I think my Dreamcast is starting to be on its way out. :-(

[MethodGit]

I've been the proud owner of an European PAL Dreamcast since I got it brand-new as a Christmas present in 2000.

It's stuck with me over the years, being able to run just about anything I chuck at it (that's compatbile of course =P) without much of a problem. My only fear back then was the disc laser giving out eventually if I kept feeding it non-bloated discs (as in ones with all the data pushed to the very end of the disc).

As of last night though, I think it's starting to fall apart. It now has a tendency to not activate the disc drive when I turn it on sometimes, requiring repeated switch-off-and-ons until I hear a whirr. And even then the loading might fail at random, or likely during heavy loads.

Furthermore, my VGA box seems to be playing up too, though whether this is also the fault of the console I have no clue. A blue-and-white Blaze box that's similarly stuck around for a long time, it tends to give out around the same time the disc laser splutters, and I found that I've having to move the plug around at the back of the console until I get a picture again. It seems to work mostly if I pull the plug up slightly.

I'd consider getting it repaired, but I don't really know anyone (particlarly in the UK) who still offers DC repair services. It may be easier for me to get another console off eBay, but I feel like I'd be abandoning my original DC too abruptly, and hope something can be sorted. Don't know if it's an overheating problem - the vents on the sides aren't blocked and it never feels too abnormally hot to the touch.

It's just frustrating me - it's bad enough that my DC, HDTV and SCART cable never manage to get along with one another (and I've tried quite a few SCART cables now). SCART only produced a decent result on an old-school telly. Why must so many things fall apart in as many months?

All suggestions welcome, though suggesting I try and fix the unit myself won't really work seeing as I have close-to-zilch console-fixing experience (the one time I did try operating on a console slightly was to simply fit a replacement CD laser unit in my PSOne, only for it to do nothing good). >.<

Gah!

[Christuserloeser]

Have you tried cleaning the lense with alcohol?

If cleaning doesn't help I'd try to fix it myself by adjusting the laser: http://www.ilovetheinternets.com/2004/0 ... ion-trick/

...or you could buy a Dreamcast at ebay and replace the GD-ROM drive. Usually there are dozens of Dreamcasts that are listed as broken at ebay but only suffer from non functional controller ports, the reset problem, or just don't show a picture.

Buy one of those, switch out the GD-ROM drive and voila: brandnew Dreamcast.