Japanese Saturn on 2 PAL CRT's, black screen when powered on

[fishythought]

Hi,

My Japanese Saturn arrived and so did my step down transformer, but I'm still waiting on my SCART cable from Retrogamingcables to arrive. I only have a composite cable from my PAL Saturn, and I know from importing NTSC PS1 games back in the day that if you don't use an RGB SCART cable, you will get a black and white (sometimes rolling) picture, but I wanted to see if the Japanese Saturn at least worked. I plugged it into the step down transformer and then plugged the composite cable into my CRT and powered it on, but all I get is a black screen, Black as in its detecting something is plugged in and turned on, but nothing else.

Is this normal or should I be at least getting a black and white picture ?, Ive tried it on another CRT and the same thing happens.

Thanks

[zyrobs]

Yes, you should be getting a black and white signal at least. Sounds like the unit is kaput.

[buckoa51]

No audio either?

[fishythought]

Jan 28, 2022 23:07:24 GMT buckoa51 said:

No audio either?

Nothing, just a green power light, looks exactly like this issue here

youtu.be/FkuGBxoYGPI

A few people who have had this issue with this exact model say to leave it on for 10 minutes then hit reset and if it’s just the capacitors, it should power on, no such luck in my case.

[zyrobs]

There's 1001 things that can go wrong in there, the simplest of fixes is recapping the unit, but even that may not help, some users here had to switch out some 74xx ICs in there. Most of the time the issue is the clock signals not reaching the system ICs, which is why the guy in that video could get it fixed by only changing the caps around the PLL (which is responsible for generating the system clock signals).

[fishythought]

The guy I bought it off has 100% positive feedback, said he tested it the night before he put it up for sale. Could it be the step down transformer ?, that’s the only other thing I can think of.

This is the model I bought

smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0009K6M44

[zyrobs]

If the step-down transformer was at fault, the console would either cut power randomly (you could see it on the LED easily) or the console would just blow.

It's possible that during transport, the console was pretty cold and the caps on it don't function right until they warm up, I've seen crap like that happen. Saturns are getting more and more frail with the years. Make a video of it not working, send it to the seller, and ask for a refund. If you can keep the console, all the better - especially if it does end up functioning once it thaws out, or if it can be repaired.

[fishythought]

Jan 29, 2022 2:34:19 GMT zyrobs said:

If the step-down transformer was at fault, the console would either cut power randomly (you could see it on the LED easily) or the console would just blow.

It's possible that during transport, the console was pretty cold and the caps on it don't function right until they warm up, I've seen crap like that happen. Saturns are getting more and more frail with the years. Make a video of it not working, send it to the seller, and ask for a refund. If you can keep the console, all the better - especially if it does end up functioning once it thaws out, or if it can be repaired.

Got it, he emailed me this morning and has agreed to refund me if I ship it back to him, he probably won’t refund the return shipping though. This has been some hassle, I bought the step down and the SCART cable from Retrogamingcables just so I could use the Japanese Saturn, together they cost about as much as I paid for the Japanese Saturn, dunno if I should cut my losses or try again. The retro gaming shop I bought my PAL Saturn from is selling a grey model 1 Japanese Saturn, tempted to get it. I’m still using a CRT for now but I might get an upscaler in the future, If PAL Saturns modded to 60hz didn’t output an off spec NTSC signal that some scalers don’t agree with I’d just get that one modded (then again I’m not great at soldering).

[buckoa51]

If it's DOA I believe under EU law he has to offer to refund return shipping, so keep your receipt.

[fishythought]

Jan 29, 2022 11:11:40 GMT buckoa51 said:

If it's DOA I believe under EU law he has to offer to refund return shipping, so keep your receipt.

Didn’t know that, thanks.

[fishythought]

Update: It suddenly started working, there was no clock battery inside it when it arrived so I popped a new one in before powering it on for the first time, I took the battery out and now it’s working for some reason

[buckoa51]

it's like Zyrobs says then, most likely then the capacitors are bad/aged and needed to warm up. You do not need a battery in a healthy Saturn for it to power on.

I would still return the console personally, unless he's willing to give you a partial refund towards the cost of having it recapped.

[fishythought]

Jan 29, 2022 11:56:19 GMT buckoa51 said:

it's like Zyrobs says then, most likely then the capacitors are bad/aged and needed to warm up. You do not need a battery in a healthy Saturn for it to power on.

I would still return the console personally, unless he's willing to give you a partial refund towards the cost of having it recapped.

It never powered on while I had the battery inside it, it wasn’t until I took the battery out that it powered on. I’ll mention it to him though, see how he feels about a partial refund. Another thing I noticed is the cartridge slot is REALLY picky, I flashed an action replay with pseudo Saturn using my PAL Saturn and it works fine, but the Japanese Saturn didn’t detect it at first. I had to take it out and put it back in a few times before it detected it, after that it booted a backup of Radiant Silvergun just fine so the laser seems in good shape.

[buckoa51]

I believe the battery thing was just a coincidence, I'm 90% sure it's the caps being old/worn that is at least part of your problems.

The cart slots are often picky on Saturns, IMO better to have a proper region free / modchip mod done and just keep an action replay in there rather than have to swap and change. You can also try putting a folded business card behind the cartridge to push it forward slightly that often helps.

[offy]

I had that once on my PAL Saturn, When battery's about dead and left in, It seems to brick your Saturn till you remove battery or having a new one in.