Model 1 CD drive help

[bolex17]

Hey there,

I recently bought a faulty Model 1 PAL Saturn. It doesn't seem to want to read discs. I've ordered a new laser to replace the old and and still no dice...

Sometime the disc will spin up and it will load to the CD player saying "Checking disc format" but that's it.. I adjusted the spindle and it started to read some discs.

I then did something stupid and decided to mess around with the POT hoping to fix it further but now no discs will work,

now where can I go from here? Can I reset the pot back to their default location (does anyone have a photo of it) or will I need to buy a brand new CD drive to swap in?

[themanfromsaturn]

I spend quite a lot of time trying to adjust and fiddle with lasers to get them to read discs. Most probably replacing the laser was the right thing to do as I've found this to solve the problem most of the time.

However, sometimes it's the spindle height which needs adjusting, especially if it's taken a hammering after performing the swap trick. You should carefully remove the spindle head from the spindle and then put it back so that it is approximately 1mm above the protective shroud. But it sounds like you may have already tried this?

I suppose it's possible that cranking up the POT could wreck your new laser, but most likely you've adjusted it so that now the laser is outputting too much power and it can't read discs.

I would adjust it back down so that the flat part at the top of the POT is between a 12 and 1 o'clock position as viewed from the rear of the system and then give the laser a clean with some IPA. Pop in and test your official pressed Saturn games. Try a few games to make sure it will read even those with a few minor scratches; I have found a good laser to read even the most badly scratched official games (burned games are another story).

If it doesn't read or crashes back to the CD player during gameplay, make a very small adjustment to the POT by rotating it clockwise as viewed from the rear and repeat.

Also be aware that not all lasers are made equal. I recently got a laser off of eBay (I've ordered a few from the same supplier before) and one of them didn't have the "Made in Japan" logo on the side of lens enclosure. I'm pretty sure it's a clone as there are subtle differences other than the missing logo and it struggles to read CDRs, though it's much better with official games.

[Yart]

Recap it. The little board with the CPU and BIOS and such. I had to do that to mine to get it to read CDs.


EDIT: I was half asleep when I read the thread. I thought he was talking about a Mega CD... gosh I feel stupid. lol

[bolex17]

Good news! I managed to get it working again, I retweaked the POT using another Saturn as a guide and it's all working now! Reads disc without an issue.

Thanks for all the help!