Both my Dreamcasts failing to load games

[Nanten]

(EDIT: All the games failing to load are legit, actual copies of games, and not CD-Rs.)

Last night I was playing Skies of Arcadia and reached the end of the first disc. I saved, put in the second disc, and started playing. However, when I tried to look at the world map, the game froze. I turned off the Dreamcast and then turned it back on. That time, the game completely failed to load, and instead I was directed to the "Play," "File," "Music," and "Settings" screen. I tried resetting two or three more times with no success. Then I tried starting up the first disc to see if it would work, and it did. I was getting frustrated, so I gave up on getting the second disc to load and went to bed.

So, I get up this morning and decide to try playing again. The second disc starts up, I load my game, and then I start playing. The game freezes in the middle of a random battle. I put in Blue Stinger to see if it'll work, and it won't either. At this point, I decide that since I have a spare Dreamcast, I'll try using it instead. Disc 2 loads fine, and I play the game for a couple of hours.

This afternoon, I decide to play Skies of Arcadia some more. I start up my Dreamcast and the game fails to load on this one. It freezes at the screen with the Sega logo, and the console starts repeating the same whirring sound again and again. I try Blue Stinger and Jet Grind Radio, both of which give the same results. So, getting even more frustrated, I try the first Dreamcast again, and Skies of Arcadia and Blue Stinger fail to load. However, Jet Grind Radio loads perfectly. I am starting to lose my mind trying to figure out what's going on.

I've thought of two reasons why this might be happening:

1. Overheating: I've been playing my Dreamcast (the first one I mentioned) a lot recently because I'm on Spring Break. I've only been playing about six or eight hours a day, though, and I don't play more than three hours at a time. However, my Dreamcast is sitting on my desk right next to my laptop, which is on from when I get up in the morning to when I go to bed (16 hours or more each day), so maybe the heat radiating from the laptop is affecting the console. The only problem with this hypothesis is that the spare Dreamcast quit working within about six hours of when I first set it up next to my laptop, while the other Dreamcast has been next to the computer since Friday evening with no trouble whatsoever until last night.

2. General mechanical problems/age: These are aging systems. They've been used a lot. Any number of things could have gone wrong with both of them.

If anyone has any ideas about what the problems could be, I'd be glad to hear them. Thanks.

[Ziggy]

Did you try cleaning the lens?

[Hatta]

That's sad.

[Nanten]

Did you try cleaning the lens?

No, although I think I might try to. It's really weird: The Dreamcast that's been getting more use is loading most games fine (I've tried Jet Grind Radio, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Soul Calibur) but Skies of Arcadia and Blue Stinger just won't load.

[lwcook]

How are the condition of the discs that don't work? If there are any scratches or imperfections on them at all, it could cause the problem you're getting.

Gd-roms are really REALLY picky about scratches and scuffs (I've had many a disc suffer the same problems, most notably my MvC2 in which was taken down by a small scuff on the inner ring of the data track.)

Oddly enough, the Dreamcast is a lot more tolerant with cd-r's when it comes to disc damage. Most likely has to do with the data track not being as compact on the disc.

I say burn a copy of the games in question and see what happens. If it's an overheating problem, you should get the same effect eventually.

[Nanten]

I suppose this could be due to scratches on the discs. They appear to be in very good condition with no major scratches, but there are some small marks on them.

[corn619]

The GD-drive is a tricky beast. I cleaned my lens and it worked for another year or so. Good luck man.

[Nanten]

Thanks, everyone. I'll clean the lenses on both DCs tonight just to see what happens and proceed from there.

[arion]

My dc had trouble reading burned discs and i like some have pointed out i cleaned the lens and there haven't been any problems since.

[Droid party]

I had some legit games (Blue Stinger and Sega rally 2) that were in mint condition refuse to play for me some time ago. Not a thing wrong with my DC, just those discs wouldn't work. I got another legit disc of sr2 and it worked fine. Sometimes GD's seem to screw up for no reason.