Dreamcast rant

[Gabriel]

OK, I need to vent.

 

It amazes me that people harp upon the unreliability of the PS2 when there is an even more unreliable system of recent vintage out there. I'm speaking of the godforsaken Dreamcast.

 

I've owned a Dreamcast for some time, and let me tell you that barring the Adam, it was the most finicky system I've ever owned. At present, my original Dreamcast works, but only sporadically. Sometimes it will boot a disc, sometimes it won't.

 

However, Soul Calibur is worth the effort to keep a Dreamcast around, so today I decided that since GameStop had some Dreamcasts for $40 apiece, I would buy one and enjoy Soul Calibur on a decently running system.

 

The first Dreamcast I got from GameStop had dead controller ports. When you combine this problem with that godforsaken clock that never stays set on the system, then you can't even determine if the system will boot a disc.

 

So, I took that system back, explained the problem and got a replacement. I got the second system home, hooked it up to the TV and... nothing.

 

So, I replaced its AV cable. It turned out the video cable they had given me was dead, but my original one still worked fine. I popped in a disc and then heard...

 

GROWL SNAPP SNAPP SNAPP GROWL WHIRRRRRRRRRR.

 

And the disc wasn't even spinning. The drive was dead as a doornail.

 

So, I must say that I'm severely irritated. I'm irritated at GameStop for knowingly selling completely broken systems. I'm also irritated at Sega for making such a low material quality game system. I'll quite frankly be amazed if any DCs can be found in 2 years that even work considering how prone to breakdown they are.

 

Tomorrow I have to go to GameStop and return the system for the second time and see if I can get one that works.

 

Shit. And all I wanted to do was play Soul Calibur.

[Starscream]

Even though I do pick on the unreliability of the PS2 all the time, you are 100% correct about the DC. I have 3 and all work fine, but one of them will not play a handful of games that I have. The other 2 are fine but that one is pretty damn picky

[Gregory DG]

I have a black Sega Sports Dreamcast and aside from having to clean a demo disc one time, it's never failed me.

[chrisbid]

i guess ive lucked out as well, my DC has had very few problems

 

*crosses fingers*

 

but CD systems in general are flakey

[CPUWIZ]

People with pirate copies of games destroy their DC's evntually because a lot of people don't know how to ... nevermind.

[badbrad]

Dummy File.

[CPUWIZ]

Shh.

[Gabriel]

but CD systems in general are flakey

 

Yes, this is true.

 

The only exception is the original Panasonic 3DO. That thing is built like a tank. The only problem I ever had with mine while I had it was the save game memory would periodically erase itself and need to be reformatted. The person I gave the console to confirms that this is still the only quirk it has.

[MacGurl]

Maybe it's because your DC is a classic. Mine is modern and it works fine This thread would probably get more traffic in Modern Gaming. CPUWIZ--do yer stuff.

[+Sauron]

People with pirate copies of games destroy their DC's evntually because a lot of people don't know how to ... nevermind.  

 

This is 100% correct. I know quite a few people who have Dreamcasts, and the ONLY ones that have had problems with them are the ones who use CD-R's in it. For some reason the DC does NOT like CD-R discs, and in a way rightfully so. Pirated games are part of the reason why the Dreamcast "failed". However, homebrew games have to go somewhere too, and I don't think most people have the means of getting their own projects duped.

 

The moral of the story? Don't put CD-Rs in your DC!

[CPUWIZ]

The moral of the story? Don't put CD-Rs in your DC!  

 

Or at least if you must (you pirate) know what you're doing.

[Gabriel]

This is 100% correct. I know quite a few people who have Dreamcasts, and the ONLY ones that have had problems with them are the ones who use CD-R's in it.

 

OK, that may explain the 2 defective DCs that I've gotten from GameStop, but it certainly doesn't explain my original. It has never had a homeburned CD in it.

 

My original flakey DC is one of the earlier ones. It was purchased right at the time when they first became $150.

[NE146]

The moral of the story? Don't put CD-Rs in your DC!  

 

I pretty much ONLY put in cd-r's in my Dreamcast. But again they're mainly emu's.. which I guess is piracy of the Colecovision and Atari 2600/5200/8-bit in a sense.. (actually it is).

 

But anyway, the cd-rom pretty much only gets accessed to load up one of those 2k-32k games.. so hopefully those few seconds aren't too much strain

[oesii]

I pretty much ONLY put in cd-r's in my Dreamcast. But again they're mainly emu's.. which I guess is piracy of the Colecovision and Atari 2600/5200/8-bit in a sense.. (actually it is).  

 

But anyway, the cd-rom pretty much only gets accessed to load up one of those 2k-32k games.. so hopefully those few seconds aren't too much strain

 

 

That how I mostly use my Dreamcast too at least for the past year and it's been rock solid. I got my DC the first month it was out in 99, so I wonder if they built the later revisions cheaper or if they are all bound to flake out soon.

[CPUWIZ]

The original motherboard has liquid cooling pipes around the entire motherboard, that might have something to do with it.

[oesii]

The original motherboard has liquid cooling pipes around the entire motherboard, that might have something to do with it.

 

Cool, I've never heard of that before, at first I thought you were drunk or something

 

But of course, I found a page describing it here:

http://www.callnetuk.com/home/isgn/DC_Feature04.htm

 

I guess they got rid of the cooling pipes in later motherboards?

[goatdan]

My original Dreamcast, purchased new about one and a half years ago has given me zero problems and I'll admit to having used burned CDs in it (it must be noted though that I own every US Dreamcast games and only used burns to play games that I have sealed.)

 

The play time that my machine has seen is quite extensive too -- I played an entire season of NBA 2K1 (82, 40 minute games + all the playoff games) as well as Tony Hawk 2 the whole way through and tons of other games for at least an hour apeice. When I lived in a nearby city and was the intern for the local amusement park, I probably played two hours a day because there was little else to do that was free . Until I got my recent NUON DVD, I also played CDs in it constantly.

 

I would say that I've used the entire thing in excess of 500 hours, and it has never had a problem in reading CDs or playing games. The only exception is Blue Stinger, which I believe is incompatible with the newer version of system.

[MegaManFan]

The only thing I have against my DC is that it's loud as the dickens. Every other disc based system I have is whisper quiet by comparison.

[jsoper]

Me too, got two DC's hooked up that both work fine but the newer one (not Bleem compatible) makes more noise then the old one (works with Bleem).

And I also bought a third system at Toys-R-US for $50 as a worst-case backup. It's still sealed in the box.

[CPUWIZ]

The original motherboard has liquid cooling pipes around the entire motherboard, that might have something to do with it.

 

Cool, I've never heard of that before, at first I thought you were drunk or something

 

But of course, I found a page describing it here:

http://www.callnetuk.com/home/isgn/DC_Feature04.htm

 

I guess they got rid of the cooling pipes in later motherboards?

 

* hick *

[Foxy Cleopatra]

The only thing I have against my DC is that it's loud as the dickens.  Every other disc based system I have is whisper quiet by comparison.

 

Unless you get a bad XBox. Those things can be noisy as f***.

[Invader_dag]

I`ve had my dear, sweet DC since a couple months after launch. not a problem yet, i`ve started using some emu's on it lately, not frquently though

 

and part of the problem with the new(well newly acquired) dreamcasts you bought is that you got them from gamestop(AKA funcoland!!). Which is known for all their dead systems and games!! i got Mega Man X3 from them about 4 years ago and had to clean it for an hour before it would even turn on!! not to mention the trouble with Chrono Trigger. or the dead battery in Final Fantasy 2. Or the...

Anyways, i don`t think it's just DCs in general that have problems. I think it's the ones that have been owned by hyperactive 7 year olds that think it's more fun to throw it at small woodland creatures than actaully play a game on it

[joeybastard]

My DC has been trouble free for 2 years and I hope it stays that way!

[MegaManFan]

The only thing I have against my DC is that it's loud as the dickens.  Every other disc based system I have is whisper quiet by comparison.

 

Unless you get a bad XBox. Those things can be noisy as f***.

 

I don't think you have to worry - I'm never gonna have one.

[Gabriel]

Well, the story has a happy ending. Today I returned the second broken ass DC and got a good replacement. This time I tested the machine with a copy of DOA2, and lo and behold it worked flawlessly. It's a little on the loud side, but it actually played the "music video" demo at the start of the game perfectly in sync with the audio track. I haven't seen a DC do that since I first saw a brand new one.

 

Sadly, today I have no one to play Soul Calibur with, so I'll just have to keep my new, non-tempermental DC in reserve until the opportunity presents itself.