Dreamcast resets when trying to play burned game

I don't have any legitimate games to test to see if it's just the bootleg, but basically whenever I put my burnt CD-r with Shenmue disc 1 into my new DC it resets the console, and then when I try playing it again it says "Please insert disc"

I don't know if there's a problem with the laser or if my DC simply can't play burned games, but for anyone knowledgable on DC troubleshooting, does this symptom sound familiar?

Also, the disc I burned Shenmue onto was 700mb, and the iso was 750mb I believe. I can't remember if I used overburn or not.

Did you use a DC burn tool to add a boot sector to the cd? If not did you use a boot disc instead? If either of those are missing the DC will reject the disc. Also, I would avoid using cd-r's on a Dreamcast, it puts extra stress on the eye and DC's tend to go bad early because of it.

I´m sorry to rain on your party and even though we do know about this subject there are Forum rules we have to follow:

• Don't discuss any illegal activities. (ROMs, Emulators, Homebrew, etc).

@raugutcon: Illegal activity? You mean pirating games that can't be obtained in any legitimate format outside of the second hand market?

Nonetheless I'm not trying to advocate piracy - I'm just trying to find out what's wrong with my Dreamcast.

@mand0n: Don´t get pissed I´m only delivering the message: "whenever I put my burnt CD-r" you are discussing about illegal activities: burnt CD-r. If you were discussing about an original disc then you would´t be breaking the forum rules. Why you think you didn´t get many replies ?

If you want more information you´ll have to look for it somewhere else.

@raugutcon: It's the only thing I can currently use to see if my Dreamcast works. I'm trying to see if it's a problem with the system or whether it simply can't play burnt games. I fail to see the issue in that.

@mand0n: Personally I think burned games on DC is a grey area issue, its not totally against the rules and does have its place among the discussion, however I only believe this should be used to see if a game is worth buying, like a demo on newer consoles. So many of the games on the DC these days cost up to 2 and 3 times a brand new X1/PS4 game, and if I'm going to shell out $200 for a copy of Cannon Spike I want to know the game is fun! While I do not display my burned DC games in my collection(their buried in a drawer), I have once or twice used a burned game on my DC, so far I have replaced about half of them with the actual game. I also believe the boot disc is a valuable tool since you can use it to play Japanese games on a US Dreamcast. Though again I would advise against using burned discs on the DC that much, it seems to make the DC die faster.

One thing you can do to test out the laser on your DC, use a music cd. If your DC can play the music cd then the eye can read a regular cd just fine. If you try a burned music cd, it'll tell you two things. If the burned music cd works, then your burned game is bad, if the burned music cd does not work but plays fine in your car or stereo, then your DC might be bad, if the non-burned music cd worked and burned did not then your laser is probably weak and close to death anyway.

So, raugutcon is correct. The mods have discussed this before - despite what one might think, the DC downloading and burning issue is considered just as much off limits as any other ROMs etc. "You mean pirating games that can't be obtained in any legitimate format outside of the second hand market?" - you think this isn't an argument people would make about any SNES ROM or Saturn ISO?

I'm not going to come down hard on you guys, because I know people often don't think they are doing something wrong.

Let's leave at: it's not allowed on GS to discuss your downloading and burning DC games, or promoting the act. Mand0n, I have removed your link on how to do this.

However, I think this thread can stay live because it's REALLY about trying to troubleshoot your DC.

I like the idea of the music CD test, suicidesn0wman - clever troubleshooting

You might have burned a game of a different region compared to your console. Try burning another game which you are 100% sure is of the same region.

@xantufrog: I'm really sorry dude, I wasn't trying to break any rules - I just assumed that burning DC games didn't classify as "piracy" in the same sense as other consoles since you really can't buy any "exclusive" games on the console from Sega anymore, such as Shenmue - which was the game in question I was burning, unlike say.. the SNES like you mentioned, which has games Nintendo's still selling to this very day on their eshop. My mistake completely, and it won't happen again.

With that being said, I don't collect music CD's - but I did still have the OST CD for Super Smash Bros from the Club Nintendo promotion, so I used that and it worked perfectly. I assume there's no issues with the console itself so I'm just gonna wait till my legitimate copy of Shenmue arrives and try it then.

Thanks everyone