Dreamcast-Talk.com

My DC has been running fine for the last few years that I've owned it up until a few weeks ago. It took a while to properly diagnose it but I've found that any activity from the vibration pack when its plugged in causes the entire controller to disconnect from the console before quickly coming back. This is greatly demonstrated in a game such as Ready 2 Rumble Boxing where with every punch that lands, the VMU beeps, the action stops for a moment to show the "a controller/VMU has been detected" message before returning to the game.

I'm not sure what the cause for this could be, I've replaced the electrolytic caps on the PSU with Rubycon branded equivalents, I've also tested the vibration pack with my sisters console and it functions perfectly on there. If I had to guess then perhaps replacing F1 on the controller port board would help but I'm not in a position to do that just now and would need to purchase a replacement part.

Does anyone here on DC-Talk have any suggestions for me? Outside of the obvious "don't use a vibration pack" I'm out of ideas, and searching through the forums yields nothing like what I'm experiencing.

Moo wrote:replacing F1 on the controller port board would help

yep

I just put in an order for two new polyfuses, lets hope that does the trick. If so, I'll install it in my sisters console too.

Moo wrote:Outside of the obvious "don't use a vibration pack" I'm out of ideas

don't use a vibration pack

The polyfuses arrived but I think this entire situation has been a symptom of something even larger.

After installing, the fuse on the PSU continually breaks and with it removed the 5V rail is shorted to ground. Needs fixing or replacing.

Yeah, the failing PSU killed my DC mainboard at the very least.