Newly bought Dreamcast has loud hum

[ernamath]

Hi everybody, hoping someone can help me with a simple problem here.

After a long hiatus I dug out my old Dreamcast to find that it won't read discs anymore. So I bought a new one on Amazon.

Each time I load it up, the regular hum it makes (not the disc seeking noise) is very loud. After a half hour of steady play it calms down, to the level where it's only a bit louder than my old Dreamcast. But next time I load the system up, it's loud again, repeat.

So my question is, can I expect this new Dreamcast to quiet down eventually, or is it loud because it's already been used too much? I seem to remember my old Dreamcast being louder once. The seller said the one I just bought had gotten 60 or so hours of use from him, and he bought it from someone else, so no telling how much use it's gotten over the years. My old Dreamcast, by comparison, has seen 200 hours of play, probably more.

Should I go in there with some compressed air and see if it's gummed up or something?

[Gary_b]

Should I go in there with some compressed air and see if it's gummed up or something?

i wonder what is humming? sounds like it might be the GD-rom spindle humming when its spinning the disc. not the laser eye noise. canned air might help, but i doubt it. maybe some oil on the spindle would help?? be careful though, you don't want to fry it by over lubing it.

[Bob Dobbs]

I'd lube it lightly, spin it manually (not plugged in), then let it sit a day after making sure you did a clean job.

[tz101]

I repaired a PS2 console with a similar problem. All I did for the fix was to liberally spray the spindle bearing with silicone lubricant a few times. Be careful not to use anything petroleum-based like WD-40. Petroleum-based lubricants will attack plastics and rubber components. Silicone lubricant is made for plastics, metal, and rubber.

[ernamath]

Thanks for your suggestions.

I wanted to just return the console, but there's an interesting development. I mentioned in passing that I had been interested in trying out some homebrew games, and the seller has fixed onto this point and accused me of ruining the console through playing said games, even though, considering the timeline between when I received the console and emailed him about the noise problem, there's only about a 24 hour period in which this could have happened.

He also claims that homebrew games are illegal; I thought they were legal? As I understand it, people make these things, then either sell or give them away. You buy them, burn them to CD, and play them. Nothing illegal about that, right?

So I have two questions.

1. It would take months of playing homebrew games (which I didn't do; have not yet played a single homebrew game, though I was planning to) to cause damage, right? Not 24 hours, even if I had been playing constantly.
2. Are homebrew games illegal?

[tz101]

The seller is trying to play you like a fiddle to some extent. I have read something on another gaming forum about the brand and quality of CD-R discs actually having an impact on system life. These guys were discussing playing ripped discs on a modded PS2, and mentioned that some manufacturers of DVD-R discs use colored plastic that is more difficult for the laser to "see" through. Thus, the laser sled has to "work harder" to read the burned data on the disc. Here's what it boils down to: How did the home brew developer organize the data on the disc (or how does Nero, Roxio, or whatever burner program you use do this)? Sega probably had an optimized data pattern on their GD ROM discs from the factory. If your burner software puts the boot file far from the music files, and those are across the disc from the game data, then it is possible that you wear out your DC console prematurely due to making the laser sled travel back and forth more than it was designed to do. Someone must have a blog on "optimizing" game data for various game systems, and how to get your image burner software to perform accordingly.

About your legality question: If you have paid the home brew developer for his/her work, then there is nothing illegal about playing those games on your DC. Hope this information is somewhat helpful.

[ernamath]

Thanks very much for the info. In actual fact, I have never either burned or played any homebrew games! This was all potential, to happen later.

The seller is convinced that I'm lying and that the noise damage was caused by playing homebrew games. I'm trying to convince him that even if I had been playing homebrew, it couldn't have caused the noise.

I have referred the seller to this topic and hope he will realize that the console was obviously damaged in shipping.

[Gary_b]

So I have two questions.

1. It would take months of playing homebrew games (which I didn't do; have not yet played a single homebrew game, though I was planning to) to cause damage, right? Not 24 hours, even if I had been playing constantly.
2. Are homebrew games illegal?

question #1
you're not talking about home brew games at all. your talking about pirated games. there are retail home brew games on the market to buy. these games come on pressed CDs and not burned CD-rs. 4 recent examples are DUX, Rush Rush Rally Racing, Last Hope pink bullets and Wind and Water puzzle battles. so to answer this question, no amount of home brew will hurt your Dreamcast. at least it won't hurt it anymore than GD-roms. to go one further its debatable that CD-rs hurt it. we talked about this topic in other threads.

question #2
if they are how are people developing and selling them. again i am not talking about pirated games. im talking about home brew games that are developed from the ground up and then pressed to a CD.


now lets say you that you did play these games. how is this any different than playing a burned audio CD? this seller is just trying to get out of selling you a weak console. it doesn't matter what kind of disc media you tested the console with. it should not have trouble in just 24 hours.

[ernamath]

Wait, I'm confused -- so there are no homebrew games that you just download (after paying for them, or if they're released as freeware) and burn? I thought that the developers often released the games as downloads -- that's not the case? You have to buy them in existing CD format?

Heck, I think I read the wrong article. But you still need a console of a particular region and manufacturing date.

[Gary_b]

yes there is some home brew games and aps that can be downloaded. but you can also buy games too. these games that i spoke of just came out this year.