Dreamcast problems, hoping to get them fixed

Tech Talk
1

Here’s a story for you.

I was playing my Dreamcast earlier today. Everything was fine and dandy, everything worked no problems. I turn it off for about 5 hours or so and want to jump back in and play some more. The dreamcast turns on like normal, goes through the beginning logo screen and reaches the screen where I have to set the internal clock (I have to do this every time I boot up). As I’m about enter the time in, my TV screen goes blue (indicating signal has been lost). The dreamcast has not powered off, but it also has not booted into my game (VMU just stays showing the memory card). The strangest part is, if I disconnect the AV cable from the back of the dreamcast and put it back in, the TV regains the signal and go through the beginning logo, but dies before it even gets to the internal clock menu. Any ides of how I can fix this? I miss my DC! Forgive me if this on the wrong section, I don’t think Tech Talk is limited to just FIGHTAN STIKS

2

Possible loose ribbon cable going from the controller board to the main board.

Also I did start a Console repair thread not long ago.

3

Any guides on how to do this?

4

Here all the repair guides I know for the Dreamcast

5

If you don’t mind me asking, how’d you come to this conclusion? I’ve done some research and I haven’t found anyone with this problem.

6

bump?

7

Internal clock is handled by the controller board (the PCB with the controller ports) as it also holds the CMOS battery. And the system will not start if the board is not present/ connected.

I remember you said you had issues with the clock, so I speculate you might have a loose ribbon connector doing to the controller board.
The ribbon cable just get pushed into place and held by friction fitting. So it is possible one of the ribbon cables came loose.

You have to open up your Dreamcast anyways to check for anything loose.

8

Is the fan still running? It’s possible that’s come loose as it’s also connected to the control port board. I remember forgetting to hook that up when rebuilding a DC and it caused it to shut down when it tried to read a game.

9

It definitely sounds like opening it up and eyeballing everything is in order. The main things I’d look for are all of the ribbon cables being solid connected and locked down on both ends, checking the power supply board’s connection to the main board with those funky pins and connectors that the power supply sits on, and checking the underside of the mainboard to check the soldering points of the A/V output jack.

1 Like
10

Alright thanks everyone, big help. Bringing it over a friend’s house today to check it all out!

11

Got it to work! Big thanks to all of you!

12

Hey there, what did you find was the problem? my DC is pretty much acting the same, boots to clock and then i get no signal but it appears to be on still. any help appreciated

13

Dude 9 years later, most of these people are gone.

Check to make sure your video cable in all the way

1 Like
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Lol ya i saw that after i commented, thats what i get for using google to help me. video cable is good, he had said he was gonna take it apart and then said it works so i was curious.