.

Last night I left VF3 running on its intro/demo loop for just under an hour. I popped my head out the kitchen and noticed that the Dreamcast was back on its boot screen, the blue swirl and the word “Dreamcast” and proceeded to load the game again ... it would get to the SEGA screen (the actual game one, not the first one you see when you boot a game up) and then reset and replay the blue swirl & word Dreamcast animation.

I decided to try another game and put in Crazy Taxi. The game would load fine, get to the title screen, and then seconds into the game demo, boom ... back to the swirl boot screen.

So, I turned the system off for 10 minutes, feeling pretty dejected at this point, and decided to give it another go. Put Crazy Taxi back in and ... no issues. Played it for 20 mins, ran as normal. Then played a full arcade play through of Soul Calibur, a few rounds on PowerStone and finished the evening off with a few races on Metropolis Street Racer.

My Dreamcast sits inside a TV unit, with enough head room to open the lid but there’s games to the left of the unit and the fan outlet on the right is an inch or two away from the inner wall of the unit.

Does this sound like overheating? Was it a glitch? Is it something that’s likely to return and get worse? I know you can clean the 6 pins on the motherboard which connect to the PSU, as well as bend them to the “north” a little if it’s a case of definitely being down to the PSU, but given that it started working as normal after 10 mins of shut down, I’m hoping it just ran too hot and needed a break!

Would really appreciate anyone’s input and advice.

Cheers!

[louis012345678]

I would expect it to be the pins that connect the PSU to the motherboard. I had this exact same issue around a year ago where sometimes it would constantly reset itself but sometimes it would be fine for a few days. I disconnected the PSU, cleaned the pins, reattached the PSU and made sure it was attached firmly. My Dreamcast hasn't reset itself since.

[247]

I had this problem too and solved it the way louis explained and i can assure you that's the solution 99% of times

[Krootox1986]

It not only fixed my reset problem it also hasn't asked me to reset the time and date since I've done it

[OG_DreamcastGuy]

Ok guys, thanks very much for the replies.

I don’t have any rubbing alcohol, are there any alternatives? One YouTube video mentioned using Window/Glass cleaner if you didn’t have rubbing alcohol?

[247]

well i suppose you cant make any harm to the console

Generally i open my dc and clean the pins with a cotton fioc, so i guess windows cleaner plus a cotton fioc will do no harm

[OG_DreamcastGuy]

Opened up, pins cleaned with alcohol wipes and reassembled ... so far so good!

[Nz17]

I'm glad that you haven't experienced any further problems with your Dreamcast. It could be that adjusting the pins and Power Supply Unit helped out.

My Dreamcast sits inside a TV unit, with enough head room to open the lid but there’s games to the left of the unit and the fan outlet on the right is an inch or two away from the inner wall of the unit. Does this sound like overheating?

However, reading this, I believe it would be wise to take a "belt and suspenders" approach to the issue and potential future issue(s). It might have just been a slight disconnect of the pins or such from the PSU. However the Dreamcast, its CPU, its GPU, and/or its PSU might have overheated from work and where it was situated. The more ventilation and heat removal for them, the better. After all, the Dreamcast is a video game console, but people have to remember that that means it is an application-specific computer. Therefore it should be treated and maintained like a computer.

Dreamcasts, like all electronics, prefer open, cool, dry places. Is there somewhere cooler or better ventilated near your television where you can situate the Dreamcast? After all, all good Dreamcast owners want their hardware and software to last as long as possible, and a few precautions can go a long way toward that goal.

Happy gaming!

[Anthony817]

I had a similar problem with mine. I didn't use alcohol though lol, you have to remove the oxidization from the PSU pins by taking sandpaper to them and sanding off the build up. 20 years is plenty of time for that to occur. I have a GDEMU and it needs power or it can freak out if it doesn't get it. I sanded the pins and never had an issue again.

I had some old AA rechargeable batteries not getting a good connection from the same thing. A little sanding to the positive and negative sides of the battery fixed that issue and they charged better as a result too.