Cleaned my laser, killed my Saturn

[buckoa51]

Really, it's a terrible idea to let me near anything electrical

So today I got out some surgical spirit to clean my Dreamcast's laser because Crazy Taxi had been messing up, I cleaned three lasers in total, Dreamcast, Saturn and PC Engine.

I guess I must have used too much spirit because at first the Dreamcast would not read any discs. Then after waiting a little while it started working again and now Crazy Taxi is fine (no more buildings not coming up). The PC Engine is also fine (well, same as it was before).

My Saturn however, seems dead! The console starts up and I can see the laser assembly moving up and down but the disc does not spin at all, not even a little bit. I don't know how cleaning the laser could have done that (its not like I tipped the entire bottle onto my console, just a dab over the laser and of course the machine was switched off) but oh well, I fail

Is there any easy fix for this? My Saturn is fully modded (modchip,50/60hz switch and region selector) so I really don't want to get another one. I'd be willing to pay for a repair if necessary.

[mick_aka]

What's happening on screen when you boot the Saturn up?

[buckoa51]

Exactly like normal, goes through the Saturn intro animation then falls through to the menu and says "drive empty". I can see that the disc is not spinning at all, though the laser can be heard to move. I also opened the console and I can see the laser moving when I hold down the door button but the drive never spins.

[mick_aka]

I suppose it's possible you could have knocked the laser out of alignment.

Worse case scenario is that you buy another unboxed Saturn on the cheap and just swap the laser assembly over.

[rossi46]

The drive wont spin if the Saturn thinks there's no CD present. You've borked the lens. Buy a 'spares or repair' machine from scumbay and replace the lens assembly.

Would be my advice.

[buckoa51]

I have a spare Saturn and I'd do that except I suck at soldering and can't re-fit my modchip, anyone do repairs in the UK?

[mick_aka]

I would offer but my hands are nowhere near steady enough any more, I take it you have the racketboy chip with the signal cable soldered onto the CD board then?

If you have the bigger chip from Rob Webb its not soldered to the board that the laser assembly is on so no re-soldering should be required...

[buckoa51]

Yeah the mod chip has a cable soldered to the CD board. I'm in touch with Rob Web on E-mail about a possible repair, I didn't realise his chip fitted differently. I'd be willing for him to rechip it at the same time as swapping the assembly out tbh, if he's willing to do the work for me. Either that or get myself a new Saturn and go the switch-less mod route.

Geez I can't believe I was clumsy enough to break my Saturn I'm so bummed, I'm sure I didn't press on that hard! I'm going to be WAY more careful cleaning lenses in future, let that be a lesson to everyone!

[buckoa51]

Guys my Saturn works again! I swear I am not making this up, all I did was keep prodding the laser with a cloth and trying my game until suddenly it worked again. Honestly I thought I was being an idiot and I was ready to order a new premodded Saturn from Console Passion but I swear that's all I did and my Saturn came back to life! I've tried 3 games two originals one backup and they work fine (FMV skips a little on the Radiant Silvergun backup but it always did).

I'm super happy my Saturn is back! Yahooo Thanks for everyone that posted on this thread.

[fisher007]

It`s normal when you clean a laser with a qtip that you adjust the lens in a wrong way. I think that was your problem!

[Tripredacus]

I just use a CD cleaner on my systems. Did you do something different? You put the CD in and it make a horrible sound for 2 minutes but then everything's fine.