Dreamcast displays no video

[suplexx]

Hi everyone. I just bought a dreamcast from the goodwill (couple of weeks ago) for $10. Couldn't pass it up.. might have made a mistake though. It comes with a performance RFU switch. I have read that the performance rfu switches for dreamcast are notoriously crap. When I turn on the dreamcast, I can hear audio completely fine.

It will go on to the entire game. No video, ever. I can wiggle the RFU cord as much as I want, no dice. Tried on 3 different TV's. I did some of the common dreamcast fixes (the one that fixes a random restart problem, although I don't have that problem), so I am not afraid to open the case. I guess the video could be bad (likely I suppose..). I wont be broken-hearted.

It does come with two controllers and a game, so I guess that alone is worth $10. My question is this: How likely is it that the 'performance' rfu switch is only outputting audio and not video? I would hate to buy a new cable for $7, when a new dreamcast might be 20-30.

Thanks in advance for the opinions and help =).

[albino_vulpix]

Most likely the problem is in the RF box. Since you're fine with opening it up, can you pull composite video directly from the AV socket. http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:dreamcastav

If that's the case, ditch the RF and get yourself a VGA box.

[suplexx]

thanks a lot for that link!

That gives me a much better understanding for the av slot, and now when I look closely at the RFU switches end connector, I can see that there are several pins missing. That could be normal, but it looks a little odd..

I'd be generally limited to using it on a monitor with a vga box right?

[kendrick]

It's likely that there's nothing wrong with the RF connector, it's just that it doesn't use all of the output from the Dreamcast AV slot. That it only has the pins that it needs to use the composite video and audio output is an indication that it's cheap, not necessarily broken. Still, I agree with Vulpix's diagnosis.

As for VGA boxes being a limiting option, many of them also incorporate other outputs on them. I have a nice Innovation-brand VGA box that also has composite and S-video outputs, and a switch that lets me select if I'm using VGA or not. This switch is also used to force some games that don't ordinarily work with the VGA output mode into using it anyway.

[suplexx]

thanks a lot guys

that sounds like a nice vga box you have.. i'll look into that

[red5standingby]

or you can probably get an s-video cable off of ebay that is if your t.v. has a s-video port on it. instead of getting a vga box..but it's up to you

[l_oliveira]

I don't want to burst the bubble but there's a fairly common problem with the Dreamcast Video DAC chip that sometimes cause it to not output video and have it's 5v power supply rail shorted to GND. I've replaced some and in every single case the board came "back to life". Sadly, the only remedy is replacing the part.

Some cases found by google:

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1574.0  (here)
http://www.fixya.com/support/t158238-dreamcast_displays_no_video
http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=197932
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-97220.html

Every single case listed seems to be still pending...

The issue I am mentioning  is that the user has been plugging the A/V lead on the dreamcast before connecting it to the TV set while having the Dreamcast already connected to the wall outlet, causing sparks (ESD discharge) to the tip of the VIDEO RCA plug, thus effectively frying the VIDEO DAC which is a multi function part (Video RGB DAC, CVBS and S-Video encoder, RGB amplifier)

The right way to hook your video game to your TV set or monitor is firstly hook the video cable to the TV set and then to the videogame system. After that you plug the videogame system to the wall connector and finally (if it's capable of online play) you hook the analog modem or ethernet cable. From that point you may plug your controllers (but since the controllers are connected only to the game system it doesn't matter if they're hooked or not during the A/V connection. The reason the outside of the A/V plugs on most video game systems are metal platted is to cause the first connection being made between the TV/Monitor and the system is the GND one, which will not cause any damage even if there's some mild sparking. Hooking the way I am telling you to will cause sparkling to happen only at the wall plug, which is harmless to the system.

Well... I might be wrong and your problem could be just the RF connector's video lead being broken. But if the video DAC is blown, it will require replacement D: