Quick background info: I moved out of my parents' house in May 2011. They were always pretty strict about the video games I could own, so when I moved out, all I had was a PS2 and 9 games. After moving into my new place, I decided to start collecting, and in just over a year's time I've expanded my collection significantly.
So, today while I was digging through a thrift store, I found a Sega Dreamcast. After buying a Genesis last month (my first Sega console) and having a blast with it, I figured I should get the Dreamcast. This one came with all the cables, two controllers, a game (Evolution: The World Of Sacred Device), two memory cards, a VMU, a GameShark, and a keyboard. I got the whole package for $16.50 (GBP 10.45).
But... it looks like it may have been too good to be true. One of the controllers has no response from the analog stick, and the console itself has serious trouble reading discs. I cannot get the game that came with it to go past the title screen before the Dreamcast goes back to its BIOS. Not to mention that it's extremely noisy when it tries to read the disc. It won't play music CDs at all. I'm pretty certain the game disc is not at fault as it is scratch-free and my computer can read it just fine.
The controller I can replace for under 5 dollars, but I haven't found another Dreamcast for less than $30 in my area. I know that's not a lot, but I'm a student and I have to make every dollar count. :/ So do you think I should try to repair my Dreamcast, or replace it? Or... (sadface)... give up and try to sell it to try to recoup my losses?
EDIT: Here's some photos because why not
(linking because they're pretty large)
(link1) (link2) (link3) (link4)
Referring to #3 and #4... that brown gooey stuff isn't near the laser, but maybe if I cleaned it up it would work? Hmm... what do you think? I'm afraid to try to clean near the laser because I'm afraid I'll permanently damage it.
