Let's get Dreamcasting!

[βeta]

Basically, I just opened my Dreamcast, and now I'm all fired up. I want to see some sanded scans of the inner layer(s). Either someone should do this, or someone should send me a broken board for me to sand myself. There is a LOT of potential for pretty small handhelds, even with the disk drive.

 

[Hermaphroditus]

I agree.

Plus this seems to be a pretty...easy system to portablize. I mean, even the power pins tell you what voltage goes in where

3.3
5
gnd
gnd
gnd
12

And, as Beta's pointed out, nothing REALLY would use 12.

I'ma try to run it without the 12 all together and see what'll happen.

 

[βeta]

Lemme know what happens, there very well may be a voltage sayer that carries the voltage elsewhere.

 

[Hermaphroditus]

I need to hack up a PSU and I'll get on it. So expect progress in that in a couple of days.

 

[βeta]

DO IT NAO

 

[Hermaphroditus]

I think I'll do it...TOMORROW

 

[βeta]

do you have the standard PSU? just bend the 12v pin out of the way and plug the PSU in.

 

[Hermaphroditus]

I suppose I could try that later. I'm watching a movie at the moment.

 

[βeta]

ok.

 

[Hermaphroditus]

Somehow blew a fuse on my first DC's regulator board. So I decided to break out the other one. Bent back the pin, things start up but the game won't start. It seems the Disk drive is using more than the 3.3V it says on the case when reading the game data because it'll start up but then stop.

Edit: I believe tomorrow I'll try getting the thing to run on 9V on that pin. Just gotta tear up a PSU.

 

[Atari]

I thought you should know that you accidentally made two threads. Or maybe you're just doubly excited.

I have some Dreamcast boards that I could take scans of.

As you may or may not know, there are only two different Dreamcast motherboard revisions: one has two boards, with a separate daughterboard for the GD-ROM, and the other is one fully integrated motherboard. They both however have a separate PSU. I only have the latter revision, so that is the only one I will be able to make scans of. It is the only revision that really needs scans, because the first revision is only a two layered board.

(I think we should just do this for all consoles, really.)

 

[βeta]

I thought you should know that you accidentally made two threads. Or maybe you're just doubly excited.

I have some Dreamcast boards that I could take scans of.

As you may or may not know, there are only two different Dreamcast motherboard revisions: one has two boards, with a separate daughterboard for the GD-ROM, and the other is one fully integrated motherboard. They both however have a separate PSU. I only have the latter revision, so that is the only one I will be able to make scans of. It is the only revision that really needs scans, because the first revision is only a two layered board.

(I think we should just do this for all consoles, really.)

I agree. I have a two-board Dreamcast, which probably easier to portablize initially, since there are no hidden traces. The second revision has a middle layer though? I would like to do both. Sanded scans would be better, since the solder mask blocks many small traces. I ma bidding on a lot of 5 broken DCs that still boot, I will test trimming on those, and scan them too.

 

[Hermaphroditus]

If I fried my DC and not just the converter board I'll sand it down and scan it.

 

[Atari]

I agree. I have a two-board Dreamcast, which probably easier to portablize initially, since there are no hidden traces.

Quite, but the daughterboard itself poses a problem, so you are sacrificing space for less effort.

The second revision has a middle layer though?

I'm not exactly working on solid ground here, as this was discovered around the time that the IntoDream was in development by Bateria. I can thus not exactly attest to the truth of what I have read. What I have read is that the traces that are hidden are not large in number. No further info was found, so I guess we'll figure it out with the sanding job.

Sanded scans would be better, since the solder mask blocks many small traces.

I discovered this on the N64 to my dismay. I will thus require a bit more time for these scans.

I ma bidding on a lot of 5 broken DCs that still boot, I will test trimming on those, and scan them too.

Lulz. You mean this one?
http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-5-SEGA-DREAMCAS ... 1350wt_315
I was just about to bid on that.

 

[βeta]

That's the one, you better not. XD

 

[stuntpenguin007]

I have a broken Dreamcast motherboard I could sand down. It's the version with no GD-ROM daughter board.

I'd sand it down, but I have a few questions. Do I need to remove the CPU and GPU? If I need to, I could try the griddle method for removing BGA devices. Should I remove the SMD resistors, capacitors, etc. before sanding?

 

[Hermaphroditus]

This just in from my bed:

The Dreamcast does NOT need 12 V from the 12 V pin.

It will run from around 9 - 12V on the 12V pin.

Will NOT run on the 5. It may run on around 7 or so but I haven't tried yet.

 

[βeta]

I have a broken Dreamcast motherboard I could sand down. It's the version with no GD-ROM daughter board.

I'd sand it down, but I have a few questions. Do I need to remove the CPU and GPU? If I need to, I could try the griddle method for removing BGA devices. Should I remove the SMD resistors, capacitors, etc. before sanding?

Yes. Yes.

 

[βeta]

Lost that bid, so still on the lookout for a board, if someone wants to ship me one. I'll pay shipping.

 

[Mario]

You were too cheap to pay $30 for five Dreamcasts that you could probably have gotten to work?