spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Dec 30, 2019 23:53:09 GMT
Ok, so I am playing through Albert Odyssey and I left the game running to help my 2-year-old only to come back and find that my 5-year-old played through the boss battle I was on and the console was back on the intro screen. I do not know if she lost and the game was over and reset or if she did something to reset it (the buttons on the console itself). Anyway, when I went to play it again the console restarted and then didn't recognize the disk. I powered it off and tried again, no luck. I tried another copy of the game - no luck. I tried my original, but scratched, copy of the game and it didn't work either. I finally got it to boot again and it restarted about 5 minutes in and would not recognize the disc.
My Saturn is a modded Model 1 from 1996. It has the chip I bought from the site I help moderate - racketboy and I tried two burned copies along with my original copy of Albert Odyssey. I did boot up Magic Knight Rayearth (burnt) and it started but I did not play through it to see if it would restart. So maybe it is a game issue... but really I don't think that is it.
I looked around the internet and see that this could be either a laser or PSU issue. I cleaned the laser and did a couple of things I found on the internet and will try again this afternoon to see if the PSU was overheating. I also opened up the console and checked there were no broken or leaking caps on the PSU. I did find a replacement PSU on eBay for $12 that looks different but is the same version "C". Before I buy that I was wondering if anyone here has had a rebooting problem to compare issues and see what else I should try.
Note: I have not yet adjusted the laser. That I will try next.
|
|
spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Dec 31, 2019 0:17:36 GMT
So I played with the orange laser adjustment. The current setting would only allow me to turn it about a quarter of a turn until it stopped. The numbers printed on the orange pot were at 12noon and I could turn it to about 3 or 4 o-clock. I can boot the disc, start a random battle and then it freezes when trying to exit the battle back to the main screen. I will adjust and play with different settings.
|
|
|
Post by zyrobs on Dec 31, 2019 0:33:34 GMT
The tray height may also be misaligned. This exacerbates the aging optical pickups faults. I think you may have adjusted the pot too much. I normally tweak it very slowly until the unit starts reading better, and stop and go back once it starts reading worse again. This means a lot of trial and error.
There's a guide somewhere for proper adjusting that relies on reading one of the test positions on the CD drive for the proper voltage levels, but I'm not sure if it works on all cd drive models (there's a bunch of them).
For the PSU, if you are using a 1996 model 1 PAL unit then it's most likely a VA3 or VA5 board, which needs a B type power supply (aka a "long board" with 5 pins). The C type is a shorter board that is used in VA6 and later motherboards, and that was only in model 2 consoles.
|
|
spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Dec 31, 2019 0:50:55 GMT
The tray height may also be misaligned. This exacerbates the aging optical pickups faults. I think you may have adjusted the pot too much. I normally tweak it very slowly until the unit starts reading better, and stop and go back once it starts reading worse again. This means a lot of trial and error. There's a guide somewhere for proper adjusting that relies on reading one of the test positions on the CD drive for the proper voltage levels, but I'm not sure if it works on all cd drive models (there's a bunch of them). For the PSU, if you are using a 1996 model 1 PAL unit then it's most likely a VA3 or VA5 board, which needs a B type power supply (aka a "long board" with 5 pins). The C type is a shorter board that is used in VA6 and later motherboards, and that was only in model 2 consoles. It is a C PSU, it's printed on the board. I should have mentioned I'm in the US so it's not so as PAL system. How do you adjust the tray height? I'll try that and play with the pot more too. Thanks for the help. Would a new laser help like this one: www.amazon.com/dp/B07X6G76LP/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_apa_i_eTPcEb819DKT3
|
|
|
Post by zyrobs on Dec 31, 2019 2:15:10 GMT
The PSU types (A, B, and C) are mentioned in the service manuals and not marked on the power supplies themselves. If you see any such markings on the power supply, those are just manufacturer markings. Type A is the top mounted one in launch units, type B is the "long" board that outputs 3 different voltages, and type C is the "short" board that only does 5V (except the pal variant which also does 12V for the a/v out). Types A and B have some known issues, but as far as I've seen, those issues don't cause random reboots or affect the machine once it is running properly. If they cause an issue, they do it right away on boot.
For the tray height, I just pull the tray off (watch out so you don't bend the motor pin! pull the try directly upwards, and never in any angle!), then I push it back down and use the butt of the screwdriver to "hammer" it down gently, testing how well it reads at each position. I have the console opened and the lid sensor taped down while doing this, so I can see how far the tray is. This is not scientific and amounts to nothing more than trial and error, but it works. Just make sure you don't bend the motor while pulling the tray off, and also don't push the tray too much down or else it will touch the optical pickup and instantly scratch up the CD.
|
|
spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Jan 4, 2020 1:40:18 GMT
Ok, so I played around with the pot more and nothing. The only thing that happened is that it stopped spinning on its own. If I move the laser almost all the way in towards the disc spindle. Speaking of the spindle, I tried adjusting the tray height and that does not seem to matter either. Same thing, no spinning. I have had some luck getting a game to load partially but then it freezes and nothing happens. Shining the Holy Ark (original disc) it gets to the blue text that says "now loading" and just stays there forever. In Albert Odyssey, it will start, load a game, but freeze as battle loads. I tried a new laser (the one I linked above) and nothing happened just the same exact errors. Now I'm thinking its the PSU. Any other suggestions or ideas? Thanks!
|
|
spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Jan 4, 2020 17:08:53 GMT
I was wrong, I had a model 1 Saturn, but this is a model 2 round button that I modded. I tried taking out the modchip and just connecting it like normal and nothing happened have me a red blood of the left side of the UI instead of the yellow cube.
|
|
|
Post by zyrobs on Jan 4, 2020 17:11:07 GMT
I was wrong, I had a model 1 Saturn, but this is a model 2 round button that I modded. I tried taking out the modchip and just connecting it like normal and nothing happened have me a red blood of the left side of the UI instead of the yellow cube. If the cubes are deformed on start, then the CD drive is not connected or not functioning. It's either not powered or you did not connect the ribbon properly. If your unit is the single board model 2 then I think it suffers from the usual aging caps.
|
|
spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Jan 4, 2020 17:12:58 GMT
I was wrong, I had a model 1 Saturn, but this is a model 2 round button that I modded. I tried taking out the modchip and just connecting it like normal and nothing happened have me a red blood of the left side of the UI instead of the yellow cube. If the cubes are deformed on start, then the CD drive is not connected or not functioning. It's either not powered or you did not connect the ribbon properly. If your unit is the single board model 2 then I think it suffers from the usual aging caps. Ok. Checked the ribbons, one was loose. Still nothing. When you say caps do you mean PSU or others elsewhere on the unit? Again thanks for all of this help.
|
|
|
Post by zyrobs on Jan 4, 2020 19:26:54 GMT
No, the motherboard caps. The PLL (ic20) is not very resilient and the aging caps are enough to make it act up, and that causes the entire console to get the wrong clocks, resulting in crashes and resets. Recapping the motherboard alleviates that in my experience.
The power supply for the single-board model 2s (VA6 and later boards, type C power supply) are solid and don't have any known issues. Of course you should recap those to be on the safe side too, but as far as I know they do not have common problems, unlike the type A and B ones.
Have you perhaps inserted the ribbon backwards? Some pictures would be really helpful.
|
|
spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Jan 4, 2020 20:01:05 GMT
Here are some pics. The ribbon cables should be installed correctly. I will take the metal casing off later and take more pics if needed after I get back from the Library with my kids. Let me know what you think after seeing these or if they are not helpful. PSU caps look good... I can not figure out what the problem is. Like I said I was playing Albert Odyssey and walked away. My daughter picked up the controller, lost a battle.... or something and it was at the game's title screen. Since then no game would play more than one "in game loading screen" and now the disc won't even spin even after a new laser was installed. Thanks!
|
|
|
Post by zyrobs on Jan 4, 2020 20:54:41 GMT
The disc not spinning is because the pickup cannot see them, so the drive won't attempt to spin the motor for no reason.
Yeah, it does seem like something is wrong with the cd drive, or the pickup, not the motherboard or the power supply. I'd try removing the modchip altogether, and then trying to get it to recognize and play a disc in the CD player. An audio CD first, then games. If you remove the consoles top and put a clothespin on the lid sensor, you can try adjusting the pot in small intervals without needing to take the thing apart for every adjustment. There's a guide on youtube somewhere about measuring the voltage of one of the test pins to determine how well the pickup is reading... I never tried that but you should definitely check that out as well.
If you installed a laser, you'll need to adjust that one no matter what, it won't read anything right until you do. Also, have you removed the security solder blob on the new pickup?
|
|
spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Jan 4, 2020 21:38:32 GMT
I did remove the blob and adjusted of the laser using the clothes pin trick. I will play with it more to adjust it, but I have tried almost every position for the orange screw. I also took out the modchip and tried shining and the holy ark. I did not try an audio CD, I'll try that next. The part that confuses me the most is that I was playing it for about 45 minutes and while playing it stopped working.
|
|
spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Jan 4, 2020 22:46:25 GMT
Playing with the laser seeing and no matter where I set it I have to manually move the laser to the inside of the disc for it to start to spin. This is what I think the laser isn't the problem.
|
|
spacebooger
Newbie
Joined: December 2019
Posts: 15
Location:
|
Post by spacebooger on Jan 6, 2020 21:08:49 GMT
I received a new power supply from ebay today. I put it in and with some adjustment, I could get it to play an audio cd... but it would not spin on its own. I had to move the laser to the center of the disc. No matter where I put the laser's pot it would not pick up a game original or burnt. Nor would it start a disc spinning on it's own. So now I am at a loss as to what to do. I'm guessing it's the whole CD mechanism.
|
|