Author Archive: Dreamcast

How to clean a NES cartridge

NES Zelda cart

When the cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) becomes dirty, you will experience problems getting the console to recognize them, which results in a flashing white screen, and similar issues. The simple solution is to clean them! In this post I will show you an excellent way to get your games clean again. You will need: A Gamebit screwdriver. A white eraser. Isopropanol alcohol….
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How to get your NES games to run again

NES

I recently puchased a few Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES) together with some games. These were sold “as-is”, and the seller(s) reported problems such as the consoles were just blinking etc. In this post I will summarize what you can do to get your NES games running again: from simple cleaning measures, to more advanced solutions, which require you to disassembly your NES. Clean the cartridges!…
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How to fix a Dreamcast controller port not working

In this post I will cover how to fix a Dreamcast controller port not working. Essentially, it involves replacing a broken fuse at the controller port board. While you are doing this, you can also replace the Dreamcast cmos battery. I will not describe how to disassembly the Dreamcast, since it is quite trivial (see, Dreamcast disassembly). What you need for this fix is the…
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RedOctane X-Plorer Xbox 360 guitar repair

RedOctane X-Plorer

The RedOctane X-Plorer is possibly the best guitar controller ever made, suitable for games such as Guitar Hero, Band Hero etc. I spent many hours with this controller, together with my two favorite GH games: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and GH: Metallica. So, when I found a broken RedOctane X-Plorer for ~$5 in a charity shop, I was pleasantly suprised! The guitar had…
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Create ScummVM CDI:s for Dreamcast

TheDig

ScummVM is a neat little application that allows you to run classic point-and-click adventure games on a variety of platforms, including Dreamcast. That means, you can run your old favorites such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Leisure Suit Larry, on your Dreamcast! To do so, you need to create a Discjuggler CDI-file (see, guide for burning cdi-files for Dreamcast). In this post I…
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Original Xbox DVD-drive repair

Xbox DVD-spelare

The original Xbox, launched by Microsoft in 2001, is still a popular console to run homebrew games and emulators on. However, as with any old hardware, the console’s weaknesses are starting to show. One of those weaknesses is the optical drive, a common source of error on old video game consoles. One common errors are that the DVD-tray is stuck, and won’t eject. Another common…
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How to install MS-DOS on a CF-card without using a floppy

Oracle VM

This information is based on http://theinstructionlimit.com/installing-ms-dos-6-22-on-a-486-without-a-floppy-drive-using-a-cf-to-ide-adapter and is more of a note to self. Anyway, as a retrocomputer enthusiast I often find myself in the following situation: !Make sure to run Virtual Box in administrator mode! Also, the syntax is different in Virtual Box 6 and 7. This guide is based on v. 6.x! I have a compact flash to IDE adapter with a suitable…
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