Dreamcast locking up or stuttering with burnt games

[Shogun]

So today I burnt a cd backup for the first time in a while. I put it in the DC and it played fine for a while and then a horrible noise came from the console. After that it wouldn't play any backups at all. I read online about how to adjust the potentiometer which was a fairly simple operation. I got it up and running again however now the backups randomly lock up or there will be stuttering sound which will eventually lead to the sound cutting out altogether. I've been messing with this dang potentiometer all day and am getting frustrated because to test if I fix it I have to sit down and play the game for 10 - 15 minutes before it shows any signs.

What I'd like to know is should I keep messing with the potentiometer or is there something wrong with the laser?

I have an HKT-3020 rev 1
I burned the game at 16x (slowest I can get out of my burner) using both imgburn and discjuggler and all had the same effect. I tested old backups that I know used to play fine and they are now having issues as well.

Any help is appreciated.

[Hobie-wan]

I burned the game at 16x (slowest I can get out of my burner)

Boooooooooooo! Slower burned discs will be more accurately burned unless the drive is just really terrible. Also, are you using crummy discs? It's possible that your system has just decided it is tired. Will it still read real ones?

What say the people that proclaim that burned games aren't harder on your system now? Or will they blame it on 'unoptimized rips'?

[Shogun]

I'm using ritek based Memorex discs. It still reads real ones fine. I think it just got tired. I'll have a go at messing with potentiometer again tomorrow.

[Hazerd]

My burned DC games run fine, i used ImgBurn with Dreamcast Support drivers, also used memorex and sony CD's.

Had a problem with my DC resetting randomly, just opened up my DC and bent the power pins with a guide i found and cleaned a few things.

DC burning tutorial:

http://theisozone.com/tutorials/dreamca ... 012-style/

[emwearz]

I burned the game at 16x (slowest I can get out of my burner)

Boooooooooooo! Slower burned discs will be more accurately burned unless the drive is just really terrible.:

Brunt games on the DC always had issues for me when I burnt above 4X, like in Crazy Taxi it would have horrible popup, music stuttering, etc.

You might need to find yourself a old cd burner than can do those old speeds.

[marurun]

Even the best CDR will never be as easy to read as a pressed disc. Some systems just have trouble. Laser adjustment is usually the way to go.

Hobie, if CDRs are any harder on console CD drives, it would be on the motors, not on the lenses or lasers, and that would only involve a little extra motor wear from longer seek times or additional corrections. I doubt CDR use would make a perceptible dent. Keep in mind most Dreamcast hardware is on the order of 13-15 years old right now.

[Hobie-wan]

Hobie, if CDRs are any harder on console CD drives, it would be on the motors, not on the lenses or lasers, and that would only involve a little extra motor wear from longer seek times or additional corrections. I doubt CDR use would make a perceptible dent. Keep in mind most Dreamcast hardware is on the order of 13-15 years old right now.

No.

I don't understand why I keep having to argue this point with people. CDRs are less reflective than a pressed disc. Burned pits in a CDR are less accurate where they start and stop than a pressed disc. This means it is more likely that read errors will occur. More read errors not only mean more spin and seek time, but more attempts to focus on the disc after it re-seeks as well as the laser being on longer to facilitate those extra read attempts. More run time means more wear and tear.

Obviously in this case, real games are still reading fine, while burns are not. It might be mostly due to the faster burns with less defined pits, it might just be because it is an older system that's been used, but obviously it is having a harder time reading the burns than real discs. Full stop.

[marurun]

I don't understand why I keep having to argue this point with people

Because the issue is anything but crystal-clear, especially given the lack of any real data that isn't someone anecdotally claiming using a CDR killed their dearest hardware.

More run time means more wear and tear.

Infinitesimally at best, I suspect.

This discussion is like the one I had with someone some years about about SMS text messages on cell provider networks. SMS messages are both free and non-free. They are free in that they piggyback on carrier codes that were already designed into the networks and are de-prioritized. They are non-free in that in large numbers they can have an effect on network efficiency, but that effect is minimal. Therefore they are both free (no extra expense or infrastructure for carriers) and non-free (in that they CAN have an impact in certain limited situations). You never hear of cell networks going down due to heavy texting, but heavy phone use will drop them quite quickly.

CDRs are an issue for consoles in that they do add a little extra run time to the various components, but they are also a non-issue in that this extra run-time is likely non-significant in both the short run and the long run. Using CDRs is unlikely to have any kind of significant impact on a well-cared-for system. If your system is poorly looked-after, CDRs are the least of your worries.

I have used CDRs in a Dreamcast and a modded Saturn, and both still run quite well (the Saturn has issues related to the mod chip install, but those were present on day one). Quite frankly, of my 2 Saturns, the one that's in the worst shape is the one that isn't modded, because I've used it the most. The power cable bracket is broken so I have to be gentle plugging it in and the cart slot is unreliable. But hey, that's to be expected. This baby went to Japan with me. The one I use CDRs in is a year newer, much less used, and is in much better shape.

This is anecdotal, of course, but I think it illustrates how important general use and care issues are in console health.

Besides, older consoles are built like tanks next to even computer hardware. I've never had a PC CD drive that lasted longer than 5 years, but my Duo is a 20+ year old unit and still runs like a champ (though it is starting to get grumpy with age).

[Hobie-wan]

I don't understand why I keep having to argue this point with people

Because the issue is anything but crystal-clear, especially given the lack of any real data that isn't someone anecdotally claiming using a CDR killed their dearest hardware.

The OP has a DC, right now, this very second, that used to read some old burns, but no longer will (ignore the new burns for the moment). It will still read real pressed discs. I didn't specifically say that using CDRs will kill your DC. I only implied that having it work harder, like any machine, can shorten its life.

● The DC used to read pressed discs and burns.

● Something happen the other day.

● Now it will only read pressed discs, but not those burns that worked before.

That's proof that the burns are harder to read than real discs. The fact that people tweak lasers to make burns read better is proof that burns are harder to read than real discs.

[Shogun]

I've heard about the argument that burnt discs cause more stress on the laser. You can hear it going crazy while playing a game and it shouldn't do that. So the whole reason I started getting new backups was to find more efficient images like the ones from DCRes and ReviveDC.

Well my dreamcast started making the weird sounds while playing Under Defeat which was a Revive DC release. It was working perfectly and then there was this nasty sound like something jamming up. At first I thought it was my monitor but then I shut the DC off and the noise stopped. I keep reading about people saying that you shouldn't burn faster than 8x because the DC can't read any faster than that. However I'm not aware of any correlation between the write speed of a disc and the read speed of your drive. If I burn a disc at 52x and my DC can only read at 8x speeds it shouldn't matter.

Now just to clarify I've been using Ikaruga as a test disc. As of two days ago that game ran perfect and its an old burn from back in the mid-2000's. Since the issue with the DC started I can get to about half way through level 2 and the textures will either black out and the game just stops progressing and/or the music glitches out and gets stuck in an endless loop. This happens in multiple backups both new and old I've just been sticking with Ikaruga because the problem shows up pretty quick.

Burnt backups was never a great solution. There are many releases with cut content and downsampled audio. The best solution would be flash memory but at this point the compatibility on that front is extremely limited which is a shame.