Dreamcast Care & Repair: Fixing Random Restart Problem

[drhead]

SWEET! My Dreamcast is back from about 8 years in the grave thanks to you. You're a GOD.

[CDbiggen]

I'm here because after 2 hours of shemue without saving, console resets. Mouth was agape for about 5 minutes.

[GamingPalooza]

i have a problem with my dreamcast, all of a sudden now...when i play a game, it starts lagging like heck and slowing down, and the dreamcast interface even looks scrambled.

[arranmc182]

@GamingPalooza Sounds like heat damage to the GPU to me try cleaning out all the dust

[GamingPalooza]

@arranmc182

Ya, it was overheating... guess what was doing it? It was actually those thermal pads they put on the chips that was doing it strangely enough.. after i took them off and ran the system raw, it came back to life and runs perfectly fine now! It dont need those damn pads, it will get warmer of course but not over heat.

[arranmc182]

@GamingPalooza get some thermal paste and put a small blob in the middle of the chip then put it back together should help keep the temps down better than the thermal pads did

[GamingPalooza]

@arranmc182

I tried putting somethermal on it but seems like it runs better just without anything at all which is weird

[mallpunk182]

@arranmc182 hey I am about to use this method to stop the resetting problems, but I do have a lot of slowdown during Jet Set Radio, do I clean the gpu to stop this?

[arranmc182]

@mallpunk182 WOW dont mess with GPU the slowdown problem is due to 2 things the hardware can not cope with the game fully happens mostly in the shenmue hames & the fact the console gets hot which can also make it slow down try to keep dust to a minimum

[mallpunk182]

@arranmc182 so how would i remove dust carefully?

[arranmc182]

@mallpunk182 Just blow it off can of compressed are is a good idea just let it dry off after

[kurochaos01]

You. Are. Awesome.

[AC8404]

grasiz! ;)

[alksndr202]

I just fixed my Dreamcast after watching your guide! Thank you very much mate! You're the best!

[Radagod]

I did this and got my dreamcast up and running I was able to play a whole entire fight in project justice without it reseting on me thx!!!!

[NeoHoshi]

A little isopropranol alcohol on a cotton swab should aid the cleaning process too. Just allow it to dry before putting the machine back together. Shouldn't take a minute if you just wipe it on a swab and rub the pins down.

[SpartanDiab]

Thank you for the guide, my 2nd DC has an annoying restart problem and for a while I was thinking it was a loose lid, time to clean!

[6890speed]

THANK YOU!!!! I was freaking out when my dreamcast started acting funny. Now i can play sonic adventure 2 in peace.

[mac100100]

It worked ace!  Thanks, mate!

[andy7666]

Nice one ArranMC! Resetting Dreamcasts make baby Jesus cry and that can only be a bad thing.. ^_^ I'll give this a go tomorrow - I get the reset after about 5 mins of play, if that without fail now so I've been a wee bit disheartened. Wether it works or not, cheers for the advice!

[Denji2006]

...mother fucker! That's it?! That's all it takes?!

All this time, I've thought it was some internal error with the controller port or something (sometimes it'd restart if my cord was moved)

I'm going to try this out! Thanks for the video post! I would've never known there was a solution to bring my DC back to life.

[Denji2006]

Just did it. So far so good!

[telecomboring]

A good clean worked for me, thanks.

[ninguemvj]

Thanks mate! I just bought a DC and was getting extremely frustrated with the restarting thing. I did what the video shows and so far it works perfectly! Cheers!

[ikbenberberenjijniet]

arranmc182, i dont get it

i currently have a PAL and NTSC dreamcastmand they BOTH do the randm reset thing.

my pal one is totally disassembled m tried everything,so i bought a ntsc one. Worked fine @ my GF's house, at my house it random resets.

Could it be something with my electricity net?

(this is my GF's youtubeaccount, leave a msg @ mine (vulgaris1901)

thanx in advance!

[andy7666]

Could be that its just getting old and dusty.. It may seem to have worked at your missus' place but not yours, but I bet it would reset there now if you tried it. I've had loads of stuff where I thought it was a circumstancial thing - but the power supply in the house should make no difference - if it works, it works. Hope you got it sorted anyway!

[iorel1982]

thanks goooao amazing sega dreamcast y very easy to fix and hardly ever give us problem ajaj the best console is dreamcast easy to fix and cheaper to fix

[iorel1982]

mm the dreamcast in thsi video is palm ? i see a bleu logo and the solution is just clean ?

[asgardlord1349]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

[MrSegamegadrive]

nice one mate

[PANDEMONIUMDJ]

awesome. Helped loads!!

[kuanjikoda]

Helped so much thank you! ^_^

[cheesebowls]

My DC will power on, But the screen is blank. No logo no nothing.

[iorel1982]

thats hapened with out cd games ?when you power on u dc ?

[cheesebowls]

I just got it working a few months ago. You have no idea how happy I was! (:

[iorel1982]

great actually i never saw a dreamcast with nany problem this is the first time i fisrt problem taht i know in sega dreamcast thsi consonle is very nice

[cheesebowls]

My favorite games of all time are... mario, sonic, spawn, and crazy taxi. I don't know why the stopped making crazy taxi... I LOVED that game.

[iorel1982]

are other versions for xbox and gamecube of crazy taxi

[cheesebowls]

I'll have to look into that for sure! Thanks for all your help iroel1982.

[iorel1982]

u r very wellcome actually y bougth a sega dreamcast i downloading isos and besides i have a gamecube too and a gameboy poquet

[SOPOWERFULCARDS]

this worked for me! thanks for posting this video i thought i would have to buy a new dreamcast

[mexican379]

I can play my original copies but backups make it reset---even witha boot disc like utopia....i wanna play illbleed...=[ help me?

[arranmc182]

@mexican379

Check out my video on disk read error and make sure you only burn the disk at 4x no faster this mimics the spacing of the files on the original disks best if your dive supports witch most modern ones dont try 2x aswell but i found 4x to be the best

[CRASHICTH]

@arranmc182

Thanks 100, my dreamcast was restarting so much it would even boot but now its fine and i was able to play sonic adventure for 5 minutes with no problems, but will i need to do this on a regular basis?

[iorel1982]

mm really i allways burn the imagenes at maximun xpeed and work fine im use alcohol120%

[mexican379]

I love my dreamcast....hasnt failed me yet. Its is very reliable. .

[ShadicPT]

it's very fragile and noisy too =P. I'll need to reopen it once again cuz it keeps restarting.

[arranmc182]

@ShadicPT

The dreamcast collects alot of dust round the PSU due to static it generates i think try to keep the area that the dreamcast is in as dust free as u can ok

[SpanishProductionsXB]

worked for me. thanks alot. seems a bit bizarre mind you.

[JheBlog]

If this video didnt help you (it didnt work for me) then maybe your CD might be too loose. my dreamcast starting working when i put it upside down and put my chemistry book on top, it hasnt randomly restarted even once since then!

[JheBlog]

i found another solution...use tape to tighten the lid...but you will have to put tape with every game you play

[Vorph]

Thanks alot for this, worked for me!

[Cornughon]

Maybe this sounds crazy, but I too got the rebooting problem and cleaning+blending the PSU-pins didn't work for me.

This probably really sounds crazy, because I used a cotton swab dipped in cleaning alcohol to clean the two pins on the rearside of the DC where the power cable is attached to, at least with European continental DC's. Gray stuff came off it (probably metaloxide stuff), and now the machine seems to work like a charm.

[sadsys]

really i did that to my dreamcast in 2003 and it worked good

[jrowkid]

my dreamcast is froze on thte date and time screen can you help me

[NLmaxdamage]

and put the case back up. and press the eject button and see if it opens and closes good. if it does put in a game and boot it up. i will ensure you that YOUR dreamcast will life a life time without a problem. if you have any problems PM me. ill be glad to help you out

[NLmaxdamage]

a little ad to this, bent the pins a little bit more to your facing way. so bent them a view millimeters down. so they make a better fit in the connecter. STEP 2: you see the little black thing on the top right of the dreamcast. the thing that connects the cd case? so that the case can open and close? TAKE A THIN PEACE OF TAPE and wrap it real thight around it.

[budj02]

WOW!i just tried this and my friend's dreamcast is now working 100% again! thanks a lot=D u rule man^^

[num1Beatlesfan]

Thanks so much my Dreamcast works perfect now! This is very much appreciated! :D

[DJSuperSonic97]

had the same problem but i threw it away before i ever seen any vid like this one R.I.P my dreamcast

[taichadow1]

you're my hero

[Cobradabest]

thanks alot, it works, this was great help

[SexyAdelaideGeeks]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[ultm8ninja]

I have the same problem but one difference I ordered a "Treamcast" a dreamcast with a screen for car play and it has a diff size

[Residenteviladicted]

something i have to go through every 4 - 5 months or so..

man i hate the PAL dreamcast, wish i got the US one T_T

[JohnnyGameGuy]

This problem has been bothering me for a long time.

I am going to try this out now.

[JohnnyGameGuy]

Uh oh.. It worked at first, but then after playing for awhile it restarted again. I decided to turn off and on agian and when I turned it on agian I can hear the drive running but the Light does not turn on and it doesn't work.

[Residenteviladicted]

you should have not used these wet wipes, its only best to gently rub them with a dry cloth, and not to bend them or move anything in the power board as you may have moved something in the power board that triggered this error with your dreamcast.

[Residenteviladicted]

@JohnnyGameGuy*

[Residenteviladicted]

@JohnnyGameGuy

If you used the wet wipes and turned on your D/C without letting the pins dry, your DC might have been fused, if so, you have to find a new power board.

[brendude95]

whoops lifted it off while it was upside down and i almost broke my disc reader!

[Kebabage]

I had done this a couple of months ago and it hadnt worked, but this time I used wet wipes to clean the pins and tightened every screw and connections in sight. Perfect!

[CHUNKIEBOYSKINNY]

man i did this earlier on, my dreamcast has bein playin up 4 time now , but it seems perfect now, nice 1

[28ack]

dude i just fixed my dreamcast its a first generation one and this video helped me loads cheers man i owe you. NOW I CAN PLAY SHENMUE AGAIN:)

[jayteamlutha]

teach me how to do that i can't play shenmue without my dreamcast upside down and im almost done with disc 3 but my bullshit system keeps turning of and restarting plz help

[Cyclops1986]

Wow man this really did the trick now my Dreamcast works perfect.

Thanks

[SmurfTrollington]

Oh the comment below refers to PAL/European Dreamcasts, which I have 4 of. I'm not sure about US and Jap versions as I have never used one.

[Nevets9719]

Thank you so much for this video. My Dreamcast began having this problem about a year and half ago and I haven't used it much since. This video helped me immensely. Other than the placement of the pins being different for the NTSC version of the Dreamcast this guide helped me fix me Dreamcast, and so far it has been working smoothly. I now know how to repair it in the future.

[vip2oo4]

Thank you Thank you

I am Laster 2002 year

Thank you help me now 2008

[daniel99j]

what a DC version are you have ? I have a HKT 3030 and this version is auto restarting... :(

[arranmc182]

daniel99j same as the one i have so this should work

[JoshLucas5]

Can you use alcohol with a cotton swab?

[arranmc182]

just make sure you water yje a;cohol down then u should be fine

[JoshLucas5]

water it down? why not just use pure alcohol?

[arranmc182]

because pure alcohol can damage pcb's if it is to strong

[JoshLucas5]

pcb?

[arranmc182]

PCB = Printed Circuit Board

[pooptang]

I fucking love you. My DC works perfectly now.

[da1andonlyphil]

Arranc - u r an absolute legend. my dc was abso dead, wouldn't even go to the dc menu screen so i thought f*** it, ill try ur guide - iv got nothing to lose and shabbam - it worked like a treat!!

[jarox23]

poor video quilty i cant see what your doing please help i have that problem cant fix it

[arranmc182]

jarox23 if u listen u can hear when i am saying unless you are a retard (witch i don think you are) then u can work out what to do from this video

[jarox23]

okay ass whipes.. its funny how you think im a retard and you dont even know me your slowing judgeing me on a small comment i left you wow that should say a lot about dont it?..by the way a real "Retard" wouldnt be able to use a computer.. yea your smart

[Klaymator14]

Read again, he says he doesn't think you are a retard...

[leathaface22]

im having problems with the controller slots they wont work but  th system comes on i pretty sure that all the controllers work but the slots are fucked plz help

[sms52]

Thank you, now I can play Shenmue again.

[play5]

QFT. Now I too can play Shenmue once again. Thanks! ^_^

[Rentenkz]

I doubt the method but it worked it stop the random resets all I had to do is clean laser.

[kataklysm812]

Wie geil meine Dreamcast läuft wieder 1A! Vielen Dank, alter!

So fucking nice, my DC is working so fine again! Thank you very much man!

[arranmc182]

Ich bin froh, dass ich könnte Ihnen helfen

[Kebabage]

My Dreamcast is still randomly restarts :( The pins werent grubby or dirty but I gave them a thorough clean, aswell as cleaning fluff/dust from around the boards. Thanks for the guide and giving me the confidence to open up my console and everything but do you have any other ideas?

[arranmc182]

well the pins getting dirty is the most common problem if its just restarting to the menu then check the kid arm this is the thing on the board that gets pushed down by the lid of the case to tell it its shut and make sure the fan on the dreamcast is not blocked at all as the DC will overhead and this could make the console restart or even die

[Kebabage]

Cheers for the speedy reply, I've given it a good look over and just have no idea whats causing the problems, it isnt on certain games or anything and the fans clear etc. I might have to try the method of weighing the lid down without closing it fully. Thanks again

[arranmc182]

Kebabage all i can say is unlike the saturn hardware the dreamcast hardware is hit and miss if you have a erly modle dreamcast the hardware inside is more likely to brake down u have to take real care of your dreamcast for it to run good all the time but even then it can brake i recomend just getting one from ebay and ask the seller if its a modle 0, 1 or 2 modle 1 is the modle you want as the hardware is much better than modle 0 and you can playbackups with no mod chip like with modle 2

[SilverSkyline92]

i've had my dreamcast since i was 8, and now, well, im older, lol, but thank you for this vid, im sure it will help, but when asking the seller what model it is, what if they dont know themselves? but they have the information, how do we figure out if it's a model 0, 1, or 2?

thanks!

[arranmc182]

just ask the seller to look at the bottom of the console there will be the model number and the reagion next to each other eg: 1 Pal

[SmurfTrollington]

As u say cleaning the pins alone isn't enough. The contacts that the pins rest against r flexible, when the console gets hot they move and lose contact with the pins. In addition to cleaning the pins and contacts u should *slightly* bend the pins so they lean toward the front of the console a few mm is enough, don't be heavy handed and snap em off or bend em to far, use some common sense! Use any straight edge to bend the pins uniformly, the pins will push harder on the contacts problem solved!

[mario123dude]

Thank you man so much now my sega dreamcast is working perfectly, hey I don't suppose you now how to change the region code of a dreamcast do you?

[arranmc182]

look on line for the region changer CD u will download a disk image and need to solder one wire inside the console and then the disk will work i havnt done this yet but i will be so that my console allways runs in Pal 60hz

[ThugBear2005]

anyone know how to fix a dreamcast that plays audio cds but not game cds? it will even load "backups" all the way up to where it has to play a game then stop. any help at all would be great

[coyel]

Hey, thanks for this holmes!

Pro Tip: Doing this while it's plugged increases the levels of excitement very well.

[richardashcroft5]

yes thanks m8

[rei14]

thnx so much man, it worked perfectly =]

[vekoma]

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!! My Dreamcast is working perfectly now!!! I thought it was a goner!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

[hollerritter]

can anybody help me, my tomb raider chronicals disk starts up then goes back to the dreamcasts main screen PLZ HELP

[KadmonKamikaze]

oh my fuckin god, my dreamcast works again! the damn thing works! i put it away, like, YEARS ago thinking it was permanently fucked up, thank you so much for helping me breathe life back into my dreamcast!

[spoon111]

excellent! my dreamcast is working perfectly again. thanks!

[dercucumber]

HOLY SHIT i found a "still" active DC Helpbase. thanks god...

my problem is that my dc switches during a game back to the menu... if im doin stuff in the menu like settings or memory card there´s no restart or something.. just during games.... so its not a total reboot. i think he just stops reading the gd... i testet it with a lot of games. .... anybody a hint?

[wallinator21]

Wow, thank you....I just broke out my Dreamcast after a 4-5 year hiatus and I encountered the restart problem....THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR UPLOADING!!! It works great now...

[jipperproduction]

the power board wont come off!!!!

[ElAdam94]

the first time u do it is quite hard

[sillypiggy2]

thank you man! i was about ot like throw the dreamcast out and i figues to look up a way to fix it so thanks man

[arranmc182]

its ok man

[hollerritter]

can anybody help me, my tomb raider chronicals disk starts up then goes back to the dreamcasts main screen PLZ HELP

[psytechnics]

try this: put tha game in, but dont close tha lid alltheway,just put something on top of it so it keeps down but not completely closed.

[arranmc182]

psytechnics this can work but if the dream cast lid is not fully shut any dust that gets in can scratch your disks best thing to do is open up the system and cleen out any dust inside and adjust the laser if need be as i have found that people who do the lid a kinda open trick is that there DC tends to over heet

[wiihome]

good thinking mate!

this really helped me.

thanks alot XD

[jipperproduction]

Can someone help me my dreamcast is hywire! I turn it on then it does the logo then restarts again. plz reply

[alldin]

yeah this is kinda the best way to fix

the restart problem...

i did this 3 years ago... it restarted today acually and i did the same thing as last time... just like this video..

and now it works good as new! ^^

can u imagine how much u can play with this console without any probems for years? ...

not like the 360, ps3 and wii that comes up with problems... regular

[teisr]

my wii never gave me any problems

[alldin]

well the wii is a next-gen console....

and yet people do have problems with wii cd-rom not reading the games correct...

and yet the dreamcast is the best console with the best games ever made!

and trust me, it will take liek 2 years until a next-gen console gets a problem and needs to repear and stuff while u can fix ure dreamcast just in 10mins and have play it for ever!

long live dreamcast!

[teisr]

hell yeah, i play my dc more than i pay attention to my wife lol!!! check out my video of a costomized soundtrack i made for marvel vs capcom 2. the vid is only the intro, but it beats that jazz crap.

[stocksy2097]

Mon dieu! You are the Jesus Christ of consoles. Bought a Dreamcast online and it wouldn't start anything besides the fan so I tried your fuse method. When that didn't work I tried this and got instant results. My pins weren't noticeably dirty either. Hooray for you and hooray for Johnson's baby wipes!

[JamesXorcist]

Thanks, that helped loads :D

[viperxeon]

ha, it's funny how the dreamcasts internal compoents are so simple, you can fix it your self in 10 minuets.

[arranmc182]

viperxeon thats so true the dreamcast is so simple to fix i dont see why people just bin there sreamcast when it has a problem im sure it could be fixed simpaly

[Krylov79]

Great video thanks mate, solved the prob! Just dusted off my Dreamcast after many years lol, that prob was a pain.

So how long do you reckon the D.C will run before the reboot prob happens again?

Cheers again!

[jdynasty4]

This sux..For some reason the power supply doesnt lift up at all, just a little in the back. I had removed the white connector and unscrewed both screws and I still have trouble.

Wtf can I do?..damn

[arranmc182]

jdynasty4 there are prongs sticking out of the dreamcast main board u will have to pull up with some force and it will come up then

[0MariosShadow0]

Pretty fundamental, this... But good help for newbies, good video overall.

[vic2587]

Just what I was looking for... I'm going to try this out later, thanks!

[Citille]

is the connection usually "niticably" dirty? or is it just dirty but you can't really tell unless you're playing? i just tried this but the connections didn't look dirty at all. thanks

[Citille]

*"noticably"

[Citille]

DAMMIT! **"noticeably"

[arranmc182]

Citille no not realy it just needs a vary small bit of dirt stopting full contact and the console will restart

[Citille]

alright cool. i left my DC on with PSO in for 2 hours after already playin a few hours today and it didn't restart. the vid helped a lot thanks man

[Johnjenyl]

im about ready to throw it in the trash because it always restarts.

[arranmc182]

Johnjenyl im sorry it didnt work but some times hardware just comes to the end of its life and its time to get another or move on its a way of live i hate to hear that a Dreamcast is dead but if there is nothink you can do about it take out the parts like the GD-ROM and the Controler board and sell them on Ebay so then its not a total loss

[Johnjenyl]

I did exactly what you did but mine still restarts

[BradyFan27]

i would rather punch my dreamcast...like i always do. that peice of mother fucker.

[arranmc182]

BradyFan27 well if you do this you dont have top punk your Dreamcast then and if you punch the dreamcast to hard or to meny times you could damage the laser and pluss if your having to keep punching the Dreamcast then realy the Punching is doing sod all leest my way works properly

[ponderosa121]

My husband and I just pulled out our Dreamcast after years and found it had this restart problem. We're completely stoked we got it up and running again in under fifteen minutes. Thanks so much for putting this up!

[arranmc182]

its ok im glad i could help you out

[d0minatus]

Hey great tutorial. But next time could you do it without your pants on?

[arranmc182]

WTF no i will not lol

[45ounce]

I bought a dreamcast of ebay for my 3 year old son because he loves sega rally at the arcade. He was playing on it last weekend and it kept restarting itself so i told him it was broken and he burst into tears. Ive fixed it now because of your video and he's gonna be so chuffed in the morning. Thanks alot for this.

[arranmc182]

45ounce im glad your Dreamcast dose not restart any morew thats good news to me and hope your son enjoys the dreamcast for a very long time

[yusuf916]

If you have pictures or post a video on how to fix this it would be much appreciated. Just show me where the fuse is so i can replace it.

[yusuf916]

I own 2 dreamcasts and both of them won't turn on. Everything is plugged in but it wont turn on. Do you have any idea on how to fix this ?

[arranmc182]

the fuse maybe dead on the DC PSU

[Madaleena]

Hahaha 'JOHNSON'S BABY WIPES'lmao, u crak me up man!

[burkezillar]

This Actually Works!!!! I'm sooooo happy!!!! I can play shenmue 2 on it now :D