Need help diagnosing problem with my Saturn.

[Mezziah777]

Hi I´m new here but not new to the Sega Saturn as I´ve had mine for about 5yrs.
It was working fine when I got it and I got to play through Dark Savior (what a great game that was)
Other than that I´ve been playing little bits here and there but last year it wouldn´t play the games anymore.
I´ve tried about every game I own (about 15 or so) but none will play.
If I start the console with no disc in it, it works fine, I can play around in the bios and it will even read and play audio discs fine no problem,
but as soon as I put in a game disc the machine freezes up. If I start the console with a game disc in it, it will show the Sega logo and then freeze again,
everytime and on every game.
I´ve heard about the disc drive and laser conking out left and right on Saturns but if that where the case it shouldn´t be able to read audio discs either then should it?
It confuses me to no end
Has anybody here got any idea of what the problem could be? =(

PS: It´s a PAL machine (if that helps)

[thewhitefalcon]

Do you have an action replay cart installed, or any kind of mod?

[Mezziah777]

Nope, no action replay and no mods (that I know of. the seller never mentioned any mods)
Everything should be completely stock apart from the RGB cable that doesn´t seem to be original.
Also I only own PAL games and have never tried anything else, though I did try a Mega CD game once just for fun and it would not play the game but it played the soundtrack just fine =P

[dj898]

have you tried to use the composite AV cable?

[bultje112]

it's obviously not a cable thing since it works without a game in it. if it doesn't read cd's try greasing the rails that move the lens in the saturn. the lens is probably not moving smooth enough and it causes reading issues. try spraying cilicon spray across the rail and then wait a bit and try it