Been reading these forums for a shortwhile as I have recently taken an interest in the Dreamcast (never played on one before now). Anyway I stumbled on this site here during my reading: http://mcretro.net/2012/10/25/sega-dreamcast-pal-revision-va0/ And whilst browsing ebay looking for a cheap dreamcast to keep for spare parts I landed on this.... https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2gd383bi4n2mh42/AACEC8yMt_Xppckz7VJbMrkqa?dl=0 Its working fine although the drive makes a grinding noise (Yamaha). It has the dummy modem and the serial number of the unit is very close to the one on mcretro. I'm going to ask the seller if they know the history of the unit. Anyway, thought it maybe of interest, as most sites I read seem to deny the existence of PAL Rev 0s.
Very glad to see mine wasn't the only one! Not quite sure who I ended up passing mine onto... but it's out there somewhere! Haha! Give the BIOS a dump if you get a chance (oh and have a BBA... I always forget not everyone has one of those, coders cable? Are they still a thing?) just to make sure there's nothing different. I think the 1.01c version of the BIOS was the one on the PAL VA0 - Yep that's the one! I believe the PAL VA1 had 1.01d, so you have a piece of history there! The seller I originally purchased from wasn't too sure about the history of the one I had, although it did have that big sticker on the top warning it was a modified console haha Here's a direct link to the photo gallery (I thought Google Picasa was killed months ago...) Edit: And just where are my manners... Welcome to the forums!
Thanks! I'm still pretty new so have not looked into BIOS dumps yet but will see what I can do if I get time. I presume the drive rails need to be greased maybe that will help the grinding? You hear it alot when you open the tray when a game is on and it moves back into place? Interestingly enough my other PAL va1 actually has a Yamaha drive in it too that one sounds ok though.
I though all dcs make the grinding noise. I greased up mine with white lithium grease. It helped a bit but not that much.
Haha, that's my dump Never hurts to have a redump, if you catch my drift Yep, they weren't exactly known for their silence. I dare you to try Sonic Shuffle, that's one of my favourites to make the GD assembly just about explode into flames When does one use lithium vs ceramic grease, I've used ceramic grease before on gears and cogs, is lithium another type for the same application?
I've no idea. I just know that white lithium grease is good for greasing up mechanics. Because that's what people on this site told me when I asked for tips on silencing the gdrom drive. According to Wikipedia it takes a lot to melt it, it sticks particularly well to metal and it doesn't run off.
I think these early European PAL VA0 models were likely manufactured by T.TKR in the same factory alongside the US version HKT-3021 before they switched to manufacturing the more common HKT-3020. I am pretty sure they both share the same motherboard revision though with different PSU and an added modem in the HKT-3030. I am not aware of T.TKR manufacturing any other PAL revision Dreamcast's after that, they seem to have pumped out purely US revisions except for one revision of Dreamcast for the Asia market... Ted.
