I need some help. One of my Dreamcasts doesn't seem to detect when the disc tray is open. When I open the tray, the disc keeps spinning and the game continues to run. I have opened the machine a few times, so perhaps I accidentally disconnected the sensor. However, looking at the inside of the machine, I can't seem to find anywhere that the eject button or the tray could logically connect to the motherboard. I don't have my other Dreamcast in my apartment right now, so I don't know how it's supposed to work. Suggestions?
On the back right is a plastic sensor on the mobo, located behind the partial cog from the lid. If the lid is open, the sensor should automatically be in the upright position. If closed, the sensor lever is pushed back by the lid, thus signaling a 'closed' position. Maybe sheck for debris inside, which prevents the lever going to the 'open' position? This was the first ever trick for playing imports on DC: cutting the controller port fuse and taping the leverswitch back, thus waiting for the disc to stop spinning (region & TOC purpose) and replace it with an import. http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/sega/dc-reset.htm (bottom pic btw)
Ah... I see now. It's covered in hot glue. Looks like somebody wanted to disable the sensor. Well, now to try and get the glue off of it without breaking it. EDIT: Wow, somebody really mutilated this thing. I was able to get the glue off pretty easily, but underneath it there appears to be melted plastic covering the switch. Not sure how I'm gonna get that off. EDIT 2: Well, I got the melted plastic or whatever it was off, but there seems to be a problem with the switch. It seems to me that it ought to be springy; that is, it ought to have a tendency to move backwards unless pushed forwards. But it doesn't. When I put the lid on and start the machine (with the tray open) and then close the lid, it recognizes that it's closed. Once. After that it doesn't recognize when it's open or closed. It's stuck in closed, unless of course I open the machine up and manually switch it. Is it supposed to be springy, or am I just missing the point here? EDIT 3: Why was this moved to the development forum? It's a standard feature of the machine.
I think it's a technical issue, therefore moved. The lever should have just a little tension, maybe the spring itself or whatever got fubar'd in the process of melting things..., maybe try if it can be clipped off from underneath the mobo (if that's even possible, dunno) if you got time. Could be replaced?
I couldn't find that in the list when I was looking to move... but yeah it's more Dreamcast specific (ignore the development bit) than gaming general discussion.
I've been trying to find a replacement for that switch for some time. I've found similar parts in old optical drives but not a single one with the correct size/shape/clearances.
Would it not be possible, to adapt one of those dip switches which goes back to the centre position automatically? I realise it would take a bit of fiddling and maybe even shortening of the switch but I would have thought it would be doable? Alternatively, I'm relatively sure that I've seen external switches for the drive, if all else fails it might be worth a go, single pole single throw attatched to the case, flip it when you want it to be open/closed, you might even be able to rig a switch up to the open close button so that it looks stock on the outside and indeed works like stock, it'd take a lot of work though.
I actually found a solution to the lack of springiness: a rubber band. The rubber band works, but there's another problem. The actual switch part of the switch is loose, so it doesn't contact the sensor in the way it's supposed to. So instead of backwards being open and forwards being closed, as it should be (I think), both forwards and backwards are open and somewhere in the middle is closed. I think for the moment I'm just going to lock it in the closed position, as I can't see any way to fix it without fucking it up beyond repair. However, I'm not sure how to do this as it seems that closing the tray pushes the switch into the forwards position, and like I said, it needs to be in the middle position. It's possible that I could cut off part of the switch so that the tray doesn't touch it. I dunno, I guess I'll just have to experiment. Funny story: it occurred to me while I was playing around with the DC that I could potentially damage my eyes due to the fact that the laser was exposed. I was convinced for a while that I had somehow damaged my peripheral vision, but after a while it became apparent that I was fine. In the future I'll cover the laser. EDIT: Well, I managed to tape it down in such a position as it appears to think that its closed. However, I just realized that it'll be impossible to play Shenmue with this machine, because the game requires you to change discs while it's running. Is there a workaround for this?
Can't you save inbetween discs like with the ps1 final fantasy games? I'm pretty sure you can. If it's really a problem for you, there's always the external switch as I suggested before. Or, if you could get ahold of a laser array with a broken laser, you could scavange the circuitboard with the switch on from that, the laser array circuitboards are interchangeable. I've done it before, works perfectly.
Front position is open (spring), up position is closed (pushed by lid). Bet the clearance gap got molten, as it goes backwards too and emulates the front position. Just put something in to block it going further back...
Replacing it with something like that of the Saturn might be a good idea. Problem is that the Dreamcast was designed to have the body of the switch be directly below the "arm" of the lid that pushes the lever over to indicate the lid is shut. Because of that anything other than an exact replacement of what already exists would be difficult without some sort of mounting towards the rear of the Dreamcast. I've experimented with doing just that with a similar switch to the existing one but without epoxy or some sort of reinforcement there would be too much stress on the PCB and solder pads. Frankly epoxy and other more-or-less permanent methods are a bad idea IMO due to the fact that anything with a moving part is virtually guaranteed to fail eventually. Epoxy makes it very difficult to do any repair work.
I think if I tried to block it, I think the lid would bend or break it. If it only bent it, it would probably break after repeated use. When you close the lid, it pushes the switch all the way back, so there's only so much space. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if it's physically possible to do what you're suggesting, and I'm not going to try.
...then I could be wrong about this. I was clearly under the impression it went only front-up? EDIT: just checked my project under the dust and you're right, it's up-back. Sorry about that.
