Dreamcast-Talk.com

Hello!

I'm Facundo, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I've made this accout to try to find the solution to make a DC work.

My cousin bought this DC back in 2001 brand new (Is a HKT-3020, manufactured in April 2000 in Japan and has a Samsung drive). And after a time I don't know he started having issues with the console doesn't reading discs.

He had it stored for a lot of time. Around 10 years without use. And now we are trying to fix it.

The console turns on, displays the boot logo and then the menu perfectly. When I insert a GD disk, if I do it in the "console menu" after selecting "game" it would ask for me to insert the disc, and if I do it before turning the console ON, it will freeze at the DC boot logo.

We've tried the "calibration" method, throught the lens "potentiometer", several times (moving it around 1 degree clockwise), with the same result of the beginning. At last I think we have screwed it and broke the potentiometer. and now the console would spin the disk for around 2-3 seconds, and nothing else happens, before it was like the console was trying to read the disk, and now it just spins for a couple of seconds and nothing.

So, here's where we are.

I think the only solution is to replace the lens. I can try the "PC CD-R drive guide" or either buy an SPU-3200 lens (althought I'm sure the console has a R48 lens).

The CD-R GUIDE solution, it's the easiest, since I can bought one of the drives metioned for a little amount of money (The Creative CD5233E, the one used in the guide, or a Creative infra 52x (or Samsung SH-C522) that i've read these ones (the infra and the c522) lenses doesn't need to be modified in order to fit the console drive.

I would appreciate your opinion and solution.

EDIT:

Here's a video showing what did the console do when my cousin brought it to my house. This was with a Generator Demo GD-Rom



Sorry for the ambient noises, but from this video some guy told me that maybe the spindle motor was the issue not getting enough RPMs.

So, after replacing the lens, if there's no sucess, I will try to replace the motor.

Did you try simply cleaning the lens? Not using solvents or alcohol because that will damage the lens. Use a lens cleaner or a product called Mequiars PlastX .

Refer to this topic here http://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtop ... =42&t=5644

I have fixed a few dreamcasts and lenses that would not read any disc i put in them and many other drives PC Drives and old DVD players that wouldn't work, clean the lens with that stuff might fix it. Someone reported fixing over a dozen broken dreamcasts just by cleaning the lens properly and only a couple of them were actually burnt out.

I hope it helps =) It couldnt hurt to try , even if it doesn't work that stuff can be used for a lot of things its mainly used for renewing car headlights lol but can be used for CD's and scratched sunglasses it really does protect against UV too. GOOD LUCK

TacT wrote:Did you try simply cleaning the lens? Not using solvents or alcohol because that will damage the lens. Use a lens cleaner or a product called Mequiars PlastX .

Refer to this topic here http://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtop ... =42&t=5644

I have fixed a few dreamcasts and lenses that would not read any disc i put in them and many other drives PC Drives and old DVD players that wouldn't work, clean the lens with that stuff might fix it. Someone reported fixing over a dozen broken dreamcasts just by cleaning the lens properly and only a couple of them were actually burnt out.

I hope it helps =) It couldnt hurt to try , even if it doesn't work that stuff can be used for a lot of things its mainly used for renewing car headlights lol but can be used for CD's and scratched sunglasses it really does protect against UV too. GOOD LUCK

Thanks, but it's not a viable solution, since here in Argentina, the PlastX costs 200 pesos (around 20 dollars) and for 72 pesos I bought the CD-R drive that, supossedly, works fine with the DC.

So i'll try to do that, if that doesn't work I found a contact who says it has the entire Samsung drive module of the Dreamcast.

Thanks!

NEWS:

I've replaced the laser, but with no result.

Since i'm not a very big fan of electronics and I want a definitive solution, i'm going to buy the entire drive module.

News by 27/03/2014

Replaced the entire module, for just $40 dolars (400 pesos) and now it's working like a charm