Sega Dreamcast repair tips / suggestions

[xxunixx]

Hello everyone. Decided to fire up the old Dreamcast and play a few rounds of Power Stone yesterday.(Just what the hell does the announcer say when picking your fighter??)   This game ran fine, but after trying a few other disks I have concluded that it only wants to play about 80% of the small collection of DC games I own. Never attempted any home repairs to any hardware before. I have done some research and found that a certain screw may need adjusting to strengthen the laser's beam strength? Getting the "INSERT GAME DISK" error and the disk is spinning fine just to clarify. Any suggestions or links to good tutorial vids that may help me?

[tafk]

Here ya go! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvt2rIDbavU

The most common problem with the DC. Definitely go slowly and go bit by bit. Keep screwing just a tiny little bit and testing because you can over-tweak and cause it to not work anymore. There are replacement drives on eBay for about $20 i believe if you would rather go that route too.

[DreamsDied13101]

I concur. This is the most common issue with the Dreamcast. My original system came out of the box not able to play Skies of Arcadia due to this issue. Just go slow and steady. Kind of a tiring process to have to do, but the Dreamcast is so awesome. I found that my Japanese units don't often have this issue, but all of my USA units have fallen victim.

[xxunixx]

Seems simple enough, going to give it a try this afternoon. Wish me luck! Thanks again guys! This community rocks!

[kingrat101]

I've only had to adjust the laser once on mine try cleaning the laser first, be very careful, of course, but I've noticed that can be a lot of the problem too

[xxunixx]

Happy to report it couldn't have went better! Found the sweet spot on the second attempt. Tested all games and no issues! Thanks again for the info guys! Cant imagine how many of these things were tossed out over the years due to this problem...

[DreamsDied13101]

Happy to report it couldn't have went better! Found the sweet spot on the second attempt. Tested all games and no issues! Thanks again for the info guys! Cant imagine how many of these things were tossed out over the years due to this problem...

Great news!

Another Dreamcast brought back to life!