DC not playing games

[Smorgy]

my dreamcast wont read games,it always says "insert game disc".It does read them for audio fies,and cds work in it and play great.if you could help me that'd be great.thnx

[SSaxdude]

Well, some people say that using backup games can ruin the Dreamcast's laser. Some people say the laser can naturally die (ie. from usage.)

[milksheik]

I have quite a few DCs, most of them don't play all of my games. Sometimes they boot a disk while hardware is cold, and will get problems as it's warming up.

For some people it helps to put the Dreamcast on its side, fan up. One of my DCs is working happily this way for a long time now.

Then there is also the option to try and recalibrate the laser. This is tedious though, and I ruined one drive by wearing out the adjustable resistor. There are guides on the net about this.

Last and most complete solution is to find a broken DC for spare parts, e.g. one where the controller ports are dead. DC is built in a nice modular way so it's very easy to swap parts.

[hujiko]

well are you shure its the DC? what kind of games are u usind are you trying to play original DC games and they dont work or are you trying to run backups or emus ?

[Smorgy]

i'm using real dc games
like sonic adventure,orginal disc i mean

[Dull Blade]

It may actually be the disk. I went through sort of the same problem. At one time I regularly bought DC games from a local EB games (untill I cleared them out) but about 1/4 of the games were real beat up, and didn't work. If the read side of the disk looks like frosted glass, the chances are that they wont work. try test the disks on other DC's if possible. When I useto regularly buy games regularly (after it was discontinued) I asked the people at local thrif stores and EB games If I could bring in my DC and see if they work there.

[Christuserloeser]

I think it's the laser that's worn out.

Try recalibrating it (or buy a cheap used DC at ebay).

Here's a nice tutorial how to calibrate the laser:
http://www.whoneedsoxygen.net/index.php/2004/04/23/dreamcast-laser-calibration-trick/

It's really easy to do the single steps, but you really gotta be careful when actually turn the screw.

It's clockwise. AND it's VERY little that you turn it, as little as possible! Think of 1/16 or something like that.

I always turned it way too far :-/

[Zion]

have you tried cleaning the disc?