Yeton
Neo Member
Huh?
Posts: 236
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Post by Yeton on Jun 3, 2004 19:17:34 GMT -5
Maybe a silly question, maybe not ... I remember hearing many moons ago that running CDRs on a DC burns out the laser or some other such thing, thus knackering it up. It sounded a little far fetched, but it makes me dubious about using CDRs too often on my dearest DC. It's not as if they are easily replaceable anymore. So can anybody confirm or debunk this little tale for me?  Much obliged! |
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Post by darkschneider on Jun 3, 2004 21:15:54 GMT -5
That legend has the truth of the other DC legend I've heard, that the SH4 processor is backwards compatible with the SH2 of the Saturn.
The resistance of the laser in the GDrom unit is tuned very fine in order to read the smaller gaps on the GDrom discs. This results in a much shorter lifespan than normal CD drives. Thus, the DCs disc drive has a shorter lifespan than normal, but this has nothing to do with reading CDRs or other discs.
If you'd like, and if you've done this sort of thing before, I can give you instructions on how to adjust the potentiometer to a lesser resistance, or even how to adjust it higher and be able to read CDRWs (which will decrease the lifespan more...)
Don't worry about it. CDRs don't do anything thats abnormal.
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Post by hullcityfcmad on Jun 4, 2004 5:41:27 GMT -5
That legend has the truth of the other DC legend I've heard, that the SH4 processor is backwards compatible with the SH2 of the Saturn. The resistance of the laser in the GDrom unit is tuned very fine in order to read the smaller gaps on the GDrom discs. This results in a much shorter lifespan than normal CD drives. Thus, the DCs disc drive has a shorter lifespan than normal, but this has nothing to do with reading CDRs or other discs. If you'd like, and if you've done this sort of thing before, I can give you instructions on how to adjust the potentiometer to a lesser resistance, or even how to adjust it higher and be able to read CDRWs (which will decrease the lifespan more...) Don't worry about it. CDRs don't do anything thats abnormal. couldnt of answered it any better myself!!  hullcityfcmad |
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Post by Candycab on Jun 4, 2004 6:12:44 GMT -5
couldnt of answered it any better myself!! hullcityfcmad I will second that Hullcityfcmad  |
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Yeton
Neo Member
Huh?
Posts: 236
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Post by Yeton on Jun 4, 2004 12:45:45 GMT -5
Whew, that's a relief. Thanks guys. ;D It sounded a pretty far fetched and illogical kind of rumour, but, well, these things do raise doubts when you're not 100% certain. As for fidling with the DC to changing the resistance of the potentiameter, I should probably say no, as I don't have a great deal of experience in such things. Thanks anyway, Darkschneider.
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Jun 4, 2004 15:42:21 GMT -5
To be totally honest with you, it is feasible that it could do damage in the long term, especially if the laser is being strained trying to read discs it isn't usually meant to. Especially some of the older DC releases which didn't have dummy files put on them to speed up loading, they definitely strained the laser a bit more (you only had to listen to the nasty noises it made). So, it is possible it might damage them eventually imo, but to be honest I think you are more likely to end up with the problem of the DC resetting itself constantly that almost everyone gets eventually and is due to the power supply in the DC screwing up due to it getting really hot (which is usually fixable, I've done it myself).
Kaz
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Post by darkschneider on Jun 4, 2004 18:30:54 GMT -5
The older games without dummy files didn't strain the laser, they strained the actuator motor for the laser.
To give 'explanation: lite' The closer in to the middle of the CD the laser reads, the faster the CD spins. (without dummy files or CDDA, the small games would be close in to the middle) The faster the rotational speed, the quicker the actuator motor is going to have to move in order to find the data. The noises you hear aren't the laser but the motor.
The GDROM drive isn't not meant to read CDs and CDRs. In fact, the hitachi drive and the yamaha drives are almost identical to corresponding CD drives made by the respective companies. In fact, it is this hardware simularity that the group Kallisto used to rip GDROMs with a yamaha 4X CD drive.
In fact, the reason self-boot games actually boot is not because of the popular belief that you are 'tricking' the drive into thinking a CDR is a GDROM, rather it is due to a routine put in the firmware. That is; SEGA wrote a function to boot from CDs.
Generally speaking, the people who get the reset problem, are also the people who rip their own DC games via the serial slave route. (DC has to be on for a good 24 or more hours)
IMO If you typically play for 2 - 3 hours, nothing appreciable is going to happen to the contacts on the power supply (no warping etc.)
Oh yeah, speaking of bizarre noises the DC can make when playing games, check out the GDROM of Soul Calibur.
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Jun 4, 2004 18:39:50 GMT -5
The older games without dummy files didn't strain the laser, they strained the actuator motor for the laser. To give 'explanation: lite' The closer in to the middle of the CD the laser reads, the faster the CD spins. (without dummy files or CDDA, the small games would be close in to the middle) The faster the rotational speed, the quicker the actuator motor is going to have to move in order to find the data. The noises you hear aren't the laser but the motor. The GDROM drive isn't not meant to read CDs and CDRs. In fact, the hitachi drive and the yamaha drives are almost identical to corresponding CD drives made by the respective companies. In fact, it is this hardware simularity that the group Kallisto used to rip GDROMs with a yamaha 4X CD drive. In fact, the reason self-boot games actually boot is not because of the popular belief that you are 'tricking' the drive into thinking a CDR is a GDROM, rather it is due to a routine put in the firmware. That is; SEGA wrote a function to boot from CDs. Generally speaking, the people who get the reset problem, are also the people who rip their own DC games via the serial slave route. (DC has to be on for a good 24 or more hours) IMO If you typically play for 2 - 3 hours, nothing appreciable is going to happen to the contacts on the power supply (no warping etc.) Oh yeah, speaking of bizarre noises the DC can make when playing games, check out the GDROM of Soul Calibur. I spose you could be right about the laser, but 'm not so sure about the psu pins. I never really used to use my DC for more than about 2 hours at a time (VERY rarely anyway), but I still ended up with the reset problem after about 8 months of use. Same thing happened to a couple of friends of mine. Still, it's a good job that that particular prob is easily fixed It has been a while since I played SC on the DC, but I don't personally remember too many horrible noises from the DC while playing it (and yeah my copy was an original ). I need to dig that game out again actually ;D Kaz |
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Post by darkschneider on Jun 4, 2004 20:04:47 GMT -5
It was to my understanding that the reset issue was caused by the pins warping from heat. IMO I don't think the DC would be able to get very hot from infrequent 2 hour intervals of use. Of course influencing factors such as poor ventilation would help. Soul Calibur makes an unusual noise when buffering + playing the music during fights, sounds like a squeaking bearing from a skate/(board) I'm not the authority on DC of course, but I used to fix and sup up DCs as a side job, so I've got some knowledge on the common problems / questions. Read the hitachi SH4 and accessories hardware manual once for fun: I'm a dork  |
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Post by Raiken on Jun 4, 2004 20:55:01 GMT -5
Yeah I've had to fix my pins once already and I need to do it again now.
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Jun 5, 2004 5:04:30 GMT -5
It was to my understanding that the reset issue was caused by the pins warping from heat. IMO I don't think the DC would be able to get very hot from infrequent 2 hour intervals of use. Of course influencing factors such as poor ventilation would help. Soul Calibur makes an unusual noise when buffering + playing the music during fights, sounds like a squeaking bearing from a skate/(board) I'm not the authority on DC of course, but I used to fix and sup up DCs as a side job, so I've got some knowledge on the common problems / questions. Read the hitachi SH4 and accessories hardware manual once for fun: I'm a dork As I said, mine died after only using it for only a couple of hours at a time, as did a friends, and mine definitely was well ventilated. In my experience DC's (especially earlier ones) do get extremely hot very fast. I definitely didn't get those types of noises on my DC with Soul Calibur, I've never heard of that. The only game that REALLY made my DC make horrible noises that scared me was Sega Soccer which sounded horrible and had aweful loading times even on an original copy, so I never really dared play that game for any length of time. Kaz |
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Post by RoninBuddha on Jun 5, 2004 8:17:10 GMT -5
darkschneider = DC EXPERT  being a DC fan, i bow down to you man ;D thanks for the info |
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supremelord
Neo Newbie
Permanently Banned
I Flipped Da Coin And Got Destroyed
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Post by supremelord on Jun 5, 2004 8:26:17 GMT -5
I also have a problem that's kinda similar ... U c I have an imported Japanese version of Capcom vs Snk 2 on PS2 (Actually it was my cousin's and he gave it to me). The print on the game disc was totally faded so i made a new design and printed it out on photo paper, cut it out and stuck it on the disc with UHU glue. When i play it it makes a lot of noise ... I mean a lot of noise I think it makes the noise because when it spins it around ... though I am not sure So anyways ... does this damage the Laser or anything of the PS2 and is it severe or not? |
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Jun 5, 2004 9:23:05 GMT -5
Was the label put on straight and stuck down properly? If not then that might cause it problems as the disc would wobble around a lot and the funny noise might be the sound of the disc or label scraping on the inside of the PS2 a bit or something. I personally don't like labelling discs for this reason. I doubt it would really damage your laser, but I wouldn't like to keep using it myself.
Kaz
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supremelord
Neo Newbie
Permanently Banned
I Flipped Da Coin And Got Destroyed
Posts: 37
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Post by supremelord on Jun 5, 2004 9:50:17 GMT -5
I c ... now come to think of it the paper was a bit thicker than normal it was photo paper or something like that. One side was shiny and the other side normal ... maybe that's y  If it's gona damage my machine please tell me so I discontinue the use of that particular disc. All my other games run perfectly well hardly making any noise. I is thinking that maybe it might damage it |
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