Problem with my Saturn

[PerunaTrzask]

Hey, I have a problem with my Saturn. When I first turn on the console it'll play well without problems but when I go to put in a different game I start getting some problems. When an another game is inserted, I get horizontal lines coming through the screen, this is how it looks. 


(You can't really see it well in a picture, it's more prevalent in person)

Normally when this comes up the game doesn't load up. If I leave the console switched off for several hours or a day it'll work until I go to play a different game. I have a PAL console model 1 and I use a SCART cable. I tried replacing the SCART cable with no results, I also cleaned the inside of the console and the laser lens and tried moving up the spindle and I still get the problem. Does anybody know what is causing this? Does the laser or psu need to be fixed/replaced? Should I just buy myself a new Saturn? Help would be greatly appreciated.

[zyrobs]

It's a known and common problem with the power supply. The TOP202YAI PWM IC on the power supply is giving out. You either need to replace it with a modern equivalent (TOP223YN or TOP224YN), or install an extra electrolytic capacitor on the photocoupler to remove the ripple from the 5V line that causes the problem. I usually do both, just in case.

You need to solder on components to the power supply for either fix.

[PerunaTrzask]

Thanks for the response and sorry for my stupid follow up post which I took down.
I ordered TOP223YN and a electrolytic capacitor 2200uF 10V, I really appreciate you helping me diagnose what's wrong with my Saturn. I also ran into a new problem with the game "Soukyugurentai". Namely, just before a boss battle you get text across the screen in Kanji and the text just "glitches" out, don't really know how to describe it.

oi63.tinypic.com/14l598m.jpg
oi64.tinypic.com/o9h36v.jpg

Whenever text in English comes up it's fine, is this also a problem caused by these faulty parts you pointed or is this down to the disc? I've seen cartridge games act up like this but never before a disc.

[zyrobs]

That's also a known problem. Soukyugurentai has a broken English mode left over from the arcade release. If you run it on a Saturn that's not set to Japanese region, it will try loading that English mode, with more or less success. It's the games fault.

There was a later release, Soukyugurentai Otokuyou that had this fixed (by removing English mode altogether).

[PerunaTrzask]

Thanks a lot for your input zyrobs, it helped a lot. So there are downsides to that magickal cartridge.