The Dreamcast GD-Rom drive sux!

[Konsolkongen]

...That's pretty hard to admit for a Sega-fanboy like myself. But there is no denying it now...

On the very first Dreamcast i got about 10 years ago the "closing-lid" button suddenly died after a few years and i had to get a replacement drive and had to replace it myself since the warranty was expired. It worked fine afterwards.
I sold that Dreamcast a few years later including 50+ games (stupidest thing i've ever done )

I bought a used one from a guy on a danish forum some years later. I got it and tested it with Sega Rally 2 and it wouldn't boot the disc. Some of the other games worked but sometimes i had to restart the DC 3-4 times before it would read them.

My cousin and i agreed that i should by his US Dreamcast (keep in mind that this is Denmark so if not mentioned all other machines are PAL) and use that for spares. I replaced the GD-Rom drive on my PAL machine and it worked great! I also installed a modchip.
But about six months later the DC started acting up again and wouldn't load some games at all but still load other games on its first try.

It was like that for awhile and i was pretty dissatisfied with the DC once again but continued playing, each time hoping the DC was in a good mood and would accept my games.

In September 07 a guy on the same forum that i bought the other Dreamcast on was selling a brand new limited Code Veronica Dreamcast (JAP). The price was a very fair so i decided to get that one.

When i got it i replaced the PSU with the one from my PAL Dreamcast and installed the modchip again. All was working great for a while and it read every game and all regions, hurray! Suddenly this DC also began hating certain games. For example one time it wouldn't boot my brand new PAL copy of Sonic Adventure 1 but it would boot the JAP copy i have, and every other game it seemed. When this happened the DC would go as far as showing the SEGA logo but the drive didn't attempt to read, and then fade out the the main menu again. WTF?**

So i replaced the brand new GD-Rom drive with the old one from the PAL machine again, and it seemed that helped. For a long time everything worked but then suddenly it started with the FU's again. It has happened with Soul Reaver (PAL) and Phantasy Star Online V2 (US) and probably even more games i can't remember now. As with all the games that it wouldn't read at some time, after awhile they would work perfectly again... Mostly all of my games are in very good to mint condition and are of course originals.

OK so here we are, Wednesday night and its about 4am and my DC fucks up during Sonic Adventure. This time its nothing like the above. The game loaded some of the cut-scenes VERY SLOWLY but they showed eventually, and when i tried to enter a stage nothing really happened and i was stuck on the "stage name screen" for a long time until i decided to turn the DC off.
I found out that the problem this time is that the lens wouldn't move back and fourth anymore, and from the sound it made i would say it was stuck. I poked it a few times without touching the lens, and it seemed it got loose and has worked since then.
I don't know if this will happen again but it probably will...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/ ... 1234928632

What can i do here? Is it a bad idea to apply some oil on the "drive track" and maybe on the gears too? I have some "acidfree oil" (danish translated describtion) that should work fine for things like these.

But Jesus Christ!! Am i the only one who have had problems with the DC's GD-Rom drive? I mean WTF? My old Saturn worked for over 15 years before it got any reading problems. I have now replaced it, but its still hella lot better that the Dreamcast.

I hope some of you can help me with those strange problems i have encountered over the last years

To conclude: Please help me with the stuck lens. And please help me undertstand that "No-way-i-wont-run-that-shitty-game-today"-shit the Dreamcast is pulling sometimes

**Actually one time the problem was solved with Phantasy Star Online V2 when i deleted the BBA internet cache. Pure coincidence i'm sure... i'm also suspecting the modchip...

[John845]

God damn, that's a serious case of bad luck I think. Granted I haven't had my Dreamcast for nearly as long as you have (7 months now), I have not had any issues with mine.

Mechanical things don't last forever, so everything will eventually break down, but... Do you think the process of removing the gd-rom drives from other Dreamcasts and putting them into yours might be causing them to break down easier? Why not just keep them in the original cases?

[neorichieb1971]

I've got a day 1 Japanese DC in the campaign box and its mint. I'm not talking mint as in never opened and fresh. I'm talking mint as in used regularly for 11 years.

Never had a problem with my DC. I think the only problem i've ever had though is the cart slot of my saturn.

[Konsolkongen]

Do you think the process of removing the gd-rom drives from other Dreamcasts and putting them into yours might be causing them to break down easier? Why not just keep them in the original cases?

Could be, but the connector underneath the Drive seems robust enough and shouldn't have taken any damage whatsoever. The reason why i switch the GD-Drives instead of keeping them in the original casings is because the ones i moved them to are better looking. I paid a lot of money for the red Dreamcast i have now so thats why

Maybe it really is just bad luck?

[Konsolkongen]

I've got a day 1 Japanese DC in the campaign box and its mint. I'm
Never had a problem with my DC. I think the only problem i've ever had though is the cart slot of my saturn.

That's very impressive! With all the problems i have had over the last years it would seem that i don't take very good care of my stuff. But i really do

Come to think of it my friends doesn't seem to have any problems with their Dreamcasts. I just recently installed modchip in theirs (for import) so if they experience anything like i have from now on, i think i can blame the chips.

I have 5 Saturns atm (i think only 1 is working, rest is for spares) and ALL of them has a shitty cartridge input. That's the worst part about the Saturn, if you just inserted a Memory Card/Ram cart, chances are that it won't work without you having to turn off the power and reinsert the cart a few times. Annoying, but wth... The second most retarded part of the Saturn is the battery that deletes all saves on the system when it runs out :p

[Ex-Cyber]

I have 5 Saturns atm (i think only 1 is working, rest is for spares) and ALL of them has a shitty cartridge input. That's the worst part about the Saturn, if you just inserted a Memory Card/Ram cart, chances are that it won't work without you having to turn off the power and reinsert the cart a few times.

This was somewhat exacerbated by the fact that the slot is designed for a thinner than standard PCB, a fact that Datel, EMS et. al. evidently didn't pick up on for a while. So if a Gameshark / Action Replay has been used in it, there's a good chance that official carts won't work reliably because the thicker PCB bent the pins.

[Konsolkongen]

I can't say if all my Saturns have been exposed to those cartridges. I used a ST-Key on my first one so it could be you're right.

[Konsolkongen]

The DC has fucked up 3 times since last night. I think i will have to swap drives again.

[Konsolkongen]

Drives have been swaped and i'm now back to the newer one i got with the Resident Evil DC. This Drive is very noisy compared to the other one. I hope this will help but i did switch this for a reason so i guess its just a matter of time before it starts hating games again :/

[Tigershark]

I've got a UK first release DC that is used regularly. I also use DC-X most of the time. Never had a problem with the drive or reading errors at all.

[Konsolkongen]

Thanks for the replies. I guess its either the modchips fault or very bad luck? DC has worked perfectly since yesterday, but i really only played one game on it yet

[Konsolkongen]

So a few months after writing the last post in this tread i replaced the modchip with another one.

Replaced this:


With this:


And the Dreamcast have been running perfectly ever since! Thats more than a year without FU's The difference between the two chips is that the last one actually turns off after booting the game. This is a bit annoying as you can't start import games from the Dreamcast menu. But really it's just a matter of turning off the console and turning it on again

I'm pretty sure that the first pictured chips are bad for the Dreamcast. In my experience they messed up the GD-rom drives in short time. That is probably why the other chip turns itself off after booting the game. I just hope my GD-rom drives have not been damaged too badly from using the first one for so long...

I hope this is of some use to people wanting to install a modchip in their Dreamcast or wondering why their drives keep dying

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I've got two USA region DC consoles...one I bought brand new and the other used. I haven't had any problems with either one. They are both plain-vanilla and unmodified so I have to resort to using either DC Super Game Convertor or Utopia Boot disc to play my Japanese or PAL based DC games on them. The DC games sure look great when using an arcade RGB monitor and viletim's cool Scart to Jamma adapter. Of course, it's running at 480i @ 60fps arcade spec framerate via Japanese RGB cable setup. Sure, it looks better running in 480p via optional DC VGA Box adapter setup.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[neorichieb1971]

I use a DC-X boot disc, never had a problem. My DC as explained is a day 1 japanese launch machine and its never had a single problem to this day.

I hear lots of stories about people having Saturn cart slots broken, PS1 laser problems and all sorts.. Luckily i've not been affected by most of the hiccups. My PS3 has the worst track record. Temporarily the disc wouldn't eject (does now) and games like Bomberman freeze up every 10 minutes. So it seems your journey of problems has not ended yet. Let not talk about 360.

[Ex-Cyber]

I don't see how the Dreamcast modchips would screw up the drive. AFAIK, they don't touch the drive at all electrically, and shouldn't even interfere with it from the software side (since they're just skipping a check that happens in-memory after a read that happens anyway).

[Fudoh]

My very first DC from the Japan launch is still working fine, at least the drive. The lid-closing mechanism gave up at some point, to I had to solder it to "always closed", but the drive never complained about anything.

From what I've heard (without any confirmation), it's usually the CD-R backups which mess up the drives within no time...

[speedlolita]

I've got two PAL units and both are in tip top working order despite being treated like crap.

[Konsolkongen]

I don't see how the Dreamcast modchips would screw up the drive. AFAIK, they don't touch the drive at all electrically, and shouldn't even interfere with it from the software side (since they're just skipping a check that happens in-memory after a read that happens anyway).

I just find it weird that one chip turns ifself off after booting the game and the other doesn't. I mean there must be a reason for this?

From what I've heard (without any confirmation), it's usually the CD-R backups which mess up the drives within no time...

I've heard that was just a myth. Would be nice if someone could confirm this?

[neorichieb1971]

The reason the chip turns itself off is because if Sega put a piece of code looking for a modchip in the game disc it would disable the game from running. Modchips are used heavily in piracy situations.

Sony put protection on PS1 games in the same manner. Games like Dino Crisis, Um jammer lammy came up with a warning screen in Japanese that was unpassable. Although if you had a cheat cart and an old PS1 you could enter a code to disable that piece of code that disables the game from running.

If the modchip turns off after boot up the modchip is not seen by the system and therefore is undetectable.

[Ex-Cyber]

I just find it weird that one chip turns ifself off after booting the game and the other doesn't. I mean there must be a reason for this?

It could be to avoid detection as neorichie suggests. Another possibility is that one of the chips merely counts read cycles to figure out where to patch, while the other has logic to detect a specific sequence leading up to the patch location. The read-counting approach, assuming that it actually works, could only be expected to work once, right after a cold boot, because going to the menu or soft resetting would cause more reads, throwing off the count. The advantage of this approach would be that it's simpler logic and so might fit in a cheaper chip.

From what I've heard (without any confirmation), it's usually the CD-R backups which mess up the drives within no time...

I've heard that was just a myth. Would be nice if someone could confirm this?

CD-Rs generally require more power to read and so will age the laser diode faster in principle, but I've seen no indication that this actually leads to the early demise of a drive in practice when using reasonably readable discs.

[speedlolita]

I've heard that was just a myth. Would be nice if someone could confirm this?

I've only ever used CD-R backups on mine.

[Kiken]

Maybe you should try calibrating the laser once in a while instead of swapping them out willy-nilly.
http://www.ilovetheinternets.com/index. ... ion-trick/

[Konsolkongen]

Never worked.

[gray117]

I've heard that was just a myth. Would be nice if someone could confirm this?

I believe this refers to the arrangement of data on the disk; causing drive to search more for data ... I know arrangement for ps master disks was always a huge issue with sony when you made a game but I don't recall it ever creating as much as a stigma when it came to burning backups as it does with DC.

I presume there is some truth in it [although how much might be questionable] due to the often reported advice to conduct overburn cd writes only at low speed like 4x or lower... I've presumed non-overburn could benefit in a similar manner ... can't say I've ever bothered to really investigate this issue fully but these are the often reported reasons.