3 Region Switch Problem

[IceMaN30]

I recently installed a us/jp switch and 50/60 hz switch on my model 2 and they both work great which I plan to upgrade to a three region switch. I decided that I wanted to test installing the us/jp/uk switch on my backup older model 2 (oval buttons, 64pin ic, and 21 ribbon cable, and mb revision VA-SG). This is the first time i've tried this three region mod and I'm have a little trouble with it. The japan and uk settings work just fine but when it is switched to us (the native region of this console) there is no video or sound output to the tv, also there are no lights on the saturn but I can hear it trying to start up. Has anyone seen or run into this problem before? I've been following mmmonkey's tutorial and referencing the guide on gamesx for the correct soldering points. Here is a pic of which soldering pads the switch is hooked up to. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


2011-06-07_08-20-13_63 by J3pac307, on Flickr

[pulstar]

Were there resistors on the jumpers or just tracks in the motherboard? I'm sure I had this problem before when the jumper settings weren't correct for any region but that was years ago so I can't remember exactly. Other than that I would say a short somewhere either on the board with your hex inverter or between the motherboard and the shielding.

[zyrobs]

there is no video or sound output to the tv, also there are no lights on the saturn but I can hear it trying to start up.

You hear it starting up as in you hear the bootup menu, or as in a light buzzing noise? If it's the latter, you have a short somewhere.

[IceMaN30]

Jun 7, 2011 19:36:46 GMT pulstar said:

Were there resistors on the jumpers or just tracks in the motherboard?

There were just two sets of tracks.

Jun 7, 2011 21:26:45 GMT zyrobs said:

You hear it starting up as in you hear the bootup menu, or as in a light buzzing noise? If it's the latter, you have a short somewhere.

There is no audio or video on the tv, I can only hear the internals of the Saturn keep trying to start.

Thank you both for the quick and helpful responses. I was going over the tutorial at mameworld (pc2jamma.mameworld.info/satmod1.html incase anyone needs it) and I might have the center and bottom connections on the switch reversed because it states that the US should be center in the off position and I remember it being set to UK and the bottom setting was acting up. I'm at work now so hopefully I can get out of here soon and try that out.

[IceMaN30]

Well I just tried alternating the two bottom wires on the switch and now when I boot with the three settings I get jp/uk/uk instead of jp/uk/error I'm not sure whats to blame but I'm assuming that its something with my soldering on the hex inverter or the wires on the chip. I'm going to take a look at it in the morning when my brain is fresh.

[termis]

Jun 8, 2011 6:42:34 GMT IceMaN30 said:

Well I just tried alternating the two bottom wires on the switch and now when I boot with the three settings I get jp/uk/uk instead of jp/uk/error I'm not sure whats to blame but I'm assuming that its something with my soldering on the hex inverter or the wires on the chip. I'm going to take a look at it in the morning when my brain is fresh.

I had a very similar/identical problem to yours. I can't remember which regions, but I also had two identical regions, then another region. In fact, I got so frustrated after awhile that I built a second board... and had the exact same problem.

Then I put it down, had a look again couple weeks later, and found out I made the same soldering mistake for both boards, and after fixing it, they both ended up working fine.

So yeah, triple check your soldering - it's easy to short something, miss cutting a trace, etc.

[zyrobs]

Actually, the soldering on the picture you posted looks correct. As in, it connects to the "common point". I think the problem is in how you had your that hex inverter hooked up. Whatever did you connect the region pins to, anyway?

[metalhead]

If you could post up a pic of where each of those wires goes on the switch I may be able to trace the problem. With th Saturn not starting up problem it is most likely that when in this mode, you are sending 5v directly to ground.

[termis]

Jun 8, 2011 20:23:58 GMT zyrobs said:

Actually, the soldering on the picture you posted looks correct. As in, it connects to the "common point". I think the problem is in how you had your that hex inverter hooked up. Whatever did you connect the region pins to, anyway?

Yeah, I agree -- I meant soldering screw up on the stripboard, not on the saturn motherboard.

[IceMaN30]

Well I decided to start new again and make another board for the switch. Guess what? I'm getting the same results Again I'm getting Jp/uk/error though I did notice that on both boards when on the error setting the green access light (power) is flashing on and off with nothing else happening. Here are some pics of the board and switch.


2011-06-09_22-38-13_588

2011-06-09_22-37-02_705
Here are what the wires are hooked up to...
Red: 5v
Black: Ground
Solid Yellow: JP12
Solid White: JP7
Solid Green: JP10
White with Black Tape: Top switch
Green with Black Tape: Middle switch
Yellow with Black Tape: Bottom switch

I'm open to any and all suggestions. I've read that there are some traces that need to be cut on some pal motherboards to get region switches to work. I assume that this is not the case for the VA-SG mobo?

Thanks again for your help and assistance.

[zyrobs]

You don't need to cut any more traces. JPN mode means you send 5v to the jp7 cables, and GND to the other two. UK mode means you send GND to jp7, and 5v to the other two. So both jumpers are working in both positions, you just have the hex inverter set up wrong so it outputs both gnd and 5v to one of the pins in the USA setting, instead of 5v only to JP10.

Have you cut any traces on the underside of the circuit board with the 7404, like on the mmmonkey guide?

[termis]

Your board looks okay from the top, as far as I can tell.

Jun 7, 2011 23:35:17 GMT IceMaN30 said:

Jun 7, 2011 19:36:46 GMT pulstar said:

Were there resistors on the jumpers or just tracks in the motherboard?

There were just two sets of tracks.

Now, you should've removed THREE links/cut three traces. Did you get a chance to cut the trace on JP13? (I can't really tell from the pic).

[metalhead]

Have a look at this video and see if it yours is built the same. This is the one I looked at when I did my switchless mod. Really easy to follow...

[IceMaN30]

Jun 10, 2011 13:10:54 GMT zyrobs said:

Have you cut any traces on the underside of the circuit board with the 7404, like on the mmmonkey guide?

I have the three cuts on the underside of the switch board just like in the mmmonkey tutorial, the long row under the hex inverter and the two on the side.

Jun 10, 2011 13:15:15 GMT termis said:

Your board looks okay from the top, as far as I can tell.

Jun 7, 2011 23:35:17 GMT IceMaN30 said:

There were just two sets of tracks.

Now, you should've removed THREE links/cut three traces. Did you get a chance to cut the trace on JP13? (I can't really tell from the pic).

This is a US Saturn so there were only links on jp7 and jp10 if I remember correctly and those were both removed. As for any other cut I haven't made any.

[zyrobs]

He has all three jumpers working in both 5v and gnd position, so no additional traces are needed. Also, though I haven't seen many examples of that board, but I believe they have tiny jumpers soldered on, instead of traces on the motherboard.