No Read/No Audio *most of the time*

[thegardentool]

Well I decided to test out my JPN Sega Saturn that I received today and it doesn't work, most of the time.

It has read the game twice with one of those failing during a loading screen. It sometimes will detect the games as audio CDs, will not play audio CDs and sometimes won't even detect a disc at all.

I've tried cleaning the laser carefully with an alcohol-damped Q-tip but doesn't seem to help.

What is the next step? Should I crack the case back open and adjust the orange screw to strengthen the laser?

[mick_aka]

Sounds like laser allignment to me matey, feel free to correct me anyone...

[termis]

thegardentool said:

What is the next step? Should I crack the case back open and adjust the orange screw to strengthen the laser?

First, I'd proceed to chew out the seller, then yeah, try the orange screw. If that doesn't work, then I'd swap the actual laser assembly from your black unit if you'd rather have your white one as the main play unit. (That's if they're both latter round-button 21-pin models.)

[thegardentool]

Yes they are both model 2s with I believe the same month/year manufacture date as well. I would have to double check but I want to say they are both 09/96. So they should both be using almost the same internals with localized changes.

I have informed the seller and he said he tested it before shipping. He sells a lot of imported Saturn goods and to my knowledge hasn't had any complaints about them. It doesn't mean a bad laser didn't get through him. It did read the game twice on seperate occasions.

I have asked the seller for permission to open the case to adjust the screw so it wouldn't void any exchanges or refunds he may offer me.

[thegardentool]

I adjusted the orange screw to strength and weaken the laser to no avail. I tried both extremes and everything inbetween and it never read the game nor an audio CD once.

The seller has sold all his white Saturns and only has a boxed grey one instead. He offered it to me for the price of shipping and I can keep the white one. This seems like the fairest deal.

I plan on finding another US Model 2 to transplant the CD-ROM assembly to get the white system working one day. Then I'll keep all the other parts of the spare and probably use the shell as a custom mini-ITX case. I will do it justice unlike the other one I've seen where he butchered the poor Saturn.

[termis]

Yeah. Well, it never hurts to try. His resolution seems pretty fair. The transplant of the laser assembly is pretty straightforward, so you shouldn't have a problem once you get another model 2.

[thegardentool]

Once again I opened it up and decided to dig deeper into the system to try and find a solution. I took off the CD-ROM assembly and proceeded to take the mainboard out. I find some interesting things.

The date on the top of the case and bottom of the case are different. Somebody swapped the top out for some reason. I also cleaned what appeared to be soda residue from the bottom of the CD-ROM assembly PCB and the metal plate on top of the mainboard. I'm guessing somebody had a spill and swapped the tops as a quick fix. I don't know if this led to the near-failure of the laser at this point.

I cleaned the connectors on both sides of the CD ribbon just to be sure it was a clean connection. I generally just swapped everything with rubbing alochol. It still doesn't work.

He is going to charge $20 USD to ship the next one, after he tests it throughly. He said he'd add a bonus for the trouble. I hope its a decent bonus as the last package was $17 for postage and also included a light gun, gun and 1MB cart.

When I do the transplant I'll try to get some photos of everything to post some on here just in case anybody else needs it. It is straight forward but can always be tricky for those who still have never opened their beloved Saturn.