Need help from an experienced tech
Jan 7, 2013 20:07:12 GMT
Post by saskatoon on Jan 7, 2013 20:07:12 GMT
I am having an issue with my Saturn. It is a US Model 2, JVC Laser assembly. I am still fairly new to Saturn's and not that good with electronics so bear with me.
-The unit powers up and sees discs but it only sees game discs as audio. The unit has a hairline crack inside the disc tray on the top cover, it barely goes through the plastic and it is still solid, the plastic hasn't separated. This leads me to believe the unit might have been dropped at one point.
-The menu blocks are green. They respond properly to audio playback. The greed LED on the front stays solid green, no blinking.
-I have replaced the laser although I think the old one is still fine. I have adjusted the laser pot from 1300 down to 500 and put it back to just under 1000. The issue happens at 500 so I brought it back up to 1000 to give the laser some life. I am quite certain the issue is not the laser actually seeing the discs.
-When I play the audio it recognizes off of Daytona USA it stalls on the later tracks. This makes me think it is the laser not getting far enough out to read the signature, so it cannot play the later tracks of a disc. I haven't been able to find much for tech info but I did read enough to gather how the Saturn boot process happens.
-I have another Saturn (I got this one to mod) and this one seems to make more drive noise when spinning this disc, it sounds like there is a grinding inside. I didn't notice anything terribly off when I was inside it before, what should I be looking for?
-Booting a game takes a long time before the unit finally goes to the menu, it takes another minute before the screen locks up and it takes a second to boot the game as an audio disc. The unit sounds like something is going back and forth when trying to load games. I also have a dead battery in it, so I have to go through the setup screen as well. The disc appears to be spinning fine when in the setup screen, I don't hear the grinding mentioned above.
-I tested every single US game I have, as mentioned above Daytona USA eventually stalls and loads as audio, the later tracks stall and won't play. Mr.Bones disc 2 boots fairly quickly, and plays fine, I think this is because it recognizes it as an audio disc almost immediately. This is one of the games I know plays in a CD player. It plays fine right up to the end of the disc. No grinding sound. The same cannot be said about disc 1, that disc responds as the other games do. When I play back the audio available off of it it stalls out on the higher tracks just like Daytona USA. Tomb Raider is the same way.
-Magic Knight Rayearth, Shining Wisdom, and Albert Odyssey all attempt to load before eventually stalling at the menu trying to recognize the disc and sees it as audio. The audio doesn't play, although I think that is normal for these games to fail as audio CDs. The same thing happens for Sega Rally.
-Actual audio discs load fine, the drive sounds like it is spinning normally without any kind of grinding for the first couple tracks, but they stall on later tracks as well and you do hear the grinding as laser moves around trying to find the later tracks
-I found this info (below) on another site so I attempted this, it really had no effect on the unit so I put the two pots back where they were. The post also offers very little information in regards to value or exactly what he is adjusting, he mentions multiple variable resistors but the left facing one is a switch from what I think. I believe the upward facing resistor adjusts the disc speed. Here is what I read.
""I know what's causing the problem--the spindle motor for the CD's doesn't spin fast enough to read the disc properly; this usually happens when the system gets hit too hard or is dropped. This causes games to recognized as audio CD's and also causes the tracks to play improperly (there will be complete silence when a track is played and possibly some static at the beginning and the cubes an the sides of the display will be distorted and blown up.IF THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN THEN DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS.)Before starting, make sure the system is plugged in, there's no controller connected, and the system is NOT hooked up to a tv. Okay, now this is where it gets complicated. first, take the top of the system off and locate the disc drive switch. Depending on which model your console is, it'll be in different places. On the newer model (the one that has a PC board on the top cover), it'll be on a small PC board on the opposite side. On the older model (the one that has all the PC boards on the bottom), it's sticking up out of the metal plate between the two PC boards(the little clear plastic thing with copper plates inside). Either way, the switch needs to be held down or taped down.(I suggest taping it, but it may not work with the older system.) There are a few little variable resistors (little upright disc-shaped things) on the top left corner of the exposed circuit board (the one with the CD lens on it). Try adjusting those with a small flat-head screwdriver with the system turned ON and a CD on the spindle. Be CAREFUL--do NOT touch the CD while it's moving and keep your hands away from the PC board on the left--It WILL shock you. Adjust the resistors untill the CD spins the fastest. If the CD stops spinning, pull off and then replace the tape. If it doesn't spin at all in the first place, check the tape. Once you get it spinning as fast as possible, hook the system back up to your television WITHOUT replacing the cover. If it reconizes the CD as a game, your done and you can close it up. If it thinks its an audio CD or doesn't read it at all, the resistors need more adjusting. This work can be very trying and dangerous; this method can also ruin your system, but it's the only way to make it work without replacing any parts, but it DOES work. If you have any questions, ask me.""
So at this point I am left scratching my head, I don't really want to toss the unit, it cost me more to ship it to me than it did to buy the darned thing. I do not think the unit is FUBAR but I am not an expert. I am still leaning it towards some kind of mechanical failure with the laser gears but I honestly do not know what to be looking for. So I am starting here for assistance, if anybody knows any other Sega Saturn sites that might be of assistance please point me in the right direction, this is google's #1. Sorry if my post seems a little scatter brained.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Save my Saturn!
-The unit powers up and sees discs but it only sees game discs as audio. The unit has a hairline crack inside the disc tray on the top cover, it barely goes through the plastic and it is still solid, the plastic hasn't separated. This leads me to believe the unit might have been dropped at one point.
-The menu blocks are green. They respond properly to audio playback. The greed LED on the front stays solid green, no blinking.
-I have replaced the laser although I think the old one is still fine. I have adjusted the laser pot from 1300 down to 500 and put it back to just under 1000. The issue happens at 500 so I brought it back up to 1000 to give the laser some life. I am quite certain the issue is not the laser actually seeing the discs.
-When I play the audio it recognizes off of Daytona USA it stalls on the later tracks. This makes me think it is the laser not getting far enough out to read the signature, so it cannot play the later tracks of a disc. I haven't been able to find much for tech info but I did read enough to gather how the Saturn boot process happens.
-I have another Saturn (I got this one to mod) and this one seems to make more drive noise when spinning this disc, it sounds like there is a grinding inside. I didn't notice anything terribly off when I was inside it before, what should I be looking for?
-Booting a game takes a long time before the unit finally goes to the menu, it takes another minute before the screen locks up and it takes a second to boot the game as an audio disc. The unit sounds like something is going back and forth when trying to load games. I also have a dead battery in it, so I have to go through the setup screen as well. The disc appears to be spinning fine when in the setup screen, I don't hear the grinding mentioned above.
-I tested every single US game I have, as mentioned above Daytona USA eventually stalls and loads as audio, the later tracks stall and won't play. Mr.Bones disc 2 boots fairly quickly, and plays fine, I think this is because it recognizes it as an audio disc almost immediately. This is one of the games I know plays in a CD player. It plays fine right up to the end of the disc. No grinding sound. The same cannot be said about disc 1, that disc responds as the other games do. When I play back the audio available off of it it stalls out on the higher tracks just like Daytona USA. Tomb Raider is the same way.
-Magic Knight Rayearth, Shining Wisdom, and Albert Odyssey all attempt to load before eventually stalling at the menu trying to recognize the disc and sees it as audio. The audio doesn't play, although I think that is normal for these games to fail as audio CDs. The same thing happens for Sega Rally.
-Actual audio discs load fine, the drive sounds like it is spinning normally without any kind of grinding for the first couple tracks, but they stall on later tracks as well and you do hear the grinding as laser moves around trying to find the later tracks
-I found this info (below) on another site so I attempted this, it really had no effect on the unit so I put the two pots back where they were. The post also offers very little information in regards to value or exactly what he is adjusting, he mentions multiple variable resistors but the left facing one is a switch from what I think. I believe the upward facing resistor adjusts the disc speed. Here is what I read.
""I know what's causing the problem--the spindle motor for the CD's doesn't spin fast enough to read the disc properly; this usually happens when the system gets hit too hard or is dropped. This causes games to recognized as audio CD's and also causes the tracks to play improperly (there will be complete silence when a track is played and possibly some static at the beginning and the cubes an the sides of the display will be distorted and blown up.IF THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN THEN DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS.)Before starting, make sure the system is plugged in, there's no controller connected, and the system is NOT hooked up to a tv. Okay, now this is where it gets complicated. first, take the top of the system off and locate the disc drive switch. Depending on which model your console is, it'll be in different places. On the newer model (the one that has a PC board on the top cover), it'll be on a small PC board on the opposite side. On the older model (the one that has all the PC boards on the bottom), it's sticking up out of the metal plate between the two PC boards(the little clear plastic thing with copper plates inside). Either way, the switch needs to be held down or taped down.(I suggest taping it, but it may not work with the older system.) There are a few little variable resistors (little upright disc-shaped things) on the top left corner of the exposed circuit board (the one with the CD lens on it). Try adjusting those with a small flat-head screwdriver with the system turned ON and a CD on the spindle. Be CAREFUL--do NOT touch the CD while it's moving and keep your hands away from the PC board on the left--It WILL shock you. Adjust the resistors untill the CD spins the fastest. If the CD stops spinning, pull off and then replace the tape. If it doesn't spin at all in the first place, check the tape. Once you get it spinning as fast as possible, hook the system back up to your television WITHOUT replacing the cover. If it reconizes the CD as a game, your done and you can close it up. If it thinks its an audio CD or doesn't read it at all, the resistors need more adjusting. This work can be very trying and dangerous; this method can also ruin your system, but it's the only way to make it work without replacing any parts, but it DOES work. If you have any questions, ask me.""
So at this point I am left scratching my head, I don't really want to toss the unit, it cost me more to ship it to me than it did to buy the darned thing. I do not think the unit is FUBAR but I am not an expert. I am still leaning it towards some kind of mechanical failure with the laser gears but I honestly do not know what to be looking for. So I am starting here for assistance, if anybody knows any other Sega Saturn sites that might be of assistance please point me in the right direction, this is google's #1. Sorry if my post seems a little scatter brained.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Save my Saturn!
)? The problem can be that the spindle has been pushed down a few millimeters so that the disc grinds against the plastic and can't get up to speed properly.
