Botched cleaning jobs (Dreamcast, Genesis)

[Magnum]

After taking apart my Dreamcast for some dry cleaning I was successful in putting everything back in the right place and having them work fine, power,controllers and since the main menu came on all hunky-dory I assumed the motherboard was fine. Problem is the discs won't seem to read.

When I was figuring out how to take it apart I pulled out the tiny black screws on the CD reader/player, the ones that are visible just by opening the CD lid (the only things I bothered on the CD player). Since the discs seemed to spin rather slow after I put it back together I was wondering if they controlled the disc speed.

That, or it could be that the lens is dirty. If so how should I clean it?

I also did the same thing to my Genesis but now the power seems to be screwed up now as it won't turn on.

[InsaneDavid]

First, advice: If you don't know what you're doing, don't take things apart. LOL

Concerning the Dreamcast, the little black screws on the surface of the CD drive assembly hold stuff together. Did you lose them or something?

Second, rule: "Extra parts" don't exist when disassembling something that was working and then reassembling it so it won't.

You may have a cable not connected properly or something not seated right on the Dreamcast motherboard (the design in which power runs through those metal rods can cause problems with the power supply). I'm sure someone will chime in, but you may try removing and reseating the power supply once again. I've had random reset errors and disc spin up/down problems in the past that were corrected by reseating the power supply board. It shouldn't have anything to do with the lens, but to answer your question - run a DRY lens cleaning CD through there (it'll usually have eight little brushes on the underside that clean the lens).

As for the Genesis, I have no idea, there's really not much to screw up in there unless you somehow forced the Power and Reset buttons into the wrong sockets (Genesis 2). If it's a Genesis 1 then the plastic off/on slider could not be over the physical off/on switch (its actually just a little sleeve that sits atop the real switch). Open it up again and correct.

[Magnum]

Concerning the Dreamcast, the little black screws on the surface of the CD drive assembly hold stuff together. Did you lose them or something?

No they're back in their proper place.


You may have a cable not connected properly or something not seated right on the Dreamcast motherboard (the design in which power runs through those metal rods can cause problems with the power supply). I'm sure someone will chime in, but you may try removing and reseating the power supply once again. I've had random reset errors and disc spin up/down problems in the past that were corrected by reseating the power supply board.

hmm.. That could be a problem, thanks. 8-)

but plenty more suggestions would helpful, someone


As for the Genesis, I have no idea, there's really not much to screw up in there unless you somehow forced the Power and Reset buttons into the wrong sockets (Genesis 2). If it's a Genesis 1 then the plastic off/on slider could not be over the physical off/on switch (its actually just a little sleeve that sits atop the real switch). Open it up again and correct.

Genesis 2

And no, the buttons were in the right places, I even removed the usually insolent reset button.