The Blog

Amstrad Sega Mega PC Boot Failure: DOM and Hard Drive Troubleshooting

Nix McRetro // 3rd November 2012 // IBM PC, Repairs, YouTube

Sometimes it is good that things break. CityEscaper asked whether I could pull the Mega PC out and test it on some different displays around the house. The video output works on my Samsung LCD TV and on my ViewSonic computer LCD from around 2004 to 2005. My newer Toshiba... Continue reading

Sega Dreamcast BIOS Dumping Guide

Nix McRetro // 3rd November 2012 // Hacks, Sega, YouTube

Above is the Dreamcast I dumped the BIOS from, along with the BIOS hardware involved. I used httpd-ack-20080711.zip together with XDP.rar to retrieve my own BIOS image. The resulting archive was MPR-21871.zip. The result was: BIOS: MPR-21871 Region: PAL Version: 1.01c CRC32: 2f551bc5 That CRC32 matches the known value for... Continue reading

Aiwa Mega-CD CSD-GM1 Game Unit Overview

Nix McRetro // 3rd November 2012 // Sega, YouTube

Here’s a closer look inside the Aiwa Mega-CD CSD-GM1 Game Unit, complete with a truly impressive number of capacitors and some damage near the rear of the board. It is not every day you get to see inside one of these. Comparing my two Game Units, I estimated that one... Continue reading

Sega Dreamcast Translucent Grey Shell Replacement

Nix McRetro // 30th October 2012 // Sega, YouTube

I went ahead and replaced the shell on my most discoloured Dreamcast. The original case was smoke (and sun) discoloured, with the underside extremely yellowed. The solution? Not Retrobright. I simply moved the Dreamcast into a replacement translucent grey shell. Problem hidden! The original case can stay preserved rather than... Continue reading

Collection Overview 28th October 2012

Nix McRetro // 28th October 2012 // News, YouTube

I’ll probably do these every 6-12 months depending on what has been achieved or if I shuffle things about or get more bookshelves… See if you can spot anything excellent in the photos. There are a few rarities in there. Continue reading