My Dreamcast just died!
 

I was playing Grandia II when all of a sudden the game froze up on me. I turned off the my DC and restarted it, but now it will not read any of the discs. I've tried several games and a couple of CDs. Is there anything I can do to repair this or am I going to have to find a new one?

Please help!

sounds like the laser went bad.
you can get a replacement but its lik 35 bucks
it would be cheaper to buy a new dreamcast.
i dont know of any retailers with any left, you might want to head over to the VG exchange area or ebay

Actually, if you can find a new Dreamcast, you're lucky. They've been fairly hard to find since they dropped to $50. Alot of places actually sell them for more. I'd say just spend the 35 on a new laser. I think a place called Lik Sang usually stocks them.

A lot of Dreamcasts are showing up at used video game stores now b/c of the competition price drops. I recommend heading to yours, and you'll probably be able to pick one up for ~$30-$40 with a warranty.

Hey Mark,

For the longest time I was in the same situation as you and I was very frustrated. I finally figured out how to fix it, but it didn't require any replacement parts.

First, make sure that the lens is clean with a CD cleaning disc. It probably won't play the disc, so just repeatedly open and close the lid to get it to spin (the lid doesn't need to latch for the drive to spin up, btw).

If that does nothing, open the lid of the Dreamcast. Being careful to not touch the lens itself, push the lens housing as far as you can towards the center. It seems mine got "stuck" in between one of the notches. I popped in Skies of Arcadia and everything loaded fine from then on. I've experienced lock-up twice afterward (both times on SOA), but I'm pretty sure it was from heat. I put the Dreamcast on a small pillow (like a couch pillow) and that seemed to allow it to vent better.

Haven't had a problem since!

I recently can't get mine to play any games except for one or 2, but it plays audio cd fine. Any clue what this problem could be? Is it also the laser, even if it plays audio cds?

It could be. I may be mistaken but aren't some Dreamcast games GD-Rom and others are CD-ROM? If so, are the games it will play CD-Roms? That might explain why it'll play audio CDs.

I got it to finally work after taking the Dreamcast apart and moving the lens housing. Thanks Breakfast with Girls for the helpful hint.

It will be sadly missed. It's a good thing that I still have mine since the official launch and I still have an extra brand new Dreamcast system (not for sale)

No problem! :) btw I actually meant just opening up the CD tray lid (which is what I did), but if it worked, don't question it! :D

After taking it apart and playing around a bit, I can now get some of them to work (baseball 2k1, nba 2k1, crazy taxi, UFC, Ncaa college fb 2k2, and nfl 2k1)

I still can't get some to work (Daytona USA, which I know worked before, SF Rush 2049, and virtua tennis)

All 3 when loaded just come up to the screen with the play, file, music, and settings options, then won't do anything else.

Any suggestions?

How can you find out which are gd-roms and which are cd-roms, in case this could possibly be it?

This means the lens isn't reading properly and thinks there is nothing in the Dreamcast. If you haven't already, try doing what I said earlier.

Your lens is fine
Make sure the DC can vent the right air hole with no obstruction on a FLAT surface also is important.
Get a QTIP and some isopropyl alcohol get the Qtip wet lightly rub on the lens and maybe even push ever so slightly on it. let it dry and I bet it will work fine I have two DCs and they both did what you described and worked fine after I cleaned the lenses hope this helps

Tried all the suggestions, still can't get the 3 to work, but at least I can get the others to work. Who the hell knows??? Thanks anyways!