Dreamcast-Talk.com

Hello, I just got myself a second hand dreamcast console, which was already described as "needs to be calibrated".

I bought it, got it home, tested it out...

It was working perfectly, but the game I got with it (Tomb Raider the last revelation) did not load.

So I tried to do the one thing people seem to do when a game does not load... recalibrating the lens by twisting the little screw-like thingy on the back of the lens.
I spend two hours trying every single position the little knob could rotate to without any luck.

Yet, whenever I load the disc and go to "Music" and press play, the DC would play the "This is a DreamCast disc and should be played on a dreamcast console etc etc could harm your speakers etc."
Which is strange since I am playing it from a dreamcast in the first place...


So...

If the lens was faulty, I don't think I would've gotten any file to play like that little "Do not play it from standard HiFi devices" warning.

Like I said I calibrated the lens for two hours, and sometimes when the knob was positioned too far to the right or left the disc would not load anything at all...

Mabey the game disc is faulty? I have not found anything online about faulty discs...

But I am new to the dreamcast, I wanted to see what I missed out on

Also if there are some grammar mistakes, I am sorry, I am dutch.


I hope anyone can help me... I would like to see what the dreamcast can do

UPDATE:
I have tried to play a music CD and the dreamcast is playing it without any issues.
(No skipping or stuttering)

I'd say see if you can burn another game (or even the same game) and okay it, if you have the same issues its likely going to be the Dc, but some retail game disks are kind of blegh now just because of time and wear.

I have burned two discs and a utopia disc...

Utopia is launching...
Yet when I try and put a burned game in there nothing seems to load...
Another burned game is "self bootable", it launches and shows the SEGA screen for a brave 2 seconds before going straight to the main menu of the DC.

At this point I am thinking it is the game itself...

Well I have tried a ton of stuff now... I think the laser is just bad.

I have ordered a new one from china, hoping it will work!

Kyranio wrote:Well I have tried a ton of stuff now... I think the laser is just bad.

I have ordered a new one from china, hoping it will work!

Chances are highly likely the new lens will not work either.

Let us know how it worked out.

krssn wrote:

Kyranio wrote:Well I have tried a ton of stuff now... I think the laser is just bad.

I have ordered a new one from china, hoping it will work!

Chances are highly likely the new lens will not work either.

Let us know how it worked out.

Well the shipping time takes up to a month... But I also discovered that this wouldn't fix the issue because my model is a samsung model (thus I can play boot discs from burned cd-r s), and what I ordered was the SMU3200... The one for the yamaha later models SEGA released. (I have done some research... And I never really owned any SEGA consoles in the past.)

When I take a look at the website I bought this dreamcast and search for any more dreamcasts... There aren't many. And if I do find one... It's most likely to be boxed... Or that the seller is selling it with a bunch of games... Which is great and all but also pretty darn expensive.

Mine came with 1 game and two freaking yellow controllers...


The fact that I didn't do my research before buying it was pretty stupid... Now I love retro consoles and fixing them. But dreamcasts are pretty... Fragile when it comes to the laser unfortunately.

Yet... I will just wait for my 5 bucks laser replacement to arrive... See if I can get some more than a floating raindeer. That does seem to lagg (like it's loading something) when I put in my retail game.


Oh yea when I put in burned games after booting the boot cd... It doesn't do a single thing. But when I put in the retail disc it kind off does...
It'll just lagg the raindeer forever...
After I remove the retail game to put in a burned one... It'll do the same thing.


Does anyone have a samsung laser? Or a yamaha drive alltogether? Or a working dreamcast?
Or my time back... And money... And hopes and dreams...

If so... That would be awesome...

But first let's wait for that new laser probably just to find out I'll fuck it all up again in no time.

I'll keep it updated... If anyone cares ofcourse

Try calibrating your laser while using an ohmmeter, everything else is not going to work and may burn out your laser (if that hasn't already happened by now).

Cause the screw you're adjusting is already making big jumps, ohm-wise, while you're only turning the screw for 1/10th of a mm...

mstar wrote:Try calibrating your laser while using an ohmmeter, everything else is not going to work and may burn out your laser (if that hasn't already happened by now).

Cause the screw you're adjusting is already making big jumps, ohm-wise, while you're only turning the screw for 1/10th of a mm...

The laser is still reading audio discs and can still load boot discs so it is still working! Yet it doesn't seem to load games... Or it's loading them VERY slowly. Which is probably causing some sort of time out error for the dreamcast? Does not explain the fact self-booting games are immediately making it return to the main menu...

I think I do not have an ohm meter... But I might... Not sure. I never used it before, so don't be surprised that I'm a complete idiot with this. At least I am trying

Quick update: I have an ohm meter. Now I need to know how to use it with the laser...