Dreamshell not loading

[Eli1230t2]

When the Dreamcast loads the Dreamshell disc, it loads the sd card, then the Dreamshell logo appears for about 1 second, and then immediately fades away. The music still plays through, but then the screen is blank by the time the music has ended.

Version: 4.0.3

[DC-SWAT]

What disc? What's on your SD card? Seems it crashing while loading resources.

[Eli1230t2]

I have nothing on the sd card. I have tried copying over the ds folder from versions 4.0.3 and 4.0.2 and nothing is working. The disc is the dreamshell boot loader.

[Eli1230t2]

Although, on version 4.0.2, I got a white movable "desktop-looking thing" but nothing else.

EDIT: 4.0.1 as well. Nothing but a white, movable box.

[DC-SWAT]

Put DS directory from release archive with all files to your SD card and run bootloader from CD.
If nothing loads for you, then the problem is with your SD card or adapter.
All releases are tested and working fine of course.

[Eli1230t2]

But what about the box? It loads everything perfectly fine. There is just nothing there.

[DC-SWAT]

Only the core is loading for you by bootloader, but it seems the core cannot load resources from SD card. Maybe you don't copy everything, I don't know.

[Eli1230t2]

I copied the folder entirely from the extracted folder, multiple times. The adapter is made for the dreamcast, and it's brand new.

[Eli1230t2]

Here is what is looks like after the dreamshell logo and startup sound:

[DC-SWAT]

Logo and startup sound builtin inside DS_CORE.BIN that loads by bootloader.
After start DS_CORE.BIN it should load resources from SD card and on this step you have issue. There is something wrong with the resources.

What version of bootloader are you using?

[DC-SWAT]

If you're using a very old version of the bootloader, it works slower with the SD card and is therefore less susceptible to interference. Newer versions (from the last few years) work faster and are more susceptible to interference.
It seems that newer versions of the DS don't work for you. But that's only if you're using an old bootloader. If your new bootloader loads the core, the problem lies elsewhere.
Try older version of DreamShell: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/releases/tag/v4.0.0RC4

[Eli1230t2]

Alright I'll try that. I've tried the latest 4 versions, maybe I need to go older though. I'll get back to you on what the version of the bootloader it is.

[Eli1230t2]

Sorry, I just got home. The bootloader version is v2.4. If I need to burn a new version, I have discs on hand.

[Eli1230t2]

Okay, so I downloaded the latest version of DreamShell, and then made a disc of the latest bootloader version, but then the latest version still froze. So, I didn't realize that there was a disc file in the zip, so I made a disc of DreamShell itself, and it works! So, I'm guessing either the adapter or the port is messed up, because the port is pretty wiggly. But, then DreamShell recognized the SD Card, so I tried to copy a disc using GD Ripper to the SD Card. It made 2 1KB files and then finished. Is there something that I'm doing wrong, or is the adapter or port just messed up in general?

[DC-SWAT]

You clearly have a hardware issue: either the port, the adapter, or the SD card.

[Eli1230t2]

But how come I can't rip games? I tried a different SD Card and same thing. And also, the disc will just randomly stop spinning meaning I have to catch it and open the tray before the whole thing crashes. But, it only does it on DreamShell.