Re: MWC (17/10/07)

In article <ff4sqc$9ur$1@xxxxxxxx>,
Chris Stevens <news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Kendrick Kerwin Chua" <kendrick@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2eKdnS5Kn6rSbIjanZ2dnUVZ_gudnZ2d@xxxxxxxxx

4. Fix my DC, or give up and buy a new one.

I hear the pained cry of an inoperable Dreamcast. What's wrong with it? If
it's randomly rebooting, having trouble reading disks, or won't recognize
a controller, then there are easy and documented fixes. If there's
something else wrong with it, then I offer my expertise. Such as it is.

It's behaving as if someone has opened the disc tray every few minutes (ie
dropping back to the DC start screen). It's not actually rebooting in the
classic way, and not all that long ago I cleaned the pins on the PSU,
anyway.
I think it was actually you who suggested a month or two ago that the lid
sensor was a common point of failure on the DC, and this currently seems
like the most likely explanation. I'm not entirely sure what I'm hoping to

Ah yes, I remember that conversation now. I've had the benefit of some
more information since then, and I'm told reliably that most EU-region
Dreamcasts have that switch on a separate little daughterboard, as opposed
to it being integrated on the main board. This means that in a pinch, you
can remove the switch entirely and replace it with a manual variety. It
doesn't have to be fancy, just some wires leading outside. If you're not
playing games that involve swapping disks, you might be able to just short
the wires together and make the console think that the lid is always
closed.

achieve when I open it up, as I'm not currently in possession of a 'spares'
DC, and I don't know whether this is likely to be something that can be
fixed/bodged, or whether it will require a new part. Given the cost of DCs
these days, if it's not something I can fix myself with an hour or so of
fiddling, I'll most likely just replace it.
Having said that, any and all advice is welcome!

With the controller ports facing you, the switch is to be found in the
upper right corner. If you have some method of testing continuity (a
multimeter, or a logic probe or something) make sure that I'm right about
the switch being normally-open. If it's normally closed, then cutting the
wires will make the console think that the lid is always shut instead, but
I'm pretty sure my first assumption is correct. Good luck.

-KKC, doing even less fun things with Sharepoint.
--
-- kendrick - Buy All Pro Football 2K8 from one of these online vendors
- @ io.com - http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7394101 -
- - http://www.gamequestdirect.com/710425391590.html -
- - http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5187946 -
.

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