Dreamcast Contollers all Died at Once. Need Help

[evilevoix]

I decided today to take out my Dreamcast an play it. I turned it on and haven't used it since 2006. Use an OEM controller with a VMU plugged in that was otherwise dead and a rumble pack. I set the date and time and popped in Beats of Rage. The game loaded and then my controller ceased to work. I tried all 4 controllers I had (3 OEM 1 Aftermarket) and nothing registered, the VMU's didn't light up or anything.

I am fairly certain I blew a resistor, any help on this?

Thanks!

[Chibisteven]

This is a common problem. You blew out the 5 ohm resistor. You probally had a short in the controller's cord if you were using a standard SEGA controller. You can easily solder a new one in. It's on a tiny board where the controller port is.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/dreamcast/91...cast/faqs/9835

[Jax184]

Man, that's a weird article.

I'm pretty sure the component in question is a FUSE, not a RESISTOR. It's marked F1 on the board and it dies suddenly when too much power is drawn. Resistors just get hot in the short term when overloaded.

Furthermore, he decides he wants to allow more power, so he puts in a resistor with HIGHER RESISTANCE! WTF?

Anyway, I'm pretty sure he just replaced a fuse with a resistor, thereby eliminating the protection function.

I myself have bypassed the fuse entirely to test machines without killing anything yet, but I don't recommend that for the long term.

[evilevoix]

Got it to work. I did the trick where I touched the two wires together. Simple fix but I worry if it'll cause future issues or a possible fire?

[Chibisteven]

Got it to work. I did the trick where I touched the two wires together. Simple fix but I worry if it'll cause future issues or a possible fire?

Possibley there is no way to limit a surge of power that heats up the wires beyond a safe limit, which is risky and unsafe. I've been burnt by wires heating up in a fraction of second before a fuse kicked in before. iPod car chargers for instance.

[tz101]

My first DC console had this happen. I stupidly bought some 3rd party used controllers from a game store. The previous owners (children?) had stomped on the cords and caused the thin internal wires to arc. This caused enough resistance to blow the controller port fuse. It was an easy fix though. Go to your local Radio Shack and buy a 5 ohm solder-lead ceramic fuse. I don't recommend going for long without a fuse in place considering there is something that caused yours to blow. That "something" could be enough to damage the circuitry of your DC console. I would start by flexing the cables on your various controllers with game-play going. Xbox Duke controllers are famous for having weak strain reliefs where the cable exits the controller, and the strain relief is where I would begin to investigate your controllers.

[Jax184]

There shouldn't be enough power there to start a fire. The power supply would overload and shut down first. But you could damage the port board/motherboard if you plugged in a controller with a short in it.

[tz101]

If you've ever seen people that wrap the cord tightly around their controllers when they put them away for storage, don't do it. The cords get strained where the strain relief is at, and damage can and often does occur, especially if the controllers are stored for long periods of time in that strained state.

[Chibisteven]

If you've ever seen people that wrap the cord tightly around their controllers when they put them away for storage, don't do it. The cords get strained where the strain relief is at, and damage can and often does occur, especially if the controllers are stored for long periods of time in that strained state.

How tight is too tight here? Because I've wrapped cords and haven't had them short. I've had issues with headphones shorting all the time, but never wrapped them up.

[goldenband]

Better just to wrap the cord around your hand and secure it with a rubber band (after removing your hand, of course, unless you're into that sort of thing).

[tz101]

How tight is too tight here? Because I've wrapped cords and haven't had them short. I've had issues with headphones shorting all the time, but never wrapped them up.

Some controllers are more forgiving in this area, like original NES, SNES, PSX and Gamecube, due to their "inverted" strain relief design. My experience has been that any controllers that have an external "rubberized spring" strain relief design are prone to over stressing damage to the internal wires. Genesis, Xbox, and Dreamcast are all of this strain relief type.

I never recommend rubber banding controller cords because even if you wrap them around you hand instead of the controller itself, the back and forth kinking of the internal wiring is asking for trouble. My recommendation, and the way my controllers are stored, is either loosely wrapped around the controller or in drawers or plastic storage bins where the cords all lie like a mass of snakes, in a completely relaxed state. This will make for many less blown controller port fuses and/or inoperative controllers in the future.

[xelement5x]

I've gotten dozens of controllers that had the wires wrapped overly tight, and they're such a pain to mess with, especially if they've been sitting in someones closet for the last 10+ years. I'll loop the cord into a circle so there's no pressure on it and then twist tie it with something to stay in that loose circle.

I've got one Saturn controller that's super glitchy and has been laying around for months while I try to get the kinks in the cord to loosen.

[tz101]

I've got one Saturn controller that's super glitchy and has been laying around for months while I try to get the kinks in the cord to loosen.

Best way I have found to troubleshoot controller cables is to take the controller casing apart and use a continuity tester to check each pin on the cable connector. If you find a pin where the light bulb in your continuity tester will not light up, then there is a broken trace within the length of that cable. Sometimes it is easier to just replace the cable than to spend days finding where the broken wiring is at. I bought two SNES flight sticks at a flea market like that. They had multiple broken traces inside the cords and I could not determine where to cut and splice the cable, so I went to ebay and bought replacement cords from a guy who had fitted his SNES controllers with USB connectors and no longer needed the originals. These controllers now work like new.

[Guntz]

The only problem with repairing a controller cable is quite often they use a 100% proprietary plug, one that can only really be harvested from other controllers or extension cables. Is it possible to disassemble a cable plug?

[tz101]

Is it possible to disassemble a cable plug?

Depends on the manufacture. I believe that Nintendo brand NES, SNES, and N64 plugs can be snapped apart and snapped back together. Same goes for Sony brand PSX and PS2 controller cables. Third parties are a toss up. But, as you probably noticed, Sega brand Master System, Genesis, and Atari connectors are molded in one piece, making it next to impossible. These are cases where it may work best to leave a couple inches of original wire after the plug and splice the wires. It doesn't end up looking the greatest, but can fix a broken controller all the same. Those are often the cables that are best to just replace the whole thing and get it over with.