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What to do to properly use a SEGA's Dreamcast in 2020

Dreamcast's profile picture
Published in 
Dreamcast
 · 10 Jan 2020
1

I would like to briefly describe my experience with the SEGA's Dreamcast.

I know quite well the SEGA Mega Drive as I used it a lot during my childhood, but unfortunately I got a Dreamcast very late, years after SEGA quitted the Hardware business and the Dreamcast ceased to exist.

When I purchased my first Dreamcast (used), I noticed that, unlike many other retro-consoles, the Dreamcast is a delicate console in terms of survivability.

I have noticed the following problems:

- The internal battery is usually dead or almost dead. Replace the battery is unfortunatly not an easy task, as it is soldered to the controller's motherboard. Furthermore it is a special battery, so as replacement you need to purchase online the exact same battery-model. The most annoying problem with a dead battery is that when you turn on the Dreamcast, a menu appears asking you to enter the current date.

- Furthermore the Dreamcast's memory card also contains a batterie, which like the internal battery over the course of a decade may stops to work. This is fortunately not a big problem as a dead battery does not affect the state of saves.

- The power supply is integrated inside the Dreamcast, so no external power-unit is needed. But there is a problem! The Dreamcast's power supply is a separate board connected to the main motherboard with a small connector. This connector may loose contacts and is the cause while the Dreamcast randomly reboot during playing a game. To solve the issue the Dreamcast has to be opened and the connector points of the connector need to be cleaned for better contact.

In the previous months I have published here many tutorials that explain how to solve all the described issues.

I hope you like!

Have fun with your Dreamcast :)

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DrWatson's profile picture
@DrWatson

What I loved of the Dreamcast was the possibility to combine the controller with the memory card. Today modern consoles, like the Wii U offer a similar approach, showing one picture on the TV screen and a different one on the controller, but SEGA arrived first! Black and white picture, low resolution, changes with the game, from level to level. A truly amazing machine !!!

10 Jan 2020
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