Simple fixes breathe new life into aging game consoles

[wraggster]

While the Sega Dreamcast has long been out of production, there is an avid fanbase that loves the console dearly. As with many CD/DVD-based consoles, the Dreamcast can sometimes run into issues reading discs, at which point all games are unplayable.
Instructables user [Andrew] got his hands on a pair of the consoles and found that one could not read CDs, while the other suffered from a fried controller interface board, the result of a controller wiring mix-up on his part. Determined to get the consoles up and running again, he disassembled them and got to work, sharing his fixes with us.
The CD drive fix is a pretty standard one. He first needed to locate the potentiometer that regulates the laser. Once he did, a slight counter-clockwise turn is all it required in order to increase the laser’s voltage. Once he did this, he popped in a game to see if it worked. No longer greeted with a disc read error when he powered on his Dreamcast, he reassembled the console and began work on the other one.
To fix his controller issues, [Andrew] had to remove the entire controller board from the console. He eventually located a resistor that had been damaged by his wiring mishap, and replaced it. The console was tested and seeing that the controllers worked again, he put everything back together.
While this pair of fixes is not incredibly complex, it’s nice to see people sharing their tips for bringing these consoles back to life.

http://hackaday.com/2011/03/07/simpl...game-consoles/

[siastbill1]

The resistor problem in the controller board is an old one that was solved many moons ago. Since the resistor is actually acting as fuse, you just solder in a 1amp fuse of your liking instead.

Putting another resistor in should be avoided at all costs, as it it leads to several problems:
1) If the resister has any more resistance than like .34 ohms, you will find that rumble packs and additional controllers stop working (since the resistor is not letting enough current through).
2) If the resister is not fusable (ie. it doesn't instantly blow when when the controller board pulls too much current), you run the risk of it starting to smoke (and maybe even causing a fire). Also, if it takes a while to burn out, components on the controller board that should have been protected by a quick blow fuse will also start to burn out.