Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report

Use a PC-CDROM LASER on your Dreamcast (SAMSUNG GD DRIVES only) Part 2

... and take off the faulty/dead laser, lifting the swirly-patter steel bar like in the next pic

Dreamcast's profile picture
Published in 
Dreamcast
 · 6 years ago
Use a PC-CDROM LASER on your Dreamcast (SAMSUNG GD DRIVES only) Part 2
Pin it

Once you lift it, slightly pull it so you release the laser.

Next i'll show you WHY it's necessary to have a SAMSUNG drive instead of a yamaha. Look at both of them and try to spot the differences between these 2 (the one in the right is a yamaha, the one in the left is the SAMSUNG)

Use a PC-CDROM LASER on your Dreamcast (SAMSUNG GD DRIVES only) Part 2
Pin it

Noticed? well, in case you didn't, look at the hole in the center of the drive pickup. The SAMSUNG one is wider than the yamaha, because the format of the lens are different. While the samsung format is rectangular (wider) the yamaha format is round. If you try to fit a rectangular format lens into the yamaha píckup, it will not fit and you will not be able to finish this guide.

The next pic shows the difference between the formats of the lens, comparing the one i've used from the pc-cdrom drive and the yamaha gdrom drive.

Use a PC-CDROM LASER on your Dreamcast (SAMSUNG GD DRIVES only) Part 2
Pin it

Let's move on... the next step is to make the pc-cdrom lens to fit accordingly and to have smooth movement along the drive pickup, being an essential step, because normally the pc-cd lens are bigger than the pickup and it can't move to the end of it, causing reading problems... and here is when the saw makes an appearance XD

First things first, take a look at the gd-lens you took off your dreamcast. It has a REALLY tiny piece of plastic and a thin metallic piece. You have to take them off the gd lens and put them into the pc-cd lens. The purpose of these pieces is to follow the pattern of the swirly-pattern steel bar (so it can freely move up and down), and to touch the sensor at the very beginning of the drive pickup, so the console can recognize the laser is at the PARKING position (at the beginning of the disc). If this switch isn't pressed when the laser starts reading the discs, IT WON'T WORK. Both pieces shown above:

Use a PC-CDROM LASER on your Dreamcast (SAMSUNG GD DRIVES only) Part 2
Pin it

Once you put these 2 pieces into the PC-CD lens, start assembling the gd pickup again, using the PC-CD lens. Check if the lens freely moves up and down AND IF IT REACHES THE END OF THE PICKUP. If it does, you are done, check if it reads MUSIC CDS FIRST. If it does, check with a game, preferred with a game in a CD-R first, if so, check with a gd-rom. If all works, you've successfuly finished this guide. GO PLAY WITH YOUR FULLY REVIVED DREAMCAST! If not... keep on reading...
These lens are a pain in the ass to make them fit correctly into the gd drive pickup. You will have to make some heavy modification to it, here are some examples you can follow:

Before
Pin it
Before
After
Pin it
After
Before
Pin it
Before
After
Pin it
After
Last modification
Pin it
Last modification

I've had to put some plastic with tape (if you are sure of what you are doing, just use glue instead of tape), so it was stabilized, due to I had to remove one of the 3 legs that supported the pickup so it can move freely.

Last pic AND AN ADVICE: DC lens are NOT conventional. This ones have 16 pin connectors for the flex/ribbon cable. The real "problem" of this is that the PC lens have 17 pins. Even if there's a difference between the number of pins, IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM. Here's how to: Your flex/ribbon cable has 16 pins, and you pc lens have 17 a very simple math solution says it doesn't fit perfectly lol. So you have to connect the flex/ribbon cable in a way the last non-connected pin is the one at the left of the picture shown above (if i wasn't clear enough, you have to connect the FLEX/ribbon cable aligned FROM THE RIGHT, if you are looking the pickup in the same way shown in the pic above)

Use a PC-CDROM LASER on your Dreamcast (SAMSUNG GD DRIVES only) Part 2
Pin it

The arrow indicates that you have to connect the pins starting from the right, so the last pin in the left remains disconnected.

K, now the only thing left ot do is to put all back together and test if it works. If it doesn't work at first, keep on trying 5 more times. If it still doesn't work, you would probably like to check the connections again. If all seems ok, you should try calibrating the lens. There's a shitload of vids at teh youtube showing how to do that.

THE VIDS (showing it working)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvSrCW5fui0

THE GD-ROMS WORKS (i've used utopia since the GD is american and the console is japanese, not for other reasons)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1WLrWScF9c

← previous
next →
loading
sending ...
New to Neperos ? Sign Up for free
download Neperos App from Google Play
install Neperos as PWA

Let's discover also

Recent Articles

Recent Comments

guest's profile picture
@guest
12 Nov 2024
It is very remarkable that the period of Atlantis’s destruction, which occurred due to earthquakes and cataclysms, coincides with what is co ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
12 Nov 2024
Plato learned the legend through his older cousin named Critias, who, in turn, had acquired information about the mythical lost continent fr ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
10 Nov 2024
الاسم : جابر حسين الناصح - السن :٤٢سنه - الموقف من التجنيد : ادي الخدمه - خبره عشرين سنه منهم عشر سنوات في كبرى الشركات بالسعوديه وعشر سنوات ...

lostcivilizations's profile picture
Lost Civilizations (@lostcivilizations)
6 Nov 2024
Thank you! I've corrected the date in the article. However, some websites list January 1980 as the date of death.

guest's profile picture
@guest
5 Nov 2024
Crespi died i april 1982, not january 1980.

guest's profile picture
@guest
4 Nov 2024
In 1955, the explorer Thor Heyerdahl managed to erect a Moai in eighteen days, with the help of twelve natives and using only logs and stone ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
4 Nov 2024
For what unknown reason did our distant ancestors dot much of the surface of the then-known lands with those large stones? Why are such cons ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
4 Nov 2024
The real pyramid mania exploded in 1830. A certain John Taylor, who had never visited them but relied on some measurements made by Colonel H ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
4 Nov 2024
Even with all the modern technologies available to us, structures like the Great Pyramid of Cheops could only be built today with immense di ...

lostcivilizations's profile picture
Lost Civilizations (@lostcivilizations)
2 Nov 2024
In Sardinia, there is a legend known as the Legend of Tirrenide. Thousands of years ago, there was a continent called Tirrenide. It was a l ...
Neperos cookies
This website uses cookies to store your preferences and improve the service. Cookies authorization will allow me and / or my partners to process personal data such as browsing behaviour.

By pressing OK you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge the Privacy Policy

By pressing REJECT you will be able to continue to use Neperos (like read articles or write comments) but some important cookies will not be set. This may affect certain features and functions of the platform.
OK
REJECT