I'm new here. I'm amazed nobody else had picked the username Pong. Since I actually had a home Pong console it seemed like a good name.
Anyhow, I'm sure this board has it's share of members with broken DC's just like ALL the other DC boards. So, here's my first contribution to the forum.
I've had several DC's for a while now (all four working perfectly at the moment) and I've also fixed a couple. I knew this electrical engineering stuff would come in handy sometime.
Anyhow, for those of you with busted DC's there just might be a fairly simple fix for them. Here are three problems I believe to be common to the DC's (two of which I have experienced and fixed).
DISCLAIMER: Don't blame me for screwing up or further screwing up your Dreamcast. I'm only trying to help.===================
DEAD DC PROBLEM #1)
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SYMPTOM: DC boots up and loads game but won't respond to controllers in any port.
SOLUTION: First of all... SHAME ON YOU for plugging in controllers while the DC was on as this is almost surely what caused the problem - although I have heard stories about badly wired third-party controllers doing the same thing. The DC is not designed for "hot-plugging" the controllers so take the time to turn it off before switching or adding controllers. Knowing that people sometimes do what they are told not to, Sega built the DC port board with a tiny little protection device called a PICO fuse that protects the power supply from a short or a current surge on the controller end. If you don't have any experience with a soldering iron, don't do this. Find a friend who can. It's really quite easy.
First...
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DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING UNTIL YOU DISCONNECT THE POWER CORD !!!
FAILING TO DO SO MIGHT RESULT IN A FRIED DREAMCAST USER !!!
That would be bad now wouldn't it.
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Remove the DC modem and remove the four screws from the bottom of the unit. Turn the DC over and remove the top cover. MAKE SURE THERE'S NO CD IN IT FIRST! Just behind the controller ports you will see what's called the PORT BOARD. It's just a small PC board with almost no components that hooks into the main CPU board via a flex-cable. The flex cable may be disconnected by gently tugging on the end that goes down into the motherboard connector (NOT THE END CONNECTING TO THE PORT BOARD). Now, remove the screws holding down the port board. With the connectors facing you, you will see a small barrel shaped object soldered down to the port board that looks like a resistor (to those of you who knows what a resistor looks like). It's actually a very small fuse. It may be light blue like mine was, but there are different vendors of tiny fuses so it may not be light blue. Remove this fuse with a soldering iron. I do not know what the rating of the fuse is, but it can be replaced with a general purpose 1 Amp FAST-BLO fuse that you can pick up at Radio Shack. While it's possible that 1 Amp isn't the correct rating, a 1 Amp fast-blo fuse will usually go before anything else can get torched. So, your DC should be safe with this fuse and still have the capacity for controllers with Jump Packs. NOTE: I have tested my 1Amp fuse fix with two controllers and jump packs just fine. I don't know if 1 Amp is enough for four controllers with jump packs. If it isn't, and your try this it will just blow the fuse again. If that happens you could just try a slightly larger fuse like 1.2 Amps but 1 Amp is fine for most of us who never use four controllers with jump packs at the same time.
How you connect the new fuse is up to you, but suffice it to say that you need to connect the replacement fuse to the same two points the PICO fuse was connected to (DUH!). You could actually mount a small fuse holder in the DC and wire it to the port board to make future fuse replacements easier.
Gently plug the port board flex-cable back into the motherboard and put everything back together and you're probably back in business for a couple bucks in parts!==================
DEAD DC PROBLEM #2
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SYMPTOM: DC powers up but won't recognize ANY disc not even an audio CD. It doesn't even sound like it spins the disc up.
SOLUTION: I experienced this one and if you have the same problem it's most likely even easier to fix than the PICO-FUSE problem.
What appears to be the problem is a less than robust connection between the laser head assembly and the flex-cable that attaches to it. I think this is more prevalent in recently manufactured DC's because Sega was trying to cut costs anywhere they could. It seems that a few of the tiny contact points in the assembly suddenly stop making a connection and then your DC can't even tell there is a disc inserted! That being the case, it won't even spin the disc up because it's getting no feedback from the laser.
Again, take the DC apart as I described above.
AGAIN... MAKE SURE YOU DISCONNECT THE POWER CORD FIRST!!!!!!!
You will see that the GDROM unit spindle in the middle is on a black plastic assembly that sits on three rubber grommets. Those are the shock absorbers for the laser transport. Make note of the little red and white power wires coming out from under the laser assembly you will have to put them back the same way in order to put the assembly back in place. Since there aren't any screws holding it down, GENTLY lift the laser transport up being careful with the power wires and the flex-cable. Now all you have to do is to firmly pull on the flex-cable end that is connected to the laser assembly. DO NOT pull like you're trying to remove a molar but don't be a complete whimp about it either. Pull kind of like your lifting a bag of sugar. The cable is connected tightly and should not pull off. What you are doing is pulling on the cable just enough to cause the tiny contact points in the head assembly to move slightly making a good connection again. Now, gently lay the laser assembly back in it's carrier being careful to route the little power wires like they were initially.
Pop the top cover back in place put in a GDROM and see what happens! If it doesn't work the first time, give it another try with a little more force. What do you have to lose? Your DC doesn't work anyhow.
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DEAD DC PROBLEM #3
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SYMPTOM: The DC resets spontaneously.
SOLUTION: This one is usually easy and is caused by lousy power supply connections on the main board that get intermittent with the many heating and cooling cycles they go through. It gets a little warm in that beige box you know.
Again, take the DC apart as I described above.
AGAIN... MAKE SURE YOU DISCONNECT THE POWER CORD FIRST!!!!!!!
Anyhow, the power supply board (located toward the left side of the DC laser transport) is connected to the main board by a vertical pin connector located towards the controller ports. All you have to do is to gently move that connector up and down on the pins coming up from the motherboard. This should clean up the connections and get you working again. If it doesn't you may want to connect and disconnect the other connections to the power supply as well.
The ultimate fix for this would be to solder the connections, but that would be rather messy. Another approach I saw on a German site seemed to indicate another approach that should help. Lift the power supply connector from the pins (removing any necessary screws). Tightly wrap each pin in enough aluminum foil to increase the pin width a bit. DON'T LET THE FOIL TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE ON THE PC BOARD OR YOU WILL FRY YOUR DREAMCAST AND/OR CAUSE A FIRE. Push the connector down onto the foil-wrapped pins. Make sure that no pieces of foil were ripped off the pins as they could short something out in your Dreamcast.
That's it for now. I hope this helps some of you. I'm sure many DC's have taken the dirt nap at the local landfill because of simple problems like these that can easily be remedied. That's just plain sad.
Scott
