Ribbon Cable issues with VA13 & VA6 Saturn Consoles

[psycholavos]

Last year I decided to mod my VA13 Saturn with a Phantom Modchip. After some trial & error I eventually got it to work, although I accidentally damaged the long ribbon cable going from the CD Drive to the Modchip. Since then I haven’t opened up the Saturn. Fast forward to this month, I pop in a game to play & the system is giving me the same issue I had when I first installed the Modchip. This issue being the Green cubes, Red & Yellow spheres appearing on the screen instead of the beige cubes. So I know this happening because of the Ribbon Cable. The last time I played the Saturn was in early September & it worked fine. I’m not sure what happened between September & October for this to happen.


So I had to do some looking around for a replacement Ribbon Cable. After getting help from a Reddit Thread I started, I bought some replacement Ribbon Cables from Mouser. Unfortunately even with the new cables, I was still having the same issue. If I wiggle the cable while connected, I can get the beige cubes to come back with the “Drive Door open” text & jingle. Although it won’t read disks. Even removing the Modchip & connecting the CD Drive to the Motherboard will still give me the same issue. It’s not that the laser is bad. The disks won’t even spin. I even soldered wires to the motor & tested it with a battery. The motor spins, so the motor isn’t failing. If the ribbon cable is connected to the motherboard & I slightly rub the Pins on top of the connector. I can get the disk drive to spin a little bit. Keep in mind, I’m not inserting the cable in the connector. I’m just slightly rubbing the cable on top of the connector.


Some things to note:

I bought the VA13 console back in November 2019 with a dead laser. I replaced the laser in March 2020. So I know it isn’t the laser.

Before I had this issue, I bought a second Model 2 Saturn. This one being a VA6 US Console with a dead laser. I swapped the ribbon cable from that console & didn’t have any change. I also damaged that cable too. I even swapped the working CD Drive into the American console & even used the new ribbon cable… once again. Same issues as before.

The CD Drive in my Japanese VA13 console is a Sanyo drive. The one in my American VA6 is a JVC Drive.

If anyone can help me with this issue, any help is appreciated. Thank you to anyone for taking time to help me. If I had to guess what's wrong with the new cables, I'd say the pitch isn't correct. As the cables I got from Mouser are 1.00mm pitch, where I think the cables should be 1.25mm pitch. I do have someone sending me an extra 21 Pin Ribbon Cable. So I'll see what happens when I get that in the mail. I'll include pictures here in the thread. Once again, thank you to anyone taking the time to help me.

[zyrobs]

The issue with the cubes being mismatched in the CD player (and the audio turning into a low pitch ghastly echo) is caused by the CD drive not being connected, or not being powered. Since the motor runs, it's most likely the ribbon.

From the top of my head, have you made sure the ribbon is in the correct orientation? And that every pin connects properly? It could be something banal like you connected the ribbon backwards. But it's also possible that some of the pins on the connector may be broken. I've also seen a guy once who just didn't push in the ribbon properly.

VA6-9 and VA10+ units use different ribbon pinout, the two drives are not interchangeable.

Also what exactly are you doing that it damages the ribbon? They are pretty sturdy, so I'm curious as to how it got broken. Can you post pics of the console and the old cable?

[psycholavos]

I have the ribbon cable oriented correctly. I'll include pictures of how it is in my VA6 Saturn. Before buying the new cable, I made sure to get one exactly like the one in the Saturn. It having all 21 Pins on the same side. I'm kinda thinking the connector could be broken. Although, I'm not sure if it's the CD Drive connector or the Motherboard Connector.

How did I damage the original ribbon cable? When I was installing the Phantom Modchip last year, when I first powered it on I got the issue I talked about above. After that first attempt, I had the bright idea to not have the system hooked up to the TV when testing out the Modchip. Me being an amateur at modding my game consoles (even with a simple mod like this), I figured if the Disk Drive spins, then I've successfully installed the Modchip. After a couple days, I got the chip to work. I had to fiddle around with the ribbon cable placement. That's what damaged the cable. It bent the pins on the Ribbon Cable. The pins are still connected thankfully, but not like it should be.

I should mention that I bought the VA6 Saturn with the intention to mod it with a Fenrir.

[psycholavos]

Apologies for the grainy quality of that first picture in my reply. A pin is still there on the left of the cable. I don't remember which cable is from which console. I want to say the cable in the first picture is from the VA6, but I don't remember.

[zyrobs]

That cable looks like the leftmost pin is broken, which would explain the problem you are getting (pin 1 is the clock signal pin). I'd recommend doing a continuity test with the ribbon installed, on the pins of the connector, to determine what does not connect.

Also maybe try rotating the ribbon ie. so the end plugged in to the cd drive is instead plugged to the motherboard. That will reverse the pin orientation, so that broken looking pin is on a subcode signal, not the main clock signal.

I've a feeling that the ribbons you got are right, but perhaps the connector pins are not touching the ribbon correctly, since you also said that wiggling the ribbons will make the drive connect properly... hence the continuity test. If there's indeed some continuity issue, you can either scrape the metal pins inside the connector gently, or bend them a very tiny bit so they push on the pins more.

[psycholavos]

Where should I put the black pin at when I test for continuity? I'm thinking I'll need the red pin on the ribbon cable. Should I put the black pin on the PSU?

[zyrobs]

Oct 27, 2021 1:47:21 GMT psycholavos said:

Where should I put the black pin at when I test for continuity? I'm thinking I'll need the red pin on the ribbon cable. Should I put the black pin on the PSU?

When doing a continuity test, you test if electricity can flow between two points. So put the two ends of the probes to the two points that you want to test if they have any connection between them. In this case, probably the ribbon connectors pins on each side (drive and motherboard), with the ribbon attached.
The system does not need to be powered when doing this, in fact it's probably better if you don't power it up since it will be a bit tricky to reach the plugs under the ribbon.

But based on your description I'm 90% sure that you just need to bend the pins inwards a tiny bit, so they grip the ribbon better.

[psycholavos]

Oct 27, 2021 2:02:42 GMT zyrobs said:

Oct 27, 2021 1:47:21 GMT psycholavos said:

Where should I put the black pin at when I test for continuity? I'm thinking I'll need the red pin on the ribbon cable. Should I put the black pin on the PSU?

When doing a continuity test, you test if electricity can flow between two points. So put the two ends of the probes to the two points that you want to test if they have any connection between them. In this case, probably the ribbon connectors pins on each side (drive and motherboard), with the ribbon attached.
The system does not need to be powered when doing this, in fact it's probably better if you don't power it up since it will be a bit tricky to reach the plugs under the ribbon.

But based on your description I'm 90% sure that you just need to bend the pins inwards a tiny bit, so they grip the ribbon better.

I'll try it tomorrow after work. While I've been soldering for about 3 Years now, I don't have a lot of experience with using the Multimeter. The one I have came with a cheap Soldering Kit. If the device I'm working on is turned off, I can't get voltages in continuity mode. So the System has to be turned on. Thank you for the advice though. I'll check back with what I find.

[zyrobs]

Oct 27, 2021 2:44:16 GMT psycholavos said:

If the device I'm working on is turned off, I can't get voltages in continuity mode.

You don't need to. You are checking if there's a connection between two points or if there's something broken/disconnected. The multimeter will just beep if there's continuity (try testing it by touching the probe ends together) or will be silent if there isn't.

The reason I'm saying it's better to do it disconnected is so you don't accidentally short something out.

[psycholavos]

Sorry for the late reply. I've been busy since the end of last week, but I got it working. I turned on my VA13 Saturn. It had one of the new cables already in it. It was sitting on my table for a week. I got the beige cubes on Startup & the "Drive Door Open" text & jingle. I tested a game to confirm it working & it worked!. Then I reinstalled my Modchip again. After an hour of reseating the new 21 Pin cables, I finally got it work. I didn't have to use the Multimeter at all. Thank you to everyone for helping me.