Dreamcast Seems to be Having Issues

[LeeJ07]

I've already posted elsewhere that a copy of Virtua Tennis I bought this week continuously reboots to the main menu when I try to play it.

 

After some playing around and trying to get things to work, it seems my problem is getting worse. Now my copy of ChuChu Rocket won't load. I fear my Dreamcast may be kicking the bucket, and I'm not sure what to do. I can't afford to replace it.

 

UPDATE: The Dreamcast is now refusing to load any of my games. Anybody got any ideas?

Edited May 6, 2017 by LeeJ07

[LeeJ07]

UPDATE: The Utopia Boot Disc still works, and a PAL game has booted up perfectly. I'm at a complete loss to understand why it's loading PAL games, but not NTSC.

[RickR]

Try carefully cleaning the laser lens, and also apply a tiny amount of silicone grease to the laser rails. 

[RickR]

But like Lost Dragon said....Dreamcasts break.  It pays to have a spare.  The one I bought brand new in-box and took good care of lost it's GD-drive a long time ago. 

[LeeJ07]

That's my problem, though. I can't afford another one. Not for awhile, at least.

 

I managed to get Virtua Tennis to load again, but it keeps resetting at the title screen, so I think that it must be a faulty disc.

 

The Utopia boot disc still works fine, too, so maybe I'm dealing with scratched game discs or something.

[CrossBow]

It will sound crazy..but try loading in your game, and then turn the DC over on its side to see if it loads up. If it does, then it does mean there is an issue with the laser having problems reading the GD-rom discs. You might be able to find a replacement laser assembly on the bay. But after I went through 3 DC early models doing this, including the one that came with my DC kiosk...I ultimately put a newer model into my kiosk unit and use a black sports edition as my primary in my game room. So far so good, but I also still have yet a third as a spare in the box ready...just in case.

[LeeJ07]

Well, my recently acquired copy of Phantasy Star Online arrived in the mail today, and it boots up perfectly, no trouble at all. I took a look at its disc, and it has NO scratches, period, whereas both my ChuChu Rocket and Crazy Taxi DO have scratches, so perhaps that is a contributing factor?

[jmjustin6]

Well see if you can find a shop fhat resurfaces discs. Or i think you can buy a machine thay does it. I have no clue how much they cost

[Atari 5200 Guy]

My first Dreamcast's GD-ROM laser was fine but the motor that was responsible for spinning the disc went out.  The brushes inside literally burned down to nothing.  Dreamcasts do NOT like the slightest scratches on the game discs.  Those units were made by Yamaha and later by Samsung.  It might be possible, if the motor is at fault, to just replace the motor with an equivalent.  That's what I did to fix mine.  But, Radio Shack is not around any more so finding that motor might be an issue.  

 

Sega use to have replacements long after they stopped productions of the units.  You might try contacting them to see.  It couldn't hurt.

 

The only other thing I could suggest, and I don't approve of piracy, but get the ISO of your Virtua Tennis from ISO Zone and burn it to a CD-ROM (don't use blank music discs designed for music!  They don't work most of the time).  You will have a scratch-free copy that you can test with.  Dreamcasts will read CD-ROMs without any modification required.  

 

I can also extend my repairing know-how with you and offer my services.  If you continue to have issues with your DC, and are comfortable with paying for shipping both ways, I will do what I can to fix your DC console.  I would only need the console has I have two here and all necessary hook-ups to operate the system.