okay, last dreamcast question for now, hopefully. is it normal that i have to set the date and time every time i start up the system, or is that a sign that the rtc has a dead battery or something
@typhlosion I'm pretty sure that is a dead battery, as there was at least one game where time was an important element. (The one with the creepy fish)
That is definitely a sign of a dead internal battery. I had the same issue with my Saturn.
@typhlosion Yeah, I need to replace my clock battery too...
@typhlosion Dead battery. You can get a replacement and resolder it.
@XerShadowTail unfortunately i don't have soldering equipment, soldering experience, or space to do soldering-related work, so i guess this will have to wait
@typhlosion that was the norm for the longest time, many IBM PC-compatibles as well as early Macs had these terrible rechargeable lithium batteries (not the same chemistry as modern li-ion i don't think) for holding the cmos memory, and they would eventually leak after years in storage and the corrosive electrolyte wreaks havoc on the motherboard they're soldered onto
countless old computers have succumbed to the cmos plague
-F
@typhlosion Cheaper and less logistics to have a lithium battery soldered directly onto the board than having a socket with a battery in it.
@XerShadowTail that makes sense but im gonna grumble about it anyway grumble grumble
@typhlosion Yeah it would have been nice to have, but I have been thinking the next time it dies to just solder a slot that accepts LIR2032s/LR2032 since CR2032s do not have to be rechargable and that would leave a mess.
why would you even solder a cmos battery directly into your thing anyway. it's like they didn't want their console to be usable at all after five years