[Solved!] Help diagnosing laser issue

[smokemonster]

The first of my three recent Saturn consoles purchases arrived yesterday, but as I predicted, it has laser issues. I was surprised at how clean it was inside though, so I'm holding out a little hope that maybe I can get it running.

It powers on fine with a green LED and boots to the loading screen, but I get the "drive empty" error. When a disc is inserted, the laser moves back and forth a little while I hear clicking for about 4-5 seconds. The disc however does not spin at all and the laser emits no visible light.

I tried adjusting the laser pot by a tiny turn clockwise about 20-30 times, with no improvement. I also broke it down completely and thoroughly cleaned the case, PSU, motherboard, the laser and its eye, but the issue persists. It's a shame because the motherboard, PSU, etc all look like-new after just a little cleaning.

Is this truly a parts console now, or is there anything else I can try to revive it? It's a Model 2 with a JVC P605 drive.

[MIK]

Sounds really nice inside other than the CD drive, shame!
Maybe I could ask some questions too as I have never taken a Saturn apart before.

I'm wondering if it's easy to replace, swap the CD drives over from other Saturn's. And/Or how many different CD drives are there for the Saturn, any issues fitting them in from different manufacturers?

[smokemonster]

From what I've read, most Model 2s use drives that can be freely swapped between each other (correct me if I'm wrong). The procedure looks like it would only take a few minutes to perform.

I would love to hear that I could just use a generic (non SS) replacement JVC laser, but from reading the threads here it sounds like it is more complicated than just popping one in--perhaps requiring calibration.

[smokemonster]

Sept 15, 2013 3:56:25 GMT @saturnhst said:

You don't have to swap the whole drive out. If you want to swap drives, you have to find an identical Saturn revision that has the exact same drive.

You can just buy a brand new laser mech for your drive.

Thanks for the answer, that is what I wanted to know. Have you done this yourself?

[smokemonster]

I just had a minor success. I found a youtuber who used pliers to slightly raise the disc spindle:


I did this, and now the disc spins properly and it plays audio CDs! I think that I can work on adjusting laser pot and perhaps get this baby running.

Does anyone know what ohms the laser pots are set to originally? Mine starts reading audio CDs (and reading games as audio CDs) at 960Ω, which only took an absolutely minute nudge clockwise to reach. I barely moved it at all. I'm going to pick up a few more games tomorrow to test on before adjusting it any more, because I'm not sure if my copy of Daytona USA is the greatest and it's the only game that I have.

[MIK]

In general Saturn's are very good at reading scratched discs, (not healthy of course) the likes an audio CD player would snag on, but yeah only so much damage they can see through...

Glad to hear your getting some better results. You never know, you could be sat on a cool and "under used" Sega Saturn thanks to some kid who pressed down too hard on the disc in the past.

[ShiningRangerSaga]

My first ever SEG Saturn had this issue (only reading audio CDs) That takes me back lol. Anyway, I did everything you did with no luck. I even bought another saturn because of it. Then one day, I slightly tilted the drive downward and it started to work, so I assume it could just be a ribbon cable issue. Fiddle around with the drive (tilting, jiggling cables) while its running and see what it does. Just be careful not to electricute yourself (Ive been shocked by a model 1, and its a nasty shock)

[zyrobs]

The laser pots are adjusted differently from Saturn to Saturn, so just copying the setting from one may not work.

For changing the cd drive, there are 4 major drive models, they are:
ENR-007x used in VA0 and VA1,
ENR-011A used in VA2 to 5,
ENR-013A used in VA6 to 9,
HQA-001A used in VA10+
This is not counting the rare sanyo and hitachi drives.

Anyway, a Saturn not reading discs can be because of:
- ribbon or board power disconnected
- the tray being too low/too high
- laser being too weak (adjust the pot)
- the various gain pots are misadjusted (the pots on the drive board)
- laser being dead, or some other part of the drive being dead.
If you can get audio CDs to read, you can probably get Saturn games to read as well after some tinkering.

[zyrobs]

Without proper calibration a new laser might last less time than the old one though...

[smokemonster]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I picked up PGA Tour 97 today and used it to set the laser pot. I ended up only needing to move it a tiny fraction of a turn clockwise to get it loading. Daytona USA loads now too, so it looks like I've got a working Saturn!

In the next few days I'm going to do a writeup on a method that I came up with to remove scratches and scuffs from the case.

[infernalcombustion]

Sept 15, 2013 23:35:48 GMT smokemonster said:

In the next few days I'm going to do a writeup on a method that I came up with to remove scratches and scuffs from the case.

That sounds good to me, I'll be interested to see what that entails.

[MIK]

Nice one!

[mick_aka]

Sept 15, 2013 23:35:48 GMT smokemonster said:

In the next few days I'm going to do a writeup on a method that I came up with to remove scratches and scuffs from the case.

Brasso is your friend.