Saturn not reading discs very well...

[Ted]

Okay, after just 2 months of owning it, my Saturn's disc drive has gone kaput... sort of. It started today, while I was playing Sonic R. I started a Time Trial up, but it took about 15 seconds for any sound effects or music to come in. I thought it was pretty odd, but thought nothing of it. It happened again afterwards on the menus, and that was when I realized something wasn't right.

I tried another game, Daytona USA, but everything worked fine. Played through the game's 3 tracks with no issues... but when I tried Nights, things got pretty bad. The intro wouldn't play, and I couldn't go on any of the levels with out being taken back to the Saturn's control panel seconds later.  After trying every level, I reset the Saturn, and the game wouldn't play altogether, I could only play the music off of the disc. Tried Daytona again, but aside from a few longer loading times, everything was okay.

However, when I tried Nights one last time, it was even worse. The Saturn's disc motor chugged so much I thought the damn thing was gonna explode, now it wouldn't even play the tracks,  and the Saturn said "Disc format not compatible" or something like that. I then stupidly tried House Of The Dead, which already made the disc motor chug lots, and the Saturn froze completely. Reset it, and it said the same thing as Nights. I tired Sonic R again, hoping it would solve the problem some how, and for a minute it looked like it had aside from a few long loading times and a noisy disc motor. Unfortunately, what I was greeted with when I started a race was pretty bad. The Saturn had froze, and all the graphics were corrupted. I switched the Saturn off immediately and tried no more discs out of fear of something worse.

None of the games above had disc rot and little to no scratches. The Saturn (a model 1) had came from someone who said they barely played it, and I have never played on it for more than 2 hours, and very rarely daily. Never done the disc swap technique before, and it's very unlikely the previous owner did. The laser looks fine, but I really hope the damn thing isn't dying, because if it is, I'll obviously have to replace it, which I know nothing about, same goes for the motor. If I have to buy a new Saturn altogether, I don't think my parents will be very happy about it at all. Please help me on this guys  .

[atolm]

Possible it's not the disc drive.  Messed up sound effects could be a system board error.  Maybe even power supply.  Wait for Zyrobs input

If it is the drive:...

Keep the saturn, save up your allowance (adults love that). Wait for a Rhea or Phoebe order window. Open your saturn and find out what kind ribbon cable it uses.


gdemu.wordpress.com/details/saturn-details/

As soon as you load Panzer Saga on that SD card, it will pay for itself five times over.

[Ted]

Jan 15, 2017 16:35:57 GMT atolm said:

Possible it's not the disc drive.  Messed up sound effects could be a system board error.  Maybe even power supply.  Wait for Zyrobs input

If it is the drive:...

Keep the saturn, save up your allowance (adults love that). Wait for a Rhea or Phoebe order window. Open your saturn and find out what kind ribbon cable it uses.


gdemu.wordpress.com/details/saturn-details/

As soon as you load Panzer Saga on that SD card, it will pay for itself five times over.

Told my parents about it and even if I saved my money up for it, they consider it to be piracy and won't let me have it- even though they let me get a Pseudo Saturn cart so I can get burned games later down the line  .

Update on the situation- managed to get it working again today, yet inconsistently. Earlier today, my sister decided to play Sonic R, but lo and behold, the Saturn was working. After she finished a few races, I went on House Of The Dead, one of the games that had the most problems, and it played fine. I also had a quick go on Nights, and it worked as well. It seemed like the Saturn had fixed itself.

But problems were afoot after I tried Fighting Vipers, a game I hadn't tried yesterday. After a very lengthy load time for the title screen, all of the level's music was delayed by about 15-30 seconds, or didn't play at all. Against all odds, I actually completed it, but once I'd finished off B.M, the credits music played, but not the credits themselves! It was now sadly apparent that maybe the Saturn hadn't been fixed. Tried Nights to truly determine if it was happening again, and unfortunately, the answer was yes. However, once again, Daytona USA miraculously still worked! It is one of the main reasons I bought a Sega Saturn, so at least there's that.

Looks like I'm gonna have to get a replacement Saturn unless there's anything else I can do .

[zyrobs]

Sounds to me that the unit is going bad over time, so it's either overheating, or some component inside is broken and can only function for a short time.

My first guess is that the power supply is going bad, since that is the most common problem with model 1s.

[Ted]

Jan 16, 2017 23:05:34 GMT zyrobs said:

Sounds to me that the unit is going bad over time, so it's either overheating, or some component inside is broken and can only function for a short time.

My first guess is that the power supply is going bad, since that is the most common problem with model 1s.

Yeah, I'm now 90% certain it's the power supply. Once again I had a go on the Saturn today with Fighting Vipers, played it through with no problems but when I put in another disc it wouldn't work, and only resulted in lots of noise from the Saturn.

Is replacing the power supply an easy fix, or am I better off getting a replacement console?

[zyrobs]

Replacing it is extremely simple and requires only a screwdriver, and a compatible size replacement part (there are 3 different form factor power supplies).

It is also possible to fix it by replacing the TOP202YAI (the component which dies the most often) with a modern equivalent TOP224YN, and/or by installing an extra cap on the optocoupler. That requires soldering however.

But it is extremely common for the TOP202YAI to go bad so it is not impossible that a replacement part will also give you problems, if not immediately, but perhaps when you turn the machine off and back on after a longer game. When rebooting gives you noise, lines running through the screen, and the disc drive not working, then the TOP chip is definitely on its way out.

[atolm]

Jan 17, 2017 19:58:13 GMT zyrobs said:

Replacing it is extremely simple and requires only a screwdriver, and a compatible size replacement part (there are 3 different form factor power supplies).

It is also possible to fix it by replacing the TOP202YAI (the component which dies the most often) with a modern equivalent TOP224YN, and/or by installing an extra cap on the optocoupler. That requires soldering however.

But it is extremely common for the TOP202YAI to go bad so it is not impossible that a replacement part will also give you problems, if not immediately, but perhaps when you turn the machine off and back on after a longer game. When rebooting gives you noise, lines running through the screen, and the disc drive not working, then the TOP chip is definitely on its way out.

And they're only $4 from digikey or mouser.  sweet.

[Ted]

After a tough decision by myself and my parents, we decided that it would be better to hang on to the Saturn I currently have (the problems kick in after around 2 hours, which isn't too bad) until it finally dies, then get a replacement one. Despite it being an easy fix, my parents are pretty wary of replacing parts of a games console after a previous attempt to fix my old DS back when I was 7 didn't go so well...

But the good news is, after some compromising, that they will pay for half of the replacement, since they know I want to spend the remaining money I have from Christmas on some stuff I really want.

When I'm able to post in the buying and selling forum, I'll try and see if anyone has a spare PAL Model 1 Saturn, but until then, I'll have to make do with my dying Saturn and keep a close eye on Ebay, Gumtree, etc.

[zyrobs]

I could refit and test the PSU for you (new TOP + recapping) but the shipping would be expensive to mainland Europe.

[atolm]

Isn't buck (video game perfection) in the UK? Pretty sure he can solder.