So I live in Australia, and American Dreamcasts are almost infinitely cheaper than the ones here, so I decided to import one. Being the over excited and incredibly stupid person I am, I plugged the Dreamcast into a simple plug converter and fried the thing, later learning that I should've used a step down converter (not sure on that one). There was smoke... I hate myself for this move, I really do Just wondering how/if I can fix this. I'm willing to spend money and get into it just to play some Shenmue, but my experience in repairs is incredibly limited. Thanks in advance.
If its just the PSU that can be replaced. EDIT - Although I have no idea how to isolate if that would be an issue or not. Someone else here or a quick Google has plenty of tutorials and troubleshooting guides.
As fellow member camdman already pointed out, it's most likely the PSU. Just open up the unit, and check if you can see any clear indicators that indeed just the PSU got fried. A replacement PSU should not be that expensive, and you can actually turn this into a good thing, put a PSU with 220V support so that you don't need to use a bulky stepdown
Thanks everyone! I've opened it up and from what it looks like nothing is heavily damaged. The PSU honestly looks alright, with some bloated capacitors. I will be replacing it as suggested, and I should grab an Australian one in so I wouldn't need a step down, but in the case that I can't find one, would a Japanese one be okay? They seem to be going cheap is all. I'd have to use a step down converter with it of course, just wondering if it's compatible. Thanks again!
Yep, it's a shame people don't do their research at all. @OP: I would suggest contacting Gamedoctorhk and see if he has some PSUs in stock. He might be able to help you.
Yep I feel appropriately terrible and ashamed. Let's move on. I'll PM him soon though, thanks! Hopefully I can redeem myself and get this thing repaired
Have you retried it through plugging into a step-down? I ask as I was stupid enough to do this with a US Playstation. I naturally assumed it was dead from the smoke, but I plugged it into a step-down and was able to play MGS from start to finish - about 8 hours straight from only a few minutes after trying to blow it up. It might work, it might not, but I can't see it making it worse.
It may work, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. If there was smoke and/or a bang, you fried something (most likely caps), so even if it works still, replace the PSU. It's dangerous to keep running it with a clearly damaged PSU.
I've certainly had a PlayStation (SCPH-1000) cap pop and the PSU still "function". OP, I have a spare 230V Dreamcast power supply that you could have for shipping cost, I'm in the UK though. Shouldn't be more than £10 to Aus though. PM if interested.
Function as in still outputs power, sure. By no means does that mean you should be using it. PSU uses capacitors to filter out ripple and noise, unwanted AC components (voltage variation) of electricity. Without letting them doing their job, PSU outputs dirty (high ripple and noise) electricity, which is just going to kill attached components slowly. And no, you cannot see ripple and noise using a multimeter. It can only been seen using an oscilloscope. Bottom line, if you see a capacitor that is bulged, leaked, popped, or out of specification (tested by LCR/ESR meter), replace them.
I swear this happened to 1 in 5 import DCs that were sold at the store I worked at back in 2000, we obviously told everyone who bought one that they would need a stepdown, didn't seem to help - trouble is the non-polarized UK power leads fit right into the polarized socket on a US DC, if you don't understand the voltage difference it probably seems like an easy way to play your import machine. @OP I second previous poster's comments about not using it until the PSU is replaced, even if it seems to be working. Out of interest, what are you using for a display? You do know the US Dreamcast uses the NTSC video system, right?
