How long do dreamcasts last?

[SuspectZer0]

Just got a brand spanking new, factory sealed, JUNE 2000 manufacture date, US NTSC dreamcast, and have yet to play it. I plan on buying the 3rd party cooling fan, and putting a pc cooling fan inside it so it does a better cooling job. Also it will be put in a smoke-free, pet-free, child free environment, well ventilated, and will be dusted every week (like all my other consoles).

Under these conditions, how long should I expect to have this console in perfect working condition?

[slayer2psp]

thats a question no one can really answer ive had mine since the day it came out and it runs perfect i slao have the black sports one it runs great too it was made in aug 2000 so they should last forever my sega cd runs perfect and its the old one with the sliding door

[SuspectZer0]

Ok cool, reason I was asking was becasue Ive seen a lot of threads with the words "my dreamcast died/broke" etc etc here and there...more so than I have "my xbox/ps2/SNES" broke and I was wondering if there was a design flaw or whatever that might make dreamcasts more suseptable to damage and/or have a lower life span than other consoles.

I mean hell, my SNES still works like it did the first day I opened it XD

[Cap'n 1time]

i have had mine since either 99 or 2000.. so.. i dun know.

[Darksaviour69]

becasue Ive seen a lot of threads with the words "my dreamcast died/broke" etc etc here and there...more so than I have "my xbox/ps2/SNES" broke

thats because this is a dc forum, if we had more xbox/ ps2 vistors we might get more post like that.... from what i heard the ps2 breaks easier than the dc.

also most of the "my dc is broken" post can be fixed, easyly

[Eric]

Dark Saviour you are correct with PS2's having more problems with then a DC. The first a PS2 was released a friend,cousin and my brother all had bad problems with there PS2. Also Suspect Zero you should be fine if you dust off and vacuum your systems out every once a month and leave it in a well ventilated place.

I have had my Dreamcast since 2002 i know not that long but longer then most peoples. Just bought an Xbox not to long and it still works. GameCube not to long ago it works perfect. GBA works perfect. I still have a psone and it works great aswell except the little orange things that are on that spin wheel where the disk goes are almost all gone.

Sometimes it doesnt matter how good you take care of your products cause sometimes its the hardware and with that is a good reason to not by the systems as soon as they come out examples:GameCube:error that takes you to a screen and no games can be played probably a hardware problem.

PS2: that system has had many problems usually with the DVD-Rom and one that i have noticed is my buddy purchased Marvel Vs Capcom 2 which which is the blue disk not a DVD-Rom but there was either a chip that wasnt in the system or it had a malfunction and could not read the Blue disks, and as for .

Xbox:Well mostly had a lot of complaints coming from the Fans but the very first Xbox's had problems cause i think there was no Fans included and caused fires which was a problem with the way it was being installed at the time. So there is many problems but the best way to keep clean is to stay away atleast 1 year or 2 until they are totally tested and your friends and people on the net stop complaining about the new systems as they are just released.

Eric

(BAD GRAMMER) I DONT CARE

[Christuserloeser]

I think some EU PAL DCs are very likely to have problems with their GD drive at some point but A) I am not sure if this isn't similar with other systems as well, and B) I don't think it's something that should keep you away from buying a DC :D


http://www.lik-sang.com sells region-free Dreamcasts with a garantie (sp?)

SEGA Europe still repairs broken DCs

used DCs are very cheap

[Jdemon]

On my first DC the GD Rom Drive Unit broke. It just stopped spinning. It was at least 4 years old at the time and was a US Launch day unit. In all fairness it did get treated quite roughly. I'd just recomend letting the discs come to a full stop by themselves to help avoid this problem. My second DC has lasted about 3 years and going strong...and my 3rd one I just recently got used so I'm not sure exactly how old that one is...I guess I could try to look it up using the serial # somewhere no?