No picture from my Dreamcast.

[TJ_Kat]

So, my dreamcast no longer outputs any image.

My best guess is that my bios is fried. Same thing happens when a pc loses it's bios. That, and I didn't exactly store the innards very safely when I was painting the shell.

The other possibility is that cpu isn't receiving a clock signal. I'm pretty sure I can rule this out as I've been told that in that case, it will fail the bios test and display a white screen. As I said, I get nothing at all.

What I'm hoping for is to see if someone has an other idea what might be the cause. I do have another bios that I could swap in, but it's not in that good of shape thanks to the postal service.

If no one's got ideas, anyone have a cheap revision 0 (or 1) PAL DC they'd want to sell me?

[kendrick]

TJ, can you describe what other behavior your Dreamcast is exhibiting other than the lack of video? Can you hear the GD drive actually spinning up and searching for files, and is there any audio? In other words, is the video output the only noticable problem?

I might be completely wrong, but my recollection is that the Dreamcast won't even boot if it doesn't detect a correctly grounded video cable connected to it (to tell it whether to output composite, RGB or VGA.) If you're very lucky, the worst you have to deal with is a munged up video connector or a bad cable. If you're feeling adventurous, I would pull the connector off entirely, apply ground to pin 7 of the thing (if you want composite output) and just attach normal RCA connectors for output.

The other thought is that if you're using paint that has even the slightest bit of conductivity, you might have an internal short that will require some additional insulation to deal with. You might have to lay down a plastic sheet or two to separate the circuit boards from the paint, if this is the case.

Hope that helps. Dreamcasts are still cheap and plentiful here in the States, so explore picking up a US-region model to mod if you can't get yours working again.

-KKC

[TJ_Kat]

power light comes on.
no video signal period (using a vga connection or a composite connection)
my tv won't output sound if it doesn't detect a video signal, so that's no help.
and no, the gdrom doesn't spin up.

as I said, from past experiences with computers, this has all the signs of an extra crispy bios.

I doubt it would be the paint. mostly because it comes no where near any circuits.

and I want a PAL system because the blue swirly on boot will complement my case's color scheme (why only do half the job, right? =p ) I can find cheap NTSC models on eBay (but who charge astronomical shipping), but I haven't seen a PAL console yet in my searches.

[Lost Monkey]

and I want a PAL system because the blue swirly on boot will complement my case's color scheme (why only do half the job, right? =p )

Pssst!

There are many PAL country members right here on this message board - maybe just a lid swap is in order?

 

[TJ_Kat]

*whispers*

I'm aware of that, that's why I brought it up  

And since my plan B doesn't seem to be panning out, I may be making a request real soon.

[Guest]

My Dreamcast comes on then runs a game and after a while does this.
No video or audio output but led and fan are on! :unsure:  

[viletim!]

Guest,
I had a simillar problem with one of my dreamcasts.

There's a single wipe PCB connector that connects the power supply to the main logic board. It's not quite up to the job -- it seems to oxidise, crap builds up on the contacts and which cause it to reset/turn off periodicaly.

If that's the problem with yours them it's fixed by pulling out the power supply and cleaning the connector with a knife or sandpaper or something (both the wipers and pins).