Really weird GD-ROM issues...

[ragingbaboon38]

Alright, this is a long story, so be prepared. I recently bought a working, good condition Dreamcast. I got a reproduction Sonic Adventure 2 disc and had tons of fun (I'm stuck on Cannon's Core though.) Me, being the curious person I am, opened up the Dreamcast to see what was inside. (Can you see where this is going?) I put it back together and noticed that on the top cover, the corner where the modem is would not go down. I couldn't figure out why the cover wouldn't go back down, so i forced it down and screwed the casing back together, then went to sleep. I woke up the next morning, turned on my Dreamcast, and was greeted with a buzzing noise just about as pleasant as Dr. Eggman. It was coming from my tv. After a while, the video came in, and it was extremely distorted, like something was interfering with it. The Dreamcast was operating normally, though. I took the top cover off, fixed the issue with it not going down, and now there's no buzzing or interference. But now I'm facing another issue. The GD-ROM drive is stuck in some sort of limbo, half working state. I started troubleshooting, running my Dreamcast without its top cover to try some things. When I push the switch down to "close" the lid, the Dreamcast will check the disc. The laser will not move (I think it's in it's starting position though, as it moves when I push it to another position,) and the disc will spin for about three seconds and then stop, and the message will disappear. Clicking "Play" just throws up a "insert game disc" error. So again I unplug the Dreamcast and get to work on the drive. After making sure everything was ok, I tried again, but i didn't screw the drive assembly down, just made sure it was connected to the logic board. The Dreamcast booted to a black screen, stayed there for about 5 seconds, and then the logo suddenly appeared, accompanied by a quiet buzzing sound. (Again, from the TV.) It stayed on the logo and did nothing. I've discovered that the Dreamcast does this when it does not detect a GD-ROM drive. So I screwed the drive down, and tried again. It booted normally. One of the weirdest parts about this is that, as most Dreamcast owners know, the logo will not animate if the console is turned on with the lid open, it will simply appear. But my DC would always animate the logo, even if it thought the lid was open. (I still had the top cover off.) So I turned off my DC, put my SA2 disc on the drive, held the lid switch down, and turned on the console, it booted to the Music menu, but with no spinning disc. I have no clue what I managed to do to my poor Dreamcast, but I hope I can fix it. Maybe one of you people can help me?

[dark]

Some of the screws inside the dreamcast that hold the guts in place are slightly different lengths. People have inadvertently put long screws where short screws should go and ruined traces on the motherboard by basically drilling a too long screw into the board before. I wonder if something like this might be your issue. Does the dreamcast video connection work normally now that you took the case off?

[ragingbaboon38]

I made sure I used the case screws to put the case back on, and the video output works fine when the case is on or off.

EDIT: The GD-ROM is completely thrashed, I accidentally broke the ribbon cable... I'll just buy a new one.

[Nz17]

I accidentally broke the ribbon cable.

Yeah, it is very easy to accidentally disconnect or break or cut or tear the thin data ribbon cable that the GD-ROM drive uses. It is also quite possible to slice your hand with the ribbon cable as well. So everyone, take note, take care, use the right tools for the job, and don't damage yourself and your Dreamcast like I did nine years ago.

[Ian Micheal]

Also dont open a perfect working console to have a look

[ragingbaboon38]

Also dont open a perfect working console to have a look

Unfortunately, I have learned this the hard way. Once my new GD-ROM drive gets here, I'll install it and never open my Dreamcast again.

[Ian Micheal]

Also dont open a perfect working console to have a look

Unfortunately, I have learned this the hard way. Once my new GD-ROM drive gets here, I'll install it and never open my Dreamcast again.

I feel for you I had done the same to 2 ps2's to install modchips back in the day when they cost a lot..