Well it's finalyl happened. After almost a year of sitting, I decided to try my dreamcast again and give Shenmue another try. But I loaded the game up it loaded the first part of the game...and trying to leave Locked up... used lens cleaner... got to the part...talked to Fuku-san....locked up.... repeat that till I got to the kitten and tried going back to my house to save and I gave up. I really dont' want to futz with the laser calibration thing...is there anything I can really do?
One thing you could have a look at is seeing whether the spindle for the drive has been pushed down slightly, thus it might have changed the laser depth just a tad. It's hard to explain, but it used to happen with my one a lot (now up in the attic as the last time I tried to sort it I gave up!) It was one I got for free with known issues and I don't think the spindle was it's only problem tbh! You can tell whether it has slipped down a bit as the metal post will be sticking out of the top of the spindle more than it normally does (if I remember rightly it should be absolutely level with the plastic) or if you place a disc on the spindle and try to spin it you might actually get the disc rubbing. It's just a thought and one simple solution to a common(ish) Dreamcast issue. The solution is to gently ease the spindle back up the metal post with a flat screwdriver until even. Fer gawd sake don't use too much force otherwise you might end up with a wonky spindle, or pull the mechanism apart. That's the first thing to check, the next thing as you've obviously got it working sometimes is take the unit to pieces and clean the unit thoroughly, ensure that on the drive mechanism that the gears are all clean and don't have dirty great grease build ups on them. Wipe them down and re-grease using a silicone based grease from any decent electrical supplier. Lastly, pick up a cheap second-hand unit rather than trying to fix the laser mechanism. I don't even know of anywhere you can obtain new lasers for the DC anymore. Perhaps someone here knows of a third party supplier. Perhaps even something on eBay, but I simply haven't looked for any DC lasers for ages!
I really can't replace the whole unit I have a modchip in it and I can't remember how to install it should I take it out. If I can find an old partically working uni I might take the laser out and use that. I did try the "potter" trick...and quickly reversed it cause it didnt' work.
Just replace the lens mechanism then, that's your easiest route if cleaning the mech doesn't give you any joy.
If it had some soldering work done on it, then perhaps one of the wires is loose or you might have a dry solder joint. Check the unit over and have look.
There were at least 2 lasers used in Dreamcasts - I'm not sure whether you can switch the mechs over between incompatible ones. You might need the same revision Dreamcast to get the same mech. In short, get a spare Dreamcast. If the mech is wrong, you're better off putting the mod in that one. It's pretty easy and you should find instructions online... that, or just look where the wires are in your current one :110:
can't, the most common one just uses a ribbon cable to the mobo, the other one uses individual cables connected to the mobo, it's completely different. If you need a laser i got a lot of loose dc consoles, i could take it out of a beat up one and you save on shippang!. pm if you want it.
I"d put the mod in a new DC but I don't know what kind it is and and attempting to find any sort of instruction is a dead link. All I know is that it's a 4 or 5 wire mod. Not sure if it's this one or not: http://www.goldenshop.com.hk/AI-trad/Dreamcast_htm/d_4wiremod.htm (Mostly cause I can play back ups on it without a problem) Looking at my DC it looks like the last has 4 wires on it and not a ribbon cable. so I dont' know if that's really a problem or not for changing things over.
i have one of those, i bought it broken... as in someone cut the wires off... but if you're good with soldering....
I have a dreamcast with a dead motor that I would sell for £12 including shipping in the UK. Laser should be fine PM me if you would like it.
