Found a guide. Turns out my model has the fuse under the motherboard. (Skip to 2:10 to avoid bad acting.)
Plays official games like a champ. Naturally, the first thing I did after realizing how boring Sewer Shark can be is burn a Sonic Megamix 4.0b disc. I've seen places recommend burning at 4X speed, Alcohol 120%'s lowest speed is 16x. The system boots to the Sega boot screen with the Sonic and sparkles, and just freezes. Resetting sometimes brings me to the Megamix purple loading screen, and one time I got lucky and was able to play Sunny Shores Act 1, but after those events the system went back to the Sega CD BIOS screen before freezing on the Sega boot screen. Is the speed at which I burnt the image to blame, and if so, what program will let me burn at 4x these days?
This post has been edited by Jason: 23 December 2012 - 08:50 PM
Is the speed at which I burnt the image to blame, and if so, what program will let me burn at 4x these days?
The write speed is likely the problem, I've experienced similar problems at high write speeds. I use Imgburn, it actually lets you go to 1x. I recommend using 1x instead of 4x, because I like to make absolute sure that it will work.
Is the speed at which I burnt the image to blame, and if so, what program will let me burn at 4x these days?
The write speed is likely the problem, I've experienced similar problems at high write speeds. I use Imgburn, it actually lets you go to 1x. I recommend using 1x instead of 4x, because I like to make absolute sure that it will work.
The CD-R's themselves can also play a role. I prefer the ones with the darker blue writable sides, so you can easily "see" the color difference in the burned area. I don't know if it matters at all to the device reading it, but I never liked the more common CD-R's where you can barely see that they're used after you've burned them.
Either way, some discs are better than others. There may be specific brands that work better on older drives like the Sega CD.
This post has been edited by sonicblur: 24 December 2012 - 08:58 PM
You appear to be right, Master Emerald. Wow, that sounded like I was roleplaying an insane Knuckles there.
My desktop disc drive will not burn below 16x speed. At all. ImgBurn just reverts to the lowest speed available. In desperation I tried my laptop's drive, which burnt at a strange 10x. For Sonic Megamix this worked, and I was ready to say I was finished, until I tried a larger game, Soulstar, at 604MB to Megamix's 14MB. The disc only gets a few seconds into the intro FMV before skipping. Pressing Start furiously before the intro screen starts does nothing. Am I screwed in terms of cheap-as-CD-R Sega CD games, or worse, the full Red Book Audio Sonic Megamix release?
This post has been edited by Jason: 24 December 2012 - 10:13 PM
Burning MCD games always seems dicey. I've burnt Megamix CDs several times and it seems to just be a case of burn-and-hope - maybe one in three will work. Not the best use of CD-Rs, mind.
And here I thought a device two generations older than the Dreamcast would be even simpler to use CD-Rs on. Guess I'm buying a big 50 pack of CDs and will have to hope for the best.
I've burnt various MCD games, some worked, and some just didn't, all while using the same burning techniques. :/ If you happen to know anyone with a bunch of games, maybe see if you can just straight copy them, since I've never had a failure doing that.
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