Sega Dreamcast Motor Damage?

[Scottie318]

I have an original Dreamcast from 9/9/99. The last few days the DC has been having trouble reading both original and homebrew (Nester) discs. Apparently, it has now completely failed and bumps me into the main menu. It no longer spins the CD at all. I can access everything else fine (VMU, clock settings). I assume that the GD-ROM is damaged. Can anyone help?

[InsaneDavid]

I'm going to say it since others probably won't, the homebrew Dreamcast projects ARE damaging to your console. Some are worse than others, but just the same reading a normal CD-R puts wear and tear on your system faster than reading normal GD-Rom games. Now some homebrews are less strenuous than others, NESterDC for instance is probably the gentlest on the system. On the other hand DoomDC puts your laser assembly and drive through the ringer.

Does your system TRY to read discs now? I ask this since if it isn't even trying then the little pin that senses if the lid is closed or not could be damaged.

It used to be cheaper to buy replacement drive assemblies but if your DC is dead it's cheaper to buy a new system complete (usually $20 ~ $30) or a console without any connections (usually $10 ~ $15).