Dreamcast not reading discs?

[Zeno]

All of a sudden just now, my Dreamcast no longer reads discs. It says "Please insert game disc" for all my games or CDs. The CDs are clean, what's going on?

[Eric]

Could be the lens and ptr.exe he knows all that type of stuff he probably will end up replying. Believe me he knows what he is talking about.

Eric

[ptr.exe]

lol, cheers eric. Just when i was doubting myself

Zeno, it could be several things. To narrow it down, take the cover off the DC. Turn the DC on and be careful not to touch the live pins on the power switch, and dont touch the lens. Now you see that little black switch? on the top-right side of the GD-ROM assembly, push it in, does the disc spindle spin? does the laser light up red and does it move up and down? (vertically).

If it does those things then the laser is not fried. You need to re-cab your laser, this will slightly increase the power going to the laser. Luckily on Dreamcast's its nice and easy to do, you'll need a small philips screwdriver.

1) Lift up the laser assembly (black box housed on top of the GD-Rom board).
2) Be careful not to pull the FFC cable out, it's annoying to put back in.
3) Tilt the laser towards you (controller ports should be facing you).
4) Look at the far side of the laser, you should be able to see it, see the silver screw? might have some red glue on it? that's a potmeter.
5) Twist it clockwise (clockwise if your facing it) as if you're tightening it, now only twist it about 1/8 a turn. You may need some force because of the glue.

Test the DC with a game, you'll need to hold the switch down with something. If it doesnt work, perhaps you turned to much? not enough? just make sure you know where the original position was, the red glue should tell you that.

If you need a guide with pictures go here

Any Q's just ask.

[Zeno]

Yeah, already did that heh. When I tried moving the potmeter, it didn't to want to rotate. So I put it all back, and the games work now. *shrug*