Saturn corrupted graphics

[sniperpon]

Hello,

I have an unmodded, North American, NTSC, Model 1 (MK-80000) Saturn that started exhibiting this problem today: the graphics in every game I try are painfully garbled, and if I try to play on in spite of this, the games invariably crash after a few minutes. I've attached a picture from Virtua Cop, for instance-- notice the horribly corrupted graphics along the bottom of the screen.

I opened the system up, and it's immaculate inside. I also cleaned the laser lense and fiddled with the orange laser adjustment knob/thingy (turned it ~35 degrees clockwise), and that had no impact-- good or bad-- whatsoever.

The visual artifacts remind me of what I see when I overclock a PC's GPU too far, or when a GPU fails due to overheating-- perhaps a chip got too hot during my last play session? Yet, I always pull the system out in the open when I play, and the BIOS menus and the like look just fine.

So then I thought maybe it was an optical drive issue? But I pulled the cover while the system was on so I could watch the laser assembly, and it seems to move up and down, and slide long its track, just fine.

I've also heard that Saturns are prone to power supply failures, but my problem doesn't seem to quite fit the description of other people who have that issue. That could still be the problem of course, but I just haven't heard it described in exactly these same terms.

Anyone have any ideas on what the issue is, or how I should best troubleshoot this next?

Thanks!

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[mick_aka]

VDP1 overheating (at least that's the only time I've seen this) I've installed a tiny heatsink on some thermal paste in someone else's machine before, and my modded machine has a couple of fans in just for piece of mind.

If you start doing that you need to be running it with the metal shielding off the motherboard though.

[sniperpon]

That didn't take long, knew I'd turned to the right place. Thanks!

How did you secure the heatsink to the chip by the way, the paste couldn't have been sticky enough on its own, was it?

I'm a bit tempted to just purchase a new one off of eBay, there are loads of them on the market so prices are quite low. It sounds like the Model 2's are a bit less problematic, is that generally true?

[mick_aka]

I put some tiny dabs of clear silicon sealant on each corner.

Yours may of course be a different issue but it looks very similar and that seemed to solve it for the guy I did it for!

[zyrobs]

It may be overheating, but do note that the HUD in Virtua Cop 2 is handled by the VDP2, not the VDP1, so you should try putting heatsinks on that instead. Or on both. And the SCU as well, since it's the thing that handles all access inbetween every component, so it could corrupt pretty much anything if its broken.

Model 2s are made at a later date and tend to include respin/die shrink versions of some chips. If the four biggest chips in your machine are labeled 315-56xx with no suffix, they are the first versions. Of course this alone does not explain a thing, since we have no statistics on which revision chips tend to brake more often.

[mick_aka]

Good call there zyrobs. I've been trying to remember where I sourced the little slimline heatsinks from.

[zyrobs]

I was thinking you could use a PC VGA heatsink pack from Scythe or Arctic Cooling, but those are indeed too big to fit in a Saturn.

I think the guys at silentpcreview.com may have an idea though, I've seen a lot of modders there using heatsinks I've never seen before.

[mick_aka]

The ones I got last time were for some sort of embedded system board, unfortunately the company no longer seems to exist.

[sniperpon]

Wife and kid were out of the house, so I took apart the unit again, and with flashlight in hand, peeled away more of the silver motherboard cover thing. And, well... take a look at the attached picture.

I know virtually nothing about electronics, so I don't even know what the exploded component is. But it can't be good I'm assuming that's my whole problem.

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[zyrobs]

The picture is too small to tell, it could be just glue. The oscillators are glued down on Saturn boards. Try making a picture from straight up, with sufficient lightning.

Nice board though, it's one of the earliest designs. Can I ask you to make a picture of the serial number sticker on the back, and the "made in" sticker at the bottom?

[mick_aka]

Definitely looks like leakage if you click and enlarge the image.

[zyrobs]

It could be just glue. They put tons of them on the oscillators.

A better picture is needed to tell for sure...

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[mancity]

I thought the graphics on Hang on 95 were corrupt until I realised that the horrific polygon clipping at the bottom of the screen was supposed to be like that

[sniperpon]

I'll take another picture when I get home from work.. maybe it is just glue? That last picture that zyrobs posted looks an awful lot like mine!

And thanks for the compliments on the board! It might even be a launch unit? That'd be really cool if it is, all the more reason to try to get it working! I'll take pictures of those labels for you.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't just run without the metal thing covering the motherboard? If not, I'll just pull it off altogether and leave it off, even if I get the unit working in the end-- seems like all it does is disrupt airflow!

[sniperpon]

Took the entire metal deal off the motherboard, snapped a nice, up-close pic of the mystery substance: www.exigentduality.com/pictures/SaturnHardware1.jpg

I'm like 99% sure it's glue; if I gently push my finger nail into it it's sticky, and it looks exactly like that picture zyrobs posted.

I also took pictures of the labels:
www.exigentduality.com/pictures/SaturnHardware2.jpg
www.exigentduality.com/pictures/SaturnHardware3.jpg

And one of the motherboard itself, just in case anyone wants to see the thing in its entirety:
www.exigentduality.com/pictures/SaturnHardware4.jpg

Unless someone has another idea, I think I'm SOL-- I think this unit has done the Saturn equivalent of the 360's "red ring of death"; it got too hot over frequent, lengthy play sessions, and now the VDP2 chip is toast.

The problem happens with the case virtually wide open, and not 30 seconds after the unit's been turned on (as long as it takes to get to the "Now Loading" Virtua Cop text, which is corrupted), so I find it hard to believe it's a current run-time heat problem. Unless the chips really do heat up that quickly, but then how would it have ever functioned?

Thanks for the help though, let me know if anyone thinks of a last-ditch thing to try, otherwise I'll just order a new unit tonight or tomorrow night.