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Post by Warlok on Mar 17, 2009 22:22:03 GMT
As you may know, since I sometimes participate in debates concerning the lifespan of a Saturn, my Saturn is old. Very old. Model 2, probably built sometime around 1996-1997 (I bought it second hand in late 1997 and it was quite dirty [looked used] at the time so it should have been at least 6 months old). It's still live and kickin', but now I'm concerned since it has trouble loading In the Hunt. When the game doesn't load properly I press reset and I have a 50/50 chance of it booting correctly. Now to my question:
What actions damages the Saturn the most? I seem to recall an childhood memory about turning on and off things are always more dire, when it comes to old equipment, than reseting or putting it into standby. And another thing: I don't own a Saturn manual, but I had a Dreamcast one (for my now long gone Dreamcast) and it said that opening the hatch/drive door while playing is alright, but it's not so good to turn the machine off while playing. Weird because you almost have to do that when you want to quit playing unless you want to put the CD in the next time you play. But I might remember wrong. Anyhow: Since I want my Saturn to feel as little pain as possible, I want to know how to handle it. Which parts breaks first? Should the cord be connected at all times? Is cleaner-CD's any good for the lens? Can it damage the machine to have it turned on for too long, or is it better than turning on and off often? And, finally, how long is the longest you've heard of a Saturn being fully functional with or without mods (mine is the latter)?
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mick_aka
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Post by mick_aka on Mar 18, 2009 9:50:20 GMT
Having the power lead connected all te time wont make any difference, or harm your Saturn in the least.
As you have a model 2 the first thing to go will either be;
The power board, which can sometimes be solved by simply cleaning and re-seating it.
The laser motor, can be replaced but please dont pull apart another good saturn to do so!
The laser itself, they WILL just go with age and depending on treatment, adjusting the laser bias will give you a few more months, maybe a year if you're lucky, the model 1 lasers DO last longer as time has proven.
Needless to say; never play dirty discs, never play scrathched discs, never touch the laser, never leave the lid open, never repeatedly push the power/reset buttons.
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Post by Yart on Mar 18, 2009 10:13:04 GMT
...never repeatedly push the power/reset buttons. Oh dear... I like to play Russian Roullete with my Saturn by rapidly hitting the power button while it's on. I do it so fast that it stays on, and then let go and hope that the machine is still on when I stop. Otherwise I lose my game progress. Very fun, and painful if I slip up, but I didn't know that I shouldn't do that. I'm not making this up, and I do it quite often. Great for freaking out the friends! I only lost once though. And yeah, what Mick said. My brother's Saturn crapped up (Model 1 to boot!) after putting a scratched up and dirtied Independence Day disc in the tray and turned on the system. (The game sucked so it wasn't cared for) :/ I had to use a Q-Tip and rubbing alcohol to clean the laser. Just so ya know, that works, so if it DOES seem to croak in the future (not reading ANY discs), you know what to try first.
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Post by Warlok on Mar 18, 2009 15:50:13 GMT
Having the power lead connected all te time wont make any difference, or harm your Saturn in the least. As you have a model 2 the first thing to go will either be; The power board, which can sometimes be solved by simply cleaning and re-seating it. The laser motor, can be replaced but please dont pull apart another good saturn to do so! The laser itself, they WILL just go with age and depending on treatment, adjusting the laser bias will give you a few more months, maybe a year if you're lucky, the model 1 lasers DO last longer as time has proven. Needless to say; never play dirty discs, never play scrathched discs, never touch the laser, never leave the lid open, never repeatedly push the power/reset buttons. Thanks! Now I know. But still; is reseting a better option than turning off, wait a while, and turn on? It should be or the whole invention of a reset button would be a waste. I don't press it "repeatedly", if you mean pressing it several times within like 30 seconds. I press once, then wait about half a minute, then press again if game does not load properly. I try to thoroughly clean discs that are dirty, so like 99% of my games are shiny and bright, but at least half of my collection is at least a little scratched. It's hard to avoid since I can't repair them. Even brand new games get small scratches after a while even with careful use. And they all work with no problem to load (except the beforementioned In the Hunt), but should I still stop playing them?
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mick_aka
Kickin' it lively!
"Mick is moderately adequate."
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Post by mick_aka on Mar 18, 2009 18:19:46 GMT
I never use the reset button, and the Model 1 I use daily has been in constant use for the last 5 years.
Draw your own conclusions...
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TmEE
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Post by TmEE on Mar 18, 2009 19:11:01 GMT
Power on/off cycle is having negative effect on most components of the system... I hate having no reset switch on my DC ...
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mick_aka
Kickin' it lively!
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Post by mick_aka on Mar 18, 2009 20:08:42 GMT
surely that could easilly be added?
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Post by Warlok on Mar 18, 2009 23:37:36 GMT
I never use the reset button, and the Model 1 I use daily has been in constant use for the last 5 years. Draw your own conclusions... Whut?! You have your Saturn turned ON constantly, twentyfour-seven?! That is awesome!! Doesn't the plastic melt or something from the heat or whatever? I like to think of my Saturn as resting or regenerating when turned off. Cooling down and shit. I'm infantile and animalistic (or whatever you brits call the primitive belief that every object is an organism with soul and free will). Or do you just mean you don't use the reset button? Cause I do, quite often, and, as mentioned several times before, mine's been holding up for 12 years. So... In that case, I'm not impressed
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Post by Warlok on Mar 18, 2009 23:40:18 GMT
Power on/off cycle is having negative effect on most components of the system... I hate having no reset switch on my DC ... I know! That bothered me too when I still had my Dreamcast. And, at least in my experience, the Dreamcast is a sensitive, soft machine that breaks down and shit its pants almost as frequently as xboxes and ps1's so a reset function would've helped.
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Post by RallyDon82 on Mar 19, 2009 16:34:29 GMT
a reset button is not a neccesity, am i the only one who still uses soft reset? for dreamcasts its all four face buttons and start together and i believe saturns is a,b,c & start together (its better as it rests to the title screen so no boot screens), saves u a trek across the room too, simples.
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Post by Warlok on Mar 20, 2009 3:15:44 GMT
a reset button is not a neccesity, am i the only one who still uses soft reset? for dreamcasts its all four face buttons and start together and i believe saturns is a,b,c & start together (its better as it rests to the title screen so no boot screens), saves u a trek across the room too, simples. That works only with games in "progress" (i.e. not in "blocked", faulty loading screens). When it comes to my in the hunt, the game just freeze after the logo but the cd keeps loading (not frantic though) as if in normal gameplay but nothing shows on screen. Opening the lid doesn't work either. So reset button is the only choice if I don't want to turn off and then on again. And I've heard (from random sources) that that's a better alternative than turning off and then on. Edit: I'm talking about the Saturn - My Dreamcast had worse problems, such as not loading at all (even with no disc). The Dreamcast was a great console but compared to my Saturn it was a piece of inferior capitalist burn-to-ashes-in two years-and-buy-a-new-one piece of shit. Even though it lasted for a bit over 5 years. But still: I wanna know: what's the better option (on SAT); to turn off and then on or reset? I ALWAYS use reset. I just magically "feel" that it's less damaging to the console. And mick_aka: Is your saturn turned on all the time or did i misinterpret what you said? I don't pay for electricity in my over-expensive stupid liberal nazi "market rent" apartment anyway, so if that works, I'll try it.
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mick_aka
Kickin' it lively!
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Post by mick_aka on Mar 20, 2009 11:05:00 GMT
My Saturn is not on 'all the time', having once getting really far on PD Saga in a system with no battery (A model 1 Saturn I think) I left the system turned on for 9 days until I was off work again and able to carry on playing. The system suffered no ill effects but it's not something I would recommend doing.
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Post by RallyDon82 on Mar 21, 2009 3:48:24 GMT
My Saturn is not on 'all the time', having once getting really far on PD Saga in a system with no battery (A model 1 Saturn I think) I left the system turned on for 9 days until I was off work again and able to carry on playing. The system suffered no ill effects but it's not something I would recommend doing. i would expect at that point u might be able to cook some bacon n eggs on the saturn lol should keep u going during the completion of PDS
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TmEE
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Post by TmEE on Mar 22, 2009 17:11:39 GMT
Is there any limit proposed in the manual of the Saturn regarding gameplay session lenght ? My Saturn developed a dead drive after some 36 hours of use.... the motor control chip fried... CD will not spin, laser would move around, motor is not dead... my other Saturn was so from the beginning...
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Post by chizzles on Mar 23, 2009 17:00:18 GMT
No two Saturns are created equal.
A very common fault on model 1 Saturns is the disc lid switch breaking (but also pretty easy to fix) orz.
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