Ask general Genesis/MD/Sega CD/32X questions here (for new members)

[playgen]

If I remember rightly the power supply board is connected to the main system board with a dodgy connection. Its got long metal pins that can move out of place and cause problems, you can bend them so they stick into the connector better.

[TmEE]

if fan is not spinning and lights are on, then it might be fan failure too... DC will not boot if the fan is not working... and for a reason as it will overheat without fan.

[MN12BIRD]

yeah sounds like the motor in the fan is toast and since the fans not spinning and giving a speed sensor reading back to the DC its not booting. I hope thats what it is cause that would be an easy fix compared to a dead main board or something like that!

[TmEE]

I have one other fan in my DC now, I just needed one tiny cut and solder to disable the RPM counter which generated "system clock enable" signal. And you will see when DC starts to overheat... all kinds of fancy stuff will get shown on screen, shortly followed by a crash... I managed to overheat mine 3 times I think...

[Dirt Ball Gamer]

Aha, I see. I will try and switch the fan with another one or possibly buy a new fan. I really hope thats what it is. If it was just a normal dreamcast I wouldn't worry as I have a couple, but its my Black Treamcast SE which I use for playing all my import games, so it really freaked me out when it died. I'll try and get that fan switched today or tomorro. Thanks for the info

[Dirt Ball Gamer]

Update: Man I can't get the darn Treamcast open, it seems to only have two screws on the bottom instead of 4, and the front part around the controller port seems to be fused or glued. I can get it open a tiny bit on one side and peek inside, but im worried about just forcing it open as I don't want to break it. Maybe I'll end up sending it somewhere to repair, like those online stores that repair old consoles. Damn, right when I want to be playing NBA 2k2 it has to break.

[Zeus]

I got my genesis hooked up to my samsung HD tv but it looks like crap for some reason, i have the RF cable hooked up.

Any tips on getting a clear screen??

[evildragon]

yea, don't use RF! LOL

Get the composite AV cable, or better yet, get an RGB SCART cable, and a Component video transcoder. You'll get some picture out of that.

Of course, using a regular TV it was meant to be hooked up to is the best route.

[evildragon]

if its all PAL everything will work !!!

Not so.

European Mega CD looks for these region settings: ENG/50Hz

But an Asian PAL MD has: JAP/50Hz.

You'll get the infamous region blue screen. 32X however WILL work, as long as the games are for asian territory, or don't check the language setting. (32X's are only frequency locked, language settings come from MD)

[Zeus]

yea, don't use RF! LOL

Get the composite AV cable, or better yet, get an RGB SCART cable, and a Component video transcoder. You'll get some picture out of that.

Of course, using a regular TV it was meant to be hooked up to is the best route.

ok thanks, thats what i figured

i saw some AV cables on ebay

[ThePirateMike]

I finally bought an HDTV, and after seeing how terrible my Genesis looked via composite video, decided to invest in a RGB SCART cable (with a model 2 plug) and the CSY2100 RGB SCART to Component converter.

While the picture is now amazingly crisp and clear, the 32X seems to have some trouble with image stability. On any screen that has a lot of black or dark blue the picture will "bounce" up and down. It's not a jump or flicker as you might get with a sync that's out of the tv's range but rather a "bounce" as if somebody is moving the vertical position of the picture up by a few pixels and back down again.

It seems to do this quite randomly as well; It can be stable for up to 15 seconds or bounce constantly without stopping. The problem also seems to only be present on certain games. For example, Wonder Boy in Monster World, Lunar Eternal Blue and Rockman Mega World have no problems whatsoever, whereas Dynamite Headdy (Japanese version), the Sega CD BIOS, and Knuckles' Chaotix have severe "bounce" issues.

My current Sega setup is as follows:

Genesis (Model 1, US)
Sega CD (Model 1, US)
Sega 32X (US)

And for what it's worth, my TV is a Sharp Aquos LC-37D64U LCD HDTV.

I'm 100% certain that the 32X is the culprit, as everything works perfectly if I connect the SCART cable directly to the model1-model2 cable adapter and take the 32X out of the picture entirely. While this is a "band-aid" solution for playing Genesis and Sega CD games, I'd like to get all three systems working properly if possible.

Also note: I have already opened the 32X and ensured that the white ribbon cables are properly connected and have tried adjusting every possible setting on my TV to try and fix the issue. Nothing has worked so far.

If anybody knows what might be the cause of this issue and what (if anything) can be done to fix it, I'd really appreciate the help.

[snume]

I have seen posts where evildragon has identified which cd laser assembly is found in some of the sega cd's. Does anyone know which cd assembly is in the X'eve? I believe mine is fried and I would like to get a replacement.

Thanks

[snume]

ooXxXoo over on the DigitPress forums informs me that one of the Saturn lens assemblies is a match. I dug out a round button Saturn I had tried to mod 2 years ago. It IS a match. I did the swap and all is well with the X'eye now. Now I just need to purchase a new laser for the Saturn (or put the old one back and get a new one for the X'eye). Not a terrible situation as I already have 2 other working Saturns besides the donor.

Ironically, my 2-yr old daughter just received a liver transplant. But the donor is a family friend and hers is growing back to full size as we speak. Kinda off topic, but I thought it interesting.

[Zeus]

weird problem


got the AV cables and the picture on my samsung HDTV comes in clear and the sound is fine but the picture for some reason is black and white, i actually got it to go to color on one reset but i couldnt bring it back.

edit


strange the color seems to kick in after like 5 minutes, its almost as if the genesis has to warm up, anybody ever see anything like t his?

[evildragon]

Your TV isn't liking the 240p.. Sounds like it can't find the color sub carrier.