Dreamcast Repairs

[C']

Appears my Dreamcast laser is starting to have some difficulty and there is some notable skipping on in game music.

Don't want to give up on the console just yet. Does anyone know of anywhere (preferably around the Manchester area, but will go further afield if necessary) that are able to repair the console?

Do Sega still offer repairs?

[Jei]

In all honesty its probably cheaper to simply pick up a cheap machine on ebay, cash generator, etc then swap the laser units yourself.

Its a simple plug and play job, real easy, or simply pop over mine with it and i'l do it for you

[C']

Hmm, if it's that easy, then that may be the best option. I've opened my Dreamcast before to fix the reseting issue so even with my cackhandedness, maybe I can sort this.

Guess the issue is finding a decent replacement laser?

[chaoticjelly]

Tweak the laser pot before buying a replacement console, I've done it before with a cheap DC off the flea market that wouldn't read discs properly and it works perfectly now. It's really easy anyone can do it and you have nothing to lose if it doesn't work, just a few minutes of your time.

SEGA may still repair Dreamcasts (I enquired with them circa 2003..?), but they use a third party company who will charge around ?25 or more to repair (i.e. it's more economical to simply buy another Dreamcast) unfortunately that's the reality of labour costs, plus postage costs added on top I think..

[C']

Oh, sounds interesting. Got any guidance for tweaking the laser pots? (not sure what it means sadly)

[anephric]

You (preferably) need a multimeter (?5 from Maplin). Basically, it's adjusting the strength of the laser so that one that's become weakened by usage can read GDROMs again. The DC laser is flakey anyway, and some games are infamous for not loading (Rez) so it's quite common to adjust the pots.

There's a guide here (http://nall3k.tripod.com/id7.html) but that guy's adjusting it blind, which isn't the best option. Use a multimeter to see what the GDROM pot is currently set to, and then increase voltage incrementally, testing a problem game that won't load after each adjustment until you find a setting that'll it'll load with. Another guide here.

Here's a good guide for an Xbox one: it's pretty similar to how you'd do it for the DC, including where to stick your multimeter.

[C']

Thanks for that. I'm willing to give it a try but just one last question. You mentioned that this will help with getting games loading. That isn't a rpoblem for me (yet) just that the music and the like are skipping during play (ala the classic PS1 drives). Will this also fix that too?

[anephric]

Should do. Skippy FMV/music is usually one of the first signs that a laser's on the way out. I take it you've tried just cleaning the lens? With a very slightly damp cotton bud?

Also, if you are going to adjust the pot, you need to be very careful and only adjust it eveeerrr so slightly, which is why a multimeter's important, not just randomly turning it and hoping for the best like some of those guides advocate. You can kill it completely if you turn the voltage up too high.

[C']

I think I may have done something similar on my old PS2 that stopped reading CD games but was fine with DVDs so I'm willing to give this a go.

Thanks a lot