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Smoothie101902
February 28th, 2008, 03:34
Hello all!

I purchased a DC off of eBay a few months back and have been endlessly trying to get it to self boot, use a boot disc, something! I would love to be ablle to play emulators and roms on the DC but I can not get anything to work.

The questions I have are...

1. I think that the internal battery is dead. I have had it on for about 5 hours now in the hopes of recharging, but nothing. Could this impact the playing of cd-rs? The regular Dreamcast games I have play fine?

2. I have seen many YouTube videos on how to speed the laser up and down, is this something that I should try ?

I am at a roadblock.

The information on the bottom of my Dreamcast is:

Mfg: September 1999
Bottom left corner of tag: SD
Model# 670-14081G
Right bottom~ish: (1)[in circle] NTSC U

I thought I read either on this site or another that it had been ruled all models can play CD-R.

Again any help would be appreciated.

Christuserloeser
February 28th, 2008, 04:00
It should play CD-Rs, yes. All Dreamcast's can, except those manufactured in December 2000 with a (2) in circle next to the NTSC U.

Here's what I would like to recommend for a start:

1. Download and install Alcohol120%:
http://trial.alcohol-soft.com/en/index.php

2. Download and unRAR this small .cdi:
http://dcevolution.netfirms.com/downloads/hosted/RetroSonic-Demo1.rar

3. Start Alcohol120% and locate the .cdi and burn it in RAW DAO mode at 8x to a CD-R (not CD-RW!).


See if it works and let us know.

Smoothie101902
February 28th, 2008, 04:56
No luck! Followed the instructions and it powers on, asks me to set the date, screen goes white then right back to set date. When I hit ok again it just goes to the menu screen with Play, Settings, ets. I did notice that when it recognizes an actual Dreamcast disc it makes a beep, no VMU inserted.

Rifter01
February 28th, 2008, 06:17
It sounds like _maybe_ the iso you are trying to burn maybe corrupt or something...

I have yet to have success with Alkohol, but, discjuggler works perfectly for me when I give it a .cdi to start with...

go to http://www.padus.com/ and do the demo download for discjuggler it is the same I am using and it works perfectly almost every time.. :thumbup: The only exception was on Dragonriders of Pern, which I bought twice in person and took back once, and no matter what it has never worked..

Smoothie101902
February 28th, 2008, 11:40
i've done discjuggler too :(

fackue
February 28th, 2008, 12:48
BootDreams will burn CDI images... it's free too. :P

Guaripolo
February 28th, 2008, 13:59
in my experience:

1) use GOOD CDīS!!! not all cdīs works fine in DC.
2) In my case bootdreams discs wonīt work, so i use selfboot inducer.
3) Try to make a DATA/DATA disc. In some cases the DC only read this kind of CD.
4) If all this doesnīt work, maybe itīs a laser calibration stuff.

Try to put an audio cd-r, if the DC reads it, you are in the right way, thereīs no exact formula to make cd-r works, for example some discs that works in my DC (jap) wonīt work in the DC of my friend (usa), but both can read cd-r.

Smoothie101902
February 28th, 2008, 14:40
I believe that it is reading the CD-R, because if I go to music from the menu, it shows the 2 tracks listed. Any suggestions on what you would consider "good" cd's? I have used memorex and maxell? If I can not get it to work, I just have to search eBay for actual dreamcast games.

BTW, thanks for all of the input.

Guaripolo
February 28th, 2008, 21:56
good cds...good cds...ahhhhh i have a good eye for good cdīs...I donīt know about that two brands (maybe memorex, but i think it sucks). Here in Argentina we have two types of brands:imported and nationals. The nationals are low-middle quality and the imported ones are middle-high. I prefer:

1) VERBATIM
2) IMATION

then maybe others like tdk, storax, sony...

If you are sure that your machine reads cd-r, then try a DATA/DATA disc. I donīt know how much knowledge have you about burning cdīs, itīs a little tricky to get a right method, i spent about 10 cdīs to get the first disc readable. As christuserloeaser (or whatever he is called awEHAWUheU) you can download a image of a cd (there is a lot out there) and burn it. Take a look with a software like alcohol or nero about what kind of disc is (search something like "disc info") and look if itīs a DATA/DATA (first track itīs data) or AUDIO/DATA (first track is audio).



PD: in my dc if itīs out of calibration then it takes the cd-r like an audio cd.

fackue
February 29th, 2008, 00:39
I don't like Memorex. I always buy TDK at Costco, you can usually find them cheap B1G1F.

Christuserloeser
February 29th, 2008, 02:16
A good CDR is one that you barely can see though when you hold it against a light. Anyway, it shouldn't matter that much for testing purposes and it's definitely not the problem you are having atm.



When I hit ok again it just goes to the menu screen with Play, Settings, ets.

Dumb question but have you tried clicking on "Play" ?




Try this download and burn it again with either BootDreams (http://dchelp.dcemulation.com/?BootDreams) 106 or Alcohol120% in RAW DAO mode at 4x.

http://www.alicedreams.com/aliced3.zip


...and maybe this one:
http://dcevolution.netfirms.com/downloads/hosted/Drill001.rar

Smoothie101902
February 29th, 2008, 13:42
Dumb question but have you tried clicking on "Play" ?

Yes I have tried that and it is the same thing it restarts and just comes to the menu again :(


I went through a couple of coasters that I have made and I also tried some of the media discs that others have suggested previously, and still the same outcome so I know it is not that. I saw that someone metioned the calibration thing, I think I am going to try that. My question is do you think I need to speed up or slow down the laser? There are plenty of instructional videos on youtube, so I am not afraid to take the DC apart. I also have to replace the battery too, and I have seen that the internal type is C2032, but I read somewhere that that is not rechargable, so what is the right type to get? That is going out on a limb, but maybe that will work.

Guaripolo
February 29th, 2008, 16:46
Yes I have tried that and it is the same thing it restarts and just comes to the menu again :(


I went through a couple of coasters that I have made and I also tried some of the media discs that others have suggested previously, and still the same outcome so I know it is not that. I saw that someone metioned the calibration thing, I think I am going to try that. My question is do you think I need to speed up or slow down the laser? There are plenty of instructional videos on youtube, so I am not afraid to take the DC apart. I also have to replace the battery too, and I have seen that the internal type is C2032, but I read somewhere that that is not rechargable, so what is the right type to get? That is going out on a limb, but maybe that will work.

the calibration isnīt about the laser "speed", itīs about the power of the laser. If you need to increase or decrease the power, well, it depends on the case. In a regular situation the power of the laser will decrease with the use and the years.
If you want to calibrate, you will need a multimeter and a little screwdriver, and (most of all) PATIENCE. First of all you can read the actual value and tell us, in my case the laser is in 395 ohms, in other cases varies between 450-500 ohms, i think that there isnīt a right value, it depends of the machine.

About the battery: the cr2032 isnīt rechargeable, so donīt put one or it will explode and the leakage may destroy the controller board. I donīt remember the number of the original battery, you can read it on your machine, if you live in the first world (or maybe the second too), you can buy the original one for about 6-10 u$$, if you cant find it, replace it with two rechargeable AAA or AA batterys (like i did). Here is this solution:

http://devcast.dcemulation.com/mods/batteryreplace/battery.php

Oh! and there is no relation about the cd-r`s and the battery, i had the same trouble.


PD: when you calibrate do very, very, very, very, very, very, very...little turns, one little turn will increase or decrease in about 10 ohms. A quarter of turn (or pi/4 AWhAWUheaw) will make a DISASTER. And stay between 250-600 ohms, more or less maybe dangerous for the laser (i go off that values and get no trouble but i donīt know, maybe itīs true, that is what iīve read).


PD2: i donīt remember if it writes PD in english, sorry about my engrish, iīve played too many snk games in my young-age-when-i-was-child-all-your-base-are-belong-to-us.

Christuserloeser
February 29th, 2008, 21:13
I recommend to buy an original GD-ROM in good condition for testing before starting to calibrate the laser.

Smoothie101902
March 3rd, 2008, 16:59
I recommend to buy an original GD-ROM in good condition for testing before starting to calibrate the laser.


I have tried regular GD-ROMs and they work...I am stumped. I was half tempted to buy a new one this weekend at this store by me and try my discs out and if they worked in that one, take back the one I have and say it was faulty...

Christuserloeser
March 4th, 2008, 00:07
Hm, ....



Try this download and burn it again with either BootDreams v1.0.6 (http://dchelp.dcemulation.com/?BootDreams):

http://www.alicedreams.com/aliced3.zip


Please test exactly this download with BootDreams.

Smoothie101902
March 8th, 2008, 23:12
I will have to try this, sorry I have been busy and have had a chance to check back here.