Dreamcast-Talk.com

As with many Dreamcast users in the past couple of years, I got burned by DealExtreme and their infamous Banana Digital 99 minute CD-R's. I had thought all of the discs were defective, but since then I've done some homework and have come to realize that the discs, to an extent are fine. The real issue is that they're made of a cheap material that's not as reflective as what's used for most discs. My computer and Playstation can read them just fine, but the weak laser in my Dreamcast simply can't get anything off of them, with the exception of just one disc out of about twenty that I burned, and even that one only works less than 25% of the time.

So this brings me to my question- could I replace the laser or whole optical drive in my Dreamcast with a stronger one, and have it still function? It doesn't really need to be able to read legitimate GD-ROMs since admittedly all of my DC games are burned. If I can do this, what exactly should I buy? I've seen multiple options on Ebay that are supposedly compatible with the DC.

You may not even need a new one; just adjust the laser potentiometer screw to make the laser in your existing drive stronger. It'll burn out faster if you do that, but it doesn't really matter if it's already useless in its current state.

Aleron Ives wrote:You may not even need a new one; just adjust the laser potentiometer screw to make the laser in your existing drive stronger. It'll burn out faster if you do that, but it doesn't really matter if it's already useless in its current state.

That's exactly what I tried earlier today. I got to the point where the disc spun noticably faster, and the laser sounded like it was about to launch into space. I've practically given up on these lousy Banana discs. I PM'd a guy on the ISOZone who'd bought another brand (Number) which had brought him success. He may be able to get me some of those soon.

You could also try buying GD-ROMs, which simply work.

Aleron Ives wrote:You could also try buying GD-ROMs, which simply work.

Except there's no GD-ROM of Shenmue 2 with English dialogue. That's the main reason I want 99 minute blanks.