Pull up pin 1 of IC20 to get 50/60 Hz on VA9?

[sfgsgvs]

wolfsoft.de/wordpress/?p=354

I'm planning to follow this guide to do the switchless mod on a VA9 board (first VA9 I will get my hands on), do I really need to do this to get the 50/60 Hz switching working? If I do, why have they grounded it by putting a big blob of solder over like four legs on the chip?

[zyrobs]

Yes and you also need to cut and ground a line on the cxa chip or else it'll switch over to NTSC colours instead of PAL60. I find it easier to just cut the right traces though. Both VA7 PAL and VA9 need that.

Basically you have to segregate the entire JP1/2 part so it only affects the VDP2 (which is the part you have to switch for games to run in 60hz).

I usually do this on VA9 models:





Then route back that signal cable to the top inbetween the a/v out and the serial out, get the GND and +5v from one of the unpopulated cap slots (CE102 on the top side), and put a small switch in the small space under the mpeg cart holder - there's a part on that tray which is lower than the rest, and a small switch fits there perfectly, if it's the right size you don't even need to glue it there.

Very easy and quick mod, and doesn't need any extra gluing or cutting or drilling, which is why I consider those models the easiest to mod.

And if you are checking the mods on that wolfsoft site, you ONLY have to explicitly raise the IC20 pin1 on VA1 models (20pin drive, separate controller ports). For the rest you can either cut traces leading to it (VA7 PAL, VA9), or there are no traces to cut (VA0 PAL, VA SD PAL, VA13 PAL).

[rossdaboss]

Is it ok if I just lift leg 79 of IC14, does that work ok on all VA's? or do I need to mess about cutting traces?

[zyrobs]

Apr 25, 2013 23:02:00 GMT rossdaboss said:

Is it ok if I just lift leg 79 of IC14, does that work ok on all VA's? or do I need to mess about cutting traces?

That works on all Saturns however it is the most risky method. If you end up tearing that leg off, the machine will be permanently locked into 50hz mode.

[rossdaboss]

ahh ok thanks for clearing that up.

[sfgsgvs]

Great, thanks Much easier to cut a track than to lift a leg.

In the guide on wolfsoft.de they remove the SMD resistors connecting the pads on JP2 and solder to JP2 instead of JP1, is that because they prefer to remove SMD resistors rather than cutting tracks? I much prefer cutting tracks

In this picture they want you to remove three SMD resistors, is that also unnecessary (as in there are some tracks you can cut instead)?



I followed their other "small board" guide for a VA5, and that was like the easiest mod known to man. This one is a mess.

Apr 25, 2013 21:48:50 GMT zyrobs said:

For the rest you can either cut traces leading to it (VA7 PAL, VA9), or there are no traces to cut (VA0 PAL, VA SD PAL, VA13 PAL).

Is this the track in your second picture? Or is that a picture of the track leading to the cxa chip you mentioned?

[zyrobs]

The wolfsoft guy does not take the colour encoding of the console into account, if you follow his guide, the machine will have NTSC colour encoding 60hz modes, except that it won't really be NTSC because it still uses 4.43Mhz for the encoding clock (due to the master clock still being PAL). 4.43mhz NTSC is not common, and may result either in no colour or flickering colour on a TV that can't handle it.
However if you keep PAL colour encoding with 60hz picture, you get PAL-60 in 60hz mode which is a legit standard called PAL-M and it is used in Brazil. TVs are more likely to support that.

Note that this only applies for RF, composite, and s-video connections. RGB displays fine as it uses no colour encoding.

On my mod, I keep JP2 as is, but cut it at the common point. JP1 still leads to the VDP2 pin 79, but JP2 is now isolated and it does nothing more but provide 0v to the CXA1645 video encoder, keeping it in PAL colour mode. The common point of JP1 is then used for a signal cable, to which you feed +5v for 60hz mode (give it 0v or leave it as-is and it'll default to 50hz mode). I also cut the trace leading to the PLL chip (ic20) which is a part of this circuit, otherwise the machine will set the PLL to NTSC mode, in which mode the machine runs at ~35mhz instead of 28mhz (the display dot clock is also driven by this clock, and so it will go out of sync).

JP6 to JP13 are the region settings, they are identical in function to all Saturns, the only difference is where they are located on the motherboards, and whether they are connected by SMD resistors or traces on the motherboard.

VA3/5 PAL (aka VA SD PAL) and VA0 PAL units are easy to do 60hz mods for because the VDP2 50/60hz switch, the CXA1645 colour encoding switch, and the PLL pal/ntsc master clock divider switch are all separated with no links inbetween them. This was likely in anticipation of developers needing such a modifications, which explains the switch position next to the battery.
VA1 is those two, but a snafu in the board design led to the PLL still being linked to the VDP2 pin 79, so if you use the back link on that, the picture goes out of sync.

For all NTSC VA0 to VA5, the VA9 board, and the VA7 PAL board, the three locations I mentioned above are interlinked. VA6+ NTSC boards, and the VA13 PAL board, use a different PLL chip that is not interlinked to the rest of the video system, you only have to separate the CXA1645 (but the process is largely the same as the one I posted, except for the trace you have to cut to the PLL - it is not there anymore).

[jerko]

Hi. Sorry to bump up an old thread, but I was hoping for some help and you seem pretty knowledgeable, zyrobs

I am going to attempt this mod in the near future and I'll apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge in some areas! Anyway, I have a PAL Saturn VA9 board that I bought >15 years ago (wow...) I am going to follow the guides on mmmonkey (http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/sega-saturn-switchless-region-and-video-mod/) and wolf soft blog (http://wolfsoft.de/wordpress/?p=354) for sebs method. I too am nervous about pulling up pin 1 on IC20 and so my questions are;

1. Does cutting the trace above you indicate have the same effect as grounding pin 1 on IC20 - I assume this is correct, however I'm not too sure how moving the solder point from jumper 1 to 2 affects this(?) - a yes no answer is OK - I'm fairly sure you've explained it above but please humor me It also looks to me that there are 2 traces that are cut if this is what you are suggesting?

2. The wolf soft blog appears to be getting ground and +5V from near IC19 - is this something you'd recommend? I was thinking to go directly to the 5 power pins on the underside of the board.

If you've got any pictures of your mods, I'd love to have a look!

Thanks in advance - I'll PM you but I figured I'd leave this question here to help others if they need it!

[zyrobs]

IC20 pin 1 pulls itself low; so cutting a trace leading to it, or lifting the pin, is the same as grounding it. You need it grounded for PAL crystals so this is good.

JP1/2 are normally connected to IC20 pin 1, as well as the VDP2 pin 79 and the pal/ntsc selector on the video encoder (forgot which pin). However it varies on different motherboards. Since we are using JP1/2 as the main connections for our mod, we have to make sure that it is not connected to anything else that we do not want to change, hence cutting some traces.
The VA9 has JP1/2 connected to all 3 of those pins, so we have to cut two traces: one to leave the IC20 pin 1 hanging (it grounds itself), and one to leave the video encoder grounded. The Video encoder pal/ntsc select pin pulls itself high if left hanging, so if you'd just disconnect it you'd get NTSC composite encoding. That's why I cut a trace inbetween JP1/2, JP2 (ground) is already connected on a PAL system and it feeds ground for the video encoder.

This leaves you with an unconnected JP1 that is hooked up to nothing but the VDP2 pin 79, which is what you want to modify: feed it +5v for 60hz or GND for 50hz (or leave it hanging for 50hz as that pin is pulled low when not set).

It doesn't really matter where you get the +5v and GND from, as far as I know. There are plenty of places. I usually route a single cable from JP1 to the upside next to the communication port (the bottom EM shield has a small hole there), and then get voltages from the unmounted CE102, and route the three cables to a SPDT switch which fits neatly next to the battery without obscuring the VCD card slot.

[jerko]

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

[jerko]

Hi hi Zyrobs!

I'm struggling here.Working on a PAL VA9 I've done the following:

Built the circuit ala mmmonkey (http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/sega-saturn-switchless-region-and-video-mod/) 
Flashed the PIC with a PIC K150
Wired up OK I think... here is where I'm struggling.

Taking power and ground directly from where to PSU joins the mainboard

Rather than lift leg 1 on IC20 I've done as you've suggested and severed the trace between JP1 & JP2 and wired to JP1 as well as sever the track on the underside of the board as per your instructions - I note that there is one thin trace which I have severed but a fair bit of extra copper if I keep cutting (further left on your image) - I'm assuming I'm leaving this alone.

I've removed the 0 ohm resistors on JP7, 10  & 12 and wired according to wolf soft - though I note it looks like they've bridged JP 9 (mine has a 0 ohm resistor so don't think I need to do anything) wolfsoft.de/wordpress/?p=354#)

Lastly, I've severed the bridge between reset and the button and soldered to the two points again as per wolf soft

Booted the Saturn and am greeted with the language/date setting screen... No LED. hmm... Played with reset. Nothing. hmm... Double checked the wiring and the PIC has been flashed. All looks OK

Took the circuit apart and soldered to the IC directly. Same thing

So - what have I stuffed up? It's been quite a while since I did physics 101 - have I blown the LED? I'm using 220 ohm resistors with red/blue LED (http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-x-3mm-3-Pins-Leg-Common-Anode-Red-Blue-LED-Light-Bright-Emitting-Lamp-Bulbs-/360532471028).

Or am I being even more stupid and the mod simply doesn't work until the Saturn gets past the language settings - will damage self if this is the case 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[zyrobs]

The huge part of copper is, I think, a big ground line, if there's only 1 thin trace next to it then you likely cut the correct part.

I've no idea what can go wrong with switchless mods, I don't like them, they are unreliable and require resetting the machine.

The date setup turns up every time until it has been stored once. 50/60hz and region changing could still work if you move past that screen. On a PAL machine, if you enter the BIOS and go to the system settings, you can see the region listed in the bottom right screen. It normally says PAL-C-v1.01a, it changes to NTSC if the machine is in 60hz mode, and the "C" changes to 1, 2 or 4 if the region is changed to Japan, Korea, or USA respectively. It gets stuck on 1 or C (forgot which) if the region is invalid though.

[jerko]

Ok - thanks for that - will set aside for now. Try again in a week or 2. Thanks again

[jerko]

I programmed the PIC upside down Looks like its working now... Thanks for the help!

Edit - well the reset button is doing something. Still not getting any LED activity...

Edit 2 - LED I bought is common cathode... I'm an idiot - bought one with a common anode - at any rate the mod appears to be working...