Dreamcast Life Cycle

[Porksta]

I have two Dreamcasts. One I bought from a friends years ago that is a launch system. It worked great and then would sometimes freeze. So I bought another one. That second one has worked great up to a year ago when I stopped playing DC.

Forward to today. I realize the DC I bought from a friend has been sitting on m floor in front of my television for a few years now gathering dust. I thought I would use it for parts but never did. So I listed it on CL for free. A guy emails me and wants to know what the problem is. So I go downstairs and boot it up. Low and behold it works. So I'm like what? it still has the occasional freezing but works great. So I go to the second one I bought that has been sitting on my shelf and worked great the last time I played it and try it out. It doesn't read discs. So it looks like I will be giving that one away on CL. I hear people complaining about 360s dying, but what about Dreamcasts? Is there a magic model number I need that doesn't break? Is it normal for DC to just die like this? Also, my friends DC is a model 0. It is not a kiosk unit, but I can't find anything on it.

[zektor]

I have had half a dozen DC's (well, my entire family and myself combined) and never had a single issue. Are you maybe blocking the internal cooling fan?

[walrusmonger]

Yes! Maybe not as common as the 360, but Dreamcasts suffer from the non-spinning disc issue.

I have had 1 system do this to me- but when I worked at a game store I would say more than half of the dreamcasts we had all had the same issue. I don't remember what the exact problem is, but it's something stupid.

[Sinnbox]

of all the Dreamcast's I find at Garage sales, over 50% of them have broken controlelr ports, the owner of the local Video game store told me he has the same problem with them.

[josekortez]

Yes! Maybe not as common as the 360, but Dreamcasts suffer from the non-spinning disc issue.

I have had 1 system do this to me- but when I worked at a game store I would say more than half of the dreamcasts we had all had the same issue. I don't remember what the exact problem is, but it's something stupid.

I've noticed this happens with Dreamcasts that have been stored upside down or on their sides with their laser eyes going backward. When I push the laser eye all the way forward before booting them up, I've been able to get the few non-spinning Dreamcasts I've had to run. Of course, I've only run into that problem with two out of six.

The only non-running one I have that won't power up at all is a former kiosk Dreamcast that my old Kay-Bee Toys manager gave me when I finally stopped working there years back. I just keep it so I can say I have an original kiosk Dreamcast. :D

[darkslime]

Anyone have any idea what the problem is when it freezes on the first screen that says dreamcast?
I have one with that problem. Probably have had 20-30 other ones and they all work perfectly... That's weird.

[Sinnbox]

Anyone have any idea what the problem is when it freezes on the first screen that says dreamcast?
I have one with that problem. Probably have had 20-30 other ones and they all work perfectly... That's weird.

20-30 other ones? wow the DC was so under loved here that I don't even think most of the local Game-Store-Owners could say that, heck, I have gone to Garage sales off and on for the last 6 years and have only owned 5 and that is including my original from my 16th B-day!!

[Astrocade]

The only time mine freezes occasionally is during the boot process when it's playing a burned game, it will read as a music disc. I just turn the DC off and wait for it to boot normally, sometimes it gives me no trouble and sometimes I have to reboot it six or seven times.

I've had six or seven DC's in my day, and never had one go bad. My friend, on the other hand has gone through two or three that didn't work.

[Sinnbox]

I've had six or seven DC's in my day, and never had one go bad. My friend, on the other hand has gone through two or three that didn't work.

I notice quotes like this about all systems, to me it just proves that most systems go bad because of user error, all my friends that have had 360's go bad have had 2 or 3, but the rest have had our launch consoles for ever!!

[CosmicMonkey]

The only real problem I've had is the console randomly resetting. That's easily fixed by cleaning and slightly bending the pins that connect the PSU to the MoBo.

The laser in one DC was a little unhappy with playing GDs after a long stint playing homebrew on CD-Rs, but it got better eventually.

[Phyeir]

I've seen the recentering issue for the laser a couple times (had the same issue on a Saturn also, after it just not running for a few years). Just push it to center and see what that does and if that doesn't work, open it and move the laser around on the line (carefully) and hit it with a can of air... worked for me.

[Chainclaw]

I think my Dreamcast suffered from randomly freezing up or something. I forget exactly, it was about 5 years ago.

Anyways, the problem was apparently really common, and was due to some piece of metal inside stretching out from overheating. It was a really easy fix, just open the system up, push the metal bit back into place, and it's been working ever since.

[shopkins]

Both my Dreamcast and my brother's got to the point where they would only read some brand new disks, and even then it was dicey. Everything else refused to load. I don't know what he did to his but I was able to fix mine with a laser calibration fix I found online. I think it might have been this one. Something similar, anyway. It was an easy fix.

http://www.ilovetheinternets.com/2004/04/23/dreamcast-laser-calibration-trick/

[squirrelnut]

The issue with the dreamcasts was the lasers needed to be calibrated. I was a loyal fan from 9-9-99 til present and kept up on everything. Most everyone who complained that it was dead did the laser adjustment and it magically worked again.

It's still one of the best damn consoles ever made.

[bcks007]

I would like to say i went through 3 dreamcasts when they where still being produced. So 2-3 year range. I've never had to replace any systems, cept for a ps1, one time. Maybe i was just unluckly, but they did seem to burn out on me very fast. I also used my dreamcast alot back in the day.

[eskobar]

I've had dozens of Dreamcasts since it was released and i only had 1 problem :

Dreamcast resetting after minutes of playing ... and that was fixed easily, i had to enforce contact of the power supply with the mother board by moving a few pins.

I would think that you can use a dreamcast for 5 years without problems, using it regularly.

[Pete Rittwage]

The ones I had that failed to boot or reset to the menu ended up being the lid detector switch.

The plastic leg that presses the button on the motherboard gets bent over time and the system thinks the lid is open. Therefore, no motor spin.

It's more likely to happen the longer the system sits closed, which is most of the time.

[darkslime]

20-30 other ones? wow the DC was so under loved here that I don't even think most of the local Game-Store-Owners could say that, heck, I have gone to Garage sales off and on for the last 6 years and have only owned 5 and that is including my original from my 16th B-day!! Really?
I see them constantly. They're the most common thing I find other than N64 and PS1.

[Kiddo]

My first Dreamcast had a malfunction where the disk drive would not spin. For that I got a replacement.

My second one's also gone through a few DIY repairs - one of the most ridiculous of which being the one where my little bro transplanted the laser from the previous broken one into the second one. Since that one I haven't had any permanent problems. I worry, though.

[otoko]

I currently own three Dreamcasts (I'm a sucker for them I admit) and my original one my parents bought for me less than a month after launch eventually died with a bad motherboard (no video) and the other two both work. The last one I bought does not like Jet Grind Radio.. I found that odd but other than that I have not had problems with my Dreamcasts. (Sure the motherboard dieing it pretty big but I used that dreamcast 10x the amount of any other system I do own.)

As the laser goes, I believe it's the later models that have problems because of the short ending life of the Dreamcast and the sudden drop in price due to lack of interest. My sister had (still has) her Dreamcast that she bought at the end of it's life span (Seriously like a month or two before the last one rolled off the assembly line) and it died of a bad laser motor a few years ago.

[atreyu187]

BTW the REV 0 are just a normal DC with heat pipes for cooling.

[Wraith Storm]

I have had my Dreamcast since 9-9-99 and have never had a problem with it. Actually it's somewhat impressive that it still works considering what all it's been through.

I had two separate friends that I would constantly lend my DC to and if it could survive their places then I knew it could make it through anything.

One of my friends had a disgustingly dirty house with piles of garbage inside, backed up pluming in the sink, and of course roaches were everywhere. Despite his living conditions he was a really good friend. But after the DC was there for like a week it had a brown film all over it and the fan on the side was caked in dust. I want to get some canned air and clean the inside of it but am frightened of what it will look like! I just knew that with all the dust and film that had been sucked into the system it would never run again, but here it is 7 years later and it's still playing as good as it did on "Doomsday".

My other friend was quite the destructive person and what he didn't destroy, his 4 dogs would. His house was fairly clean other than all the pet hair, but he put my Dreamcast through some tough times. I remember once he had the DC strung from the TV across the room and sitting on a table and while he was playing his dogs came running through and tripped on the cords, which yanked the DC off the table slamming onto the linoleum floor below. It made a god awful crunch sound and something on the inside still rattles around to this day, but it has never failed me.

I still play it off and have ran CD-rs on it for a few years and it's still held up. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before it craps out on me... but NO ONE makes a system more durable than SEGA or NINTENDO.

[CelticJobber]

Mine started having problems with Zombie Revenge and almost all games made by Capcom. When I put the disc in, it starts to boot up then takes me to the system's clock setting screen. It's been doing this since 2002. Most other games seem to work fine.

[1989LSC]

Anybody know if this is true? I was told the Arcade stick causes the controller ports to burn out. It draws too much power through one of the components on the controller port board. I've had my dreamcast since launch and played soul caliber a lot with the arcade stick and no problems yet.

[Loco-san]

I've had mine since launch day 9-9-99 as well, with no problems, however... the disc drive has always been loud. Sounds like its grinding the disc. Is that normal? In fact I returned my first one on the same day and got another, with the same sound and figured it was normal. No problems loading though =)

[dao2]

i have 10 dcs, none have really ever failed :| cept the magical one but that's a different storry ;p the thing with the controller ports though is common. it's because you aren't supposed to pull out and plug in controllers while it's on :(

[swlovinist]

I own 5 DC units, occasionally use two off and on. I have never had a problem, but worked at a Gamestop during 9-9-99 and saw my fair share of controller ports going out. It is a pretty durable system overall. I would recommend keeping one off any carpet, keeping it in cool open space, and not playing a bunch of CD-rs and scratched discs on their unit if they want to last. Otherwise, like me you just buy one for dirt cheap to play anything and if it goes out no big deal.

[ncman071]

i originally bought a black sega sports used DC back in 2001. i guess the video card or whatever stopped working because the picture went completely black. anyway, i found a white used DC a few months later from ebgames (funcoland at the time) and have no problems since.