I have purchased a 2nd hand PAL DC and after about 10 minutes of game play it crashes and the screen goes black(every time)
I have come to the conclusion that the DC is overheating and shutting itself down for safety reasons. My DC sits on a hard surface (not carpet) and the fan works( its supposed to suck air in right?) .
Not too sure what to do? I think maybe the thermostat is disconnected of something??
thanks
the DC fan blows air out of the system, sucking it in from everywhere else.
Have you tried opening it and seeing if there's any loose wires or things like that? Of course, if it's the same thing every time, it may well just be dying coz of heat as you say, open it up, stick a large room fan on it and see if it still crashes at the same time. Have you also tried a different game?
This is a very common problem and is usually the result of bent or dirty pins on the power supply connector.Give them a good clean with alcohol,and make sure the pins are straight and when you replug the power supply make sure the pins make good contact.
Failing that, you need to buy a new DC. They're cheap as at the moment. You can probably get one off eBay for �20.
I recently had the same problem and yesterday I opened up my DC and sure enough, some of the pins and the subsequent connecting points were near black with filth or whatever. Gave them a good clean and the DC seemed to work well again. I still have yet to play for an extended session though.
If you want a step by step guide on how clean the bits you need to clean, just google for "dreamcast resetting problem" or something like that and you'll find a guide.