bought a dreamcast...

17daysolderthannes · Post by **17daysolderthannes** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:36 pm

and, as I do with almost everything I buy used, I want to take it apart and thoroughly clean it. However, since this is a more recent, more sophisticated system than a Sega Genesis or 32X (the only used consoles I've bought before), I want to make sure it will be easy to reassemble everything. I plan on taking apart the console itself, the controllers, and maybe the VMU, is there anything I should be wary of like hard-to-place buttons or something? I once took apart a 3rd party SNES controller with turbo switches and it took me FOREVER to get that thing back together, and I was lucky I got it back together and working, so if there is anything that will be especially hard to reassemble, then I will just clean the outside of it.

SZF2001 · Post by **SZF2001** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:29 am

I remember taking apart one of these things... I put a clear shell over mine, and it came with instructions (albeit they didn't really help, but they did)...

You have to take it apart in layers. It's... weird. I know that's actually accurate in other current systems (taking apart an XBox was likely the same, and the GCN ESPECIALLY was a layer ordeal), and I remember there being very small parts and screws you had to remember exactly where they went (not in the exact place, but on what part of the layer).

Make sure you've got room to do this, and separate everything into piles to make sure they go back on as the reverse of how you took it apart. But those are general guidelines anyway, right? Nothing too irregular...

dragonhead · Post by **dragonhead** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:08 am

depending on which cooling setup it has (heatpipe or passive plate) it can be a bit of a pain to get lined up right.

17daysolderthannes · Post by **17daysolderthannes** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:27 pm

well, I'm not expecting to have to take it COMPLETELY apart, just maybe the exterior case since used systems tend to have dust and such built up and I want everything to be smooth like new. I don't imagine I will need to go any deeper than that since the auction listed it specifically as a "clean" system (a big reason why I chose that particular auction).

How about the controllers and VMU? are they easy to disassemble and reassemble? I usually find controllers work like new when you take them apart and clean the contacts/silicon buttons but with all the joysticks and what not it seems like it may be harder to put back together than a garden variety 6-button genesis controller.

dragonhead · Post by **dragonhead** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:32 pm

17daysolderthannes wrote:well, I'm not expecting to have to take it COMPLETELY apart, just maybe the exterior case since used systems tend to have dust and such built up and I want everything to be smooth like new. I don't imagine I will need to go any deeper than that since the auction listed it specifically as a "clean" system (a big reason why I chose that particular auction).

How about the controllers and VMU? are they easy to disassemble and reassemble? I usually find controllers work like new when you take them apart and clean the contacts/silicon buttons but with all the joysticks and what not it seems like it may be harder to put back together than a garden variety 6-button genesis controller.

actually the controllers are really easy. all the analog stuff is magnet based, not potentiometer based

17daysolderthannes · Post by **17daysolderthannes** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:19 pm

dragonhead wrote:depending on which cooling setup it has (heatpipe or passive plate) it can be a bit of a pain to get lined up right.

mine was manufactured Sept. 99 (launch system?), so which one does it have? Also, since Dreamcasts are SO FREAKIN CHEAP, is it difficult to overclock a Dreamcast processor? Right now I'm in an "Instruments and Measurements" class and we are basically restricted to computer cooling systems for the "open ended project", so I thought it would be cool to make an overclocked video game console with a cooling system instead since that way I could actually enjoy my creation afterwards. If not, are there any other cheap systems you could think of that ARE easy to overclock and would require a cooling system to do so?

-=FamilyGuy=- · Post by **-=FamilyGuy=-** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:04 pm

A dc is as easy to overclock as soldering 5 wires to a switch, a crystal oscillator, and a cut leg of a chip. It's the first mod I ever did and it was pretty easy for a "first-timer" it made me more confiant to do much more complicated mods.

In two words: You should

dragonhead · Post by **dragonhead** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 12:46 am

17daysolderthannes wrote:
dragonhead wrote:depending on which cooling setup it has (heatpipe or passive plate) it can be a bit of a pain to get lined up right.
mine was manufactured Sept. 99 (launch system?), so which one does it have? Also, since Dreamcasts are SO FREAKIN CHEAP, is it difficult to overclock a Dreamcast processor? Right now I'm in an "Instruments and Measurements" class and we are basically restricted to computer cooling systems for the "open ended project", so I thought it would be cool to make an overclocked video game console with a cooling system instead since that way I could actually enjoy my creation afterwards. If not, are there any other cheap systems you could think of that ARE easy to overclock and would require a cooling system to do so?

99% sure its a heatpipe then, thats the one thats a relative pain in the ass. just be very careful not to bend the pipes

17daysolderthannes · Post by **17daysolderthannes** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:16 pm

-=FamilyGuy=- wrote:A dc is as easy to overclock as soldering 5 wires to a switch, a crystal oscillator, and a cut leg of a chip. It's the first mod I ever did and it was pretty easy for a "first-timer" it made me more confiant to do much more complicated mods.

In two words: You should

is there a "how to" on this somewhere? Man, I would love an overclocked Dreamcast, though, I can't think of any DC games that actually had slowdown issues off of the top of my head.

-=FamilyGuy=- · Post by **-=FamilyGuy=-** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:22 pm

Here we go !

http://devcast.dcemulation.com/mods/ove ... rclock.php

I folowed this tuto, and made myself a diagram to add a switch

If there's anything else, feel free to ask

!!

FG

17daysolderthannes · Post by **17daysolderthannes** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:24 pm

OK, I have a new thing I'm wondering about. The d-pad on my controller is super responsive to up, down, and left, but you have to push harder for right to work. I noticed that there is a placement tab on the "right" direction and also that the silicon mat (proper name?) has a pivot ball and that on the other side there is a cut out of sorts keeping it from being perfectly round. Is the silicon mat supposed to placed a certain way or should it be fine in any orientation? I can't see where it fits any different no matter where you put it and I would like to just chalk it up to the placement tab on the plastic part of the d-pad, but I just thought I would ask.